In 1999/2000 West Ham had its very own SAS in the deadly duo of the two Paulo’s, Wanchope and Di Canio, between them they scored 31 goals between them as the Hammers finished 9 th and won the Intertoto Cup.
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Wanchope who joined the Hammers from Derby County in the summer in 1999 for a fee of 3.5 million played 47 games for the East end club scoring 15 goals, sparking up a deadly front line with Di Canio before he was sold to Manchester City the summer later.
In a successful season, Wanchope help the Hammers qualify for the UEFA cup in a 3-1 away win in Metz, which has been voted as one the favourite away day for West Ham fans. A game in which
Wanchope scored in to help seal the Irons place in the UEFA cup which saw the Hammers reach the second round before being knock out 2-0 by Steaua Bucharest.
Interestingly Wanchope, a tall, agile player was expected to play Basketball following his idols footsteps Michael Jordan, but despite his favouring of Basketball he went on to become one of the best players to come out of Central America and certainly the best player to come out of Costa Rica.
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Nowadays however, he has settled down, and since his retirement press conference in which he said he would want to go into coaching, and would gain his badges in England. And you can now find him as an assistant manager to Jorge Luis Pinto in his native country Costa Rica where his country lies 59th in the world rankings.
Paulo did have a stab at management in 2008/2009 where he took charge of Club Sport Herediano but due to poor performances from his players he resigned and stated he wanted to further study
coaching in England.
Paulo although only a Hammer for a year, lived long in our memory following his successful stint in Claret and Blue where he bagged 12 goals in 35 league appearances. In a season where the
Hammers bagged there third top nine Premier League finish in three seasons, whilst qualifying for Europe thanks to their success in the Intertoto cup.
Come on You Irons!
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There is no Paulo Di Canio. Please don’t insult the name of our great Paolo.
I am aware. Paolo the king is spelt that way but the the piece the two paulos sounds better for the piece as I said like shearer and Sutton at Blackburn.
Sorry David, didn’t mean to jump all over you. Poetic license is OK, of course. I’m an engineer, so I tend to take things too literally sometimes. I guess in Italy they would call Paulo Wanchope Paolo anyway; and in Costa Rica or any Spanish or Portuguese speaking country they would call Paolo Di Canio Paulo. Anyway, here’s to the Hammers at Wembley on May 19th, let’s get back to the Premiership where we belong; especially if we do end up calling the Olympic Stadium home.