Hello everyone,
I wanted to write to you all, my fellow West Ham United supporters, following my transfer to Charlton Athletic.
It was strange to wake up on Friday and not be a West Ham player for the first time since the age of ten!
I grew up a West Ham fan, living with my family in Wanstead, and I was so happy when I joined the Club back in December 2010.
I was playing in a Sunday League game for my team Interwood against a team called XL, which had been formed by Dave Hunt, who was the head of recruitment at the Academy.
I must have played well and caught the eye because I was invited in for a six-week trial. I remember I got booked and I think they liked the fact I had a bit of that in my game! I will always be grateful to Hunty and also to a scout called Hakan Houssein, who had wanted to bring me in.
There are so many people I want to thank for supporting me. There were Tony Carr, Paul Heffer and Jimmy Tindall at the start. Jimmy really believed in me when I first came in, then there were James Rowe, Liam Manning, Steve Potts, Mark Phillips, Dmitri Halajko and Terry Westley, who all played massive parts in my development.
My parents used to take me to and from every training session and match and without them I’d never have become a professional footballer. I attended Trinity Catholic High School and they were really good with me, allowing me to go on day-release to train in the mornings, so my Dad used to drop me at Chadwell Heath in the morning on his way to work in Romford, then I’d train, have lunch and my Mum would pick me up and take me back to school for the afternoon!
I was so scared I wouldn’t be allowed to go training so I worked extra hard at school and ended up getting all ten GCSEs with two A-stars, two As and five Bs, then I did a History A-Level while I was a scholar, too.
The first four or five years I was at the Academy I was quite small for my age, so although the coaches liked me, I didn’t ‘play up’ because I wasn’t physically ready. In fact, I remember one game in the Under-13s when the only two of us who didn’t play up were me and Ben Johnson. We were gutted at the time, but everything obviously worked out!
I loved it at Chadwell Heath, training on the astro and the indoor pitch, then we’d play our age-group games on a Sunday at Little Heath from U11s up to U15s, then we’d play on a Saturday as 16s and 18s.
I made some really good friends who I am still in touch with now. Obviously I’ve been with Johno every day, and Declan Rice was here until the summer. I still speak to Dan Kemp a lot and chat to Mason Barrett, Anthony Scully, Idris Kanu and Joe Powell, all of whom are still playing at a good level.
I graduated from the Academy in 2018 and signed my first professional contract. That summer I went away with the senior lads to Switzerland for preseason. I was very nervous, but I thought I did alright.
We drew Macclesfield Town in the EFL Cup and I was named on the bench. Grady Diangana was in the team for his debut and we were all buzzing for him. I remember we were 2-0 up and just before half-time we went 3-0 up and the manager, Manuel Pellegrini, told me to get ready to come on for the second half.
Dec and a few of the senior boys, Ryan Fredericks and Adrián, had a word with me in the tunnel to settle me down and I remember Grady told me to get my first touch as soon as I could, so I dropped deep and got the ball off Issa Diop and after that I felt good. To play alongside Dec, Grady and Joe Powell on my debut was brilliant. I played a couple more League Cup games, including one against Charlton, and then made my Premier League debut against Manchester City in August 2022, which I’ll never forget.
I will always be grateful for playing five times in our UEFA Europa Conference League run, and being part of winning a European trophy is something I never imagined would happen when I joined the Club at the age of ten.
Playing both play-off round games against Viborg in the same team as Johno and playing twice against Silkeborg and then starting alongside so many Academy players against FCSB away are all great memories.
I just want to thank everybody who helped me from the age of ten until now – my coaches, the staff, my teammates and the supporters. West Ham fans love to see their own do well and I’ve felt that support all the time I’ve been at the Club. Everyone has always been great.
I have been fortunate enough to play for Ireland since I was 15 and, having played and captained the Under-21s and received my first senior call-up, I want to play for the senior team. A lot of my family are over in Dublin and it’s always a huge honour to play for my country and I would love to get a senior cap. To give myself the best chance to do that, I need to be playing regularly and I hope to do that for Charlton.
I played under my new manager at Charlton, Michael Appleton, on loan at Lincoln City when I was 19. I know he trusts me, and I am looking forward to playing under him at a big club with new owners and a big vision for the future.
At the same time, I’ll always be a West Ham supporter and keep an eye on how the Hammers are getting on, and I wish everyone at the Club the best.
See you all again soon.
Conor Coventry
