‘I had one dream in my life which was playing for West Ham’

A standard part of the process of getting a new job is a reference from your former employer, to confirm to your new employer that you are a good and worthwhile addition to the team. So it is not exactly helpful when the former describes you as ‘phenomenally unstable’ – unless, of course, the latter is Harry Redknapp, and your place of employment is West Ham. That is how Metz president Carlo Molinari described right-back Sebastien Schemmel in late 2000. But unsurprisingly, it was not enough to put off the manager who had already taken a punt on English football’s most damaged goods of the era, Paolo Di Canio, and seen his faith rewarded in spectacular fashion. Schemmel duly signed, first on loan, then on a permanent basis, for a short but sweet life-changing stint in claret and blue.

Falling in Love with West Ham and Harry Redknapp

‘In summer 1999 Metz played West Ham in the Intertoto Cup, and when I saw West Ham and their fans, I said to my manager “I want to play for them”, but he said “I’m not sure they will want you”,’ Schemmel, now aged 50, told Blowing Bubbles. ‘One day Harry called me and said I’d been good, did I want to go to West Ham on loan for six months. I said yes, of course. You can’t imagine how much I loved my time there – after the loan, I signed a permanent deal for four years. ‘As it turned out, I was only there for two years, but in my head, I would have stayed for 10 years. I played my best football, for the best fans, in the best team – everything was so good.’ Schemmel may have arrived with an unhelpful luggage tag, and freely admits that he was not in the same class as team-mates like di Canio and Joe Cole, but his whole-hearted style made him a first-team regular and led to fans picking him as Hammer of the Year in 2002. After leaving West Ham, he lost his motivation for playing football and retired early, rather than play for any other club, such was, and still is, his love for the Irons – and for Redknapp. ‘Harry was a great manager and a great psychologist – every word he said was important,’ said Schemmel. ‘Just my second game for West Ham was away at Manchester United in the FA Cup, the Fabien Barthez game. ‘In France, managers talk a lot before the game, but Harry just said “we have 9000 fans here, you play for them” – that was it. I spoke very little English when I arrived, so I said to some of the other French speaking players “is that it?”, and they said yes, that’s his way. ‘He said he was sure we would win, and afterwards, there was no great celebrating, he said now we focus on the next game. He was special, and that’s why people loved playing for him.’

Experiencing the Unique Magic of English Football

In the aftermath of France’s 1998 World Cup win, many of the country’s biggest names, including Barthez, Marcel Desailly, Frank Leboeuf and Emmanuel Petit, who all started that World Cup final, were playing in England, and Schemmel jumped at the chance to join them. ‘Everyone wanted to play there, because it was the most passionate place, and of course everyone in France loved Eric Cantona too,’ he explained. ‘It was a dream for me to play just one game in England, and everyone still wants to play there because in English football, the spectacle is not just on the pitch, it’s everything around the game, and everyone wants a taste of it. That FA Cup trip to Old Trafford was incredible – 9,000 away fans? How was that possible, you would never see that in France.’ Schemmel’s arrival in England was somewhat bumpy, however, as the team that had been 8th in the Premier League on Boxing Day won just three league games in the second half of the season – not that he was ever worried. ‘I knew the potential of the team,’ he said. ‘Also, Upton Park had such an atmosphere it was difficult for anyone to beat us there. Years later I spoke to Arsene Wenger about it, and he said it was always an incredibly hard place to play. I still watch every game, and I’ve been to the new ground, but it’s just not the same atmosphere.’

Becoming Hammer of the Year and Playing Beside Icons

West Ham’s mid-season slump came after the sale of defensive lynchpin Rio Ferdinand to Leeds, and on-going unhappiness about transfer dealings contributed to Redknapp’s surprise departure before the end of the season, but fortunately for Schemmel, his successor, Glenn Roeder, was also a big fan, and when the loan period expired, he made the transfer permanent, on a four-year contract. The player described as phenomenally unstable had found the stability he wanted, and responded in the best possible fashion, becoming a first-team regular in the 2001-02 season, where the team finished in 8th place, and ending it seeing off competition from the likes of di Canio and Cole to be named Hammer of the Year. ‘I know I wasn’t the best player, but I gave 100 percent every time and that season I represented exactly what the fans wanted,’ he said. ‘For me that season was a dream – we had the best young players in the country, some of the best in the world, and we enjoyed training, we enjoyed playing, we enjoyed talking to the fans, I was playing well, everything gave me so much pleasure. I just wish everyone could play one minute for West Ham, to experience what a special club it is.’ West Ham were not just a team of players, they were a team of characters, most notably di Canio, a player who defined an era of club history, and another lively addition to the squad by Roeder, Tomas Repka. ‘Glenn was a very nice guy, who was close to every player, not just those in the starting XI, but everybody knew Paolo was the boss of the team,’ said Schemmel. ‘Sometimes Glenn would talk to him before the game and if he wasn’t happy, he would then tell us what to do instead, which was usually “give me the ball”. ‘Paolo was the best player I have ever seen, better than Gianfranco Zola, and he said I was the best right back he ever played with, just because I used to listen to him and do what he said. He would always say “it’s just 11 players against 11 players, so if there’s a problem, give me the ball and I will do the rest”. ‘He changed my footballing life and is still a good friend. I love West Ham, but with Paolo it is something different – when he dies, it will probably be wearing a West Ham shirt. ‘Tomas was a very nice guy, too – I know everyone says he’s mad on the pitch, but he’s a fantastic person. His English was like mine, not great, but we could understand one another. Before the game he was normal, but on the pitch all he wanted to do was win.’

