McAvennie Exclusive: Dressing room atmosphere is vital at West Ham
We’re delighted to welcome former West Ham United striker Frank McAvennie as our exclusive columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at the London Stadium…
Frank McAvennie believes a strong, closely-knit bunch of players is key to success at any club after Declan Rice hailed the atmosphere inside the West Ham dressing room at the moment.
David Moyes’ men are flying high in the Premier League and currently sit in fourth place with 12 matches left to play.
Speaking earlier this week, Rice, as quoted by the Daily Mail, bigger up how good the atmosphere is among the squad in East London is at the moment.
He said: “Honestly, I can say first hand this is the best West Ham team I’ve been a part of in the four years I’ve been in the team.
“There’s a unity, the love the lads have for each other, the banter on a daily basis and the mentality has changed completely.”
McAvennie was part of an iconic West Ham squad in the 1980s and also played alongside some great players at Celtic, where he won one league title and one Scottish Cup.
He claims that a good team spirit is vital and that he still speaks to some of his former West Ham team-mates today.
“It’s great and that’s how it should be,” McAvennie told West Ham Zone.
“Every good team I played in had one. I was on the phone to Tony Cottee this morning and last night with Tony Gale. It’s just the atmosphere in the dressing room was great.
“At Celtic, there were Andy Walker and Packie Bonner, there was a great togetherness.
“When you’re together, you’re tearing each other apart. It’s the sign of a good, close-knit bond and it’s great.
“I kept talking before about nobody smiling and [Sebastien] Haller doesn’t move after he scores and I’m thinking, ‘come on, do yourself a favour’. I’d call him miserable, take it how you want but David has got them all in there and it’s great.
“I get what Declan said. There’s nothing better than going in every morning and looking forward to it. There’s nothing better than that. You’re like ‘here we go again, another day, it’s great,’ the boys are all buzzing. It’s good fun and it’s a team that’s together.
“I’m delighted to see them challenging. This is what supporters were promised. They were promised to challenge for Europe so that’s what fans were wanting, not a relegation fight every year.”
West Ham lost 2-1 to Manchester City at the Etihad on Saturday but there were plenty of positives to take from the defeat.
Michail Antonio became the third player to score against Man City in the league in 2021 and the first to score against them at the Etihad since December 15 when they drew 1-1 with West Brom.
It’s also only the seventh league defeat that the Irons have suffered this season and all but one of those have come against the traditional ‘big six’ clubs.
Moyes has a really great bunch of players in his squad who are technically gifted, hard workers and also top characters.
They deserve to be where they are and they deserve a shot at qualifying for Europe this season.
In other West Ham news, Joe Cole has been raving about Irons striker Antonio.