‘Dev‘ the Cup legend who can‘t believe it’s 38 years of hurt for Hammers
THAT chevron moustache is long gone, and what’s left of the 1980s mullet nestles under a flat cap these days. of part-timers who graft and juggle day jobs with long-haul trips Barrow or Gateshead.
And he is proud of the 25 players who have progressed into the League under his tutelage in two spells at the Magpies, as well as Braintree Town and Hampton & Richmond Borough.
One of Devonshire’s latest graduates was winger Sam
Barratt, who ran his own custom-design shoes and clothes business from his parents’ house before Southend came calling last summer.
“All I do is point them in the right direction,” said Devonshire. “I hope I point them all the right way against Portsmouth, or we’ll be in for a tough day at the office.
“It’s only 10 years ago that they won the FA Cup. I remember how good that felt to – although I’m not dancing down the wing now. It’s more of a shuffle.”
Crikey, was it 38 years ago that Devonshire’s slalom and cross led to Trevor Brooking’s winner against Arsenal in the final?
“That Cup run and the final is still my greatest memory in football,” he said. “And it makes me sad that West Ham haven’t won anything since then. For a club of their size, it’s hard to get your head round that.
“I know you have to move with the times, and for whatever reason the club decided they needed to move, but the Boleyn Ground will always be the place I call home. My memories were made at Upton Park. That’s where we played when I signed for West Ham (for £5,000 from non-league Southall) in 1976, and on our day we could play a bit.
“People talk about the ‘West Ham way’ and the ‘Academy of Football’, but what that really meant was being progressive, trying to get forward, trying to play around the opposition’s box.
“When I got the ball, I wanted to attack people. And if I couldn’t go past them, or the way ahead was blocked, I would give it to Trevor, who could make a ball talk.
“Sometimes we were a bit too open for our own good, but that’s the game we were brought up to play and people enjoyed it.
“I get bored watching Premier League football now. It’s all about possession, full-backs and centre halves passing it among themselves.
“Quite often you will see games where defenders or even goalkeepers are having more touches of the ball than attacking players, and that can’t be right.
“If a game’s on TV, I’ll still watch it. But if they start passing sideways and don’t even try to get out of their own half, I’ll switch it off.”
Another bugbear which makes Devonshire laugh is managers who complain about players’ workloads.
In his mind, moaning about rotation is when the spin dryer breaks down.
“I get a bit cheesed off when you hear people making excuses for resting players because they can’t play twice in a week,” he frowned. “In 1985-86, when we were going for the title at West Ham and we came third we played 12 games in about 30 days in April.
“And that was in the days when you didn’t have 30 players in your squad and we were only allowed one sub.” FA Cup third round: Tomorrow, 12.45pm
KAYODE ODEJAYI once famously knocked Chelsea out of the FA Cup and is targeting another giant-killing with Guiseley.
Odejayi scored the goal which fired Barnsley to a quarter-final win over the then-cup holders in 2008.
The giant front-man is hoping for a repeat display when part-timers Guiseley host League Two Cambridge tomorrow.
Odejayi said: “The FA Cup has been a competition I have really enjoyed playing in and I just want to help Guiseley write some more history this year.”