The Agony of Relegation and Leaving the Club

Schemmel admits to not fully appreciating the significance of the Hammer of the Year award at the time. ‘Then, it was just a trophy, but now looking back, I realise how much it meant for the fans to choose me,’ he explained. ‘West Ham was only two years out of my career, but it’s hard to explain – when you leave, you feel like you have left a family, and I never had that feeling at any other club. I go to fan events now, and so many people want to talk to me, even people who weren’t born then. I’ve spoken to the other French players, and they have this feeling too.’ Alas, the good times were not to last, and neither was Schemmel’s West Ham career, as Roeder fell victim to second season syndrome, and in 2002-03 West Ham lived up to their status as founder members of the Too Good to go Down club (established 1989) and somehow contrived to get relegated, despite having a squad containing di Canio, Cole, Michael Carrick, Glen Johnson, Trevor Sinclair and many other top-class players. That 2002-03 season was the first where the transfer window was in operation, so when di Canio and fellow striker Freddie Kanoute both picked up injuries, too much of the burden was placed on youngster Jermain Defoe, and the whole team suffered. Schemmel, too, was injured and unable to help, as much as he would have loved to. ‘We didn’t change too many players that season, but I think teams worked us out a bit and raised their game against us,’ he explained. ‘Our mentality was the same, but injuries hit us hard. You won’t get away with playing at less than 100 percent in England, and I had an ankle problem, so a lot of the time I couldn’t play. Mid-season I had the chance to go to Rangers, but I wasn’t interested – I had a long contract and I wanted to stay and help turn things around, why would I want to leave?’. At the end of the season, Schemmel went public with his criticism of Roeder, and the fact that he felt he had been denied the chance to help stave off relegation, and Roeder’s response was to talk up the prospects of his future replacement, Anton Ferdinand. The message was clear. Schemmel’s time at West Ham was up – but as it turned out, three games into the following season, so was Roeder’s, when, having had a period out through ill health at the end of the relegation season, he was sacked. ‘They decided to sell everyone at the end of the season, some, like Cole and Carrick to big clubs, but I wasn’t so attractive to a big club,’ Schemmel explained. ‘Harry was now at Portsmouth, and told me West Ham wanted to let me go but I wanted to stay, so he said come to Portsmouth for one year and I’ll sell you back to West Ham. ‘I was sure I was going to play very well for Portsmouth, because in my mind I was there for one year, then back to West Ham, but leaving West Ham was the worst mistake of my life. Right from the first day, I knew Portsmouth was not the same, and I didn’t understand why I was there. ‘People at the club treated me very well, so I respect them, but it just wasn’t the same thing at all, and soon Harry began to have problems with the chairman, and a lot of people changed at West Ham, so it was clear that I wasn’t going to be going back there either.’

A Lasting Claret and Blue Legacy

After his release by Pompey, Schemmel famously said he would ride on his bike from France for the chance to return to West Ham, and if the bike broke, he would walk the rest of the way to East London, but it was not to be, and after a short period playing for Le Havre, at the age of 29, he told his family he had had enough. It was West Ham or nothing – and nothing won. ‘I don’t regret it at all – the only thing I regret is leaving West Ham,’ he said. ‘I didn’t want to play any more. I had one dream in my life, which was playing for West Ham, and I lived it for two years. I play with my heart, if I love someone I will give my heart 100 percent, but if I don’t want to do something, I can’t do it well.’ It is not just his heart that Schemmel wears on his sleeve, but also, permanently, the West Ham badge. ‘I got it tattooed on my arm in 2007,’ he said. ‘My body has the most important things in my life on it – my family, my children – but none of the other clubs I played for, just West Ham.’ Schemmel’s beloved Upton Park may be gone, but the name lives on, in a burger bar he runs in Luxembourg, with a second, due to open in his hometown of Nancy next year, which will be decorated with West Ham memorabilia and shirts, and is sure to become a must-visit destination for any passing West Ham fans. ‘Recently I’ve seen people like Paolo, Joe Cole, Rufus Brevett and Trevor Sinclair, and there are some other players I’ve not seen since I left the club, but I know that if I see people I played with, we would still be close,’ he said. ‘We were family – we fought together, we cried together and we did a great job together for West Ham. When I arrived, right from the start, on the first day, I thought “I want to be someone here, I want to finish my career here”. ‘If you haven’t played for West Ham, it is hard to explain, but it is family. When I come back – not coming back to London, but when I am surrounded by West Ham fans, and I hear Bubbles – I feel like I am home.’