WHAT do Rio Ferdinand, Joe Cole, Michael Carrick and Frank Lampard all have in common?

The obvious answer is they have all played for England, but if you put on your football thinking cap you will notice they share another striking similarity.

The four footballers spent their formative years under the watchful eye of West Ham United academy director Tony Carr.

The 58-year-old has been moulding and manufacturing the young Hammers on West Ham's production line for the self-proclaimed 'Academy of Football'

for the last 36 years.

West Ham is awarding Carr's long association with the club with a testimonial game and a golf event, which took place in May at Woolston Manor Golf Club in Chigwell and was well attended by Hammers past and present.

He himself was coached by Hammers boss John Lyall as a youngster and learnt the club's attacking traditions through the man who took West Ham to the Cup Winners Cup final in 1976.

“John Lyall would be my biggest influence. West Ham have had 12 managers in their history and I have worked with nine or ten of them.

“But John was the man who taught me as a youngster and I have tried to use those ideas as a coach in the academy,” he said.

Carr said that while some of England's finest footballers had different personalities, they all had a desire to succeed.

“Rio Ferdinand was the joker while Michael Carrick was more serious and studious. But they all had a love of the game and they all wanted to spend time on the training ground, and they all enjoyed training. Some youngsters don't have a love of the game while others don't enjoy training,” he added.

Young starlets have often had to battle against expectation and none more so than some of the crop Carr worked with during the 1990s.

He said: “Frank Lampard had added pressure because of his father. His father had played for England and won the FA Cup twice with West Ham.

That was a lot for Frank to live up to. Every father wants to see his son better him.

“But Frank had a real desire to succeed and worked really hard and has become a credit to his father and to himself. He's also won titles, been given more England caps and now has more FA Cup wins than his dad.”

But Carr vehemently denies that there was any additional pressure on Frank Lampard to succeed by the coaching staff or team-mates because of his famous father.

“Any talk of that is absolute rubbish. Frank had to earn his place in my team and he had to earn his place in the first team under Harry Redknapp. His father wasn't even on the coaching staff at that time so it was up to us,” he said.

Joe Cole also had to battle huge expectation to become an established international who has played at the highest level at Chelsea.

“We had this player in Joe Cole who was a precocious talent. He could do all kinds of tricks and could beat anybody, but people wondered how he was going to fit in our team.

“He even doubted his talent when he became injured but through hard work he established himself and has gone on to great things,” Carr said.

West Ham sold Ferdinand, Lampard, Cole and Carrick to balance the books but the Hammers have since produced a new array of young talent which is now making an impact in the first team.

Mark Noble, Freddie Sears, Jack Collison and Josh Payne are banging on boss Gianfranco Zola's door to be picked.

Carr said: “I would love to see West Ham have five or six players from the club's academy in the first team. That is fairly unusual in the Premier League when you struggle to see one Englishman in most of the sides.”