West Ham's Greatest Ever Players, Numbers 4 & 5

Numbers 4 & 5 were not difficult to identify but placing them in order was not so easy. Brooking was a great servant of West Ham and is the first "one club man" in the list, but Peters was, in my opinion the better player, and, of course, a World Cup winner into the bargain. In the end, I have come down in favour of Brooking because Peters' best performances were probably for Tottenham and England.

4. Trevor Brooking

I don't like the guy. I have met him twice and on both occasions he has been aloof. The first time I was only 12 or 13 and was in seventh heaven to find myself on a railway platform with the West Ham team. Hurst, Moore, Pop Robson and co were all brilliant, signing autographs with a smile; Brooking ignored me. The second time was at Luton when Brooking was commentating for Capital Radio and I found myself sat behind him and in the hospitality lounge with him at half time. My attempt to engage in a brief conversation about his West Ham days was met with a complete blanking.

That said, there is no denying that he was one hell of a player in a West Ham shirt. Brooking had an incredible gift for ghosting past players, leaving them for dead with a simple shift of his body. He didn't dribble, he didn't drag the ball, he didn't shimmy, in fact he didn't seem to do anything, he just strolled off and the ball went with him as if tied to him by invisible string, leaving an opponent utterly bemused in his wake. His range of passing was superb and, as he proved against Hungary when the ball stuck behind the stanchion, he had a hell of a shot on him when he let fly. He collected 47 caps and scored 5 goals but, to my mind, was never really truly comfortable with himself in an England shirt. Most of the time he looked constrained and slightly nervous, almost as if doubting his right to be in the team. In a West ham shirt, however, he oozed class and confidence. 639 starts (and eight as a sub) brought an excellent return of 102 goals - what would we give now for a midfielder with a return of a goal per every six and a bit games? In fact what would we give for a forward to play alongside Cole with that rate of return! Brooking won two FA Cup winners medals in the Claret and Blue and, of course, famously scored the winner in the final against Arsenal. Some might argue Brooking's right to be ranked only behind Moore but I disagree. Mind you, had he signed his autograph when I asked aged 13, I might now be seeing things differently!

Martin Peters

Peters was pure class. Alf Ramsey said he was 10 years ahead of his time and rated him world class. His ability to ghost into the box and get in a header at the near post was legendary. Unfortunately, Peters left us for the old enemy in 1970 so I only saw him playing live for West Ham in a handful of games and in TV highlights on Match of the Day and The Big Match (no live games back then except for the Cup Final!). So why is he in at number 5? Well, I saw him, and he played his part in that World Cup win so I think he deserves this lofty position. Then there is the little matter of his goals per games played record when in Claret and Blue. Brooking's record looks good but just take a ganda at Martin Peters' return - 100 goals exactly in 364 games! Different times I accept but that is one hell of a record for a midfield player. He missed the Cup Final in 64 but was in the team that turned over Munich 1860 in the 65 Cup Winners Cup Final.