Greatest Hammers… Numbers 1 to 9

The final run down of our shirt number piece is nearly upon us.

Numbers 9 through to number 1 might feel a bit like the ending of a top 10 with the names that come to mind and it was not easy to pick out just one legend for each number.

For the number 9, shirt it wasn’t easy but it was tough to look past the original “Psycho” – David Cross and everything he did for the club in his time there.

It gets even more difficult with picking the West Ham number 8. With the likes of Parker, Sinclair, McAvennie, and Peters just to name a few. I think I will have to plump for Scotty Parker.

Being both a manager and player for the club, Harry Redknapp wins the battle for the number 7 kit but if it was a fight I think Mark Ward would win easily !

So many big names wore the number 6 even after the era of Bobby Moore but there can be none other than the great man himself

More recent names like James Tomkins and Pablo Zabaleta headline the number 5 but Alvin Martin wins the day. There was simply no one better than Stretch and for 19 years he owned that number 5 week in and out.

Much like numbers 5 and 6 before it, the winner of number 4 is easily the magnificent William Bonds of this parish, who will forever be in our hearts (and stadium for that matter).

The second longest-standing Hammer wearing the number 3 is Aaron Cresswell but you don’t have to go back very far to find the winner of this number… Julian “the terminator” Dicks. From scoring to crunching tackles, Dicksy was and will always be a club legend.

Number 2 was also packed with icons from Bonds (again), Lampard, Steve Potts, and the most recent Winston Reid. However, the winner is our penalty King, Ray Stewart.

And finally at 1… the battle of the keepers. Parkes or Ludo? I think it has to go to Ludek Milkosko

So there you have it , from 68 down to 1

It goes without saying that there are far more fan favourites than the ones listed here, and perhaps we will do the odd memory lane piece during the season?.

COYI !