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The Mercernary 1:23 Fri Jun 30
Who are the real West Ham legends?
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I've seen on social media some debating about whether Rice and/or Noble could be classed as legends, then the same about Di Canio, when someone threw his name into the mix.
We have the obvious names that few will disagree with, so Moore, Bonds, Brooking, Hurst, then Greenwood and Lyall from a manager perspective. How many more are there?
Some examples, with reasons why they may get to be a legend, or not be:
Martin Peters - for me he is, but does his move to Spurs somehow preclude him?
Johnny Byrne - I think he was a key piece of the 60s success we had. Thoughts?
Alan Sealey - do the 2 goals he scored against TSV elevate him to legendary status?
Frank Lampard senior - I think this one may be contentious for some, but there's no doubt he was a key part of our success in the 70's and 80's.
Who else and what gets you to club legend status? Julian Dicks maybe, or is he a cult hero at best?
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Replies - In Chronological Order ( Show Newest Messages First)
scouse kid
1:30 Fri Jun 30
Re: Who are the real West Ham legends?
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The problem is the word Legend has become bastardise over the last few decades. Add in how football has changed in its structure and how long players stay at the club. Then it becomes very difficult to define who is a legend and what constitutes one.
I would Alvin Martin as a legend at West Ham whereas some would disagree
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TonkaToy
1:34 Fri Jun 30
Re: Who are the real West Ham legends?
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Is the name 'Devonshire' not on your radar then?
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TonkaToy
1:35 Fri Jun 30
Re: Who are the real West Ham legends?
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What about 'Vic Watson' ???
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Moncurs Putting Iron
1:53 Fri Jun 30
Re: Who are the real West Ham legends?
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Legends are made over time when fact, record, recollection, sentiment and nostalgia meet.
Noble for example is a legend in waiting. The Fact, Record and Sentiment are there but it's too soon for recollection and nostalgia
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Alex G
1:55 Fri Jun 30
Re: Who are the real West Ham legends?
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What is the qualification to be a legend? From the list it looks like spending the majority of their career at West Ham and being an excellent player.
Times have changed though... would a player of Brooking's class stay at a middling club all his career nowadays, let alone spending some of his peak years playing in the second tier? I suspect not.
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Leonard Hatred
1:58 Fri Jun 30
Re: Who are the real West Ham legends?
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Declan Rice was a good player for West Ham but can't ever be considered a legend.
No.
No chance.
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Mike Oxsaw
1:58 Fri Jun 30
Re: Who are the real West Ham legends?
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Devonshire has all the class and status of a true West Ham legend apart from the (media dictated) label.
I recall watching him in awe and thinking " Fuck me! We're got/had better players that him and yet he still owns the ball whenever it comes near him!"
Don't forget (as if you could) that it was him who initially got the ball to the byline and started the move from which Sir Trevor scored (against Rice's next club) back in 1980.
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TheBoleynBoy
2:05 Fri Jun 30
Re: Who are the real West Ham legends?
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Surely it’s a generational thing aswell because my Grandad will speak of players pre-60s as legends, my old man will go with 70s and 80s and then I would go with 90s onwards.
Obviously the older generation have the cup wins etc to help them when dictating legends which helps.
A younger generation apart from an intertoto cup, 2 play offs, fa cup runners up and a European conference league haven’t had much to shout about and they were all different teams that won them.
Whereas you had 1975 to 1981 pretty much the same main stay players winning a good few things and being runners up.
85-86 with like the last lot from that time plus some new heroes/legends like cottee and McAvennie.
It’s a hard one really that’s never gonna be fully agreed on apart from Bobby Moore, Billy Bonds, Trevor Brooking.
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BRANDED
2:09 Fri Jun 30
Re: Who are the real West Ham legends?
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Mark Noble, Frank McAvennie, DiCanio,
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WHUDeano
2:13 Fri Jun 30
Re: Who are the real West Ham legends?
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There needs to be a tier system when discussing legends, and obviously other than the 3 or 4 undeniable legends of the past, the rest is very much personal opinion (and opinions of dads/family).
Legends:
Bobby Moore
Billy Bonds
Trevor Brooking
Icons:
Devonshire
McAvennie
Di Canio
Dicks
Then there's the legendary names of Hurst, Peters, Lampard Snr, Cottee, Martin.
It's always going to be difficult for anyone to go back more than 60-70 years, out of interest does anyone have anyone in their living or more likely past family who saw Vic Watson play?
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Moncurs Putting Iron
2:18 Fri Jun 30
Re: Who are the real West Ham legends?
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Leonard Hatred 1:58 Fri Jun 30
Re: Who are the real West Ham legends?
