A fitting tribute to a West Ham legend

Days after World Cup winning captain and West Ham United hero Bobby Moore died the Independent played this fitting tribute.

It read: “Golden-haired, a gentle giant, a great Englishman. Sport, where Britain supports different national teams, has become one of the few areas where an uncomplicated celebration of Englishness is permissible. It is only a mild exaggeration to call England the submerged nation…So England becomes a country that exists on the sports field, but not elsewhere”

Now fully 20 years later, the nation has showed their respect and support for the great man again, this time voting him ahead of Pele and Maradona as a World Cup great.

He will now appear in an exhibition at Madame Tussauds after comfortably winning the vote to become part of the “World Cup legend section.”

Now Bobby may have died just a little over 8 months into my life. But what I have learned about Mooro in my life has taught me just how much he means to the people he knew and the affect he had on people.

Just last week, I was sat in my lecture learning about Globalisation (yawn) but just as I was about to switch off, my attention was fixated back to the board, there was that very quote from the Independent.

The lecturer said, “Who is a West Ham fan?”

I threw my hand up.

“What does he mean to you David?” He said.

“Absolute legend, although I never saw him play the aura he has around East London just shows how much he means to West Ham United.” I replied.

That’s just me, little old me. I remember watching a documentary on Sky with Geoff Hurst. Sir Geoff had played a huge chunk of his career with Bobby and when asked who his hero was by the interviewer.

He said, “You may be able to guess; he is months younger than me, Bobby Moore.”

If he meant that much to his teammates you can see why he was so idolised from the fans on the terracing. There are so many fascinating stats about Bobby Moore that I would like to share with you.

Bobby Moore may have been overtaken by David Beckham in terms of England caps, what a lot of people forget is the England World Cup winning captain never once was substituted in all of his 108 caps for England.

He was immaculate with everything he did, on and off the field, he read the game better than any other player in history and cleanness in winning the ball is second to none.

Looking through the archives is reels and reels of pure class. His tackle Jairzinho in World Cup ’70 just oozed class. Mooro never broke into a sweat; the timing of the tackle was perfect. He demanded respect; you only have to look at full time, when three or four Brazil players ran over him to hug him. The iconic image of him and Pele shows just how much not just England and West Ham and Fulham respected and loved him but world football.

There is often a debate about former players being able to fit into the modern day football. There are very few players in my mind that could do that. Bobby Moore is definitely one of them. He knew the game like the back of his hand and you don’t just lose that.

Any young defender that wants to learn how to be the best should watch YouTube clip after YouTube clip of Bobby Moore. If you want to be the best you have to watch the best. I suspect Rio Ferdinand and John Terry watched him.

I’ll never forget standing in the Bobby Moore Lower on the 24^th of February 2013 holding up our cardboard signs, chanting “Bobby Moore”.  The emotion of that day was incredible and will live with those there for the rest of our lives.

Twenty years gone, never forgotten, Bobby Frederick Chelsea Moore thanks for the memories.

I for one will now make my first visit to Madame Tussauds to see the great man.

Come on you Irons!

Tweet me @Bowdenwhu