RIP Alex Van de Weyer - founder of WestHamOnline

[wils]

I received a very sad message about Alex, the founder of WHO. I didn't know him personally but I am aware of who he is and that he deserves a tribute from us all. Perhaps it's fitting for those who were around when he was contributing here to share memories under this post.

RIP Alex and thank you for creating this site.

Hi there,

I’m not sure how many people who were around in the early days are still
using this forum, but I wanted to share this news in case it’s relevant to
a few. Alex Van de Weyer, who founded this site back in the day, died
unexpectedly last month. He was only 52 and was found at home; he died of
natural causes. He was my partner for many years, and we have a daughter
together.

I think it was in the late 1990s that Alex decided to teach himself PHP
coding to create a West Ham forum. He launched WestHamOnline.com. He wrote
weekly match reports, while I contacted opposition fans with a
questionnaire to create match previews. I remember a column by “Billy
Blagg,” player injury updates, transfer rumours, and fan votes. One
December I even made advent calendar picture posts. There was Steve Potts
in his bedroom full of West Ham merch, plus plenty of other silliness! Alex
V spent huge amounts of time working to make the site a success, coding any
features he thought it needed. His posts were always full of wit and strong
opinions.

Alex was a football stats nerd, and even contacted the club to point out
that Crysencio Summerville could be classed as a home-grown player when
they hadn’t spotted it. This was apparently due to a complex detail
involving birth dates and Covid-era season rules. He was proud of that
spot, and maybe it made a small difference to the club.

Alex later gave up his season ticket and moved out of London, but he still
followed the team with passion. He posted about club strategy on social
media and stayed involved that way. My daughter believes the last message
he read from her was about West Ham being ahead in a recent match. That
feels fitting.

Alex V will be missed by all who knew and loved him.

[chim chim cha boo]

Very sad. Only 52? He must have been at school when he came up with this site!

Seriously though Alex V invented probably the best website on the Internet. It didn't go 'viral' for two weeks and disappear, wasn't started because we had just won a cup or the league (we wish!) and a bundle of 'new' supporters had jumped online and NOBODY was too big to get some relentless cold piss poured onto them. It was a website you couldn't wait to log into and for maybe over ten years would provide a proper belly laugh consistently.

Somehow a bunch of cynical, nasty bastards,  dreamers, bullshitters, villains, liars, comedy characters,  wind-up merchants, proper journalists, hooligans, idiots, the seriously mentally ill, people who hated other West Ham supporters, people who would go out of their way to help you wherever you were in the world, two-bob politicians, some brilliant (mostly disgusting) stories, shit jokes, great jokes and people you intrinsically liked and enjoyed a beer with or would if ever you were on our parish. Sometimes there were even people who knew a bit about football.

Rest in peace Alex V and bless your family who have lost you far, far too young. I hope you find a grain of solice in the fact that we all squandered far too much time on the toilet avidly reading and usually laughing along with something he created. 

 

[stubbo-admin]

Maybe every year, on the anniversary of his passing, the site should open itself up to a "Black Font Day".

Not sure how any sponsors or the regulators would view such a happening, but, in my mind, it was Black Fonters, suitably lubricated by "Slurps", Friday or otherwise, that really set the tone on the site that has mostly carried through to today..

It's all doable.

Could have a dedicated 'black font forum' that is partitioned off.

I'd probably need to get some kind of auto-moderationnin place first though....might be hard to keep up with in this day and age.

[wanstead_hammer]

Sad news indeed.   RIP Alex V.
(Meant to post this earlier)

Have been on here donkeys years.
No.1 son joined first as ‘Bobbymorelower’


 

[Mike Oxsaw]

Maybe every year, on the anniversary of his passing, the site should open itself up to a "Black Font Day".

Not sure how any sponsors or the regulators would view such a happening, but, in my mind, it was Black Fonters, suitably lubricated by "Slurps", Friday or otherwise, that really set the tone on the site that has mostly carried through to today..

[iron_original]

Very sad news

I joined here in around 2000 as 'iron' and was a regular on here for about 7 years until I got a promotion at my then job and had to start doing some real work rather than post on here all day.

I rarely visit the site now days but had to post to say thank you so much to Alex V for creating the site and making it so easy to use. The best West Ham forum by a country mile.

Never liked Kumb as that felt like all the school prefects who didn't like you going on there and was all very cliquey, WHO was a much better place with far more interesting characters and debate !

Nice to some usernames on this thread that I had forgotten about. 

