Tonight's Carling Cup clash between West Ham and Southend United is a special night for Hammers' youth coach Paul Heffer.
Tes Bramble - back in the Southend squad for tonight's match after serving a three-game ban Picture: ROBIN WOOSEY
For the match re-unites him with the club where he spent three years as a coach after being rescued from the obscurity of a greengrocer's shop in Southend.
Hammers legend Bobby Moore was the Shrimpers chief back then, and it was his influence that got Heffer back into the professional game.
"Bobby and I knew each other from our playing days. He knew I was in the area when he took over at Southend and he got a friend of ours, Dave Patience, to come down to Roots Hall," he recalled.
"Bobby was with Harry Cripps and Jack Burkett, we all went down there at the same time.
"Jack and I did the youth team for a year before Kevin Lock took over and we worked with Bobby for a season before deciding it wasn't the place for him."
Under Moore and his replacement David Webb, Heffer helped oversee a golden age of youth team football at Roots Hall.
Among the players to emerge was Spencer Prior, who is likely to line up against Hammers this evening, while he also helped Justin Edinburgh emerge into the sport.
Published Tuesday August 24, 2004
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