Ray Winstone's love for West Ham has never needed much introduction, and if you didn't catch it last week, The Gentlemen star appeared on a podcast interview alongside host Fenners, giving the actor a fresh platform to make his feelings known about the club's recent departures to Tottenham. True to form, the self-styled cockney geezer didn't hold back, even if he stopped short of naming names.
The conversation began as a bit of fun, framed around casting West Ham players as characters from Winstone's world of gangster cinema, who'd be the loyal "gentleman," and who'd be the "wrong'un." Winstone's response left no room for ambiguity about where his loyalties sit: "You can't have a wrong'un from West Ham," he said. "They play in the claret and blue. It's the claret and blue."
That principle didn't survive contact with the club's recent transfer history, though. Winstone pivoted almost immediately to address players who have left West Ham for Tottenham in recent times and, according to those who watched the interview, his reaction to naming that particular rival wasn't limited to just his words. Whatever your read on the theatrics, the disdain in his voice on the recording is unmistakable even before you factor in the physical reaction.
Winstone was careful not to call anyone out directly, but the omission did plenty of work on its own. "There are some people that have obviously, they've left West Ham recently and gone to Tottenham," he said, before adding a note of grudging respect for the players' ability: "You know, and who I actually consider to be good young players coming through, and I wish them all the best." Then came the line that made the moment: "But, and no names being mentioned, but they know. They know who they are."
It's a classic Winstone move: praise the talent, refuse to dignify the destination, and let the players themselves sit with the implication. Winstone added a few spitting motions each time Tottenham was mentioned. The Gentleman series star was clearly talking about Mohammed Kudus and Mateus Fernandes, who have left West Ham for their London rivals each of the last two seasons.
If the Tottenham departures got the needle, Jarrod Bowen got the opposite treatment entirely. Winstone turned the conversation into an outright tribute to West Ham's captain, contrasting him directly with the players who left: "Jarrod Bowen. I mean, what a boy. If anything, if he'd have gone this year, I said, well, I don't blame you, kid. I don't blame you for going." He went further, suggesting missing out on England's World Cup squad had visibly affected Bowen early in the season: "I think not being picked for the England team in the World Cup kind of broke his heart a bit, and I noticed at the beginning of the season he wasn't quite clicking. It's like his heart had been broken. But it just started to come back. He's getting that timing back."
"That's a throwback to the old days, when you played with a club and you loved it. That's your manor. That's where you are. That's your people. It doesn't happen that often today."Ray Winstone
"To stay at West Ham when we'd gone down in the Championship, this kid should have a statue built," Winstone said. "That's a throwback to the old days, when you played with a club, and you loved it. That's your manor. That's where you are. That's your people. It doesn't happen that often today." He closed the thought simply: "He's done something quite special. All power to the boy. I wish him all the best."
It's not the first time Winstone has used a public platform to take a swipe at Spurs, and it likely won't be the last. But what stood out this time wasn't just the shot at Tottenham; it was the contrast he built around it. Players who left get a diplomatic word of luck and an unmistakable edge in his delivery. A player who stayed, through relegation, gets a statue.
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