Blind Hammer uses the International Break to speculate on a West Ham fantasy 11.
In the silly season of the international break I have constructed an all-time fantasy West Ham 11 comprising our most distinguished international players. As most players currently recruited from around the globe are internationals I have confined myself to players from the Home Countries and Ireland. I have also not restricted the caps awarded to time whilst a West Ham player. However I have stipulated that they must at least have played for the West Ham first team. This rule would disqualify the ones that got away like Ray Houghton who was such a star for Liverpool and Ireland.
What I found interesting is that it did not represent, necessarily, the greatest ever West Ham fantasy team. Some of the people included are certainly not crowd favourites. Nevertheless it is an impressive 4-4-2 line up which few teams could beat.
1. Goalkeeper – David James
I rate Phil Parkes as our best ever Goalkeeper, superior to the somewhat error prone “Calamity” James. However Parkes, absurdly only received 1 England cap whilst James amassed a weighty 53. Parkes had to compete in an era though of those great English stoppers Peter Shilton and Ray Clemence.
2. Glen Johnson Right Defence.
Given the paucity of Johnston’s appearances for West Ham it seems odd to have him in this team. Other players come more naturally to mind. Yet John Bond, despite playing 381 games failed to receive a single cap, whilst Ray Stewart received only 10 for Scotland. Stewart who mirrored the playing career of Billy Bonds, started at right back before moving to centre defence and occasional midfield. He at least got international recognition. Despite his reliable rocket shot penalty taking, he was never in Billy Bond’s class. If Billy Bonds had been Scottish he would have amassed over a hundred caps and is a candidate for the best player never to have played for England. Stewart and Bonds are both pushed out of this team though by the 54 caps Johnston won for England. Although only playing a handful of games for West Ham Johnston remains a Hammer and allegedly tried to engineer a move back this summer. He is the first of several of the lost generation we disastrously lost in Roeder’s 2003 relegation fiasco.
3. Stuart Pearce Left Back.
Purely personally I rated Julian Dicks as a better classic left back for West Ham but Dicks only received international caps at Under 21 and B level. The other player with a shout for this position was of course Frank Lampard Senior who received just 2 caps. So Pearce, a reliable player for West Ham, if past his peak, nevertheless is the runaway leader here, amassing 78 caps for England.
4. Paul Ince Midfield
Emotionally I wanted this position to be taken by Scott Parker. Whilst Scott Parker is less of a West Ham legend than Billy Bonds he nevertheless was not just Hammer of the Year but also nationally Footballer of the Year in a relegation season. Arguably Parker should have had a lot more than his 18 caps and would have done so if his West Ham career had not been truncated by Avaram Grant inept relegation. Parker played the best football of his life with West Ham, flourishing under Zola. I wonder what would have happened if the owners had held their nerve with the tactically naïve but inspirational Zola. Zola was undeniably good at individual coaching. Parker and even Carlton Cole improved under him. Would he have learnt his tactical trade? Would we still have been relegated? The whole history of Parker and West Ham could possibly have been very different with a maturing Zola. However Parker’s is a long way from this side. His 18 caps are dwarfed not just by Michael Carrick’s 33 with more to come but Paul Ince’s 53. Carrick is yet another representative of West Ham’s 2003 lost generation. Paul Ince would not be the supporter’s choice for well-known reasons but this is where the stats inexorably lead us.
5. Rio Ferdinand.
Let us be clear it was the need for Redknapp to shore up West Ham, and not Ferdinand’s desire to leave which forced his sale in 2000. I poignantly remember the description of how a disconsolate and unhappy Ferdinand trailed around Chadwell Heath saying his goodbyes before his record transfer to Leeds. Ferdinand was a classy defender in the best West Ham tradition, to went on to gain 81 England caps. Many consider his sale to be a turning point in our history. West Ham became a club who did not produce and play their own great players but instead sold them for the quick buck.
Ferdinand has no serious competitors for his place but Alvin Martin is certainly worthy of mention with his classy defensive displays which earned him 17 caps. In terms of longevity the greatest ever West Ham Centre Back was Ken Brown who between 1953 and 1967 played 386 games for the club. However Brown only managed 1 England Cap in 1959.
6. Bobby Moore – Central Defence
There can be no argument here, not just the best ever West Ham player, but arguably the best ever English player. He blessed West Ham supporters with a famous career, including 108 caps. I was mesmerised when watching him in the 60s, for those who never saw him at his peak, he was extraordinary. He completely dominated the pitch and the game. He was not just the fulcrum of our defence but he was our best passer of the ball and the driver of our midfield. It was like he was playing in two positions. Time after time he provided the killer assist for Geoff Hurst or Martin Peters to slam in goals, but then again you only need to watch a re-run of the 1966 World Cup Final to get a sense of what we were privileged to watch at the Boleyn in those days. Moore’s defence splitting pass to Hurst to run onto to smash in England’s fourth was crafted on the training pitches of Chadwell Heath.
