All,
I am please to announce that this years guest for the Annual stag supper is Former West Ham and England footballer Alvin Martin. If you have not already secured your place, please email gprchairman@hotmail.com .
Luke Baker
Chairman
ALVIN MARTIN
Alvin Martin is one of West Ham United's all-time greats, a
true pro respected by fans and players alike. Born in Liverpool, Alvin was
nevertheless rejected by his local club Everton before he joined West Ham
United straight from school. He went on to amass 586 first team appearances for
the Hammers in a successful 19-year career at Upton Park, in which he became
one of only two players (Billy Bonds is the other) to be awarded two
testimonials.
It was alongside ‘Bonzo' in the centre of defence that
Alvin, nicknamed 'Stretch', enjoyed his most rewarding years, winning the FA
Cup and second division championship medals in successive seasons at the start
of the 80s. As a player Alvin was very comfortable in possession of the ball
and deserved to win more than 17 England caps as one of the most accomplished
defenders in the British game.
Alvin was given his first England cap by Ron Greenwood, who
brought him to West Ham as a 14-year-old, against Brazil at Wembley in May
1981. Injury ruled him out of the World Cup finals in Spain in 1982, but he was
playing some of the finest football of his career when the next England
manager, Bobby Robson, included Alvin in his 1986 squad for the finals in
Mexico. He played admirably in the victory over Paraguay but was surprisingly
dropped for the next game, the quarter-final defeat by Argentina's infamous
'Hand of God'.
After leaving the Hammers he had a brief spell with East
London neighbours Leyton Orient, before managing Southend End United for two
years.