When it comes to unpacking the issues at West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur, Calum Davenport feels it necessary to take a walk.
The 43-year-old made a combined total of 38 league appearances for both clubs, one of whom will be relegated from the Premier League this weekend.
Tottenham are 17th and thanks to their superior goal difference only need to draw against Everton on the final day to ensure top-flight safety. Nuno Espirito Santo’s 18th-placed side, however, need to beat Leeds United and hope Everton, led by ex-West Ham manager David Moyes, win in north London to avoid relegation to the Championship for the first time since 2011.
Spurs, who last played in the second tier in 1978, squandered the opportunity to relegate West Ham in midweek as they lost 2-1 away to Chelsea. They have two wins in their last 19 league games in 2026. They have not won at home since beating Brentford on December 6. West Ham have lost three consecutive league matches.
The plight of his former clubs is not sitting well with Davenport, so when The Athletic calls, he and his dog Ernie head outside.
“I knew you were going to call, so I’ve come for a walk — I get so worked up and frustrated thinking about the sorry state both clubs are in,” Davenport says.
“They both deserve to be where they are. I’m not surprised one bit, and it’s reached a point where I feel upset whenever I watch West Ham and Tottenham. They look unrecognisable from the clubs I played for. They’ve lost their identities.
“Both teams have had five managers (Tottenham: Thomas Frank, Igor Tudor and De Zebri; West Ham: Graham Potter and Nuno) combined this season. Make it make sense. Just absolute madness.
“There’s a big disconnect happening at Tottenham and West Ham. Two big London rivals, both are in new stadiums but on the brink of relegation. The hierarchy of both teams has chased greed — and now look at them. It upsets me because the soul has been ripped out of them. Whoever goes down needs to completely reset.”
Davenport, who is one of 27 players to have played for West Ham and Tottenham since 1992, is well placed to discuss their struggles and the implications of relegation for either side. He played for the north London side between 2004-07, which included loans at West Ham, Southampton and Norwich City. After making a permanent switch to east London in 2007, Davenport had a three-year spell, which included an incident where he almost lost his life.
In the Premier League era, there have been many standout moments between the two rivals: Lasagne gate in 2006, where food poisoning played a part in Tottenham missing out on Champions League qualification, the 4-3 encounter at Upton Park in West Ham’s 2006-07 great escape season. Ravel Morrison’s superb solo goal at White Hart Lane in 2013 is still remembered fondly, as is Michail Antonio’s winner in 2019, which inflicted Tottenham’s first defeat at their new stadium. A memorable moment for Tottenham against West Ham was their quarter-final FA Cup victory in 2001, although they lost in the semi-final to Arsenal.
There have been controversial transfers to Tottenham, such as Mohammed Kudus’ £55million ($74m) switch last summer. Scott Parker, then captain, left for Spurs in the summer of 2011 following West Ham’s relegation to the second tier. That move left such a sour taste that even TV presenter and West Ham supporter James Corden shouted an expletive at Parker, who was in the audience of the TV show League of Their Own in December 2011, and joked he was dead to him.
Frederic Kanoute, Jermain Defoe and Michael Carrick are other names to have swapped east for north London, with Spurs fans mockingly referring to West Ham as their ‘feeder club’. Players who have moved in the opposite direction ended up becoming fan favourites in Bobby Zamora, Paul Konchesky, Teddy Sheringham and Matt Etherington.
“It wasn’t an easy move,” Etherington tells The Athletic. “I remember driving down Green Street before our first home game of the season (in 2003). A few West Ham fans saw me near my car and shouted abuse. I thought, ‘S***, what have I done here?’ I knew that rivalry was always there, but that’s when it hit home. It was intense so I had to win them over quickly and, thankfully, I won player of the year.
“I felt like I always had a point to prove whenever I faced Tottenham. I scored against them at White Hart Lane when I played for Stoke, so the extra motivation was always there. I never felt like I was given a fair chance at Tottenham and had to leave to further my career.
“Probably my best memory against them is lasagne gate and 20 years later it still makes me smile. They thought we intentionally gave them food poisoning, which was a load of nonsense. They just had a bad chef. It would mean a lot for West Ham fans to relegate Tottenham. I’m confident we’ll beat Leeds, we just need a big favour from our old manager Moyes.”
Of the two teams, West Ham are widely considered the smaller club. In an interview with TNT Sport in 2024, West Ham legend Mark Noble discussed why beating their rivals should be an expectation, not a special moment.
“I’ve come in and done the press (after the 1-0 win in April 2019), and the players wanted to take a photo together, and I’m like, ‘Not a chance are we having a photo here’, because I believed that we should expect to beat Spurs,” said Noble. “It was probably a little bit of ego because I didn’t want a photo to come out of us just because we beat Spurs 1-0. For me, that wasn’t good enough; I needed to go on and be better as a club than that.
“I loved playing in those games. I remember saying to the boys many times, ‘Listen, you don’t need a team talk for these games. It is what it is, we’ve got to try and win’. I was brought up as a West Ham fan, and being around loads of West Ham fans, they always ingrained in me that ‘We’ve always got to beat Spurs’.”
Davenport thinks a contributing factor to West Ham’s struggles is their lack of leaders. Jarrod Bowen has faced criticism for his role as club captain. In August, the 29-year-old England international almost clashed with a supporter after the Carabao Cup loss to Wolverhampton Wanderers. Davenport, who played alongside Noble, does not think Bowen has leadership qualities.
“Fans want to see a bit of themselves in you when you play,” says Davenport. “When I think about the players who start every week for Tottenham and West Ham, there is nothing there. No embodiment of north or east London. West Ham got away with it for so long because they had Noble steadying the ship. Declan Rice took over and they won a trophy (the UEFA Conference League in 2023) under Moyes.
“But all three are gone, and there’s no direction or leadership. Bowen is a good player but he doesn’t have those leadership characteristics to be pulling players to one side like Rice or Noble.
“I remember in training, Craig Bellamy would always be on someone. He always made sure we were aware of our duty and responsibility to perform. Players like Julian Dicks and Paolo Di Canio embodied commitment at West Ham.
“So when you have someone like (Jean-Clair) Todibo smirk when he came off against Newcastle (in the 25th minute), you think: ‘That’s not the West Ham I know’. No one would have dared to do that when I was there. When you smirk like that, it sends a message to fans — who, by the way, have travelled hundreds of miles — that you don’t care.
“Someone in the changing room, like Bellamy, would have grabbed you. You wouldn’t be around for long after. These characters are missing in that changing room.”
In the event of relegation, The Athletic reported that Nuno is undecided if he will remain as head coach. He signed a three-year deal when he succeeded Graham Potter in late September and last managed in the Championship in the 2017-18 season when he led Wolves to promotion.
In Friday’s press conference, the head coach was once more tight-lipped about his future. But should he step down, Davenport knows a suitable replacement.
“If West Ham get relegated and Nuno leaves, they need to appoint Parker,” says Davenport. “He knows the club, understands the fans, will blood in youngsters and is a former West Ham captain. If not him, then Bellamy — but Scott would be my pick. The fans would relate and connect with him.
“I don’t see them forming that type of bond under Nuno. Scott has a proven record of getting teams promoted from the Championship. I know he’s struggled to keep clubs up, but worry about that when you get.
“The London Stadium already feels soulless to fans, so imagine how much worse it will be in the Championship. Upton Park was an intimate place to play and the fans would turn up regardless of how bad you played. West Ham’s board have constantly chased the next high and by moving to the London Stadium they’ve diluted the atmosphere.
“The loyal fans get left behind when you’re constantly chasing new customers. Parker is the right man to make the club feel like West Ham again.”