Then like my dreams, they fade and die

September 5, 2013 5:48 AM

The day Harry Redknapp brought a fan on to play for West Ham. According to one of football's most endearing fairytales, Harry Redknapp once pulled an abusive fan from the crowd and put him on the field for West Ham. This allegedly happened in 1994, but no video and scant evidence of the incident exist. Jeff Maysh chased this mystery for over a decade before finally catching up with the fan in question.
posted by Hartster (12 comments total)

The twist made me smile widely. Oh, and it is very hard not to love the alleged tax-dodger also.
posted by jaduncan at 6:02 AM on September 5, 2013 [2 favorites]

oh damn that is a fine story.
posted by From Bklyn at 6:25 AM on September 5, 2013

Great story.
posted by ninebelow at 6:26 AM on September 5, 2013

The article dragged on for too long and tried to include too many angles, but the story itself is very cool (and I don't even care for sports). I had to share it with few friends.
posted by zeikka at 6:32 AM on September 5, 2013 [1 favorite]

I'd never heard this story - thanks for putting this up.
posted by Fuka at 6:37 AM on September 5, 2013

Haha... that's great. Reminds me of the NFL strike, when all those oddball dudes finally got a chance to play in the NFL...
posted by ph00dz at 6:38 AM on September 5, 2013

This is awesome. Reminds me of Texas A&M's 12th Man tradition, though this guy's story is actually way better.
posted by resurrexit at 6:41 AM on September 5, 2013

If you like soccer/football/futbol you should really subscribe to Howler where this was first published. Really well done quarterly.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 7:12 AM on September 5, 2013 [1 favorite]

Went on a bit long with unimportant information, but the ending is ace. I would recommend skipping to the paragraph titled "'I asked him, what size boots are you, son?'".

I see Remy has gone from QPR. Yet more awesome transfer dealings from Redknapp.

In other footy news, Dan Sturridge is turning into an Anfield legend, and now we've got Moses on loan for the season! Thanks Chelsea!
posted by marienbad at 9:22 AM on September 5, 2013

Awesome story, great post, hilarious ending. I enjoyed all the background and wouldn't have minded more, actually... "So you're saying there's a chance!"
posted by J0 at 10:44 AM on September 5, 2013

In other footy news, Dan Sturridge is turning into an Anfield legend, and now we've got Moses on loan for the season! Thanks Chelsea!

Yeah, with a bit of luck your lot will finish above Everton for a change, if the Bitey One can control himself.
posted by MartinWisse at 11:27 AM on September 5, 2013

Yeah, three wins, three winning goals, Sturridge seems seems to be doing something right (and apparently was playing with an injury vs man-u).

I really enjoyed that article, it sounds like every little boy's dream, except it actually happened. It's like Rickie Lambert coming off the bench and scoring the winning goal against Scotland with his first touch ever for England. Stories like that seem too good to be true.
posted by Ned G at 3:18 PM on September 5, 2013