Steve Potts is not quite sure where the time has gone.
Just over 20 years ago, the versatile defender departed the Hammers after a stellar playing career in Claret and Blue, with 506 appearances.
Just shy of ten years later, Potts returned to the Club in a coaching capacity. Purely in a part-time role, the former full-back started helping with the U15s.
Fast forward another decade, Potts is a leading figure in the Academy of Football.
Working with the U21s, alongside Mark Robson, he directly influences the next generation of talent hoping to achieve their dreams of playing for the first team – just like Potts did for 17 seasons.
Not that Potts ever set out with the intention of becoming a coach.
“I’ve been back in the Academy for roughly ten years now,” the 55-year-old recalled. “Not that that was the plan. I’d finished playing and I had the intention of going way and trying something else. I didn’t have any drive to really get into coaching. I wanted to do something different.
“My father-in-law was a black cab driver and I was really struggling to think of what to do next after football. One day I said to my wife that I was going to do The Knowledge. That took me three years to get that, and I got my badge so I did that for a while. When I was part-time, I was doing cabbing and coaching. That was my life for a few years.
“Of course, it happened a few times when the passenger was a West Ham fan. That always cost me because I’d usually do the fare for nothing! They’d watched me play over the years, so it felt like the decent thing to do.”
Free fares for fellow Hammers aside, Potts’ attempt to dissociate from football did not work. But then, maybe it was never really going to.
With his eldest son, Dan, in the Academy system, and Freddie following, Potts was spotted regularly on the sidelines at Little Heath and Chadwell Heath. From there, the opportunity to rekindle his relationship with West Ham emerged.
“Because Dan was in the system, I never really went away from the Club. I was here maybe three or four times a week watching him.
“My youngest lad, Freddie, joined the Academy as a five-year-old. I already had seen Dan go through the system. When Freddie started, I had a conversation with Tony Carr, and he asked me to come in and take the U15s group.
“It quickly developed for me where I was doing the U15s, the U16s. I then worked with the U18s with Mark Phillips. Since then, I’ve done the U21s, been back with the U18s, and then back to the U21s again.
“I never really had an end goal with it. For me, the Club wanted me to get involved and use my experience and I was happy to do that.”
A FAMILY BUSINESS
Potts’ passion for West Ham and for football radiates. The only topic that prompts an even bigger smile is when the conversation turns to his children.
The former Hammer is the father of four kids – three boys and a girl. One of them, Dan, plays for EFL Championship side Luton Town, having progressed through the Academy of Football. Freddie, meanwhile, is making his mark in the Irons development team.
Football is truly a family affair in the Potts household.
“They’ve always loved their football,” he beams. “Even at a real young age, they always seemed to have a football at their feet.
“I don’t know if it’s because football has been in the family so much, and has always been on the tele or me going to matches. It was a major part of my life and they grew up with that.
“Jimmy Hampshire got them both into West Ham. Dan was six when they got him in and Freddie was five. I remember saying to Jim at the time about being Freddie being only five. But he used to have games on Friday evenings for the young kids, so I’d bring Freddie to those.”
For all of Potts’ 506 outings as a Hammer, the respective senior side debuts for his sons hold pride of place with the former West Ham captain.
Freddie made his first-team debut from the bench on a famous night in Academy history, as a number of graduates featured in the UEFA Europa League group stage match against Dinamo Zagreb at London Stadium last December.
Fewer fans might recall Dan’s debut, however. A dreary December afternoon in 2011 saw a young left-back thrusted into the starting XI for a Championship clash with Barnsley at the last minute.
Dan, just a day on from signing his first professional deal - and two years after beating leukaemia – put in a performance well beyond his youthful years. Papa Bouba Diop may have scored the winning goal, and captain Kevin Nolan may have been the voted Man Of The Math, but the day belonged to Dan.
“Dan’s debut was a real proud moment,” Potts reflected. “He got thrown into the game. During the warm-ups, you used to have the starters on one side and the subs on the other. I was watching with my wife and I’ve seen Dan go from the substitute group to the starting XI group. He did really well that day.
