Nigel Clarke is one of the most well known faces in British Journalism and has been covering top flight football for over 50-years. He is a big admirer of the Hammers and can boast to be one of the closest friends former England captain Bobby Moore had with the media.
Clarke has worked for some of the biggest newspapers in the country including the Daily Mirror and Daily Express and will be sad to see West Ham leave the Boleyn Ground at the end of the season.
?I have covered top flight football for a number of years and been to some of the best stadiums in Europe but I have to say that the Boleyn Ground has always been one of my favourite grounds to cover a big match.
I will never forget when we used to go up to Ron Greenwood's office inside the ground after a game and he would give out his pearls of wisdom and share his thoughts on the result. He was very upfront and always answered your questions.
I was very fortunate that I struck up a very close relationship with Bobby Moore and one of the biggest things for me after covering a West Ham game was spending the evening with the players at the Britannia Arms in Plaistow.
Myself, Mooro, Frank Lampard and Graham Paddon would sit there for hours discussing football.
It was total education and I learned so much about the game from talking to them. You would listen to established people and they knew you would not betray them. I was fascinated by the fact that Bobby had such a will to win.
We had a long lasting friendship and and Bobby was one of the greatest football players I have ever met. I used to go down to the Boleyn Ground on a Sunday morning if he was having treatment with the physio Rob Jenkins and we would talk even more about the great game.
I cried so much when Bobby died and one of my biggest every memories of going to the Boleyn Ground was immediately after the news had broken about his death and I was overwhelmed by the amount of tributes that had been made and the flowers that greeted you when you walked inside the gates.
I will always remember Upton Park and it always stood for something very special. They wanted to be the best and there have been some tremendous times there over the years.
The people are always nice and friendly and the biggest factor is they are homegrown and understand the traditions of the club. It is all about the family in the East End.
You feel the warmth and friendliness when you walk inside the stadium and I still love covering games there.
There have been so many stories associated with the famous old ground and from a reporters point of view it was always great to speak with players in the tunnel after a game.
The biggest challenge was getting an interview with Billy Bonds as he would have a bath and would then disappear out of the ground!
In more recent times it has been fun interviewing the likes of Frank McAvennie and Paolo Di Canio who was a real character.
We would have to wait ages for Paolo but trust me it was well worth it and he would always give you a story. He would come out of the dressing room with his tie done up the wrong way and he would be wearing different colour socks. He was a unique individual.
He always seemed to know what the press wanted from him and would sometimes stand there winking at you while he was talking. We were never sure how much he was winding us up!
I have covered so many games through the years but my standout memory has to be the Hammers 7-0 win over a strong Leeds side.
I think Bobby hit 105 out of 106 passes that night and it was the most complete demonstration of how to play the game. I can still remember the noise the crowd made and it was something very special.
The Boleyn Ground was part of my upbringing and I will miss the old ground terribly.
The views expressed in this article are not necessarily the views of West Ham United