A cult hero down West Ham way, former Wales, former defender James Collins made 214 appearances across his two spells in east London. On his 40th birthday, the Ginger Pelé reflects on his favourite moments in Claret and Blue...
Band of Brothers
As a kid back home in Wales, I’d grown up with Danny Gabbidon and we eventually found ourselves playing alongside each other in central defence for both Cardiff City and our country.
In 2004/05, we each had decent games against West Ham United at both Ninian Park and the Boleyn Ground.
The Hammers were destined for promotion via the Play-Offs and our performances started the whispers that Alan Pardew was interested in signing us but never in our wildest dreams did we expect Cardiff to sell both their centre-halves to one club at the same time.
Certainly, it’d never been done before but things snowballed and, aged 21, having hardly ever left my hometown of Newport, yet alone Wales, I now found myself thrust into the middle of Essex, alongside Gabbs.
I struggled a bit at first, but it ended up proving to be the most enjoyable time of my career.
Forget the matches themselves, I just loved driving into our Chadwell Heath training ground every day and being in and around the Club. It may not have been the most luxurious place, but it was our home and, on-and-off the pitch, we had a great team spirit within the squad.
All of us youngsters – the likes of Matty Etherington, Nigel Reo-Coker, Anton Ferdinand, Gabbs and myself – were hungry to learn about life in the Premier League, while the old man, Teddy Sheringham, would regale us with his stories, too.
I was among a unique band of brothers but, having just got promoted to the top-flight, most observers reckoned we’d struggle. It was us against the world and, in our first season back in the top-flight, nobody expected West Ham United to get anywhere near to an FA Cup final…
Semi-final sensation
Believe it or not, my Dad’s boss in Wales was a mad Hammers fan so I knew all about the passion of the West Ham United supporters and how much they craved a cup final day out.
After beating Norwich City, Blackburn Rovers and Bolton Wanderers we faced a tough quarter-final at Stuart Pearce’s Manchester City, where Dean Ashton’s double gave us a 2-1 win.
A semi-final victory over Middlesbrough at Villa Park and a trip back to Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium for the 2006 FA Cup final would now certainly top-off my first season…
Our Boro’ clash represented a massive cup-tie and the Hammers fans in the crowd of 39,148 were the noisiest I’d ever heard them.
Paul Konchesky and Anton played at full-back, while Gabbs and myself were centre-halves in front of Shaka Hislop. We played really well as a unit, while at the other end, Marlon Harewood gave us a 1-0 victory.
But three weeks later, I was only on the bench for the 125th FA Cup final. I was absolutely fuming! Those massive wins over City and Boro’ had earned us our right to face Liverpool in Cardiff but for reasons only known to the manager, he selected Lionel Scaloni at right-back, while moving Anton across to centre-half. I was fully-fit but Pards chose a loan player over one of his permanent summer signings.
Leading 3-2 going into the final moments, every West Ham fan knows what then happened as Steven Gerrard levelled before Liverpool won on penalties.
Personally, it was a really disappointing end to that first season and, looking back now, it was my only chance to ever play in an FA Cup final but that’s football and I still take immense pride at helping to give those Hammers fans their day out.
The Great Escape
After finishing ninth in that first season back in the Premier League, no-one expected the relegation battle that we endured in our second campaign.
When Alan Curbishley took over from Pards in mid-December, we’d only won four league matches all season. Struggling badly, we were firm favourites to go down.
Despite beating Manchester United in Curbs’ first game, going into March we still only had 20 points on the board. There were no panic stations, though, because we had a strong inner belief within the squad that we’d stay up. Looking around the dressing room we had some real fighters, while calm and confident skipper Lucas Neill was absolutely unbelievable with his rallying speeches.
It’s strange but this was one of the most enjoyable seasons of my career. Always wearing my heart on my sleeve, I loved everything about defending – tackling, blocking, heading… just doing everything possible to keep the ball out of our net.
By April, we knew we’d be under the cosh as we headed to Emirates Stadium to face fourth-placed Arsenal, but I certainly never expected the siege that followed. The Gunners won the stats count hands down – shots 35-6 and corners 14-1 – while we made 59 clearances on an afternoon when everyone in a West Ham shirt, from Robert Green in goal through to Bobby Zamora up front, dug-in.
Keeping a clean sheet, Greeny had the game of his life, while Bobby’s breakaway goal gave us a 1-0 victory.