7. Frank Lampard Midfield
Again longer serving midfield players or wingers would normally come to mind when we consider this position. Peter Brabrook (167 matches – 1962 to 1968) was a highly successful winger before Harry Redknapp. However Brabrook only won 3 caps and Redknapp had none. Stuart Downing won over 10 times as many with his 35 caps, most before he came to West Ham. My personal favourite for this position though is Alan Devonshire whose inimitable dribbling tormented defenders throughout the 80s. . Devonshire was on course to become of the West Ham greats before serious injury hampered his career and halted his run of 8 England caps. He was never the same force afterwards. Much the same fate stifled the early promise of lost generation Joe Cole. Who nevertheless managed to gain 56 caps for England. However controversially, Frank Lampard Juniour is the clear winner here. I watched Frank Lampard’s bebut and most of his early games for West Ham. He was a young, obviously talented hard working young man who was trying his best for the side. I personally thought the hostility he received because of his Dad’s position at the club and charges of favouritism was among the most stupid things I have ever heard from my fellow supporters and I have heard some stupid things over the years. I think it is a tragedy that Lampard Juniour did not have as substantial career at West Ham as his Father did. He is another of the lost generation.
8. Martin Peters
A man who was forever a legend for being described by Sir Alf Ramsey in 1968 as “10 years ahead of his time,” Peters was the inventor of the ghosting run from deep to strike with deadly affect in the penalty area. He was also, alongside Hurst the architect of the near post header, a Greenwood innovation with West Ham which revolutionised the science of crossing and chance creation in the penalty area. Peters had surprisingly few caps at 67 but this was a great number in an era before caps were handed out more casually with 6 substitutions in a friendly after half time.
9. Geoff Hurst – Striker
Again, an incontestable entry. Hurst was forever immortalised for his World Cup hat trick but in a West Ham shirt he again revolutionised the game. Possessed of a fearsome rising hard and powerful shot, Hurst was again a menace to any defence in the air, especially at the near post. What really sticks in my mind about watching Geoff Hurst though was his extraordinary ability to control the ball with his chest. This was so good it became a West Ham tactic with Moore often floating the ball to Hurst. Defenders were powerless to reach around him to attack the ball. Hurst’s uncanny ability to hold up the ball resulted in him receiving savage tackles from behind. These tackles were so brutal that he had to wear protection on the backs of his legs to prevent routine serious injury. These assaults would be unthinkable in the modern game and with modern protection Hurst would have been an even more awesome player. Hurst had 49 caps in an era where having a cap meant a lot more. Only Andy Carroll with 8 caps and Dean Ashton with 1 cap have ever approached the power of presence of Hurst in his prime and to be honest they are pretty pale shadows.
10. Jermaine Defoe- Striker.
Emotionally I wanted Tony Cottee to be my number 10 but statistically Defoe has to be the pick. Defoe is another of our 2003 lost generation, who eventually achieved 55 caps. However the fact that Defoe has more caps than Hurst is all the evidence you need that caps in the last 20 years or so have been devalued by the system of multiple international substitutions in friendlies. 19 goals by Defoe against Hurst’s 24 also do not really show the gap in class between the players. Hurst tended to score when it mattered in the teeth of intense tournament football. Still Defoe was a fine player and it is indisputable that his 55 caps actually far outweigh Cottee’s 7 appearances.
11. Trevor Brooking. Midfield.
Here I am afraid I am about to cheat. Brooking with his 47 caps is actually far outweighed by Liam Brady with his 72 for Ireland. However Brooking spent a glorious footballing lifetime with West ham whilst Brady came for a faded couple of years in the twilight of his career. I have one memory of Brady tormenting Arsenal under the lights of the Boleyn, suddenly transformed into the player of old. He culminated this performance with a stunning rasping left foot drive to complete our 3-1 victory. Despite this fond memory these flashes of the old Brady were rare for us and I just could not bring myself to depose this rightful West Ham legend, Brooking, from his place. Brooking to my mind was also the greater player. If Brooking had been Irish he would have amassed more caps than Brady. Brooking frequently lost his place in his early England career, especially under Revie. He had to compete with Tony Currie, Alan Hudson and even Ray Kennedy for his place. Bizarrely he recounts how once Revie dropped him to play Jimmy Greenhoff as a more defensive option. An Irish Brooking would have had, like Brady, no competition for his place and instead had the entire team built around him.
Just a bit of fun for the break. Next time we will analyse the all-time West Ham Psycho 11.
David Griffith