Football legend at king's lynn irons club for festive fun

A West Ham United footballing legend was the special guest at the King’s Lynn Irons Club’s 2018 Christmas meal on Friday.

Tony Cottee posed for pictures with members of KLIC at Titchwell Manor, signed West Ham memorabilia and recounted countless stories of his time playing for his home club over two spells, the first ending in 1988 before returning to the team in 1994 after time at Everton. 

Cottee also made seven appearances for Norwich City in 2000 before managing Barnet and going on to be a TV commentator for Sky Sports.

The 53-year-old played for the Hammers 212 times, scoring 92 goals, after making his debut with the team in 1983 at the age of 17 and he was the PFA Young Player of the Year in 1986 when West Ham finished third in the then Division One.

His international career saw him win seven caps after his debut for England against Sweden in 1986 and just this year he made a cameo appearance in the film Final Score in which he was murdered!

Mark Steele, KLIC's secretary, said: “Having Tony as the guest at our Christmas meal was a very special occasion in the history of the King’s Lynn Irons Club.

“As well as signing all whole host of things, including football boots and matchday programmes, he also embraced the more unusual request from one member of FaceTiming a family friend!

“The boys of ‘86 with Tony and Frank playing up front was a fantastic era for the club and it was wonderful that Tony came to West Norfolk to meet our members and chat to them about the great times he had with the team.

“One story he did tell from that time was going on a pre-season tour to Amsterdam where John Lyall let the boys go out with an 11pm curfew. He was impressed when Tony and Frank returned at 10.45pm but then they left via the fire escape and stayed out until 3am.

“The next morning at breakfast John said he knew some had been out but asked that the guilty parties anonymously place a fine of £50 on the table. He left the room for a short time and returned expecting to see a couple of hundred only to find £1,200 as the whole squad had been out!

“When asked during the Q&A session if he had any regrets, he replied by saying he regretted not remaining a one-club player like Trevor Brooking but he was and always will remain a firm favourite with the Hammers faithful – even if he did play for Millwall!”

The KLIC has around 50 season ticket holders and regularly makes the trip to home and away games of the Premier League team and members also meet socially during the year. For more details, see the KLIC website at: kingslynnirons.com