Despite having won six of our last eight matches, we were still under pressure on a final, mad ‘Survival Sunday’ but we now travelled to champions Manchester United with confidence and, as everyone knows, pulled off our Great Escape and stayed up thanks to the on-fire Carlos Tevez’s Old Trafford winner.
To Birmingham and back!
I’d only played 65 matches for West Ham United and, not wanting to leave, tried everything when the Club tried to sell me in summer 2009.
Turning down Stoke City, I figured that if I kept doing that I’d stay at Upton Park but the Hammers hierarchy explained they weren’t in the best financial situation.
‘You’ve gotta go!’ they said. With respect to the other clubs who tried to sign me, though, the prospect of joining Aston Villa on the final day of the transfer window was a totally different story.
Under Martin O’Neill, they’d finished sixth in successive seasons and twice qualified for the Europe and it proved to be a great move for both clubs and myself.
I played in another FA Cup semi-final and the League Cup final during my first season, while going on to make over 100 Villa appearances.
Then, in 2012, right out of the blue, I was on a pre-season tour of USA, when Mark Noble phoned me. ‘Ginge, Big Sam wants you back!’ he said. I jumped at the chance.
Forget Sam Allardyce, it was Nobes who negotiated the deal virtually single-handedly – that lad could easily become an agent when he packs up playing in May!
Ironically, my second Hammers debut was against Villa (1-0) on the opening day of 2012/13.
By the time the FA Cup third round came around, Joe Cole had returned, too, and he marked his own second debut against Manchester United (2-2) in the FA Cup by delivering two brilliant crosses for me to score with a couple of headers.
Overall, I netted nine times for West Ham and although I’d got my fair share of goals playing up-front for Cardiff’s youth team, that was the first time that I’d ever got two either in a first-team game or as a central defender.
Trading places
We achieved some great results during 2015/16 – the Farewell Boleyn season.
I started an incredible year playing in the Europa League and ended it marking Ronaldo in Wales’ UEFA Euro 2016 semi-final against eventual winners, Portugal.
Sandwiched in-between was our amazing final campaign at Upton Park and no matter who was playing at centre-half – James Tomkins, Angelo Ogbonna, Winston Reid or myself – every single player wanted to make sure that they did that old stadium justice.
Memorably, we beat Chelsea (2-1), Liverpool (2-0), Tottenham Hotspur (1-0), while drawing with Manchester City (2-2), too. We also knocked Liverpool out of the FA Cup in extra-time (2-1) and can all look back fondly on that last season at the Boleyn Ground.
Sure, we were all used to Upton Park but the move to London Stadium was needed if the Football Club was going to go forward.
Few people like change and those early days were certainly difficult as we got all used to the logistics of our new surroundings.
I played in our first-ever Premier League match at our new home against Bournemouth which we won 1-0 but, generally, we had a tough time out on the pitch that season and our football simply wasn’t good enough.
We struggled to give the supporters something to shout about but as we’re now seeing under David Moyes today, once you start putting in big performances and getting big results, you can start making big memories.
Whenever I come back to do my media work, there’s a definite feeling that London Stadium is now beginning to feel like home and, hopefully, with its 60,000 capacity, this present West Ham United side can continue to do well and make more memories for the supporters.
Ginger Pelé the pundit and podcaster!
I made my 214th and final Hammers appearance, coming on as a late substitute against Everton in final game of 2017/18.
My contract was expiring and it was a horrible time for me because there was a lot of uncertainty around the place and I didn’t really have anyone to talk to about an extension.
Across my two spells, I’d built-up an unbelievable relationship with the fans and they’d made it clear they wanted me to stay. Singing their ‘One Ginger Pelé’ chant, the Hammers supporters in the crowd of 56,926 gave me an amazing ovation.
I may never have been a stand-out player with great technical skills but they identified with me as a tough, all or nothing working-class lad. Okay, I didn’t play pretty football but I did always give them everything and they appreciated that.
As I celebrate my 40th birthday today, I’ve now started doing my coaching badges, while retirement’s allowing me to do family things with my wife Samantha and our three kids, Dylan, Myla and Jesse.
I’m also enjoying my radio work and especially love coming back to London Stadium to see so many memorable old faces.
This past month, we've also launched the new official West Ham United podcast, Iron Cast, which I'm presenting with Chris Scull. It's brilliant, to be fair, meeting the new signings and doing in-depth pieces with current and former players and staff, so please tune in!
