RIP: Fraser Massey

I'm sad to say that after a spell in the St Francis Hospice at Havering-atte-Bower my friend and fellow season-ticket holder Fraser Massey has died from cancer. He featured in my books Irons in the Soul, Goodbye to Boleyn and Massive and his bon mots regularly made this blog.

Fraser started attending West Ham games in the late 1960s back in the days of Ron Greenwood and then John Lyall. He joined our group of aficionados in the 1990s. West Ham perhaps made him prematurely grey-haired and one of his best moments was being serenaded with a chant of "There's only one Adam Faith!" by the Hammers' fans after a pitchside walk at Palermo in the Uefa Cup. 

He was a great advocate of attacking football and never took to Big Sam or David Moyes, though he did approve of Redknapp, Bilic and Pellegrini. Fraser was as disappointed as anyone after the 2006 FA Cup Final and was at the 1999 Inter-Toto Cup Final in Metz, which he insisted was a proper trophy. Like all fans he had his idiosyncrasies, not least the insistence that converted wingers like Marco Arnautovic and Michail Antonio were not really strikers. 

He used to celebrate West Ham goals with cigars, though that didn't happen very often, and had a Fonz-like ability to procure a programme when all around him had failed. He affected a remarkable calm in the face of the anger and despair all around him. During the Great Escape of 2007 he insisted we were already up as we travelled to Old Trafford. We weren't, but Fraser remained cool for a nerve-shredding 90 minutes as West Ham won through Carlos Tevez's goal. Another memory is of Fraser and Michael desperately searching for an open pub after the last game at the Boleyn as the rest of us made for the last helicopter out of Green Street.

Fraser brought a dapper style to our row, eschewing replica shirts for linen jackets, ties, raincoats, Dexys-style berets and neckerchiefs. As a journalist he was noted for his note-taking with a pencil and the fact he once went to a party with Jack Nicholson. More recently he took an MA in creative writing and wrote a crime novel in his guise as the Raymond Chandler of Ilford.

For many years he was a carer to his then-partner Susan, who died in 2021. After much pub-searching in Stratford we started to base our post-match inquests at the Eagle in Leyton, which is where Fraser met his partner Sinead, who stayed with him at the hospice and was an indefatigable support to him in his final months.

After he was diagnosed with cancer our contingent managed to get Fraser to several games after Christmas, latterly in a wheelchair. He saw West Ham beat Brentford 4-2, draw 2-2 with Burnley, thrash Freiburg 5-0 in the Europa League, draw with Aston Villa and Spurs and lose at home to Fulham, as well as doing a tour of the ground for his 68th birthday. The club were very good with wheelchair access and allowing a companion to accompany Fraser to matches. After these games he managed to get to the Eagle afterwards for a post-match cup of tea. 

Fraser was still able to joke during his stay at the hospice and suggested that it wouldn't matter if Paqueta got a lengthy ban as that would mean we would have him forever. During the Moyes years it was convenient that Fraser had the surname of Massey, as we could inform him that "Fraser is Massey, everywhere he goes!" It's some comfort to know that he was able to watch West Ham win the Europa Conference League at the Eagle in 2023, though he might have insisted that it wasn't as big as the Inter-Toto Cup.

Let's hope that Fraser is now having a word with Ron Greenwood and John Lyall, telling them they should have played more forwards.