The most revered position on the pitch is striker. The centre forward who converts half chances and grabs the headlines. They can be physically intimidating or diminutive figures using guile and intelligence. A striker must have a predatory instinct around the penalty box, and use positional awareness for a simple tap-in.
Good in the air, they needn’t have an abundance of skill. But must be determined and make runs at the right time. Selfish and single minded, all a striker will think about is scoring goals. Gary Lineker perfectly summed up the mindset of a striker when interviewed for a BBC documentary.
England were playing Paraguay in the 1986 World Cup Finals. He’d already scored two goals and Peter Beardsley subsequently put England 3-0 up. Lineker was off the pitch getting treatment and Beardsley was in his position. He grinned and said ‘that was my goal, I should have had a hattrick!’
Lineker displayed the perfect mindset required for the role. This need to see the ball hit the back of the net and create an indelible record in the history books. West Ham have been a Football League Club for 106 years. During that time only 14 players have scored 20 league goals or more in a single season. The last player to achieve this landmark was Trevor Morley in the 1992/93 season.
It doesn’t seem possible that the Hammers have laboured for over 30 years without a bone fide striker. It’s a sequence unlikely to be broken any time soon as the search goes on for a player capable of doing the business. Our current troubles in the striking department bring this sorry state of affairs into sharper focus.
But who has had their shooting boots on most regularly over the years?
Syd Puddefoot
West Ham’s first 20 goal man was the magnificently named Syd Puddefoot. He signed for the Hammers in 1912 and made steady progress through the junior teams. ‘Puddy’ made his first team debut in 1913 and helped the Hammers build their reputation in the period preceding election to the Football League.
The club’s debut season in 1919/20 produced a highly creditable 7th place finish. Puddy was instrumental and became top scorer with 21 goals. The following season saw him hit 29 goals, which accounted for over half the club’s league total that season.
All looked fine and dandy as the Hammers finished 5th. However, the club had recently spent £35,000 on ground improvements and were keen to cash in on their biggest asset. Falkirk, a relatively small club playing in the Scottish first division declared an interest. Manager Syd King was torn by the thought of losing his star striker. So he set the bar high enough to scare off the Stirlingshire club.
They would have to break the world record fee which stood at £4,500. Legend has it that Falkirk’s directors travelled down to London carrying £5,000 in cash. Any objections King may have voiced were quickly dismissed by an eager West Ham board. Puddy had his own reasons for joining the club. He was stationed near Falkirk during the Great War and had a natural affinity with the area. A signing on fee of £390 also helped to grease the wheels. After three years north of the border he transferred to Blackburn Rovers, where he won two full England caps and an FA Cup winners medal in 1928. Puddy returned to West Ham in 1932 but was unable to prevent their relegation to the Second Division. However, Syd Puddefoot remains the first and original Hammers hotshot.
Vic Watson
Syd King needn’t have worried as there was an able replacement already in the club’s ranks. Vict Watson came from Girton in Cambridgeshire and initially worked as a farmer. He served in the 1st Cambridgeshire Regiment during the Great War and attained the rank of Seargent.
Watson played for a variety of local clubs before signing for the Hammers in March 1920. Charlie Paynter paid the princely sum of £25 to secure his services and later became the successor to Syd Puddefoot. Slightly built at 5’ 9 and weighing 11 st 2Ibs Watson wasn’t the battering ram so typical of the era.
The Stratford Express summed up his more subtle qualities at the time ‘Watson’s chief worth is the clever way in which he holds the forward line together, and the unselfish way in which he distributes the ball. A speedy and intelligent player, he is quick to sense an opening’.
Watson’s first 20 goal haul came in the Hammers’ promotion season of 1922/23 when he scored 22 league goals. He also experienced the apogee of the first Wembley Cup Final in 1923. England came calling and was one of five West Ham players to win international honours following promotion. Games against Wales and Scotland brought two goals, but was later dropped and not recalled for another seven years.
The 1923/24 season proved frustrating as Watson broke his toe in the opening game against Sunderland. The injury restricted him to just 3 goals in 11 league appearances. However, the following season saw a return to form with 22 goals in 41 league games. In June 1925 the offside rule was changed.
Previously, a player was considered offside unless three opposing players, including the goalkeeper were between them and the goal line. Now a player was only offside if there were fewer than two opposing players between them and the goal line. This led to a change in tactics and an explosion of goals. In the 1926/27 season George Camsell of Middlesborough scored 59 league goals, and Everton’s Dixie Dean subsequently set the mindboggling record of 60 goals in one season.
