Valentine’s Day: FIVE Hammers We Love

St. Valentine’s day is a day to reflect on those you love and those you have loved. I thought I would do this with the West Ham United players past and present.

 

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5. Paolo Di Canio

 

There is no greater feeling than seeing your hero wonder around the pitch giving his performance, which could be compared to a Greek tragedy.

 

I love Paolo because he was and still is in a management capacity, everything fans want to see in a player. Skillful, passionate, hard working and shows the same affection that the fans have for him in return. By that I mean that he loves the West Ham fans just as much as they love him.

 

Paolo is the ultimate West Ham player of the early noughties and late nineties and he will always be remembered for scoring the one of the best goals ever at Upton Park and he will be remembered for crying on camera the day that we went down to the Championship.

 

Paolo has and will always be loved by West Ham fans, to include him in the best ever, in my opinion is too much, but that is not to say that his contribution, and the joy he gave the fans as one of the best strikers to play in Premier League will not be cherished and remembered for the long term future.

 

 

4. Tomas Repka

 

Football fans love a cult hero, regardless of their performances on the pitch; many fans remember players for the impact that they made on the club at the point in their careers. Repka was certainly one of these. Some of his performances were lacking, but his commitment to the club was never in doubt and the raw passion he showed could set off an ignition to spark a major revival.

 

He split opinion, some saw him as a thug on the pitch who was happy to talk the talk, but couldn’t walk the walk. Some fans saw him as a standard defender; of which he probably was but his commitment was first class. He stayed at West Ham as we slipped into the Championship and helped us regain our position in the Premier League. I will never forget the night he left the club; we beat Fulham at home and gave Tomas a more than emotional send off.

 

 

3. Carl Fletcher

 

Carl was a relative nobody in the history of West Ham United, at best, a squad player. Though in will distinctively remember him for just one moment in his career of just 44 games with West Ham United. He was part of the team that played in the F.A Cup Final, but the week before the final we played Spurs at home, the game would be known for the dodgy lasagna. The hilarity of seeing West Ham fans throw toilet rolls at Jermain Defoe is one of the moments I’ll remember for a long time. Though Fletcher will be remembered for the goal he scored that day, a pile driving shot flying into the Spurs goal. A strike I’ll remember and a player I’ll love as a squad player for long time.

 

 

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2. Scott Parker

 

Controversial a choice it may be, due to the path that Scott took after his career at West Ham, but he was Mr. West Ham before Mark Noble deservedly took that accolade from the fans.

 

You can be cynical about the way he left and the club and the manager that he went to. Although, the fact that Scott was the first Hammer to win the PFA award since the greatest West Ham player of all time, Bobby Moore, shows Scott’s commitment to the club, he scored a few inspirational goals, but it was his unbelievable character in the face of adversity that gives him a right to be included as a Hammer who should be considered as a loved footballer for the club.

 

 

1. Joe Cole

 

‘The Boy’, as Harry Redknapp referred to many times, has come back to Upton Park, and even though critics say that fans saw this move through claret and blue tinted glasses, I’m very happy to have Joe home.

 

Joe was a player I loved because his youthful intuition as one of the best young players in Europe at his time. Though, as we know he didn’t fulfill that reputation, primarily due to his injury problems. Joe was at the peak of his powers for West Ham in his first spell, though his return to Upton Park gives us a good reminder that romance isn’t dead.

 

 

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