WANDERERS legend Kevin Nolan was an inadvertent "middle man" in a Christmas hamper scam in which some clubmates and members of backroom staff lost thousands of pounds, a court has heard.

The midfielder gave evidence at the trial of Stephen Ackerman, who is accused of setting up a luxury goods stall at West Ham United's training ground in December 2014 under an alias and then ripping off and stealing money from players and staff who placed orders.

Ackerman, of Loughton, Essex, denies 18 fraud charges – with proceeds amounting to around £61,560.

The player told jurors he was given details of a 'Mark Kingston' by nightclub manager friend Scott Cummings.

Mr Nolan said: "Scott made me aware of him and I passed his details on to (player liaison officer) Tim De'Ath. It was a fella called Mark.

"Basically, it was just that Mark sold luxury hampers and he would like to come into the training ground.

"That's something which is quite common in our place, round Christmas time we have a lot of people come in.

"Normally Tim would do a vetting process and make sure everything was fine."

Mr Nolan agreed with prosecutor Richard Milne he was a "sort of a middle man" in the deal.

The player described the salesman who ran the stall as being in his mid 40s, with dark hair and wearing a grey flat cap.

Mr Nolan said he spoke with the man only briefly as he paid £920 for two Harrods hampers and 25 bottles of champagne before setting off for the airport en route to the club's Premier League match with Sunderland the following day.

It is claimed Nolan and a number of other players and staff members, including West Ham's then manager and former Bolton Wanderers boss Sam Allardyce, never received the goods they ordered and some later had sums debited from their accounts without permission.

Former West Ham and ex-Whites defender Joey O'Brien confirmed in evidence he paid £1,200 for two hampers and 20 bottles of Laurent Perrier rose champagne.

The defender said he noticed two additional payments totalling £780 had left his account several days later.

He said: "I did not know anything about those on my bank statement until I checked.

"I knew they were not made by me so I contacted the bank to cancel the card."

The Snaresbrook Crown Court trial continues.