“There’s a really nice story around that day as well. Dan had a really good game, and he was only 17. The Man Of The Match award was given to Kevin Nolan.
“But what was a fantastic gesture – something I’ll always remember – was that Kev had kept the bottle of champagne that came with being the Man Of The Match. He gave it to Dan on his 18th birthday. It was a such a good gesture. A real captain’s gesture that has always stuck with me, and I know it stuck with Dan as well.”
TOUCHLINE PARENT
Having watched from the stands as eldest son Dan followed in his father’s footsteps, Potts now coaches his youngest each day in his own journey into professional football.
At 19-years-old, Freddie has been in the U21s squad since last season, meaning he and his father must together navigate the blurred lines between being father and son, and coach and player.
“It’s not easy,” Potts admitted. “Obviously, he’s my son and I want the best for my family.
“I think you can go one of two ways with it. You can be too bias with the lad and give them too much special treatment, or you can go the other way and perhaps be too hard on them.
“To be honest, I probably do edge towards being a bit harsh on Freddie, but I do try to keep it as normal as I can and treat him like any other player. I give him honest feedback and give him praise when there is praise to be given, and criticism when it’s needed too.
“I just want him to be treated fairly.”
Journeys home after difficult games, tough results or imperfect performances can be the toughest of times for the Potts and son to get through. With experiences comes wisdom, though, and knowing when to say nothing as parent can more important than speaking as a coach.
“Sometimes you know when to say something and sometimes you know when to keep quiet. I’m sure other boys are the same in that they sometimes don’t want to talk about football with their dad, and sometimes they do.
“If there’s something to be said, but it doesn’t feel right to say it then, I might park it until the following day. If the performance or result hasn’t been good then I might leave that feedback for another day, or even when we’re back in training.
“But that’s been the same with both of my lads throughout their journeys, not just at a senior level. At a young level, both of them hated losing, so any journey home would be quiet.”
ACADEMY VALUES
At 19, Freddie is actually one of the more experienced lads in an U21s squad that is filled with younger talent.
An influx of players from the U18s in the summer has given Potts and lead coach Mark Robson almost a completely new squad to work with for the 2022/23 season.
Results may have not gone their way so far this campaign, but Pots can find little fault in the side’s application and work-rate.
“We are a really different squad this year. It’s not just one or two new faces. It’s probably about half the squad who are new to this level and it’s quite a big jump from U18s to U21s.
“There is a lot more physicality and you are playing now up against 21-year-olds who may have been on loan in the EFL. But if these lads are going to make the grade, then they’ve got to make that step up.
“I think one thing I've been really impressed with in these boys is the way they’ve stuck at it and worked hard in training and every game. It could be easy to get a bit despondent if the results don’t go your way, but they’ve kept going. I think if you do that, and always give 100 per cent then, in the end, things will start turning in your favour.
“That’s one thing I’m really big on – giving 100 per cent each and every day. Credit to these lads because they have. It’s a learning curve for them.”
With almost twenty years as a top-level professional, and over a decade coaching young footballers, Potts has seen some of England’s biggest names come through the Academy of Football.
Could he tell, even when these names were just teenagers, that they would go on to become some of the best to do it?
“You can tell to a certain degree, without being 100 per cent. The group that came through when I was playing for the Club – Rio Ferdinand, Frank Lampard, Joe Cole, Michael Carrick and Jermain Defoe – I was fairly certain they were going to have careers. What they all went on to do was incredible. You could tell there was something special there.
“I think, nowadays, young players don’t get as much exposure to a first team at a young age. It’s more prolonged in that maybe players do a longer time at the Club, or maybe have a loan move, before going into the first team.
“Sometimes you need a little luck as well. A little break here or there that maybe gets you your debut, and then you need to grab your chance.”
It is clear Potts has seen a lot since first stepping foot into West Ham in 1983. Almost 40 years on, with two boys following their father through the Club, the Hammers hold a special place with the Potts family.
“When I finished playing, it hit home a bit then, in terms of the career I had and what I had achieved. Maybe it will be the same when I do leave the Club again one day and I’m done with coaching.
“But right now, this is my job, and I’m loving every single minute of it.”
