West Ham United’s open-top bus parade saw 70,000 supporters join David Moyes, his squad and the UEFA Europa Conference League trophy tour the streets of east London less than 24 hours after the Irons’ sensational 2-1 victory over ACF Fiorentina.
Still wearing their winner’s medals, every player got their chance to hold the cup aloft, earning a roar of approval from the Claret and Blue Army, while a microphone was passed around to enable the heroes to lead the singing.
The undoubted star of the show was Thilo Kehrer, whose deafening shouts of ‘Irons!’ and ‘West Ham are Massive!’ could be heard all over Newham, both from the bus and later from the balcony of Stratford Town Hall.
By his own admission, the Germany international did not enjoy the easiest of times in his first season in English football, but his performances in Europe were consistent. In the ten ties Kehrer appeared in, West Ham won all ten, including starts in both legs of the semi-final against AZ Alkmaar and an impressive 29-minute cameo off the substitutes’ bench in the final.
After earning cult status for his performance at the parade, Kehrer has shared his joy with everyone he has encountered – his family, friends, Germany national team colleagues and the young people he met at his Foundation in his ancestral home country, Burundi.
The 26-year-old returned to Rush Green last week, still smiling from ear to ear after a summer he will never forget and was happy to share the story following Saturday’s 2-2 pre-season draw at Dagenham & Redbridge.
Thilo, it looks like you had an interesting summer?
“It was really interesting. I had some travels with my family and with my Foundation, I went to Africa and had some nice projects and encounters with the people there. I went to Burundi for a week, to Germany to see my family over there, I went to Spain as well and to Israel and Jordan to see the Dead Sea, and I played for the national team in Poland.”
Did you take your medal with you to Africa?
“Yeah, I took it with me everywhere! I took it to the German national team, to Africa, on holiday… My parents have it now back in Germany for safe keeping!”
Reflecting on the celebrations after the final, the consensus is that you enjoyed it more than anyone!
“I just really enjoyed it, 100 per cent! I celebrated as much as I could, especially after the season we had. I felt like celebrating and shouting and being there with the fans because we all share the same emotions when it’s going good and we smile when we win, and when it’s going bad we all feel disappointed. When you win, I think we should fully appreciate it and share the moment.”
Was that a big release of emotion for you, finishing a season that might not have gone exactly as you wanted on such a high?
“Yeah, I mean you can definitely say I had a big release of emotions because of some struggles that were there during the season. We all take the huge achievement and the celebrations and the importance of what we achieved last season and we want to take that positive energy with us. We are starting a new season and hopefully we can go on a good run again.”
Things might be slightly different, but there is a very positive vibe around the Club at the moment and we have a lot to look forward to with the UEFA Europa League again this season?
“Of course, of course. We all talked about how huge it is for the Club to win a title in Europe and it’s just history – you can’t say it better than that. We worked for it every day and now we’re working again to hopefully achieve great things again. It’s not granted to anyone and we know that, so we know how huge it was last season. This year, we’ll just try to take the good vibes and good energy and keep working hard, because a lot of our success last season came from our resilience, our work ethic and our team spirit in the group, and the joy we take from working hard and working together, so those are the fundamentals we need to keep up.”