This didn’t immediately impact on Watson’s strike rate although he did score a meaty 34 goals in the 1926/27 season. Shortly afterwards he was placed on the transfer list which may account for a meagre return of 16 goals in the following season.
February 1929 represented a milestone for Watson as Leeds United were the visitors to Upton Park. West Ham raced into a two goal lead curtesy of a brace from Watson. Leeds quickly broke back to level the game at 2-2. A tight game left both teams locked for an hour but then the floodgates opened.
The Hammers routed Leeds with an 8-2 victory as Watson ran in 6 goals. The final season of the decade saw Watson’s finest return as he scored an almighty 42 league goals in 1929/30. He was top scorer in the First Division and deservedly won a recall to the England team.
Appearances against Scotland, Germany and Austria brought two more goals and a strike rate touching a goal every game for England. The last five years of Watson’s West Ham career produced two more 20 goal seasons, but could not prevent the club’s relegation in 1931/32.
Vic Watson set individual scoring records that will almost certainly never be beaten. Over 15 years he scored 298 league goals averaging 19 a season. An impressive multi goal haul includes 12 hattricks, two 4 goal outings and the half dozen against Leeds. Vic Watson is undoubtedly West Ham’s greatest marksman of all-time.
Jimmy Ruffell
Jimmy was the Hammers’ outside right throughout the 1920s and 1930s. He assisted countless goals for Vic Watson but unlike most wingers was a regular goalscorer. In a sixteen year career he scored 159 league goals which remains the third highest in the club’s history.
He scored 20 goals in the 1928/29 season and won two of his six England caps against Scotland and Wales. He repeated the 20 goal feat in the 1934/35 season when promotion was agonisingly missed on goal difference. Ruffell was on fire as he scored 9 goals in 7 games but couldn’t lift the Hammers past Bolton in second place.
Dave Mangnall’s star shone briefly but brightly as West Ham continued to push for promotion in the 1935/36 season. He was signed in 1935 from Birmingham City ostensibly to replace Vic Watson. In a manic burst of energy he scored 22 goals in 25 games including a hattrick against Norwich. It took the Hammers to 4th place but just short of promotion. Mangnall later transferred to Millwall as the ominous countdown to war began.
Bill Robinson
When the Football League resumed in 1946 most squads were a patchwork of retirees and untried youngsters. Like most players of his generation Bill Robinson’s best years were taken by the war. A native of County Durham he signed for Charlton Athletic and won an FA Cup winners medal in 1947.
When he came to West Ham Robinson was already 30 years old but found the best form of his career. He scored 23 goals in the 1949/50 season, which helped the Hammers avoid relegation to the third tier by just two points. The following season 26 goals helped the club to a safe mid-table position. Robinson continued his association and worked as assistant to manager Ted Fenton.
John Dick
West Ham should be grateful for the government programme of National Service in the 1950s. For whilst John Dick was stationed in Colchester he played for Crittall Athletic where he was spotted by the club. Over nine years Dick scored 153 goals in only 326 league games. Although an inside forward he played like a centre forward, and compiled 20 league goals or more on four occasions.
He scored 21 goals in West Ham’s promotion season of 1957/58 and 27 in the proceeding campaign. He as subsequently selected to play for Scotland against England in 1959 (the first West Ham player to do). In the 1961/62 season he scored 23 goals in 35 league games; then was inexplicably transferred to Fourth Division Brentford whom he helped to promotion.
Vic Keeble
John Dick’s striking partner for three seasons was Vic Keeble, who initially made his mark for Colchester during their Southern League days. He became a prolific goalscorer and later transferred to Newcastle for £15,000.
Keeble was the archetypal centre forward and won an FA Cup winners’ medal with the Geordies in 1955. When he returned south the Hammers were mid-table in the Second Division. But he formed a potent strike force with John Dick as they shared 39 league goals in the Hammers’ promotion campaign of 1957/58.
The following season Keeble scored 20 league goals as West Ham finished in 6th place. However, his aerial power and combative style had taken its toll and ultimately succumbed to back trouble.
Johnny Byrne
When Johnny ‘Budgie’ Byrne was signed for a record fee of £65,000 he already held a unique record as the first Fourth Division player to win an England Under 23 cap. He also became only the fifth Third Division player to win a full England cap against Northern Ireland in 1962.