RIP Alex V
 

[The Mercernary]

Only just found out this news today, how terribly sad. As has been mentioned 52 is no age - sincerest condolences to his family and friends. I hope reading so many posts from people who have such fond memories of using Alex's brainchild will give some much needed comfort.

I joined the site around the time Paolo netted the FA Cup winner at Old Trafford and was immediately hooked. There were so many threads that it was difficult to keep up with them all, never mind be able to post an opinion on one! From ridiculous and hilarious, to heartfelt and fascinating, it had it all, and it was ours. I've experienced every emotion over the years reading the huge variety of posts, and it's all down to Alex V's foresight - thanks for adding me all those years ago, and your well thought out contributions were enjoyed by many, and critical to the success of the site. I hope you had as much enjoyment out of the site as many others clearly did, and didn't have any regrets about it these last few years.

Feels like we need a black font comment to finish.

Swt

Rest in peace Alex.

[stubbo-admin]

Having grabbed myself a copy of Nightmare on Green Street, I can se in the foreword that Alex V wrote for Billy, that there is a decent chunk of it about what West Ham Online is in his own words, what it represents etc.

As some have said there should be some kind of tribute to the founder himself....with Billy's permission I'd propose to lift those elements from that Foreword, so that Alex V's description of what this place is can be placed on the site.

We can also likely include it in the template emails that go out to new registrations so that the message persists as new WHOers join.

 

[Full Claret Jacket]

I am stunned that we keep losing good young people suddenly.
WHO was an amazing success and for many years I found it both absolutely hilarious with its content and very different characters and it also brought together fans to do amazing things for hammers in need. Alex V has created an amazing legacy and spearheaded something very rare. 
RIP Alex V and thank you for what you gave us. 

[Mr Anon]

Bittersweet to see so many old names on this thread, just more evidence of what Alex created remaining with people even after years of not being involved. Would be great if some stuck around

[Nurse Ratched]

Read the room, you clown.

[Gentile]

Still tugging at Geeps wrinkly old thread Nurse? 

[Joe C]

If I remember correctly we all met up in a pub in London with Alex as the website launched. Think skerrit and mad dog were there.

or am I miss remembering.  Rip Alex.

We had some great meetups back in the days this site started up - many of the various 'Monk' named pubs that no longer exist.

I'm really taken a back by this news.  Have some great memories, and have made some amazing friends from this site (and 2-bob).  RIP Alex, thank you for doing all this.

[stubbo-admin]

AlexV lives on, in this website that he created.

THE memory of Alex Van de Weyer - founder of WestHamOnline, lives on as long as this website continues, which it must and will do so, as it has to do…

THANK YOU AlexV, for creating WHO, where the fan base can rant and rave about, ensuring West Ham Supporters worldwide can keep connected, in difficult times…

To all the family of Alex Van de Weyer, at this most difficult time, condolences and an appreciation of Alex’s ENORMOUS gift to the fan base of West Ham United.

Ok, but for me this has to be somewhere permanent, not left to drift down and disappear. Can that be done? Also, what about a permanent place to put the sites history. It's a bit crap and not really WHO, but all sites have a about us page. We could have one with our history. We are getting old and dying off!, if the site keeps going I would like to see the history recorded.

All this stuff is possible....well as 'permanent' as any website ever is. 

Main thing is someone competent needs to write it!

[Nurse Ratched]

AlexV lives on, in this website that he created.

THE memory of Alex Van de Weyer - founder of WestHamOnline, lives on as long as this website continues, which it must and will do so, as it has to do…

THANK YOU AlexV, for creating WHO, where the fan base can rant and rave about, ensuring West Ham Supporters worldwide can keep connected, in difficult times…

To all the family of Alex Van de Weyer, at this most difficult time, condolences and an appreciation of Alex’s ENORMOUS gift to the fan base of West Ham United.

Ok, but for me this has to be somewhere permanent, not left to drift down and disappear. Can that be done? Also, what about a permanent place to put the sites history. It's a bit crap and not really WHO, but all sites have a about us page. We could have one with our history. We are getting old and dying off!, if the site keeps going I would like to see the history recorded.

'About us'.

Do we really want to tug at that thread?

[Mex Martillo]

AlexV lives on, in this website that he created.

