If you think back at who your favourite players of recent years would be, there’s one man who I’m certain would make everyone’s list –Julian Dicks; from his hard tackles to his record number of Hammer of theYear awards, equalled only by the late, great Bobby Moore and Billy Bonds, he’s a Hammers hero.
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With two separate spells at the club, with a brief stop at Liverpool in between, Dicks spent most of his career in a claret and blue shirt– many of which featured torn collars! Dicks has the making of a cult hero;apparently surviving on cigarettes and fry-ups before games, not exactly something that players would get away with nowadays.
Even though he was predominately a defender, Dicks was great going forward and helping in the attacking effort, scoring quite a few important goals in his time (like his crucial penalty against Tottenham Hotspur to give West Ham a 4-3 win against the North London side in the 1996-97 campaign). He was even West Ham’s joint top scorer the previous season, racking up 10 goals due to his penalty prowess.
And of course, let’s not forget the fact that, well, he was just a bloody psycho really, wasn’t he? But that’s what we seem to delight in at West Ham – someone who gets stuck in… well maybe too stuck in. Dicks displayed this with a rather horrendous disciplinary record, with a highlight being his involvement in a mass brawl against Wimbledon. We do love a bit of red mist in East London!
So what’s Julian doing now? Well he tried management which didn’t really work out, and also tried his hand at being a pub landlord. Dicks is currently running coaching sessions with football teams, so if you want to get involved then you can tweet him at @JULIAN3DICKS.
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I absolutely love that, when interviewed, he always refers to West Ham as ‘we’, showing who his loyalties lie with! I think he’ll be a fan favourite for years to come. Oh, and if you want a smile, just think of this quote by a commentator at a Hammers match: “Julian Dicks is everywhere,it’s like they’ve got eleven Dicks on the field.” Priceless. Still think we missed a trick not being sponsored by Durex when we had him playing for us,but there you go!
What are your favourite Julian Dicks moments? Tweet me at@alwaysintune or leave a comment.
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The penalty against Schmeichel which was featured in an advert some years later. I was on a bike tour in the Lake Distict, listening on my Walkman while careering down hills at 45mph! When the ball hit the net I was screaming like a banshee-must have scared the cr&p out of anyone I was passining at the time….
Anyone remember the advert? It featured a blind fan, I seem to remember?
he was the best
Definitely the Tottenham game in 96/97. People forget he equalised with a header aswell. He absolutely terrorised them in that game – & to top it off, ripped the net out of the goal with his winning penalty.
He was my hero as a kid, & such a gentleman as I’ve had a drink or 2 with him in the past at the Debden academy.
Now he was a legend! And yes the advert was for the blind chap! Great player and great memories.