The most influential West Ham United player since the turn of the Millennium?

It is no doubt that since the start of the millennium, West Ham United has been through triumph, turmoil and just the plain ridiculous. We in that time have seen 7 different managers in nearly 13 years, before the turn of the millennium; we employed 7 managers in 105 years. In those 105 years, the club was graced with names such as Bobby Moore, Trevor Brooking, Geoff Hurst and the list of all time club legends goes on, I could be sat here until next week naming West Ham greats. During the previous 12 years we’ve seen some greats play for the club as well, though has a player in that short period had an influence on the team as much as Kevin Nolan has?

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To answer this question, we must find the most influential players on West Ham United and gauge, how much of an impact they have had on that period as a West Ham player. We undoubtedly have seen some great talents to grace the Boleyn Ground in a claret and blue shirt, seen the likes of players that have gone on to win titles, European domestic success and even players that have been part of squads that have taken their respective nations to international tournament finals. Though, I am not writing this to find the best player who has played for West Ham in this period because, that isn’t something you can prove, that is a matter of the readers opinion.

In my opinion we have only had 5 players that could be considered as the most influential to West Ham United in that period, I believe that those names are Paolo Di Canio, Carlos Tevez, Scott Parker, Kevin Nolan and Nigel Reo-Coker.

I believe that these are the 5 players because in the time they were at the club they were the players that shaped our team and lead us to successful periods.

I believe that Paolo is a name in the running, because he was the spearhead, the leader and the creative player that lead us to success in the early 2000’s. Of course, he could not run the team on his own performances and he had some very astute and high quality footballers around him, though he was a main inspiration that lead West Ham to top half finishes under Roeder and Redknapp. Though his impact as a West Ham legend will always be there, he wasn’t part of a team that pushed any further and due to his unfortunate injuries, he was mostly unable to help West Ham in his final year at the club to consolidate their Premier League position in our fall to the Npower Championship in 2003. Also this same circumstance is a hindrance to Scott Parker’s call to being the most influential player in his period. He was fantastic, winning the FWA player of the year when were relegated but he couldn’t do all the work himself and despite his best efforts he couldn’t keep us in the top division.

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Carlos Tevez, was heavily influential in his time at the club, his goals at the end of the season kept us in the league and this will keep him in the records as a cult icon at West Ham, but the fact that he didn’t score until late in the season certainly curtails his chance of this title and if he did show his superb knack of goal scoring, we wouldn’t of been anywhere near the drop zone.

Another player of that era was Nigel Reo Coker, he was the youngest man to ever receive the armband and he was the skipper that took us to Cardiff and where we saw Bobby Zamora finish past the Preston North End keeper to take us up. He then was the captain of a side that went back to Cardiff a year later and if Lionel Scaloni conceded a throw in, rather than passing the ball to Steven Gerrard in the 93rd minute, we would have taken that trophy home to East London. Though his second season was largely unsuccessful as a Premier League captain, and he dramatically fell out with the West Ham fans.

I firmly believe that, Kevin Nolan could be the most influential to West Ham United since the year 2000. He has transformed the way that we as a team are shaped and has built a team morale and spirit around him that we can thrive on. It is too early to tell at the moment, but under his leadership and driving power in the middle of the field, we could find our self a leader that potentially could take us to the next level. A level Paolo or Reo Coker couldn’t, unfortunately deliver to our team.

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