After joining the Hammers from Wimbledon in January 2004, former skipper Nigel Reo-Coker made 142 outings down West Ham way before moving to Aston Villa in summer 2007. This afternoon, he recalls his playing days Claret & Blue and reflects on his new career in the USA as an analyst for CBS Sports...
Postcard from America
Football – or soccer (!) – is becoming really big in the United States and teams like West Ham United really do have great opportunities to build their fan base over here.
I’d compare the Hammers to both the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers – a pair of very historic American Football clubs with a rich heritage and a deep culture among their followers.
Historically, those two have also been supported by a huge band of ‘blue-collar’ supporters, who’ve been through good, bad and indifferent times down the years, yet there’s still a long, long waiting list to buy season-tickets, too.
Ironically, the most popular team in the United States right now doesn’t even play in the Premier League. Wherever I go, people always ask me about Wrexham (!) as opposed to West Ham and the other top-tier teams.
Wrexham? They’re so popular because people have seen the story and know all about what’s going on with Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney at the Racecourse Ground. They can see exactly what Wrexham Football Club means to everyone around the town and feel a real affinity with them.
I’d love to see something like that happening at West Ham, where there’s so much potential to capitalise on the Hammers standing as a very unique and historic Football Club.
Just imagine, something similar based around the East End with a couple of our A-lister fans plus a few former players, who know exactly what it means to pull on that Claret & Blue jersey?
Americans have a sense of wanting to belong – it’s just a case of converting them and that’s why I’m always telling people that West Ham United is a fantastic football club.
Major honours
I was so happy to see West Ham United win the UEFA Europa Conference League final because that success was long-overdue.
Watching the 24-year-old, Declan Rice lift the trophy in Prague last June certainly brought back memories of my days as a young Hammers captain.
Ironically, between clubs, I spent some time training with West Ham’s U21s just before he made his debut at the end of 2016/17. Declan was so joyful, respectful and hard-working in everything he did and deserves everything he’s achieved today.
Back in 2004/05, Alan Pardew handed me the armband saying: ‘You’re a born leader, stay true to yourself and don’t lose what you’re about.’ I thrived on the captaincy and like to think I earned respect as we won promotion to the Premier League via victory over Preston North End at the Millennium Stadium the EFL Championship play-off final.
No-one saw our FA Cup run coming but, the following season, we headed back to Cardiff, where we faced reigning UEFA Champions League holders Liverpool.
On 13 May 2006 – one day before my 22nd birthday – I wore that armband as a badge of honour, leading us out for the 125th FA Cup final.
A band of brothers, there was a grit and determination about us and, leading 3-2, we were just a minute or so from lifting the famous old trophy.
But Steven Gerrard equalised to force extra time and, although Liverpool eventually won on penalties, we definitely weren’t outplayed and certainly hadn’t been outclassed.
Every single West Ham United player could look in the mirror knowing they’d given absolutely everything that afternoon – we did the best we could do against one of the giants of the game and I’m so proud to have played in, arguably, the greatest-ever FA Cup final.
Football’s full of ups and downs – whereas we suffered late-heartbreak, thankfully, it was the opposite story out in Prague, where Jarrod Bowen’s 90th-minute winner saw Declan lift the trophy.
I was so pleased for everyone connected with the Football Club.
Whole new ball game
Right now, I’m really proud to be involved with the recently-launched, CBS Sports channel. Broadcasting from our brand-new studio up at Stamford on the outskirts of New York, we’re only in our first year but already we’re covering the big European matches across the Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga and UEFA Champions League.
We’re the only rolling 24/7 football show in the United States. Working in a fantastic environment, it’s great fun and I’m absolutely loving it.
Once you stop playing, there’s suddenly a huge void in your life. You spend hours asking yourself: ‘What am I going to do next?’
Now, after doing bits and pieces in the media down the years, aged 39, I’ve hopefully found my longer-term answer. Sure, it means re-locating our family 1,400 miles north from the Florida sunshine but when you’re given an opportunity like this, you take it.
