Guest Post by Nigel Kahn
As the Eighties slipped into the Nineties West Ham were in turmoil, they were managed by an unpopular manager who did sign some cracking players but he was not to last too long but his legacy of players supplied the backbone of the team through the early decade. Cup semi-finals were achieved and lost but quite possibly but we had some of the most memorable games of that period, the rain of Oldham subsided into sunshine of Villa Park, oh what great happy days.
In this decade I probably saw more games than any other as away days became the norm for me. This was alsp the decade I left boyhood behind, fell in love, got married and had kids but nothing got in the way of football. Hero’s returned and departed, legends were born including quite possibly the most gifted player to pull on our shirt arrived.
Protests that bordered on revolution took place in this decade including the death of football as we knew it. The reborn English game was starting down the path of choking itself as television took control and finally during the decade the trickle of foreign players became an influx while the English national team’s fortunes zig zagged like a heartbeat trace on a ECG machine.
This is my team of the decade, inspired by Harry Redknapp’s new book on those that inspired him. These are not probably the best players but they are the ones that mean the most to me. There are two rules, 1) I had to of seen them play in a West Ham shirt & 2). They can only appear in one team of the decade, so some not listed may have already appeared or are yet to appear.
1. Ludek Miklosko My name is Ludek Miklosko, I come from near Moscow I play in goal for West Ham. There could only be one choice in goal, he signed in the January of 1990 by Lou Macari who was to never see him play, he went on to legendary status with performances none greater than the Man United home game in 1995 to stop them winning the Premiership title.No-one really came close to Miklosko, Bernard llama’s cameo season in 1998 was enjoyable. Others of course are Craig Forrest who it seems was forever the bridesmaid and Les Sealy, the utility keeper who made his debut away at Arsenal, as a striker.
2. Gary Charles. Ok I can hear you all complaining, after all he only appeared in five games, and in one scored an own goal, often listed as one of the worst ever players yet he is here in my team of the decade. All I ask is you read and switch of your mind for a while to dream as well. How many of us have dreamed of walking out to a packed Boleyn, onto the pitch, in the shirt. How many have asked, “If only I could have just one game”, probably every one of us. In 1981 I moved left Juniors and started attending Cumberland comprehensive in Plaistow, I was sat down next to a boy I didn’t know and the first task we had was to get to know each other, West Ham was the common denominator, and we had both been Mascots, Gary was the mascot in the snow v Cambridge 1979. Our friendship was sealed, he was head and shoulders above me in the footballing skills stake, he was a midfielder and I was a goalkeeper, two boys who dreamed of playing for West Ham. Well, he lived that dream, he achieved it, signing for us in 1999, he had that one game that we both dreamed of and even though I have not spoken to him since we were teenagers. i still remember when we played on Cumberland fields, pretending to be West Ham players and the pride when I saw him play on the Boleyn fields of dreams.
3. Julian Dicks. The Bristolian signed from Birmingham City as a teenager and straight away showed his metal to virtually instantly become a fans favourite. He was a Captain and a leader, while he obviously had a temper problem it could be easily overlooked as he could play as well. The image of him in his shirt with collar ripped and socks down still comes into the mind’s eye. To listen to him talk about football though is an education and quite how his coaching skills have never been used to a higher standard beats me. To be honest there is no real competition for his place in this team as far as other left backs none spring to mind that I could debate for their inclusion except the one season wonder that was David Unsworth.
4. Rio Ferdinand. The Rolls Royce of central defenders, great ability on the ball, possibly the last defender that brought the ball out from the back that I can recall. The fact that we had to watch his best years not in a West Ham shirt is a sad state of affairs that we have to accept while we may great at developing young players, the best will always leave. From his first games he was drawing comparisons with Bobby Moore, but I never saw Moore play so it is hard for me to make that case but if we could of kept him with the other players we had at the time, I think we could have had the golden period our history.
5. Slaven Billic. Only at the club for a year and a half but in that period showed his undoubted class. Signed for just over a million and sold for over four million, a Redknapp special that paid off. You could argue that used us as a stepping stone but when given the option of bailing out in the match of 1997, he stayed to help in our fight against relegation.Edges out Marc Rieper.
6. Ian Bishop. The longed haired Morley lover from Liverpool, Another great player brought in by Macari, a footballing Midfielder with great touch and pass, unlucky not to stay long enough to get a testimonial leaving the club after nine years in 1998. Finished his career in America where he still lives, he once claimed the “Gay Rumours” may have been one of the reasons he never got his deserved England Call.
