I was relegated twice and left Hearts on a free for the German third division - now I'm a West Ham cult hero

From Berwick Rangers' Shielfield Park to Stamford Bridge via the German third tier and Austrian Bundesliga. Andy Irving has been on quite a journey to his Premier League debut.

The Scottish midfielder, 24, made his first start in the English top flight for West Ham in their 2-1 defeat against Chelsea on February 3 - playing 77 minutes during which he was constantly serenaded by Hammers fans, who have made him a cult favourite already. Good going for the former Hearts man who few realised had signed for the club in the summer of 2023, and who had been playing third division football in Germany for minnows Turkgucu Munchen just two years ago.

Reflecting on his debut to West Ham's YouTube channel after the game, he revealed that his partner believed he would make it in one of Europe's top leagues, heaping the pressure on him. He joked: "Shout out to my girlfriend who was in the away stand, hopefully singing along with the songs about me. At the end of May there was a job available at a school in Tower Hamlets and she opted to go for an interview, which I was all for. She had massive belief that I'd be staying for the season, so the pressure was on for pre-season for me.

"Since the manager (Graham Potter) has come in it's been brilliant. Every time he or his staff have spoken to me it's been really positive, and I think that it's been like that with every player. Every day in training has been brilliant and really enjoyable. I've been training well and working really hard, I feel like that hard work is paying off at the moment. I'm delighted for that, it's been amazing. It takes time to adapt, but I've had enough time now to get a grip of it. I think I handled it well. The intensity is mad."

Irving started his career a