We don't know that yet though do we?
Emotional return late in his career, lifting another trophy with us, that wouldn't 10 years after retirement...
Who knows?
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Takashi Miike
2:20 Fri Jun 30
Re: Who are the real West Ham legends?
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of course there's obvious picks like alvin, trevor, bobby, dev, julian, paolo. but I think it's a personal thing to each fan, someone like martin allen I loved and will forever be held in high esteem. why? because he gave his all from the first game to the last, we didn't win fuck all but his effort was enough for me. eleven with his attitude in a team, you'd never go wrong
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TonkaToy
2:33 Fri Jun 30
Re: Who are the real West Ham legends?
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It really does not matter if anyone still alive in our fan base saw Vic Watson play for us. He still is our ALL TIME LEADING GOAL SCORER, with a staggering amount of goals. Not just the 50+ that Antonio is bigged up for!
I never saw Moore play for us, does that make him irrelevant to me? Of course not.
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Northern Sold
2:44 Fri Jun 30
Re: Who are the real West Ham legends?
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THE BISH
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Side of Ham
2:51 Fri Jun 30
Re: Who are the real West Ham legends?
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Any player that makes me have the hairs stand on end when I think about a moment they've created for West Ham gets IN for me but I understand this would 'officially' have to be cut back.
So....
A good example is Tonka.....last minute penalty equaliser at Wembley, penalty against Ipswich at home 85/86 and a fucking screamer past Clemence in a 4-1 home win with a Spurs side boasting the likes of Hoddle etc.....for a fucking decent full back is a good example of what I'm on about.....
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swindon hammer
2:51 Fri Jun 30
Re: Who are the real West Ham legends?
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Due to freedom of movement/Bosman and the money available elsewhere players don’t tend to stay at clubs for the bulk of their careers as much as they used to do so legendary status is harder to achieve from the fans.
They being said, Di Canio was only at West Ham for 3.5 seasons and he managed to do it.
The likes of Moore, Hurst, Brooking & Bonds are obviously set in stone as legends and the same goes for Lyall & Greenwood.
The rest are very much down to personal opinion and also generational depending on how old you are.
For me Tony Cottee is a legend because he was my hero as a kid and scored over 100 goals for us. Most others would disagree.
Although I wouldn’t describe Declan Rice as a legend, the fact is he played a big part in giving me one of my greatest moments in my 39 years as a West Ham supporter so I can’t hate him for that.
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Manuel
2:52 Fri Jun 30
Re: Who are the real West Ham legends?
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WHUDeano 2:13 Fri Jun 30
I think you've nailed it there, good post.
I've always had a big affection for Scotty Parker too. 3x Hammer of the year not to be sniffed at.
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SurfaceAgentX2Zero
3:11 Fri Jun 30
Re: Who are the real West Ham legends?
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Anyone with more than 500 appearances or 150 goals is a club legend. Automatically. so thats:
Bonzo
FLS
Sir Bobby
Geno
Alvin
Nobes
Jimmy Ruffell
Vic Watson
Geoff Hurst
John Dick
I'll add near-miss Tony Cottee (146 goals)
Then we have the legendary entertainers and goalies that nobody would really deny:
Devo,
Paolo Di Canio
Phil Parkes
Johnny Byrne
After that, it's a matter of personal choice, which may well depend on your age, maybe:
Dicks
Peters
Ken Brown Snr
John Bond
David Cross
Tonka
Declan
Rio (vomits)
FLJ (double vomits)
Pop Robson
Andy Malcolm
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twoleftfeet
3:19 Fri Jun 30
Re: Who are the real West Ham legends?
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Legends in my time of supporting the club ( 1975 )
Would be -
Brooking
Bonds
Lampard Snr
Devonshire
Parkes
Noble
Players that left and made me want to cry would be -
Cottee
Payet
Cross
Pop Robson
Dicks
Rice is in neither of those categories.
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The Mercernary
3:48 Fri Jun 30
Re: Who are the real West Ham legends?
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TonkaToy - yes, both Devonshire and Watson are club legends in my eyes. I didn't want to list everybody as it's nice for people to add their own names in as we go.
Mention of the Hammer of the Year for Parker, perhaps that should be used as a barometer too? Multiple winners gets you well on the way to legendary status, so Rice has 3. Martin and Dicks have 7 between them too.
Another name this brings into play is Steve Potts, who no-one's mentioned yet.
How about Joe Cole, Boyce, Tevez and Payet? I think they're all in our best ever squad. Perhaps Boycie is the most deserving because of his overall contribution to the club, including coaching?
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