Paul Golder writes for the Brentwood Gazette
It was much harder to spot footballers by accident when I was younger than it is today. Now you can just go on Google or Twitter and get a lot of clues about where you might see them within 60 seconds.
30 years ago you might get lucky and see them driving a car with their name on the side of it. This wasn’t showing off on their part – it was part of a sponsorship deal that they might have arranged, a nice perk in an era when players did not get the massive wage packets they get today.
So when I was 12 years old and a friend and I walked past a house in Gidea Park with Alvin Martin’s car on the driveway, I thought the natural thing to do was to knock on the door and ask if he lived there. We were both a bit shocked when he answered the door!
Alvin was in the middle of an illustrious playing career, with 598 appearances for the Hammers and 17 more for England, along with a spell for Leyton Orient.
He was part of the FA Cup winning team of 1980 and a member of West Ham’s “best ever” team which finished third in the league in 1985/86.
He also achieved the extremely unusual feat of scoring a hat-trick against three different goalkeepers in the same match. West Ham hammered Newcastle 8-1 in a league match in 1986 and Newcastle had to substitute their keeper twice due to injuries.
We were delighted to welcome such a great player into the studio as part of our reguar West Ham Way podcast. Alvin spoke to hosts Dave Walker and Exwhu Employee about his varied career and told some great stories about his time at Upton Park. And I got the chance to apologise for interrupting his Sunday afternoon back in the 80s!
The interview can be downloaded as a 90 minute podcast from our website and is also available free on iTunes by searching for The West Ham Way.
Alvin’s sons are also both professional footballers; David plays for Millwall and Joe is at Stevenage. Joe has joined forces with fellow pro Harry Beautyman to form the Beautyman Martin Academy who run football courses for young players of all abilities. The courses take place in Havering and more details can be found at beautymanmartinacademy.co.uk.
* Lots more guests lined up in the next seven days on air. Former Drifters singer Roy G Hemmings will be chatting to Nigel Fitzmaurice on his Sunday evening soul show Stepping Out.
* We will also be welcoming Andy Peynado from Crystal Communication who will be talking about the Brentwood Business Awards, and there will be live music in the studio from baVard and Sam Callahan.
