Di Canio, Dicks, Parker, Sinclair and Green – Who gets your vote?

Since I have been following West Ham, I have seen many players come and go, some notable for the right reasons and others for the wrong, with many others quickly forgotten about.

Many have become a fixture in the team for many years whilst plenty have only had brief careers here. I have witnessed players emerging from the academy who have ended up leaving the club and going on to become world-class players such as Rio Ferdinand and Frank Lampard.

There were other academy graduates who showed a lot of promise but failed to become first team stars for the Hammers such as Freddie Sears and Junior Stanislas.

Then there were the various signings, some of which were flamboyant and controversial like Paolo Di Canio and Carlos Tevez, to those who were not so spectacular but solid and reliable such as Steve Lomas and George McCartney.

Others were total flops, and soon left such as Davor Suker and Gary Breen. In this article I am going to name my five most memorable players since I have followed the club from 1996, before choosing my favourite one. Of course it is entirely subjective and there are many other potential options I could have gone for. Indeed I would love to hear who have been your favourite players in your years supporting West Ham.

Julian Dicks

Dicks was my favourite player from the moment I saw him live in a game against Leicester City, in the 1996/1997 season. In that campaign he was easily our best player, at least until we acquired the services of strike duo John Hartson and Paul Kitson, in the February.

It always seemed that Dicks was everywhere on the pitch for us, involved in every bit of positive play we had. A lot of our attacks emanated from his bombing runs down the left wing, and he took most of the free kicks with terrific curling balls into the box. He was also a big threat in the air from corners, well capable of heading in a goal or two.

Then, of course, were his famous penalty kicks. I do not remember him missing one spot kick from the time I watched him play, where he combined pinpoint accuracy with astonishing power that must have left goalkeepers quivering when they saw Dicks step up to take one.

The match that most emulated all the traits of Dick’s game, came in the dramatic Monday night match against Tottenham Hotspur in February 1997, which we eventually won 4-3. I remember this game so well.

Dicks scored with a header from a corner to make the score 1-1, then set up John Hartson from a beautiful curling free kick to give us a 3-2 lead, before finally smashing home the winner with a 94 mile an hour penalty!

He finished as joint top scorer that year, with 8 goals. All of this is without mentioning the left backs defensive skills! Unfortunately, soon after that incredible game against Spurs, Dicks suffered a knee injury that he would never really recover from.

Although he came back for a little while in the 1998-99 season, he was never the same player, and he was soon forced into retirement. It’s for that reason that he cannot be my favourite West Ham player, but that season I saw him play in remains imprinted on my mind.

Paolo Di Canio

Of course I couldn’t leave out Paolo! And for many he would be their favourite West Ham player of all time.

After arriving at Upton Park in February 1999, Di Canio often lit up Upton Park with his incredible skills and unique personality. He scored so many incredible goals that there are too many to mention. Of course there was the most famous of the lot against Wimbledon in March 2000, with his incredible volley with both feet in the air that has been voted for as the best goal in Premier League history, but there are others that stand out for me just as much.

What about that volley from miles out at Stamford Bridge? Or the two goals he scored at home to Arsenal in 2000, one where he took on the whole team single handedly from the half way line before finding the net and the other with a great bit of skill that totally foxed Martin Keown?

To date Di Canio remains both our highest goalscorer in the Premier League era, with 48 goals, and most assists, with 24 in total. The bizarre antics and controversies meant there was rarely a dull moment with Paolo around, and this endeared him to the West Ham crowd.

There was the famous game against Bradford City for example, where Di Canio had three stonewall penalties turned down against him causing him to sit on the side of the pitch and demand Harry Redknapp, then manager, to substitute him, before finally getting up and inspiring a great comeback.

Then there was the incident against Everton, where he showed brilliant sportsmanship to catch the ball when the Everton keeper, Paul Gerrard was lying injured on the ground.

However, there were sides to Di Canio that I didn’t like too. Whilst his personality was often a cause of entertainment and enjoyment, he could also be moody and not play very well because of it, constantly barracking teammates and the referee etc, especially away from home.

There was his spat with the then manager Glenn Roeder after a match against West Bromwich Albion in February 2003 when he was substituted, after which he didn’t play until the last two games of that season during which we were relegated.