I’d compare working for CBS Sports to being on the set of Sky Sports News from Day One and look how they’ve grown over these past 25 years or so.
Broadcasting’s never easy and I put in hours of hard graft analysing matches and researching what’s going on across every league.
Trying to explain to the viewers what’s happening from a player, manager and fan perspective, I’m free to be myself and love the fact I can be totally authentic in my role.
When life tells you that you can’t be a professional footballer anymore, then this is easily the next best thing – just like playing, it doesn’t feel like I’m actually at work.
Reo Carnival
Once this summer’s UEFA European Championship finals are over, everyone’s attention will turn to the FIFA 2026 World Cup, which is being played across the entire North American continent – United States, Canada and Mexico.
People are already getting excited about the tournament because it’s going to be massive. Hosted in 16 cities and with 48 countries participating in the finals, this World Cup’s going to be really big.
With so many Americans taking an interest – both watching and playing – the game’s going to become yet more massive, by then.
Previously, they’d tendencies to want to re-invent the wheel when it came to tinkering with our sport but they’re now realising there’s no need to try to fix something that isn’t broken.
Respecting, engaging and identifying with the rules as they stand, I know people who’ve started to travel across to the Atlantic to watch their adopted English teams.
Premier League clubs, themselves, no head in the opposite direction for pre-season tours, too, and by growing fan bases in the USA, relationships can only thrive ahead of those finals.
We’re only two years away from the carnival atmosphere of a World Cup and, believe me, the fans across the globe are going to absolutely love it!
Spanish steps
Aston Villa came into this weekend in fourth-spot and it’s all credit to Unai Emery that they’re having such a great campaign.
Just like West Ham, they’ve also reached the knock-out stages of a major European competition this season and in football – just like any other walk of life – experience is priceless.
Unai has certainly learned from his days as Arsenal manager and, having come back to England from Spain, he’s virtually dealing with the same squad of players, who he inherited from Steven Gerrard.
Look how he’s transformed Villa and totally changed the mindset. I spent four seasons at Villa Park, making 123 appearances and – identical to West Ham – I’ve still got good friends there. Everyone tells me that Unai’s come in and done a phenomenal job – a student of the game, his attention to detail is second to none.
The Hammers and Villa are very similar in terms of their fan-bases, rich-heritage and culture and both sides are perfectly capable of upsetting the apple-cart on any given day.
This season’s developing into one of the tightest title-chases in Premier League history and, although it’s becoming a three-horse race between Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal, teams below them can cause problems.
They’ll certainly be wary because with Unai Emery and David Moyes in charge, the likes of West Ham and Villa can put a spanner in the works when it comes lifting the title.
Collective responsibility
From where I’m sitting here on the other side of the Atlantic, the Hammers have done great over these past few seasons and I just don’t understand why David Moyes seems to come under pressure from time-to-time.
You really do have to look at where West Ham United have been and where they are right now. Coming into this weekend, they were in seventh-spot in the Premier League, having also reached the knock-out stages in European competition for three successive years.
Every single club suffers dips in form and, remember, it’s not just the manager who should take responsibility, it comes down to the players, too.
In my generation, we had to deal directly with the supporters and, with social media in its infancy, nobody could hide behind things. With more accessibility, the fans were a lot closer to players back then and, sometimes finding myself the scapegoat fighting lone battles against people’s perceptions, I personally endured a few very difficult moments, back then.
The only way to regain the respect of the critics was to get back out there on the pitch and battle for the team to bring the good times back.
Today, I still tell youngsters: ‘No matter what you’re going through, even though you’re not seeing it at the time, there’s always light at the end of any tunnel. Stay mentally strong and you’ll overcome situations.’
Although the Hammers had a poor start to this year, they’re getting back on track having been unbeaten in three Premier League matches, while in Europe they came into 2024 keeping company with the likes of AC Milan, Bayer Leverkusen and Liverpool.
Under David Moyes, this West Ham United team is one to be feared and, believe me, there aren’t too many clubs who want to come up against them, these days.
