FRANK McAvennie has hailed the arrival of new first team coach Steve Clarke from Chelsea as one of the signings of the season and believes there are good times ahead for Hammers fans.

West Ham legend 'Macca'played in the same St Mirren team as Clarke, before they both transferred south of the border as players in the 80s - Steve joined Chelsea as a player and Frank moved to Upton Park in the summer of 1985.

Hammers agreed a compensation deal with Chelsea, who this week reluctantly agreed to release the six times-capped former Scottish international defender to become new manager Gianfranco Zola's assistant on a three-year contract.

Clarke has proved himself one of the most respected coaches in the Premier League and Europe under successive top managers at Stamford Bridge, including Claudio Ranieri, Jose Mourinho and now Luis Scolari. McAvennie told EX: "West Ham have got a very good man in Stevie Clarke.

"I know him well from our playing days at St Mirren and he's absolutely superb. Anyone who can coach some of the best players in the world at Chelsea has to be respected.

"He knows how to deal with big-name players and he's a strong character who won't take any nonsense. He also has plenty of experience of working alongside top class managers in the likes of Mourinho.

"I think Steve could be the best signing West Ham have made in a long time.

"And he's a good lad, too, although I beat him at drinking!" joked fun-loving Frank, 47, who has been happily married to Karen for seven years. He has put the well-documented playboy lifestyle of his playing days firmly behind him and is enjoying a successful life again, although he remains as sharp-witted as ever.

"Steve, Gordon McQueen and myself were invited back to St Mirren for a reunion. Steve couldn't keep up with me at the bar but then, having said that, I'll admit that Gordon outdid me at drinking, big-time!"

McAvennie hopes the combination of Zola and Clarke, friends from their days together at Chelsea, will herald an exciting new era of swashbuckling football at Upton Park, where entertainment has been too thin on the ground for the liking of many supporters in recent years.

"Like Steve Clarke, Zola is also a lovely guy. I've met him a few times but for all the fact that he is a very likeable person,he's also a strong character and will certainly deal strongly with anyone who gives him any trouble. No problem.

"West Ham were always going to appoint a foreign manager to replace Alan Curbishley and, to all intents and purposes, I heard that Chelsea were looking to him to become their manager some time in the future, so it's good that West Ham have been able to get him.

"Zola has coached Italy under-21s and I like the way Italians play the game - it's proper football. They know how to defend and attack and Zola was one of the most gifted players the English Premier League has ever seen. People respect him for that and he'll instantly get the respect of the West Ham players for the same reason.

"Players want to play for Roy Keane because of what he's done in football and what he represents, but West Ham now have an advantage over Sunderland and Keane in this respect. Some players will not sign for Roy for fear of whether

Sunderland can stay in the top flight, whereas people will sign for Zola at West ham and not have that same fear about being relegated. With Zola being who is and the contacts Stevie Clarke also has, they should be able to bring in some good players at Upton Park."

Now based in the North-East at Gateshead, near Newcastle,Frank has given EX mag an in-depth interview in which he looks back at the highs (top scorer with 26 goals in the club's best-ever league season) and lows (the sacking of John Lyall, breaking his leg, missing the FA Cup semi-final, etc) as an Upton Park crowd favourite, as well as offering candid views on all other aspects of his turbulent life on and off the field.

"I was once asked if any of my ex-girlfriends had ever had plastic surgery," says Frank. "I told them: 'Aye, one of them did after I surgically removed my credit cards from her!'"

As well as continuing to occasionally appear on the after-dinner circuit, Frank is now in partnership with a friend who runs the Scottish-based Calcio Promotions agency and is set to take his agent's exam next week."I've got to answer about 27 questions and then hopefully I'll pass OK to become a qualified football agent," he says. "We've already got about 20 young players on our books - I've got good contacts in Scotland and we're spreading our net to other countries such as France and Portugal too - so things are really looking up for me now."