The Indie:
Dave Goodwin was Anton's manager in the Blackheath district team and became a close confidant, with the result that the boy who would become Britain's most expensive footballer might have escaped West Ham's clutches altogether and started at Middlesbrough. "I knew Lennie Lawrence from Charlton," said Goodwin, "and when he went to Middlesbrough I started working for him. Rio went round lots of clubs, including QPR and Norwich, and it came down to a straight choice between Middlesbrough and West Ham. He said Middlesbrough because I was there but I told him not to make that a factor and got Frank Lampard snr to talk to him. So he opted for West Ham."
That in turn made Anton's chosen path easier, though having a brother who soon became famous could have made his footballing and personal life difficult. Everyone at Blackheath Bluecoat, the Church of England school that both attended, was impressed by how he responded. Maths teacher Ken Cassidy says: "Rio had always been popular with students and staff, though the final year of his GCSEs was a bit of a strain on him with a lot of training and matches as well as exams. Anton handled his brother's subsequent fame very well. Obviously there were comparisons but he did his own thing. He never played on Rio's fame, rather it made him more mature and level-headed."
Football coaches were equally impressed. Anton trained at West Ham's school of excellence in Beckenham with Kieran Richardson, now of Manchester United, and Goodwin believes him to have been a more complete footballer than Rio at the same age: "Although Rio had the elegance and technique, Anton would have had better stats on tackling and headers won. But he did have a forgetful streak. Before a London game against Middlesex once they were warming up in sweat-tops and Anton insisted someone had pinched his shirt. We ran all the way back to the dressing room while they held up the kick-off and found it on his clothes hook. He'd just forgotten to put it on!" He is unlikely to make the same mistake with a drugs test.
Alan Pardew:
"He is our dominant header, which he proved last Sunday with a great goal. I keep saying to him he has to be that dominant figure. He has to pick up the biggest player, which at United will probably be his brother, so he has a huge responsibility for us. As well as natural defending he has to be our big, assertive player at set-plays and that's an important role.
"His brother is that little bit older and he might be over-awed by it. I don't know their relationship that well although I know they are really close and speak regularly. They have a great family and they should be proud because not only are they two great players but they are two great characters. He has only played 11 Premiership games but he has had a great start. He is playing at a level that suggests that the Premiership is going to be okay for his career but whether he can step up a level and play in teams that win trophies - and hopefully that would be here - and then on to England we will have to wait and see. He is not in the same category as Rio yet, but potentially he could be."