Tony Cottee gushed about West Ham’s brand new academy after spending day at the club and proceeded to share a picture of himself alongside current first-team star Declan Rice.
The Hammers legend tweeted a snap of himself, Sir Trevor Brooking, Alvin Martin and Rice outside The Academy of Football and noted that it was such a pleasure to be in such great company.
Cottee captioned the picture ‘The past and the future’ with his previous post about the academy showing his confidence in the fact he believes quality young players will continue to come through at the club.
Had a gr8 day @WestHamUtd brand new academy. The Club have done a fantastic job and it will ensure that the legacy and the quality young players will continue …#COYI
— Tony Cottee (@TonyCottee9) April 3, 2019
The past and the future … a pleasure to be in such great company pic.twitter.com/cDt2JmR737
— Tony Cottee (@TonyCottee9) April 3, 2019
“Had a gr8 day @WestHamUtd brand new academy. The Club have done a fantastic job and it will ensure that the legacy and the quality young players will continue … #COYI,” tweeted Cottee via his verified Twitter account.
“The past and the future … a pleasure to be in such great company.”
OPINION
West Ham fans will love this social media post by Cottee for several reasons. Firstly it seems the club legend is endorsing current favourite Rice as the future based on his caption, which will no doubt please supporters. The 20-year-old midfield enforcer has easily been one of the Hammers’ best players this season and the fact he is a product of the academy only makes supporters love him more. Also Cottee’s verdict on the Hammers’ new academy will also have fans optimistic about the future. The Hammers’ academy has produced some quality youngsters in the past but not many have broken into the first-team in recent seasons. While Manuel Pellegrini hasn’t shied away from raiding the club’s academy for players to use, he has been the first manager in a while to regularly put his faith in the club’s youngsters. Hopefully the experienced boss continues to make a path to the first team clear as based on Cottee’s impression, it seems the supply of promising Hammers talent is only going to continue getting stronger.
