Sometimes in football, a player and a club meet in unlikely circumstances and form a strong relationship.
That can certainly be said for ‘Uncle’ Angelo Ogbonna and West Ham United, who first met in the summer of 2015 and, nine years later, the Italian defender has forged an unbreakable bond with the Irons.
As he approaches his 36th birthday, Ogbonna feels as fit and strong as ever as he prepares to make his 200th Premier League appearance for the Hammers in Sunday’s fixture at Chelsea – a game his team needs to win to maintain hopes of a top-seven finish and European qualification for the fourth season in a row.
That West Ham are challenging for such feats is a far cry from where the Club stood when Ogbonna arrived from Serie A champions Juventus nearly a decade ago.
After finishing 12th in 2014/15, Sam Allardyce departed and was replaced by Slaven Bilić for what would be an unforgettable final season at the Boleyn Ground that the Italian played a full part in, scoring a memorable FA Cup winner against Liverpool and starting the dramatic win over Manchester United at the final game in Upton Park.
Ogbonna then helped the Club make the testing transition to London Stadium, before playing his part in the recent resurgence, starting 28 times as the Hammers finished sixth to secure European football in 2020/21, then appearing in ten ties during the glorious run to UEFA Europa Conference League success last season.
After starring in a 2-0 win at Arsenal in December, injuries to Nayef Aguerd and Dinos Mavropanos have given the veteran centre-back an unexpected chance to play again in recent weeks.
With three games to play, the No21 is relishing the opportunity to give his all in Claret and Blue and provide for the West Ham family he is a big part of.
On Saturday, Ogbonna rolled back the years, making tackles, clearances and blocks to help the Hammers bounce back from an heroic UEFA Europa League exit at the hands of Bayer Leverkusen and a disappointing defeat at Crystal Palace by holding Premier League title-chasing Liverpool to a creditable 2-2 draw at a sold-out London Stadium.
Speaking to West Ham TV, Uncle Ange was in reflective mood, and insists the Club is in a far stronger position than it was when he joined the family nine years ago.
“I'm very, very glad as Saturday was very important to come and play better than last week at Crystal Palace, because we know we were a little bit out of energy,” he began. “Everyone knows the previous Thursday against Bayer Leverkusen was an unbelievable night. We didn't get through, but we gave everything on the pitch and most of the lads were a little bit tired in terms of intensity.
“But we showed we can cope even with a team like Liverpool. We tried our best from the first minute and I think the goal for Jarrod was really deserved. We conceded but we’ve been a little bit unlucky and the reaction was there and this is the way we play and this is the way West Ham play.
“I'm totally against when people say we are a team who just sit back, because we showed we can go on the front foot, we can press them and we can have energy. Of course, sometimes we run out of energy and, to be honest, it wasn't easy this year because we played Sunday/Thursday and the time to recover for the lads wasn't totally easy. Even for the lads who were not playing, to come into the team and try to have the condition to play, it's not easy, but we will never complain.
“It's a little bit harsh, saying that West Ham did bad this season. We managed to stay up in the table, we nearly beat Bayer Leverkusen, so people need to understand the process and the process has been unbelievable. Of course, expectation is high, but you can’t click your finger and you want to change tomorrow. You need to just respect the process. I think West Ham has been unbelievable in the last three years since COVID and I think you need to give time.
“If you look at Liverpool, they won something after five years, not after one year since the manager came in. We won something three years after the manager came in, and who expected that? Who said West Ham could win the Conference League? Who said West Ham could go in the semi-finals of the Europa League? No-one. It’s a totally different West Ham. As a human being, everyone wants more, but you need to understand people that work here have given everything in the transition to try to change things. We have got international players and now we're standing and everyone knows West Ham around the world. This, I think is a very, very, very, very good result and a great build-up.”
West Ham have now played 50 matches this season, following 113 in the previous two combined. Only Manchester City and Liverpool have played more competitive games than the Hammers’ 163 since the start of the 2021/22 campaign.
With their long history in UEFA competitions, those two clubs have experience of dealing with a busy fixture list, while the Hammers are still learning how to cope with regularly playing three games a week, and dealing with the physical, mental and tactical challenges that schedule presents.
At the same time, expectations have naturally risen in east London, as the former Italy international appreciates, but he also knows Rome wasn’t built in a day, no pun intended!
“It's not easy, the competition standard is high and we’re not Man City,” he continued. “We need to respect that and sometimes people forget who we are, so just respect the process. With the changes we made, we are trying to make this Club even bigger and then with time and with a process it’s not a rush. We had the transition but the good and the beautiful thing is that we didn't change our community and that is the best thing.”
Mention of ‘community’ leads Ogbonna to talk about feeling part of something he never knew existed a decade ago, when he was winning titles with Juventus and caps for Italy.
“I’m part of the furniture, as you English say!” he smiled. “I feel sad when we lose because this Club is part of me and it has one hundred per cent of my commitment and everything, so forget about winning or losing, I want this Club to grow in a good way, but not changing much.
“There is opportunity and I always say West Ham has a big potential. I help the young lads or when the international lads come, I welcome them and even try to give something back and some advice. West Ham is a good place to be and east London is a good place to live. Everyone likes east London!”
In all the frenetic chaos and win-now noise of the modern game, Ogbonna exudes a sense of calm, which was never more evident than when he blocked a goalbound shot from Liverpool’s Cody Gakpo on Saturday afternoon, or even when he broke into a rueful smile after the same player’s shot had deflected off him, Tomáš Souček and Alphonse Areola and into the West Ham net.
With over 500 appearances for club and country under his belt, ‘Uncle’ has seen it all before.
“For me, it comes naturally, and we have a lot of players with experience who help me out like Kurt Zouma, Emerson and Edson Álvarez – a lot of good characters who are calm and can read the game in every situation,” he observed. “It’s the same with Vlad and Jarrod, who is a totally different person since he came.
“It’s not just the quality. You have to build your confidence and I prefer to have eleven people on the pitch rather than just eleven players and we have eleven people who show they care.”
