Legends on legends - West Ham

Rivals, team-mates, friends - as we prepare to face West Ham, Alan Mullery is perfectly placed to talk about one of the all-time greats of the English game, Bobby Moore.

Forever remembered for lifting the World Cup as captain of England’s triumph in 1966, Moore played for West Ham between 1958-74 before joining Alan at Fulham as the pair enjoyed a run to the FA Cup Final in the twilight of their careers - Alan was 33, Bobby 34 - in 1975.

Moore played 647 times for West Ham and famously lifted a hat-trick of trophies at Wembley in the mid-1960s - the FA Cup in 1964, European Cup Winners Cup in 1965 and World Cup in 1966.

He made his England debut aged just 21 against Peru in May, 1962 - coincidentally, in the same game as our double-winning great, Maurice Norman - and captained his country for the first time a year later. He won 108 caps for England between 1962-73 and played in three World Cups, described by Pele as the best defender he’d played against after England’s battle with eventual champions Brazil in 1970.

Moore sadly passed away after battling against cancer in February, 1993, aged just 51.

“I first encountered Bobby when England Under-17s had a friendly against West Ham at Upton Park,” recalled ‘Mullers’, who won the FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Cup in 373 appearances for us between 1964-72.

“There was this fairly tall, blonde-haired, good-looking player in the middle of the park. He was a midfielder then. The only thing he was lacking was a bit of pace, he didn’t have the pace to go past players, but he was a wonderful player who played in front of people, spraying lovely passes around. Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters also played for West Ham that day and that was the first time I saw Bobby. I didn’t have a clue who he was! I'd just joined Fulham.

“As the weeks went on, you could see this fella’s progress. Ron Greenwood was his manager at West Ham, and he’d been a player at Fulham before he went to West Ham. I met Ron at the same time, and he was a class act, a really good manager. He brought all these players on, Bobby, Geoff and Martin.

“When you see the modern-day game now, pace is everything. Bobby had very little pace, but what he did was read the game. He read where the person who had the ball was going to pass it, and he would get to that position, get in front of his opponent, and win it. He read the game better than anyone else I’ve ever seen.

“I got him to come over to Fulham later in his career. I said to him ‘come on, you’ll have a great time’. We were both coming to the end of our playing days, both in our 30s, it was such a fun time and I’m sure he enjoyed it, but the real love of his life was West Ham.”