THE memory of Alex Van de Weyer - founder of WestHamOnline, lives on as long as this website continues, which it must and will do so, as it has to do…

THANK YOU AlexV, for creating WHO, where the fan base can rant and rave about, ensuring West Ham Supporters worldwide can keep connected, in difficult times…

To all the family of Alex Van de Weyer, at this most difficult time, condolences and an appreciation of Alex’s ENORMOUS gift to the fan base of West Ham United.

Ok, but for me this has to be somewhere permanent, not left to drift down and disappear. Can that be done? Also, what about a permanent place to put the sites history. It's a bit crap and not really WHO, but all sites have a about us page. We could have one with our history. We are getting old and dying off!, if the site keeps going I would like to see the history recorded.

[Coffee one sugar]

Really saddened by this, and have only just read the news. Thanks, Alex, for all you did.

[CaptainBlueAndClaret]

AlexV lives on, in this website that he created.

THE memory of Alex Van de Weyer - founder of WestHamOnline, lives on as long as this website continues, which it must and will do so, as it has to do…

THANK YOU AlexV, for creating WHO, where the fan base can rant and rave about, ensuring West Ham Supporters worldwide can keep connected, in difficult times…

To all the family of Alex Van de Weyer, at this most difficult time, condolences and an appreciation of Alex’s ENORMOUS gift to the fan base of West Ham United.

[Rubble again]

R I P Alex
Condolences to your family and friends.

[Billy Blagg]

Oh, dear God. This is such a shock. I am heartbroken by this news. Alex gave me my first break on what was then the Ironworks back in 1998.

I found the WHO predecessor as I worked in IT, and was very early on the web and actually worked on Prestel (the forerunner of the WWW). I saw Alex was looking for writers about West Ham and, as a WHU fanatic and a frustrated writer who'd had a few things published, I thought I might find a voice on the web. It changed my life completely.

I started the Blagg column on Ironworks / WHO and everything just took off. Within five years, I had written a book - Alex provided the foreword - and was writing for Soccernet (later ESPN, which actually paid me, giving me a second career) and the local Guardian newspaper. I never gave up on WHO, though, and contributed a column whenever I could right up until 2018 when my wife died.

Bizarrely, as is the way of things on the Internet, although Alex gave me an opportunity and another career and we 'spoke' online often (his wife drew some early Blagg representations too), we never actually met. I could have passed him in the street, and I'd not have known it. Nonetheless, this has hit me really hard. 

Thank you for telling me about this Wils, but I can't find the original post. If anyone has an email address for anyone in Alex's family, can you please let me know by WHOmail as I'd like to pay my respects.

RIP Alex and thank you so much for everything you did for me. 

[Gentile]

Sorry to hear of this news. 

Alex was a gentleman. Over the decades as we all grow older it's sad news like this that makes you realise how fragile life can be. 

RIP Alex and thanks for creating something enjoyed by so many people. 

Pig Destroyer and now Alex. Really sad news. 

[Far Cough UKunt]

Oh look it's the man from GLOLcester

[Johnson4E]

Heard about this through friends who I'd made through WHO via WhatsApp which is the more modern way of chatting bollocks about West Ham and anything else for that matter.

Back in 1998/99, when I first joined WHO, no-one had probably realised just what Alex had created. Was by far the easiest to use message board I'd come across at that time, one of the funniest on the internet and certainly the best West Ham board - FUCK OFF KUMB. 

Lots of us have made lifelong friends through this site, cried tears of laughter, got into some situations good and bad, probably raged a lot and got far too wound up by it, such was the beautiful nuance of it all. 

During 9/11 it somehow managed to be one of the few sites working on the web so become a critical news source for a while, I remember relaying to my office what was going on through WHO updates until the TV news started to take shape. 

Didn't really, if ever, agree with Alex V on anything but he did create a fucking good forum and his impact on lots of people is more profound than he'd have ever realised. RIP Alex V. 

Anyway, I'll probably fuck off again now, although it was always more fun on here when we were shit so maybe I'll loiter for a while. 

[Godwinson]

RIP Alex V. I’ve been posting on here since 2003 and am very grateful for all he did. I first interacted with him in 1998 on an older site he ran.

A sad loss.

[Stepney.Ammer]

I haven’t been on WHO for donkeys and gutted to see this news.

I first started using the site back around 99/2000, and over the years it has given me more laughs than I care to remember – especially in those early days. For 20+ years, this was the first website I opened each day. As well as being my go to place for West Ham related stuff, it was also a source of many weird, random, and occasionally useful facts, information, and advice.

RIP Alex

[BRANDED]

it was a good idea