The #50GreatestHammers countdown, in association with Official Investment Partner Basset & Gold, is down to the final 12…
Julian Dicks
Years at West Ham: 1988-93, 1994-99
Appearances: 326
Goals: 65
No12 on the #50GreatestHammers list is one of the finest defenders in modern times to pull on the Claret & Blue shirt.
Few players wore their heart on their sleeve quite as Julian Dicks did, with the no-nonsense left-back giving his all on every one of his 326 appearances for the Club.
Dicks enjoyed a real connection with the Hammers faithful, four times being voted Hammer of the Year – a tally beaten only by Sir Trevor Brooking.
Born in Bristol in August 1968, Dicks made his way in the game with Birmingham City, earning his move to east London late in the 1987/88 season.
He was a regular from the off, playing 49 games in his first full campaign and 52 the following year, scoring an impressive 14 goals that term.
It wasn’t just his uncompromising defending that he was noted for, Dicks also possessed a cultured left-foot and an unstoppable penalty.
His style from the spot was an uncomplicated one, but few goalkeepers could get near the power of his shot and remarkably he would hit 14 goals in a season again, in 1992/93, when the Hammers won promotion back to the top flight.
Early the following campaign, Dicks would move to Liverpool, but he soon returned to east London and continued from where he left off, winning his third and fourth Hammer of the Year gongs in 1996 and 1997.
Now with over 300 appearances for the Club under his belt, his career at the top level would be cut short by knee problems.
The hugely popular Terminator would later return to the Hammers, first as boss of the women’s team and then as first team coach under his friend and former teammate Slaven Bilic.