West Ham superfan Chesney Hawkes urges club to beat Wolves to £8m bagsman

When Jude Bellingham netted his dramatic injury-time leveller against Slovakia in the Euro 2024 round of 16 clash, England supporters across the country may have broken into a rendition of Chesney Hawkes' rework of 'Hey Jude'.

The West Ham superfan went viral on social media for conducting a singalong to the hit at a viewing party last month and had soon uploaded his own version of the chant to TikTok, playing his role in drumming up the Euro 2024 atmosphere.

Chesney takes a break from Euro stardom to chat to LondonWorld about his beloved Hammers, the transfer window and the famous Europa Conference League win.

Q: Hi Chesney, thanks for chatting! West Ham fans might remember you best most recently for your performance at the Europa Conference League last summer. How was that?

A: "I was performing at the West Ham fan zone. Best Wednesday of all time. We played in front of 25,000 West Ham fans, my son and my brother are massive Hammers and were part of the band. We were all in West Ham kit and it was a family thing.

"It was a sea of claret and blue, confetti and everything. We did the West Ham classics. We went direct from there to the stadium and watched our boys become European champions!"

Q: It's a big summer of transition at the London Stadium. What's your verdict on Julen Lopetegui coming in to replace David Moyes?

A: "I've always been a big Moysey fan and will be forever grateful for that moment [Europa Conference League win]. He actually turned the club around, kept us up and then we finished sixth and seventh. Any West Ham fan, even if you didn't like the way he put his teams together, will be grateful for that.

"It was just time. We needed a change and I absolutely wish him the best in whatever he ends up doing. It feels exciting to have a new person in charge and new people coming in. We'll see, it could go either way. I think it depends what happens with our signings this summer, it feels like we've been linked with 150 players! I'd like to see us being in one top-class striker at least."

Q: Let's talk transfers then... who's the one player you'd love to see West Ham sign this summer?

A: "I quite like the idea of bringing in Wilfred Zaha! He's a little bit older and that's against the thoughts of Lopetegui if he wants to make it a younger team. That's great and I'm all for that but I do still think a man of his goal-scoring prowess would work really well in that West Ham team and give a little bit of experience. I was excited when I saw that rumour. I do think Max Kilman is a really good signing."

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Q: There's a great photo of you and Declan Rice together on social media. How much would you love to see the midfielder back at West Ham in the future?

A: "I'd love to see Declan back but I don't think that will happen anytime soon... I think us West Ham fans almost expect Declan to come back in the twilight of his career. That would be ideal... give us his last couple of seasons and stay involved behind the scenes as he's such a legend for us!"