Black History Month Players: Samassi Abou

As October is Black History Month in the UK, I will spend this month publishing threads on X (formerly Twitter) on certain players who have been part of a long and distinguished line of Black representation at West Ham United. With this being the second year I have undertaken this exercise, I thought it would be fair to publish a blog post for those who don't have X or find threads on the platform difficult to read, Feel free to read last year's threads, via this link or the one at the bottom of the page,  but this post and today's thread on X is on Samassi “Sammy” Aboooooooooooooouuuuuuuu (I know you did it too) 

Born in Gagnoa in the Ivory Coast in April 1973, Abou always harboured dreams of being a footballer. And like many young African boys aspiring to be footballers, Abou left home at 14 and headed to France because in his own words: “I wanted adventure”. Whilst many young African boys make the trip to Europe, many don’t get the opportunity to go professional and sadly end up being exploited by agents & other people in pursuit of their dreams. But Abou was one of the lucky ones, securing a contract with FC Martigues in 1991. 

At that point in time, Martigues were pushing for promotion to Ligue 1, the top division of French football, so it was the perfect place for Abou to cut his teeth in football, playing at a high level in one of Europe’s more prestigious footballing countries with an ambitious club. 

Abou’s dynamic style of play as well as his technical ability and his unselfishness made him stand out as a promising star in the French second division and in his sole season with Martigues, he would score 7 goals in 24 games, whilst also regularly creating goals. 

Strikers with attributes like Abou are always in high demand and that is why Lyon, one of France’s most successful clubs, signed him in 1992. Pegged as one for the future, Abou would feature semi-regularly in his 4 years at the club, scoring 11 goals in 58 appearances. 

Whilst some say that’s not a great record for a young player who’s pegged as one for the future, Abou’s strengths as a striker never lay in goalscoring, but as an old-fashioned target man/second striker where the more natural goalscorers would benefit from having him there. 

After 4 years with Lyon, Abou would move from central France to its south coast, when he joined AS Cannes for £250,000, scoring 5 goals in 37 appearances in Ligue 1 that season, before finally moving to London in October 1997 to join West Ham for a fee between £250,000-£400,000.

Abou would spend 3 years in London with the Hammers, where he immediately endeared him to us as supporters by winning a penalty on his debut against Chelsea after coming on as a sub. But he further endeared him as a character off the field as well. Not knowing any English when he arrived in London, Abou was told by his fellow teammates that “Fuck Off” was acceptable English to use when talking to the press. Unfortunately, Abou took this advice to heart & used it on live Saturday morning TV during an appearance on Soccer AM.

While Abou would learn that you can’t say F off on live TV, he learnt his English through translation lessons by his teammate David Terrier & in the affable fashion that endeared him to West Ham fans, he revealed in a 2020 interview that he also learnt by watching EastEnders. On a side note, in the same interview, Abou also revealed that his favourite EastEnders character was Dot Cotton. Which is a great choice to be fair. 

While he's often now remembered for his famous chant, Abou’s best game in a West Ham shirt in a 6-0 win over Barnsley in January 1998, which is also the club's record win in the Premier League, where he would score twice & set up a goal for John Moncur, a player who Abou later described as “the only man crazier than me”. Which checks out for Moncs to be fair. Sadly, Abou was sent off the following week following a dive by Ramon Vega, during a derby match between West Ham & Spurs, (Same old Spurs, always cheating) and he never recaptured that rich vein of form he was in. 

With West Ham eventually bringing in more experienced strikers such as Ian Wright, Paolo Di Canio & Davor Šuker, Abou found him surplus to requirements and would often himself out on loan from late 1998 until his release from the club in 2000. Between December 1998 and the summer of 2000, Abou would go on loan 4 times to Ipswich Town, Walsall, Troyes, and Kilmarnock, scoring a measly goal in 23 loan appearances across all 4 clubs. 

However, Abou was almost rescued from this constant loan nightmare by Bradford City, who came in with a £800,000 offer, which was double what West Ham had paid for him. Whilst West Ham accepted the offer, Abou rejected it, wanting to remain & challenge for a first-team place at the club. But West Ham, like many other clubs, did not put that kind of faith into Abou that he put into them, as work rate and style of play often frustrated as much as it existed, where moments of brilliance were often overshadowed by periods of inactivity when playing and disenfranchised managers from signing him. 

After leaving West Ham, Abou returned to France, where he would spend 2 years in the French second division with AC Ajaccio, scoring 5 goals in 63 appearances before retiring after a solitary season with FC Lorient at the age of 30. 

“We have a big problem in this country when it comes to developing young players, so hopefully this academy can change that.” 

No-one knows why Abou retired so early or where he disappeared to for many years, with one rumour going around that he had retired in England & was a bus driver in Basildon. In fact, Abou returned home to the Ivory Coast where he’s trying to look after its footballing future. 

Launching the Red Academy in the country’s largest city, Abidjan, Abou is now coaching kids from the ages of 11-17. Abou said: “We have a big problem in this country when it comes to developing young players, so hopefully this academy can change that.” Abou had been trying to get the academy off the ground since 2010, but was finally given a license in 2020 and hopes he can establish links with European football to help Ivorian & African football grow going forward. 

Whilst he never reached the heights expected of him, Abou had a relatively decent career in football and whilst he may not be one of the greats, he’ll always be remembered by us at West Ham for one thing at least… All together now: Abooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

Thanks for reading today's post. 

Today's sources are: 

Brian Belton’s ‘The Black Hammers’

This article by the Athletic from 2020: https://theathletic.com/1658757/2020/03/07/samassi-abou-dot-cotton-bus-driver/ 

And this article from Claret & Hugh: https://www.claretandhugh.info/samassi-abou-is-not-a-bus-driver-in-basildon/