West Ham’s Greatest Premier League XI

They might not quite be Premier League ever-presents but West Ham United have been a staple of the top flight for large parts of the past two-and-a-half decades.

From relegation heartbreak, to great escapes, to European adventures, the Hammers have rarely had a dull season.

That makes putting together their greatest Premier League XI quite a challenge but a number of different managerial eras – Harry Redknapp, Alan Pardew, Alan Curbishley, Sam Allardyce, Slaven Bilic – are all represented below.

Ludek Miklosko

The man who sits eighth on West Ham’s all-time Premier League appearance list may have been an unknown quantity when he moved to Upton Park from Czech side Banik Ostrava in 1990 but Ludek Miklosko quickly became a cult hero in east London.

As the Hammers’ undisputed no.1 for the next eight years, the £300,000 they paid for his services soon looked like peanuts and he enjoyed perhaps his finest hour against Manchester United on the final day of the 1994-95 season.

With the team having long since been entrenched in mid-table obscurity, Miklosko was allegedly the only West Ham player to warm up for the game.

He promptly produced an incredible, man-of-the-match display in a 1-1 draw, including three saves from Andy Cole in the final five minutes, to deny the Red Devils – and more importantly to Hammers fans, their hate figure Paul Ince – another Premier League title, as Blackburn lifted the trophy.

Steve Potts

The definition of consistency – Steve Potts wasn’t flashy but whether deployed at right-back or centre-half he was dependable, gritty and terrier-like.

To say he didn’t offer much of a threat going forward would be something of an understatement, as just one goal in 505 West Ham appearances attests, but defensively Potts was a rock.

Only Mark Noble and Carlton Cole have turned out more times for the Iron in the Premier League and, now the club’s under-21s coach, the man creatively known as ‘Pottsy’ will always hold a special place in Hammers fans’ hearts.

Rio Ferdinand

Rio Ferdinand is probably the best footballing centre-back England has ever produced and it was the West Ham academy that produced him.

Ferdinand was 17 years old when he made his first-team debut, 18 when he became a regular and 19 when he was named West Ham’s player of the season – going on to make 127 Premier League appearances in four years.

He became England’s youngest-ever defender in 1998 and two years later became the world’s most expensive defender when he moved to Leeds for £18million but he was made in east London.

Winston Reid

Current manager Slaven Bilic impressed in a relatively short playing spell at Upton Park in the late 1990s, while names such as Ian Pearce and Neil Ruddock may conjure up fond memories for the West Ham faithful.

But New Zealand captain Winston Reid has been a reliable rock in the heart of the Hammers defence since joining from Midtjylland in 2010.

With almost 150 top-flight appearances to his name, Reid also stuck with the club during the 2011-12 season that they spent in the Championship and scored the last-ever goal at Upton Park by netting in the 3-2 win over Manchester United.

Julian Dicks

It’s fair to say you wouldn’t want to meet Julian Dicks down a dark alley but, importantly for a full-back, opposition wingers didn’t fancy going into battle against him down the flank either.

With his shaved head, Dicks looked like a hard man – an initial assessment that was duly backed up by his physicality, litany of yellow and red cards and nickname of ‘The Terminator’.

A tough tackler he may have been but Dicks could also take one hell of a penalty, lash in a free-kick and was unlucky never to receive an England cap, but as West Ham’s player of the year on four occasions he was certainly beloved at Upton Park.

Scott Parker

For a time, Scott Parker was West Ham’s talisman with his industrious displays, crunching tackles and reliable distribution making him the first name on the teamsheet and catapulted him back into England contention.

An incredible reader of the game, and a leader on and off the pitch, the esteem that the Charlton Athletic academy product was held in at Upton Park was demonstrated by the fact he was named as Hammers player of the year three seasons on the spin.

Parker was also named Premier League Player of the Month in 2011 and, despite West Ham’s relegation at the end of that campaign, he earned the Football Writers Association Footballer of the Year gong and a place on the six-strong shortlist for PFA Players’ Player of the Year.

Trevor Sinclair

The likes of Eyal Berkovic or Matty Etherington could have got the call here but for his instant impact and link-up with Paolo Di Canio, Trevor Sinclair gets the nod.

Sinclair cost £2.7million from QPR in 1998 but notched seven goals in his first 14 games to almost immediately pay back his transfer fee.

The winger had two good feet, was quick and skilful and his 36 Premier League goals for the Hammers mean only Di Canio – who he assisted on numerous occasions – and Carlton Cole have more.

Joe Cole

Another incredible talent produced by the West Ham academy, Joe Cole twisted and slalomed his way past many a helpless defender during his four years in the first-team at Upton Park.

He was touted as English football’s hottest prospect from a young age, labelled the next Paul Gascoigne and actually did a fairly decent job living up to the hype.

Cole was given the captain’s armband aged 21, scored 15 goals in 157 Premier League games for the Irons and was named West Ham’s player of the year in 2003 before departing for Chelsea following the club’s relegation.

Dimitri Payet

Yes, his relationship with West Ham ended on a sour note and the fans’ wounds are rightly still sore but Dimitri Payet was easily the most skilful, exciting player the club have had since Paolo Di Canio.

Some of his free-kicks were beyond sublime and his incredible first season in England saw the creative midfielder shortlisted for 2016 PFA Players’ Player of the Year award after notching 12 goals.

A brilliant Euro 2016 for France followed and, despite having signed a new five-and-a-half year contract less than 12 months prior, Payet went on strike in January 2017 to force a move out of the club.

Paolo Di Canio

Quite simply, West Ham’s greatest player of the Premier League era.

The mercurial Italian was fiery, occasionally prone to pushing referees over in a fit of rage and some of his alleged off-the-field political views are fairly unsavoury but he was also a genius between the white lines.

His 48 Premier League goals for the club are more than any other Hammer and Di Canio’s captivating brilliance was perfectly embodied by his goal against Wimbledon in March 2000 where he defied physics to hang in the air and sear a right-footed volley from the left of the area and into Neil Sullivan’s far corner. Majestic.

Carlos Tevez

Detractors could argue that Carlos Tevez only played one season at Upton Park, indeed wasted the first two-thirds of that, and that therefore someone like John Hartson, Tony Cottee or Frederic Kanoute deserves the nod instead.

But anyone who watched the final two months of the 2006-07 season would not only be mesmerised by the level of Tevez’s brilliance, but would also say that he was pretty much the only reason West Ham avoided relegation.

The Argentine inspired them to win seven of their final nine games – notching seven goals and three assists in that time – and scored the winner in a 1-0 victory over Man United at Old Trafford on the final day of the campaign to improbably ensure survival.

Honourable mentions: Shaka Hislop, Glen Johnson, Slaven Bilic, Ian Pearce, Neil Ruddock, Eyal Berkovic, Steve Lomas, Mark Noble, Kevin Nolan, John Hartson, Tony Cottee, Frederic Kanoute