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Many is the WHO thread that's been started about this legend ! Enjoy ......
Samassi Abou: ‘I loved watching Dot Cotton but I never drove a bus in Basildon’
It is 20 years since Samassi Abou left West Ham United, yet no matter where he goes the greeting he receives from supporters is still the same.
“Some people would see me on the street and they would shout ‘Abooooouuuuuu’ and it’s so funny,” he tells The Athletic. “The other day I was at a restaurant with my wife and these people came up to us and just randomly start shouting ‘Abooouuuuuuuu’. I was laughing so much because they almost kicked us out the restaurant.”
When West Ham fans reflect on Abou’s three-year spell at the club, they remember his determination to learn English, his performance in the 6-0 win over Barnsley, missing from close range against Manchester United and showing his fiery side against Ramon Vega. Under Harry Redknapp he became a fan favourite.
The £250,000 signing from AS Cannes in 1997 scored six goals in 31 appearances for West Ham. When the club tweeted a happy birthday message to Abou in 2016, the responses showed how much the east end took him to their hearts, with replies along the lines of “Loved this fella” and “Legend”.
The Ivory Coast-born forward’s integration, though, was aided by an unlikely source — EastEnders. In particular, by his favourite character, Dot Cotton.
“Nobody taught me English so I used to watch a lot of TV,” he says. “EastEnders was my favourite show so I watched that a lot. Dot was my favourite character. I used to talk about the show with my team-mates but they would look at me funny. I think I was the only one who watched the show. I also watched BBC News which helped me improve my English but EastEnders was the best.
“West Ham was a great team for me. Before that I had only played in France and to have the chance to play in the Premiership. Who in their right mind would refuse that? Nobody would.”
While the offer was too good to refuse there was one brief, unnerving moment when West Ham’s new signing feared he had already lost the supporters.
“I thought they were booing me at first,” he says of that now famous chant.
“For me it was good because when I was at West Ham, fans would shout ‘Aboooouuuuu’ and it felt great. When I was at Cannes the fans would never sing my name.
“At the time it was a new experience for me because a lot of people were saying, ‘English football is the best in the world’. I’m the first Ivorian to play in the English Premier League. So anytime I would go back to my country I felt like a celebrity because people would shout, ‘Aboooouuuu you’re the first Ivorian to play in the Premier League.'”
“I liked it because it was the first time a lot of people shouted my name in the stadium. It was a special feeling. To play against Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United was incredible.”
Ah yes, Manchester United. It was the fulfilment of a dream to play against one of the game’s giants but it still be remembered for one of the more glaring misses in Premier League history. With the match tied at 1-1 the ball is swung in from a corner on the right, deceives Peter Schmeichel and drops for Abou, who is no more than three yards out in the centre of an open goal. He reacts quickly but succeeds only in lifting the ball over the bar.
“People in Ivory Coast still talk about my miss against United. People will never forget,” he admits.
Before Abou, now 46, explains where he has been all these years, he is keen to talk about Vega. Abou received a red card in a 1-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur in January 1998 for fouling the defender in an off-the-ball incident.
Redknapp was furious, accusing Vega of feigning injury and saying that he “rolled around as if he had a broken leg — all he broke was a tie-up”.
“Redknapp left incensed by a Swiss roll” ran the headline in The Independent. Now Abou wants to give his side of the story.
“Do you remember that guy Vega? Well I’m a centre-forward and he’s a defender,” he says. “If you kick me, I kick you back, simple. You cannot kick me all the time and expect me not to do anything.
“So we’re playing at Tottenham and the referee gave me a red card. I told the referee I didn’t do anything but he didn’t want to listen. Vega got me sent off in the game. It was the same thing at Arsenal. Martin Keown always used to kick me. I remember saying to him, ‘Hello, I know you’re Martin Keown but I will still kick you back.'”
After four loan moves, Abou finally left West Ham in 2000 after holding out for a new three-year contract offer that never came.
His time was enough to earn cult-hero status and helped West Ham to finish fifth, their highest in the Premier League, in the 1998-99 season. That season and those team-mates left him with some treasured memories and some more bizarre ones.
“I think our football was better than what fans see now,” he says. “We had Eyal Berkovic, Paolo Di Canio, Frank Lampard, Rio Ferdinand, John Moncur, so many good players. I don’t understand why they didn’t keep that team together. We could have won the Premier League.
“At West Ham they used to say I was crazy but John Moncur is more crazy than me. He used to take his clothes off and dance naked after games. When I went back to Ivory Coast I told them I found someone that’s more crazy than me.
“When I look back at West Ham, Ferdinand helped me out a lot. Sometimes he would talk to me before games, even Lampard would do the same thing. They’re both really good people. I was living in Epping Forest, near Waltham Abbey, and Rio was my neighbour. He would visit sometimes and we would go out for lunch. Before Marc Keller and Marc-Vivien Foe came to West Ham, it was me and David Terrier. So Rio helping me out made things so much easier. Teddy Sheringham was also my neighbour.”
Abou finally retired in 2003 but, despite finishing his playing career in France, a rumour took hold that he had returned to London, to work as a bus driver in Basildon. It was not true.
“Somebody phoned and told me that they saw in the newspaper I’m a bus driver in London,” he says when asked about the strangest claim of what he’s been up to. “Come on? Me a bus driver? The only business I know is football. I also have a fake Twitter page. I find these things funny.”
The truth is that Abou lives in Abidjan, the economic capital of the Ivory Coast, where he runs an academy — called the Red Academy — coaching kids between the ages of 11-17. He had been trying to set it up since 2010 but was finally granted a licence five months ago and now hopes to develop links with Europe.
“The academy is called Red because I’m a big Liverpool fan,” he adds. “I love that club and the kids love the name. We’re based in Ivory Coast in Abidjan. We have a big problem in this country when it comes to developing young players, so hopefully this academy can change that.”
Abou plans on visiting London in April to spend time with his daughter. He wants to attend a home game at West Ham and David Moyes’s side face Chelsea on April 5, a day after Abou’s birthday, and Burnley 13 days later.
“Any time they are ready I will come back to support the team,” he says. “I’ve been there three or four times since I left the club. My daughter lives in London so if West Ham have a home game I always make sure I’m there. The young fans don’t know who I am but the older supporters recognise me.”
While West Ham fans are unlikely to spot Abou on a bus in Basildon, he is sorry they have not heard much from him since leaving and wants them to know he still loves the club.
“I want to tell the West Ham fans: don’t let down your team because they need you right now,” he says. “So many people say ‘Abooooouuuuuu’ and that’s thanks to you guys. It was my pleasure to play for West Ham, my time at the club was special and most importantly I love you guys.”
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