7. Eyal Berkovic. Not the Only, but definitely the best Israeli to ever play for West Ham. Joined the club in 1997 and I believe was the catalyst for some of the best football played under Harry. What some may not be known is that his appearance in a game could bring coach loads of Jewish fans to our games just to watch him. I remember once at Wimbledon away there must have been four coach full of Jewish supporters, I sat in with what I thought were Spurs fans at White Hart Lane once only to find that as soon as Eyal got on the ball the fans around me all cheered him. Was involved in the most surreal moment I’ve seen watching West Ham, away at Leicester City he scored then ran to the crowd where he was given an Israeli flag that he then waved about the touchline in front of the Hammers fans, can’t say i’d ever thought that would be cheered.
8. Frank Lampard Junior No Booing please, walks into this team as quite possibly the best goal scoring midfielder we have had in the last twenty years, then again only Nolan gets near that gig, I remember one night at a charity do when harry said he will captain England one day, even I laughed at that but in the Claret and Blue he never let us down. Does not deserve the stick he gets but while I don’t blame him for leaving, he made a mistake in the comments he made at the time. Scored the Goal that didn’t count as his equaliser against Palace which cued the strange case of the floodlights failing. Apparently some dodgy Malaysians had backed a 2-2 draw that night. Moncur didn’t do enough for me to displace Frank though just for the tackle on Ince he nearly did.
9. John Hartson. The last Striker we’ve had to challenge at the top of the goal scoring charts, arrived as the deadline day signing with West Ham in desperation fighting relegation. In tandem with Kitson they scored the goals to keep us up. Better was to come the next Season as with 24 goals to his name he scared defences through the league and if it wasn’t for his disciplinary problems he would of topped the charts. Ignore his assault on Berkovic though I believe it helped to end his stay at the club, he would have been a big miss, but for who his replacement was.
10. Paul Kitson. Stayed for six and a half injury hit seasons and played less games and scored less goals than big john, but together that short time on 97 they rejuvenated the team and it was Kitson who scored the majority of goals in that time, in fact it was his best return out of the six and a half seasons he was at the club, but I believe the signings of both Kitson and Hartson and the impact they had propelled the club upwards and helped in the three top ten finishes in a row for the first time in our history.
11. Danny Williamson. The Midfield this decade was blessed with some great players, Marc Vivien Foe, John Moncur, Steve Lomas, Martin Allen and in my opinion Danny could live with them all. A local boy from just down the Barking road and one of the first Youth team players that got his chance under Harry he scored on his home debut against Southampton which was the last league game of the North Bank. He was finally given a proper chance in 1995 scoring in the first few minutes in the opening game against Leeds and scored a great goal away at Bolton’s Burnden Park where he picked up the ball on the edge of our area and ran the full length of the pitch before slotting home in a 3-0 win. I admit I knew Danny from his days in the youth team, through to his first team days but unlike Gary Charles above, its not down to our friendship that he makes this team.
Three managers in this decade but only one could be chosen to lead this team, Harry Redknapp!. The last great West Ham Manager who followed in the traditions of this club. I don’t buy into the modern day Redknapp rubbish that “he stabbed Bonzo in the back so he must be hated” Football is a dog eat dog world and lets all be honest, he was a better manager than Billy Bonds and brought the club some great times, and players. The first manager to get three top ten finishes in the top division says he wasn’t as bad as many like to paint him. As the millennium arrived though things were looking good for the Hammers, great players & with the youth team starting to bear the fruits of a golden crop as well the next decade was certainly one to look forward to and possibly one that could see the glory glory days return.
Oh happy days.
My team of the seventies: 1.Mervyn Day 2.John McDowell. 3.Frank Lampard Senior. 4.Tommy Taylor. 5.Kevin Lock. 6.Pat Holland. 7.Billy Bonds. 8.Pop Robson. 9.Alan Taylor. 10.Sir Trevor Brooking 11. Billy Lansdowne. The full article can be found HERE
My team of the Eighties: 1. Phil Parkes 2. Ray Stewart.3.George Parris 4. Tony Gale.5.Alvin Martin 6. Alan Devonshire. 7. Mark Ward. 8. Frank Mcavennie. 9. David Cross 10.Tony Cottee.11. Geoff Pike.