Bobby Wins Vote

Bobby Moore has been voted as the greatest England player of the last 50 years in a poll of football fans nationwide after pipping Nat Lofthouse to pole position.

It seems the logical choice: Bobby Moore played for England 108 times, captained them in ninety matches [a record held jointly with Billy Wright], won the World Cup in 1966, the FA Cup, the European Cup Winners' Cup and was the 1964 Footballer of the Year.

Born in Barking on 12 April 1941, Bobby made his debut for West Ham United against Manchester United on 8th September, 1958.

He went on to spend 15 years at Upton Park, making 544 League appearances and scoring 24 goals.

In 1974, he joined Fulham for £25,000 and made another 124 League appearances whilst at Craven Cottage.

The 1963/64 season was possibly Moore's finest in club colours as West Ham won The FA Cup, beating Preston North End 3-2 in the final.

He was also named Footballer of the Year that season and followed and then helped West Ham to more Wembley glory as the Hammers beat 1860 Munich to win the European Cup Winners' Cup.

When Alf Ramsey took over from Walter Winterbottom as England manager in 1963, Bobby was already captain and of course the iconic image of Bobby holding the Jules Rimet trophy aloft at Wembley in 1966 is one engrained on every football fan's memory.

The vote was organised as part of UEFA's 50th anniversary celebrations, and Bobby polled over 50% of the votes cast on the F.A.'s web site.

The list is as follows:

1 Bobby Moore

2 Nat Lofthouse

3 Sir Bobby Charlton

4 David Beckham

5 Sir Stanley Matthews

6 Alan Shearer

7 Gary Lineker

8 Paul Gascoigne

9 Jimmy Greaves

10 Kevin Keegan

11 Michael Owen

12 Sir Tom Finney

13 Gordon Banks

14 Bryan Robson

15 Tony Adams