|
👑⚒️👑⚒️👑⚒️👑😊
Rue Octavio Mey in central Lyon is a street that would have seen the unfurling of plenty of banners in its 149-year history but few will have been quite as impressive as the unofficial unveiling of “Ballon d’Orson”.
It is here where the majority of West Ham United supporters congregated during their temporary stay in this French city over the past few days. It is also the location where some of them paraded their inspired flag in tribute to Craig Dawson.
The goalscoring defender is a fan favourite, and this is the latest example of why Dawson remains highly thought of by West Ham followers. Thursday night’s 3-0 win, completing a 4-1 victory on aggregate over Lyon in the quarter-finals of the Europa League, will be remembered as one of the defining nights in the club’s history.
They now await German side Eintracht Frankfurt, whose success at the Nou Camp last night robbed David Moyes’ side of a much-anticipated meeting with Barcelona, in West Ham’s first European semi-final for 46 years.
But once the post-match euphoria ebbs slightly, Thursday’s game at the Groupama Stadium should also be remembered for Dawson’s best performance yet for the club.
The 31-year-old got the party started seven minutes before half-time when he leapt above his marker Moussa Dembele to score a towering header from Pablo Fornals’ corner, nudging West Ham in front after a 1-1 draw a week earlier at the London Stadium. Dawson has a knack for being in the right place at the right time, having now scored four goals in 43 cup and league appearances this season and remarkably, for a defender who doesn’t take penalties, 51 times in his career.
“Getting the goal settled the lads’ nerves and credit to them; they put in a great shift and it’s an unbelievable result,” Dawson said. “It’s a fantastic night and I’m so pleased for the lads. It’s absolutely massive for us. The lads have worked ever so hard to get to this stage. So, exciting times ahead and credit to the boys.”
Another example of how his popularity with the punters is the number of nicknames they’ve given him. He has also been unofficially christened “Virgil van Dawson” after Virgil van Dijk of Liverpool. “Ballon d’Orson”, inspired by the award given to the footballer voted the best in the world that year, is just the latest nickname bestowed upon the centre-half in this ongoing love affair.
The Athletic understands that prize money would be distributed equally among the squad if West Ham progressed to the Europa League final. It would be a remarkable achievement, especially for Dawson, given his ascent to the European stage.
A teetotal teenager, he worked as a glass collector at The Dog & Partridge pub in Rochdale, on Manchester’s northern outskirts. He has played non-League for Radcliffe Borough and with Rochdale, West Bromwich Albion, Bolton Wanderers and Watford before going on to excel at West Ham.
He initially joined on a season-long loan from then-Championship Watford in October 2020, a move that was made permanent at the end of last season. The £2 million signing, whose contract expires in the summer of 2023, has exceeded expectations, and is another reminder of the club finding good value in the transfer market. Dawson is the embodiment of why West Ham are heading in the right direction as a club.
“Craig Dawson is getting better with the number of games he’s playing at the moment,” Moyes said. “From our point of view, to come to Lyon and win 3-0… having drawn 1-1, most people would’ve probably made Lyon favourites tonight, not West Ham.
“I’m not surprised with how good he is at scoring from set pieces, because he has a really good record. He’s always been a big threat in the box and most people would agree. I’m going to give credit to Paul Nevin and Kevin Nolan, who do a lot of preparation work and help us score from set pieces.
“Dawson, through the season, has been able to get on the end of crosses. He’s brave and when you’re brave, you always have a chance of heading the ball.”
West Ham made a £12 million bid for Dawson in 2018 when he was a West Brom player, but it was rejected. Despite his belated arrival, he had always been on their radar.
If Dawson was a few years younger, there would be a stronger clamour for him to earn an England call-up to add to his caps at under-21 level and with the Great Britain side at the London Olympics a decade ago. His no-nonsense defending, leadership skills and penchant for scoring from set pieces would make him a good addition to Gareth Southgate’s World Cup-bound squad — but England’s loss is certainly West Ham’s gain.
Long after full-time last night, Dawson, Declan Rice, who scored the second before Jarrod Bowen’s clincher, Mark Noble and Ben Johnson re-emerged from the tunnel to thank the travelling supporters who stayed behind. They danced on the pitch and chorused the popular chant of “West Ham are massive, everywhere we go.”
There is real belief that this team could be on the verge of history, and it would be entirely in keeping for Dawson to get the party started once more against Eintracht Frankfurt in a couple of weeks.
|
