West Ham legend attends King's Lynn Irons Club Christmas meal

A West Ham United footballing legend was the special guest at the King’s Lynn Irons Club’s Christmas meal on Friday 5 December.

Ronnie Boyce, who played for the Hammers 342 times including the 1964 FA Cup Final win and the European Cup Winners Cup final the following year, was one of the the first to arrive and last to leave the festive event at the Riverside Restaurant in Lynn.

The 71-year-old posed for pictures with members, signed West Ham programmes and recounted countless stories of his time playing, coaching and scouting for the East London club during a Q&A session.

David Blackmore, media, publicity & communications officer at KLIC, said: “Having Ronnie as the guest of our Christmas meal was a very special occasion in the history of the King’s Lynn Irons Club. I had the privilege of sitting on his table and it was an absolute pleasure to hear the stories of his life with West Ham.

“For many West Ham fans, his most important goal was the last minute winner in the 1964 FA Cup final which brought the prized trophy back to the East End for the first time in the club’s history but it was also refreshing to hear Ronnie reliving his amazing goal against Manchester City – a goal that was later shown to all members both young and old on a projector behind Ronnie (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LH677srktkk)

“He was a firm favourite with the Hammers faithful back in the 1960s and it wasn’t hard to see why. He was brilliant from start to finish. A true professional, he was honest, friendly, warm, personable, and I really liked everything about him.

"People always say don't meet your heroes because they'll disappoint you but for our members who are old enough to have watched him play, Ronnie was everything they thought he would be and more. We'd like to say a huge thank you to Ronnie for making so many KLIC members patients happy and for giving up his time to be our guest.”

David added: “The highlight for me was when Ronnie was asked about his week in charge of West Ham after the infamous Lou Macari reign had come to an end. He smiled as he recounted his confusion when confronted by 30+ reporters after training when it emerged he was caretaker manager before he spoke of his pride of being undefeated during his short tenure as West Ham’s gaffer – a 1-1 draw away at Swindon Town, which according to Ronnie was a hard place to go to in 1990.”

The King's Lynn Irons Club, one of the largest West Ham United supporters' clubs, aims is to give fans in the King's Lynn and surrounding area the opportunity to get tickets to watch West Ham United at home and away.

For more information about the club visit www.kingslynnirons.com. You can also follow them on Twitter @KingsLynnIrons.