Alex has joined the club - and Tony Strudwick's sports science team - and he says:
"It is a dream for me because I supported West Ham as a kid and just lived up the road in Forest Gate; when the opportunity came about I had to grab it with both hands.
"I have played with the manager at three different clubs and we have always kept in touch and been good mates.
"He told me there was a job coming up as a fitness coach which I was doing anyway, privately, and he just said 'it is there for you if you want it.'
"I said yes because it was the chance for me to get back into football, in which I have earned my living for 20 years since leaving school, and it was a great chance.
"I accepted straight away even though I had been working as a PE teacher in south London at a school where I had been for eight months.
"I didn't want to let anyone down but they understood it was a chance for me to get back into it, especially because it was West Ham.
"The kids give you a lot of joy but you find yourself constantly shouting at them because a lot of them don't want to know.
"When it comes to sport it is an escape for them out of the classroom so I got on well with most of them, which was good, but football has always been part of me and I am pleased to be back in the game.
"Tony will be my boss and I will be doing most of my work with the youth players, and yesterday I was with the reserve team.
"If anyone wants individual work they can come and see me for a programme.
"The big time will come in pre-season when we can give them a good base to make sure they are right for the start of the campaign.
"We check all the body stats and make sure they are right, for instance, and coming in now means that next season the players will know what I am about and be ready to work with me - though they will be swearing at me because I am putting them through their paces."
Alex, with his fan's hat on, hopes West Ham get back to the Premiership at the first attempt and adds:
"The boys have done well; people were thinking we weren't going to get there but touch wood everything has gone all right.
"We just have to concentrate and not slip up on Saturday - and push on in the playoffs, hopefully."