Fact File – Nick Simons
To those of you that tour with the Club regularly, this man needs little introduction.
We first met Nick the Greek when he was our rep from the tour company
Sports Tours in Barcelona 1999. He was assigned to look after us but I think
in many ways the roles were reversed. Since
then close ties have been developed between ourselves and the club Nick manages,
the imaginatively named “West Ham United”. He visits London every year in the Summer when
we meet up for a drink and he also took care of the arrangements when we visited
Lloret in 2001. This diminutive Welshman
calls Barcelona home and is utterly immersed in the culture. So much so that he runs on Spanish time: always
late and closed in the afternoons. More
often than not you will find him propping up the bar in the Michael Collins
in Barca swapping notes with all
the other taxidermists.
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PERSONAL FILE |
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Full Name: |
Nick Simons. [Middle
name Dai?] |
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Place and DOB: |
Newport, 26th July in the sixties. [Product of free love.] |
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Height/Weight: |
1 metre something/ before or after Guinness? |
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Hair/Eyes: |
Brown-ish/ brown. [Brown
all the way then.] |
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Brothers/Sisters: |
Brother – Paul. |
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Current Address: |
Barcelona. |
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Married/Children: |
No/ I wish. [Are
you sure?] |
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Pets: |
Lucky plastic pig. [Called
Porky, no doubt.] |
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Education: |
Good idea. [Take
that as a no then.] |
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Occupation: |
West Ham manager, sports tours and IT recruitment. [Is that all?] |
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……ON FOOTBALL |
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Team/Player: |
Both West Hams/ Trevor Brooking and my Quique. [Is that your “boy”?] |
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Best Goal Scored: |
Any for West Ham (kiss the badge). |
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Best Goal Seen: |
Di Canio’s. [Not
too fussy then, just grateful.] |
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Best BoE Game Played in: |
When we beat BOE in Barcelona 1999. [You weren’t the first.] |
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Best Game Seen: |
Montañesa 10-0 BOE 2001. [Yes, yes alright.] |
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Most Memorable BoE Moment: |
Full Monty in front of the Town Hall next to my flat.
[Father Abraham’s strikes again.] |
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Least Memorable BoE Moment: |
Eating garlic mayo as a forfeit ‘cos Shorty tricked me.
[What about when Shorty saved that penalty from you?] |
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Boyhood Hero: |
John Belushi. [Your
lookalike, he’s dead now isn’t he?] |
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Nickname/s: |
Nick the Greek ? and El Paquete (the packet). [Obvious reasons.] |
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Pre-Match Meal: |
Coffee and Silk Cut. [Nice!] |
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FAVOURITES |
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TV Programme: |
Frasier. [Well
he does need therapy.] |
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Comedian: |
Steve Coogan. [as
Tony Ferrino?] |
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Film: |
It’s a Wonderful Life.
[He’s dreaming again.] |
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Actor/Actress: |
Cary Grant/ Penelope Cruz. |
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Band/Artist: |
Smiths/ Di Canio. [Very
good, very good.] |
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Food/Drink: |
Curry/ Guinness and red wine. [All mixed together.] |
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Holiday Spot: |
Lloret and London. [Adventurous.] |
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Colour: |
Claret and blue. [Oh
good grief.] |
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LIFESTYLE |
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Newspaper/Radio/Mag: |
Independent and Futbol Catalá/ 95.5Fm/ Big something. |
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Night Out: |
Sitting in Michael Collins ‘Cheers’ style. |
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Fast Food/Restaurant: |
Chips in Tott. Crt. Rd./ Tragaluz (Barcelona). |
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Other Hobbies/Sports: |
Meeting people/ badminton. [Badminton ??!!??] |
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Likes/Dislikes: |
Happy people/ Envious, bitter
people. |
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Most Irritating Person: |
Ayazz ‘cos he’s a good crack on coke. [Agreed.] |
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Person You Would Most Like to Spend an Evening With: |
Penelope Cruz. [Hmm,
Tom Cruise or Nick the Greek? It’s
a tough one.] |