Catching up on daily life with Slaven Bilic’s squad on the opening day of their pre-season training camp in Germany…
A welcome in print
In the words of country music legend Willie Nelson’s 1979 classic, West Ham United were on the road again on Monday – or rather in the air as the squad jetted off for a 12-day tour to Germany and Iceland.
The Hammers will spend the next ten days in the town of Rotenburg, training at nearby club TuS Bothel 1920 before taking on Bundesliga side Werder Bremen in a Betway Cup double-header on Friday and Saturday, followed by a trip to Hamburg to take on Altona 93 next Tuesday evening.
West Ham’s visit is big news in the area, where the local Rotenburger Kreiszeitung newspaper (pictured, above) posted the Club’s crest and a warm welcome message on its front page!
Ludo! Ludo!
No, we’re not talking about West Ham United’s legendary goalkeeper Ludek Miklosko, but rather the traditional strategy board game!
Rather than sit back and watch a movie or listen to music, Pablo Zabaleta, Manuel Lanzini and Adrian challenged one another to a game of Ludo, in which the players race their four tokens from start to finish according to rolls of a single die.
Judging by the cries of anguish and howls of delight emanating from the three Spanish speakers’ seats throughout the flight, each of them were successful in racing their tokens from their respective starting squares, up their home columns and around the board to the central finishing square.
Little peas…
Did the kitchen staff at the team hotel in the town of Rotenburg know something we didn’t?
A full eight hours ahead of West Ham United’s announcement of the signing of Mexico striker Javier Chicharito Hernandez, the squad consumed little peas of their own as part of a healthy lunch!
The players also had the choice of grilled chicken, baked pike fillets and lamb cutlets for their main course, accompanied by new potatoes and boiled cauliflower, bookended by a salad for starter and fresh strawberries for dessert.
Wet Ham United
By the time the Hammers coaching staff and players boarded their coach to nearby Bothel for their evening training session, the rain had turned into a full-blown deluge of tropical rainforest proportions.
The rain presented a challenge for fitness coach Josh Ewens, who braved the downpour to dutifully lay out the training cones and poles, before returning to the relative dry of the clubhouse looking like a drowned rat!
West Germany United
Fifty-two years ago, West Ham United defeated West German Cup winners TSV 1860 Munich at Wembley to lift the European Cup Winners’ Cup.
Twelve months later, three Hammers returned to the Home of Football to inspire England to a 4-2 World Cup final victory over West Germany.
Watching both matches on television his home in Bartlelsdorf – just five miles from West Ham’s Bothel training base – was six-year-old Johann Baden. Instead of the white and black of Germany, he was mesmerised by the boys in Claret and Blue.
Now 58, Baden, who has a Champions Place next to his favourite current player Mark Noble at London Stadium, was there to welcome the Hammers to Germany on Monday.
“I’ve hit the jackpot! I read that West Ham were coming to Bothel and I couldn’t believe it because this is the Club I played for when I was younger!
“Bobby Moore was my favourite. In Germany we had Franz Beckenbauer and Uwe Seeler and you had Bobby Moore – a player with great style and a gentleman.
“West Ham is my Club and I was lucky enough to go to Upton Park in 2011, when my wife and I stayed in the hotel. This year, I hope to go to London Stadium, but I know it’s very hard to get tickets, so I hope I find a way of getting one!”
And finally...
Manuel Lanzini and Pablo Zabaleta had to double-take when they went through security at the Stansted Airport executive jet terminal on Monday morning - because they thought they had spotted Paolo Di Canio!
Of course, it was not Paolo himself, but a lookalike who also happens to be a London Stadium Season Ticket Holder!