After winning the FA Cup and Second Division title with West Ham United, David Cross tells Ken Dyer about his late-career spell with Aris Limassol of Cyprus...
I have to admit I was struggling, when West Ham were drawn against AEK Larnaca in the Europa Conference League, for either historic or contemporary connections.
Then I took a valued call from fellow match programme contributor Steve Blowers, who mentioned that David Cross, the former Hammers striker who spent five years at the Club from 1977, scoring 97 goals in 223 appearances, had played in Cyprus at the end of his playing career.
I needed no further prompting to then call David, or ‘Pyscho’, as he was affectionately labelled by the fans, to ask him about his time in Cypriot football.
It’s always a real pleasure to chat with David. He is, without doubt, one of the funniest men I have been fortunate to meet in football down the years, as well as a top striker who performed so consistently well for West Ham during his time at the Club.
Now retired and living back home in Lancashire, David freely admits he played his best football of his career in the Hammers team which also included Sir Trevor Brooking, Alvin Martin, Alan Devonshire and other terrific players of that era.
In fact, David reminded me that I was the first journalist to interview him when he signed from West Brom for £180,000 and the last to talk to him before he left for Manchester City in ’82.
“I just wanted to go home,” he said. “My contract was nearly up and it was the right time to go back North. I told John Lyall and he understood. He said he wanted me to stay but couldn’t offer me any more money.
“I said it wasn’t about the money. I had enjoyed a fabulous time at West Ham, but it was time to go back home.”
After a relatively short spell at City, David moved on to Oldham Athletic, West Brom and then Bolton, with a couple of additional short forays to Canada and Vancouver Whitecaps.
While at Bolton David, who never ever shirked a challenge, fractured his skull, an injury which looked likely to finish his career.
He takes up the story.
On the deck
“I signed from Aris Limassol in 1986. They are one of three teams in the city which all play in the same stadium,” he explained. “Initially I was reluctant because, when I was fit again following the injury, I couldn’t really head the ball again.
“My game up until then involved a lot of heading but I lost my confidence after the fractured skull and when I did head the ball, I used to get really bad headaches for a few days afterwards.
“I did call Terry McDermott, the former Liverpool player, who was with a club in Cyprus (APOEL Nicosia) and he said that I would be fine because there wasn’t much heading since the players there preferred to play it around on the deck.
“I decided to give it a go, I was 34 then, I was being well paid well and Terry was spot on, heading was relatively a rarity.
“When I was there, the standard wasn’t great, in fact most Third Division teams of that era would have beaten Aris Limassol.
“I was the one professional in the side and the rest were semi-pros. It’s obviously very different now. The standard is much higher and AEK Larnaca are obviously a tidy side.
“It took a while to get used to the style of play there. I was used to playing in England, with top players, where I would give it to Trevor, he would pass it wide to Alan Devonshire and I would get in the box for the cross.
“It wasn’t like that. I would give it to a teammate and he would run and try to beat five players. That was their mentality back then.
“They are a lot more professional now – AEK Larnaca have played in the Champions League but 40 years ago, that was how it was.
“Overall though, my wife and I had a fantastic time for the six months I was there. We made a lot of friends and the climate and the food were terrific.
“I think I scored around 18 or 19 goals during my time there. I remember I netted a hat-trick in my first game and that wasn’t a great idea because they expected something similar in every game after that!”
Midweek demands
David, who once scored all four goals in a First Division win against Tottenham, also knows just how difficult it is to return from a midweek European trip and then face quality opposition the following weekend.
“I remember our Cup Winners’ Cup involvement in 1981,” he recalled. “It was hard, travelling to Romania or Georgia in midweek and then going straight back into League action.
“That was a long trip to Cyprus last week and David Moyes and his staff wouldn’t have had much preparation time before they played Aston Villa on Sunday.”
Before we finished our conversation, David had one more question for me.
“Do you remember,” he asked, “us playing an Isle of Man team one year?”
“Can’t say I do,” I replied. “Refresh my memory.”
“I’m surprised you have forgotten,” he replied. “It was over three legs…”
