West Ham’s Greatest Player: Bobby Moore vs Mark Noble

Mail Sport with the help of our readers is on a mission to find the greatest player of all-time at each of the 20 Premier League clubs.

Today it’s the turn to look at the legends of West Ham United from pre-war record goalscorer Vic Watson through three World Cup winners to modern-day captain fantastic, Mark Noble.

And once you’ve made up your mind who is all the best-ever, it’s time to vote…

As the predominant team in the traditional working-class part of the biggest city in England, it’s perhaps surprising that West Ham from the East End of London haven’t lifted more silverware.

However, as their fans will tell you, they did win the World Cup for England in 1966 and seem to be fulfilling their potential, last season boasting the second-highest crowds in the Premier League.

Despite all the stars who have worn claret-and-blue, their record scorer remains Vic Watson who scored 326 times between 1920 and 1935, more than paying off his transfer fee of just £50 from Wellingborough Town.

Powerful in the air and a deadly finisher as his statistics would suggest, Watson hit 13 hat-tricks for The Hammers and occasionally celebrated a goal by eating a piece of grass from the Upton Park turf – decades before Novak Djokovic made it fashionable at Wimbledon.

The most glorious period in the club’s history came in the mid-1960s when Bobby Moore lifted the FA Cup and European Cup-Winners’ Cup at Wembley in successive campaigns, going on to complete a unique treble by captaining England to the World Cup.

Immaculate on and off the pitch, Moore benefited from having a manager Ron Greenwood whose coaching was years ahead of its time and encouraged defenders to play football rather than hoof it long.

Moore came to embody the English football gentleman. The picture of him embracing Pele and swapping shirts at the 1970 World Cup became iconic. When Moore died in 1993, Pele paid tribute: ‘My friend as well as the greatest defender I ever played against.’

The skipper’s West Ham cohorts in England’s triumph in 1966 were Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters who scored all four goals between them in the 4-2 victory against West Germany in the final.

Hurst, who famously scored a hat-trick, was also a huge hit at club level, scoring The Hammers second equaliser in the ‘64 cup final against Preston allowing them to go on and win 3-2.

Peters had become part of the side that defeated Munich 1860 to win their first European title the following year. He was the first midfield player to score goals so prodigiously with the timing of his forward runs into the box.

His nickname of The Ghost – so-called because defenders found it difficult to track him – became so well-known, he entitled his autobiography The Ghost of ‘66.

After the World Cup generation left, West Ham continued to entertain fans and won the FA Cup twice in 1975 and 1980, largely due to the silk of playmaker Trevor Brooking, and steel of new skipper Billy Bonds.

Brooking was arguably the most technically-gifted player of his generation and graced West Ham between 1966 and 1984, the only English club he played for.

Brian Clough famously tried to disparage Brooking before the ‘80 cup final by saying he floated like a butterfly, and stung like one too.

Brooking responded by heading the only goal of the game for his Second Division underdogs with 500,000 people flocking to the East End victory parade to greet their heroes.

Meanwhile, Bonds served the club for 21 years between 1967 and 1988, the winning captain in both cup finals and four times voted the club’s player of the year.

Even more than that, Bonzo came to symbolise the type of person you’d want with you in the football trenches. Fond of a tackle and courageous block, his central defensive partner Alvin Martin said: ‘He was dead straight. You always knew where you were with him.’

Martin also spent 21 years at Upton Park from 1975 having come down from his native Liverpool to sign. He was part of Bobby Robson’s England team that went to Mexico for the 1986 World Cup but after impressing in the earlier games, was left out of the quarter-final against Argentina which England lost.

The highest league position West Ham have achieved came in 1986 when they finished third under John Lyall, their attractive style winning the admiration of neutrals.

Their Hammer of the Year was striker Tony Cottee who formed a lethal partnership with Frank McAvennie and scored 146 goals in two spells at the club.

The diminutive Cottee was a boyhood West Ham fan who had pace and a poacher’s instinct. When he left West Ham in 1988, Everton had to pay a British record £2million for his services.

He returned to The Boleyn six years later and became the first West Ham player to net a Premier League hat-trick, against Manchester City.

For West Ham fans of the Premier League era, Paolo Di Canio was an idol whose magical feet fitted in the with the finest traditions of the club.

The Italian arrived from Sheffield Wednesday under a cloud – he’d been banned for pushing over referee Paul Alcock – but proved an inspired signing by Harry Redknapp.

His scissors kick volley against Wimbledon in 2000 was voted goal of the season with his finger-wagging celebration becoming almost as famous. One of Redknapp’s favourite after-dinner stories is Di Canio asking to be substituted when they trailed 4-2 to Bradford, only for the Italian to then stay on and inspire a remarkable 5-4 win.

The teething troubles that accompanied West Ham’s move from Upton Park to the stadium used for the 2012 London Olympics have been conquered by two latter-day heroes, Mark Noble and Declan Rice.

Noble is regarded as one of the best players never to win an England cap but his place in West Ham’s history is certain.

Growing up just over a mile from The Boleyn, Noble was hailed as Mr West Ham when he retired in 2022 after 550 appearances for his boyhood team, staying loyal through many ups and downs from relegation to European qualification. Considered so valuable to the club ethos, he was appointed Sporting Director in 2023.

Rice signed for West Ham at 14 having been released by Chelsea. By the time, he left for Arsenal in 2023, he commanded a transfer fee of £100million.

Rice’s athleticism and drive in the middle park saved West Ham from the Championship and when he was made captain, he went on to lift their first trophy in 43 years on an emotional night in Prague when they defeated Fiorentina to win the Europa Conference League.

To select your greatest West Ham player, click on the voting button or email greatest@dailymail.co.uk if you want to choose someone not on the shortlist.

We will reveal the results of the greatest all-time player for all 20 Premier League clubs before the start of the 2024-25 season.