Keeping an eye on the old boys...

Two former Hamlet players, have recently moved to new professional clubs

Both of them came through the Dulwich Hamlet Youth set-up, under the tutelage of Gavin Rose & his successful ASPIRE Academy, which has consistently nurtured players for Champion Hill stardom & beyond.

George Elokobi, who left Champion Hill in June 2004 for Colchester United, has returned to the Essex side, having moved on from them to join Wolverhampton Wanderers, where he graced the top flight of the Premier League.

And Paul McCallum, having joined West Ham United from The Hamlet when he was just seventeen, has moved to their near neighbours at Leyton Orient for the coming season. He came onto the O's radar as their manager Ian Hendon was his development coach at Upton Park.

Gavin Rose spoke to the East London Advertiser about him, saying:

“Paul’s contract finished in the summer with West Ham but Ian knows him and when he moved to the club, Ian was the development manager at the time. Ian will know exactly what type of person he is getting. Paul is a very honest player. He is strong and likes to bring people into the game. He can score goals and he holds the ball up well. He still keeps in contact with Dulwich and is very grounded, he is a really grounded boy.”

Gavin went on to explain that he expected Paul to make the most of his new opportunity:

“What people forget is when they leave us to join a team like West Ham they are missing a lot of steps in between, it is a big jump. He left us when he was 17, but has had the grounding of a professional footballer now and is ready to be a professional footballer now at Leyton Orient. If he didn’t leave Dulwich when he did then he might not have got this opportunity so I think he will do well, especially under Ian.”