Fans Vote For Top Five West Ham Captains of All-Time

1. Bobby Moore

• Joined West Ham: Joined academy at age 15 in 1956
• Debut: Sept 8, 1958, vs. Manchester United
• Last game: January 1974, FA Cup against Hereford United
• Hammer of the Year: Winner (1961, 1963, 1968, 1970)
• Years as captain: 1963-1974
• Appearances: 647

Sir Bobby Moore. That’s all you need to say. A captain of West Ham for eleven seasons and captain for England 90 times (a joint-record), Bobby Moore is unsurprisingly West Ham’s greatest ever captain and biggest legend.

Moore joined the West Ham Academy in 1956, at the age of 15. He trained at the Academy for two seasons before making his first-team debut against Manchester United on the 8th of September, 1958.

Moore did not have some of the physical qualities other centre backs of the time had. He was not the fastest or most athletic player you would find in a back four. But what Moore lacked in physical gifts, he made up for in spades with his reading of the game.

Moore had the ability to think two steps ahead, anticipating the opposition’s play effectively so that he could time his tackles and movements to perfection. These were some of the skills that caused the greatest of players, like Pele, to say that Bobby Moore was the best defender they had played against.

Moore also backed up his performances with winning. He led West Ham to a FA Cup triumph in 1964, the same year he was voted Footballer of the Year. A European Cup Winners’ Cup the next year added to West Ham’s trophy cabinet.

Even more significant, Moore was the captain of the 1966 England World Cup squad, to this day the only England team to ever win a World Cup. Moore, along with Martin Peters and Geoff Hurst, were three key members of that winning side that played for West Ham at the time.

He remains the youngest ever player to captain a side at the World Cup, at just 25 years of age. He’s the youngest player to ever captain an England team at any point, which he did in 1963, at the age of 22. He also holds the joint-record for most caps as a captain of the England squad – 90 – with Billy Wright.

West Ham retired Moore’s number 6 jersey in 2008, 15 years after he tragically passed away from cancer at the age of 51. Regarded as one of the best to put on the claret and blue, Bobby Moore is the fan’s vote for greatest ever West Ham captain.