Grays boss Moncur ready to face Irons (From Echo)

Grays boss Moncur ready to face Irons

10:03am Tuesday 7th July 2009 in

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NEW Grays Athletic’s chairman John Moncur cannot wait to start his reign against former West Ham club.

The Premiership side will be bringing a full first team squad to the New Rec on Sunday for the prestigious pre-season friendly and tickets for match are on sale all week at the ground from 10am to 4pm.

Apart from stars on the pitch, ex-Hammers’ favourites including Steve Lomas, Tony Cottee, Alan Devonshire, Tony Gale and Don Hutchinson will be at the game.

Moncur himself, who took over as chairman from Mike Woodward last month, made 203 appearances for the Upton Park club in a nine-year spell which ended in January 2003.

The big match kicks-off at 3pm and the fixture could enable fans to catch a glimpse of their summer signings for both clubs — including new West Ham arrival from Internazionale, Chile international Luis Jiminez.

Moncur admits to being excited about the prospect of welcoming Hammers to his Blue Square Premier club and said: “A lot of Grays supporters are also Hammers fans in the Thurrock area, so I’m hoping that we get a good crowd.

“If our fixtures don’t clash I’m hoping that a lot of West Ham fans will come down to watch our games because it’s a good standard of football.

“West Ham have told me that manager Gianfranco Zola will be bringing down a strong first team squad, so it’ll be a first chance for fans of both teams to see their new players.

“From our point of view it’s a big game for us and will be a good test for our players. I remember playing down at Grays a few times under Harry Redknapp and hopefully we can now turn this into an annual event.”

On his arrival at Grays as chairman Moncur said: “I had been speaking to Mick Woodward for a year or so after we met through the work I do at the Football Academy in Loughton.”

Moncur, 42, has a son George as part of the Hammers’ Academy set-up.

He added: “Mick told me that he was getting a bit stale at Grays and wanted someone to freshen things up.

“I decided when I finished playing that I didn’t want to manage and this seemed a little bit more of a hands-off role.

“I decided that I was interested and I think myself and the club can help each other in the future.

“If I can help Grays in terms of attracting sponsorship and also on the playing side then that would be great.”