It was never totally clear what exactly happened, but there is no doubt Paolo’s sulking was a factor. Losing such a key player for that length of time could have been the difference between us staying up that year, and a big reason why I cannot consider him my favourite West Ham player.

Scott Parker

Parker played for us for four seasons from 2007-2012, and after an injury hit first season, he was absolutely brilliant in the next three.

His energy and commitment really set him apart from most of his teammates during that time and the West Ham fans took to his all action style.

I think it was in his final two seasons (2009-2010 and 2010-2011) that he really excelled. These were miserable times for Hammers fans and it is fair to say we would have been relegated in the first of those seasons without him. Indeed his long-range winner against Wigan Athletic in the April of that year was the goal that confirmed our survival.

In the next season, with Avram Grant as manager, we were relegated but that was not down to Parker’s efforts. At times it seemed as though he was the only player in the side, having to try and do everything, defensively and attacking.

Indeed, despite being known primarily as a defensive midfielder, he scored seven goals that season. When he did score for us, they were usually spectacular. His efforts were consistently recognised by the fans too, comfortably winning the coveted Hammer of the year award on three consecutive years running. He was also voted as Football Writers’ Player of the Year in the 2010-2011 season, which is highly unusual for someone from a relegated team.

I cannot pick him as my favourite Hammer however. It may seem a bit petty but I was disappointed by his attitude after we were relegated, where it was clear he wanted a transfer, and didn’t put his full efforts for the few games he played in the Championship the next season, no doubt to ensure he didn’t get injured before he could make his move. I found that quite poor on his behalf.

Rob Green

Many may consider this a somewhat surprising choice, but I think overall Green was a fantastic ‘keeper for us in his five years at the club. He made mistakes of course but I lost count of the number of games he kept us in.

This is particularly so when he came into the side in the 2006/2007 season, where our amazing end of season run saved us from a relegation that had looked a certainty. Some of his performances there were truly spectacular and won us matches. For example that game away to Arsenal where he made save after save and we somehow won 1-0 with just about our only attack!

From then on he was pretty much an ever present in our team until the end of the 2011/2012 season. In the 2007/2008 campaign he carried on his terrific form and saved three vital penalties, two of which were in the last minute of matches and saved us points, most notably against Jermain Defoe in a game against Spurs. He went on to be crowned Hammer of the year that season.

He remained generally very good between the sticks for us and became an England international (finally), although we all know how that ended.

Green also stayed with the Hammers after we were relegated to remain the No.1 for the 2011/2012 campaign when we gained promotion to the Premier League, despite undoubted interest from other clubs the previous summer.

I am very grateful for his performance in the Play-off final against Blackpool in May 2012, when they could so easily have won that game, and prevented our promotion. It was a bit disappointing how he left under a bit of a cloud after that, moving to QPR for purely financial reasons, but I feel that we got our best years out of him and I look back on his time at the Hammers with great fondness.

Trevor Sinclair

I have decided to give the crown of my favourite West Ham player to Trevor Sinclair however.

The winger arrived at the club in the 1997/1998 season and remained a permanent fixture in the side until our relegation at the end of the 2002/2003 campaign.

I always found him someone who remained consistently good, and to have been such a key member of our team for such a long period of time during which there were lots of changes and ups and downs at the club, was some achievement, for which he probably doesn’t get the credit he deserves.

He played through some very good years under Redknapp, including the season we finished 5^th and eventually qualified for Europe to the disastrous relegation campaign under Roeder.

Sinclair was probably overshadowed to some extent by some of the players at the club at that time, such as Rio Ferdinand, Joe Cole, Michael Carrick and Paolo Di Canio, yet he was one of our most important attacking players, both in terms of scoring goals and creating them.

Indeed it may surprise some that he is our second highest scorer in the Premier League era, with 36 goals to his name. As you will remember many of these were truly spectacular, and he won goal of the month on several occasions. He was also someone who probably had the potential to play at a higher level but there was never a hint of disloyalty. He tried his heart out for the club even when Redknapp would use him in different positions on occasion.

So they are my choices. What about you? Who are your favourite players to have worn the famous claret and blue in the time you have supported the Hammers?