More than half way through the #50GreatestHammers countdown, in association with Official Investment Partner Basset & Gold, it’s time to reveal our No24…
Len Goulden
Years with West Ham United: 1933-45
Appearances: 256
Goals: 53
The official stats of Len Goulden’s time with West Ham United tell only half the story.
53 goals in 256 games was an impressive return for the creative Hackney-born inside left, but when his wartime appearances are added, his goal tally swells to 130 in 450 games.
Goulden’s experience of wartime football also included an appearance in the 1940 Football League War Cup final, which saw the Hammers defeat Blackburn Rovers at Wembley Stadium.
He began his career with Chelmsford City and Leyton, before joining the Hammers in 1933 and becoming a regular straight away.
Goulden was an ever-present throughout the 1936/37 season, along with Joe Cockroft, and his form for the Hammers also saw him collect 14 caps for England before the war intervened.
Those caps came despite the Hammers plying their trade in the Second Division at the time, and showed that he truly was a richly creative inside forward with flowing skills.
His specialism was suddenly switching the point of attack with searching left-footed passes which took out several defenders at once.
At the end of the Second World War, he moved across London to link up with Chelsea, where he remained for a further five years before taking up a career in coaching.