The faith shown in him was repaid when he scored 24 goals in 1963/64 and became an integral member of the FA Cup winning side. Budgie was a great character who didn’t stop talking and his nickname was richly deserved. He won Hammer of the Year in 1964 and posted an impressive 25 goal return in 1964/65. However his season was cut short when he picked up a knee injury playing for England against Scotland.
Budgie missed the European Cup Winners up Final and was never quite the same afterwards. Ron Greenwood, a man reluctant to lavish praise once compared Byrne to Alfredo di Stefano of Real Madrid. Not bad for a lad who learnt his trade in the Fourth Division.
Geoff Hurst
Geoff Hurst made his West Ham debut in February 1960, and was seen as little more than a competent half back who toyed with idea of becoming a professional cricketer with Essex. It was Ron Greenwood’s brand of alchemy that catapulted Hurst to World Cup glory and iconic status in the annuls of English football.
Greenwood felt his defensive qualities weren’t sufficient for a position at half back, so he converted him into a striker. The results were almost immediate as the powerfully built Hurst became an effective foil for Johnny Byrne. The pair shared 38 league goals in the trophy laden 1963/64 season.
His best season was 1966/67 when he scored a mighty 29 league goals including four in a 6-1 demolition of Fulham. His greatest game in club football came when he scored 6 goals in an 8-0 drubbing of a hapless Sunderland in 1968.
Unsurprisingly, Hurst had many admirers and Matt Busby tried to sign him for Manchester United. But Hurst was unimpressed as he mused ‘When you’re playing for a team that can score seven one day and four the next it’s really quite good fun. When job satisfaction is that high, why would you want to play for anyone else?’.
Bryan ‘Pop’ Robson
Bryan ‘Pop’ Robson first made his name with Newcastle and was signed for a club record fee of £120,000 in February 1971. Although only 5’ 8 he was agile and could turn a defender quickly. He scored 28 goals in the 1972/73 season which helped the Hammers to 6th place in the First Division.
Although he transferred to Sunderland in 1974 he returned three years later to aid the Hammers’ perennial fight against relegation. His goals saved them once but was unable to repeat the feat in 1978. He scored 24 league goals in 1978/79 but alas wasn’t enough to secure promotion.
David Cross
David Cross was a journeyman footballer when he was signed from West Brom. But the Hammers got the best of the Manchester born striker. The tall and angular Cross was probably the finest striker never to win representative honours for England.
He averaged a goal every three games and was a member of West Ham’s 1980 FA Cup winning side. However, his finest season in claret and blue was 1980/81 when 22 goals helped Hammers secure promotion as champions of the Second Division.
Frank McAvennie
Frank McAvennie was signed from St Mirren with a moderate level of expectation. A regular goalscorer in the SPL and a Scotland Under 21 international were encouraging signs. The 1985/86 season was a spectacular beginning as West Ham went within a whisker of winning the league championship.
It was in no small part due to the 26 goals scored by McAvennie and the partnership he formed with Tony Cottee. However, a weakness for hedonism was his undoing. He seemed to have been found out as he scored only 7 goals the following season. McAvennie then left for Celtic but returned in 1989 although he never recaptured his old form.
Tony Cottee
Tony Cottee was born in West Ham and grew up as an ardent Hammers fan. In true ‘Roy of the Rovers’ style he began as an apprentice and made his first team debut on New Year’s Day 1983. The fans adulation was assured when he scored the first goal in a 3-0 victory over Spurs.
Cottee went on to score 20 league goals in West Ham’s ‘nearly champions’ season of 1985/86. The PFA Young Player of the Year Award was further vindication of his potential. A 22 goal season followed as he absorbed Frank McAvennie’s goal draught.
The accolade of a full England cap was awarded in 1988 when he came on as substitute against Sweden. Cottee inevitably sought a new challenge and was sold to Everton for a then record fee of £2.2 million. He made an emotional return in 1994 but was well past his best.
Trevor Morley
The most recent recruit to the 20 Goal Club is Trevor Morley who was top scorer in West Ham’s promotion season of 1992/93. It was a crucial season that secured a place in the newly launched Premier League. Morley scored 20 goals in 41 games as the Hammers finished second. It proved to be the peak of his career as he later signed for Reading.
Strikers may steal the glory but they rely on a strong supporting cast to carve out goal scoring opportunities. West Ham have always had the supporting cast, but have recently missed the leading actor who can provide the end product. As TV show ‘The Apprentice’ might put it ‘the search continues’.
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