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Ten years a Hammer

Winston Reid became a West Ham United player ten years ago today!

The club signed him following his impressive showing for New Zealand at the 2010 FIFA World Cup finals, where the then 22-year-old produced a series of eye-catching performances and scored a memorable last-gasp equaliser against Slovakia in the group stages.

Now 32, Reid has made well over 200 appearances in Claret and Blue, won a Hammer of the Year award and is West Ham’s second longest-serving player behind captain Mark Noble.

And talking to www.whufc.com he said: “When you’re at a club for so long, you obviously appreciate it more. You genuinely care about the people who are around the training ground as well, the people you see day-in, day-out, because not a lot of people change around here behind the scenes. Everyone’s pretty stayed much the same.

“I think also my kids were born here as well, so a lot of good things have happened to me within the ten years I’ve been playing here, so I’m fortunate enough and happy enough to have stayed here. It’s been good.”

Signed from Midtjylland in Denmark, he broke into Sam Allardyce’s team during the 2011/12 season, which saw him score a memorable winner against Millwall and climaxed in a Championship Play-Off final victory over Blackpool at Wembley, Reid played a central role as the Irons re-established themselves in the Premier League.

He played alongside the likes of James Tomkins and later James Collins he was voted  Hammer of the Year for 2012/13.

Sadly, he of course suffered a serious knee injury in an unfortunate collision with Swansea City defender Mike van der Hoorn at the Liberty Stadium on 3 March 2018.

He has since Reid joined American side Sporting Kansas City in February, and is currently in Florida taking part in the MLS is Back Tournament.

Whatever his future holds, ClaretandHugh wishes the long serving Hammer all the very best for the future.

 

About Hugh5outhon1895

Hugh Southon is a lifelong Iron and the founding editor of ClaretandHugh. He is a national newspaper journalist of many years experience and was Bobby Moore's 'ghost' writer during the great man's lifetime. He describes ClaretandHugh as "the Hammers daily newspaper!" Follow on Twitter @hughsouthon

3 comments on “Ten years a Hammer

  1. Such a great servant; it’s so sad what has happened to him. It feels like he has been forgotten and I really hope he can carry on playing somewhere for a couple more years, if not here then somewhere where he is respected for the solid player he is.

    I remember when we signed him thinking to myself that, typical West Ham, we’ve signed another dud on the cheap, I mean, what decent footballer ever came out of New Zealand! Well, he put me in my place! One of our best defenders of the last 20 years, hands down. And of course he scored THAT goal on THAT night.

    I hope he is shown the respect he deserves and gets to come back and either be part of the squad or, if he retires, which seems possible, to say goodbye in the manner he chooses. I wish him all the best

  2. I remember he had a nightmare debut against Ashley Young in the Avram Grant era. Became one of my favourite players after scoring the winner v Millwall, one of the 3 when we done spurs at the lane 3-0 and of course the last goal at the Boleyn.
    I wonder if his leadership in last few years would have improved us so much at the back.
    I hope he gets a testimonial, I’d love to see him back in a WHU shirt one last time.

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