From pro-wrestlers to politicians, here are our top 10 most unlikely Hammers.
Cass Pennant
Born in Doncaster, south Yorkshire, the former football hooligan grew up in Slade Green, Kent (now in the south London borough of Bexley).
He rose through the ranks of West Ham’s Inter City Firm to become a “general” and was the first UK hooligan to receive a long-term prison sentence for football-related violence when he was sentenced to four years in 1980.
Morrissey
Despite his most famous picture being taken outside Salford Lads Club, the former frontman of Manchester’s The Smiths made a habit of wearing a West Ham Boys Club T-shirt on stage. Fan may be a strong word, as his donning of claret and blue is largely thought to have been in tribute to the Cockney Rejects from Canning Town, Newham, who had a hit with their version of I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles. The sweet and tender turncoat caused panic on the streets of Los Angeles in 2008 by wearing a Millwall shirt with “Mobster” printed on the back. Some fans are bigger than others, obviously.
David Cameron
Remember when everyone’s favourite down-to-earth, hoodie-hugging, pasty-taxing Tory tried to fake it at footie? For two seconds David Cameron was an accidental Irons fan when he got them mixed up with the team he claims to support – Aston Villa – during a 2015 speech in south London.
He later insisted he was an avid Villa fan, putting a confident stop to suspicions that he was a non-football fan who’d got the teams confused due to them both wearing claret and blue.
Triple H
The 13-time world wrestling champion has his own customised Hammers shirt and reckons Andy Carroll would make a savvy scrapper over at WWE due to his height and hair.
Barack Obama
A friend and I once heard somebody banging on about the former US president’s affinity for West Ham United while drinking in The Bow Bells pub in east London and assumed he was mad. Turns out the Democrat pledged his allegiance on the campaign trail in 2008.
Frank Bruno
A west London boy by birth, the world champion boxer from Hammersmith snubbed his borough’s three teams – Chelsea, Fulham and Queens Park Rangers – to throw his weight behind a club that’s so eastern it used to fall under Essex.
John Cleese
Born in Somerset, the Fawlty Towers star and British comedy icon is nonetheless a lifelong Hammer.
Keira Knightley
The Pride & Prejudice star casually informed the United States of her support live on air with chatshow host Seth Meyers in 2015. She was born in Teddington, whose nearest club is Brentford FC.
Matt Damon
The talented Mr Damon claims to dislike Man Utd and Chelsea while always trying to catch a West Ham game when in England.
Dave Grohl
The former Nirvana drummer called the Hammers his “club of choice” during an interview on music channel VH1.
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