The fan vote for the top ten of the #50GreatestHammers rundown, in association with Basset & Gold, puts Frank Lampard Sr in ninth.
Frank Lampard Sr
Years at West Ham: 1967-85
Appearances: 670
Goals: 22
There are few goal celebrations in West Ham United history as iconic as Frank Lampard Sr’s jig around the corner flag at Elland Road in the 1980 FA Cup semi-final replay.
Lampard did not score many goals in his 18 years in the Claret & Blue, but his extra-time winner in that tie with Everton will always live in the memory of Hammers fans.
The semi-final replay stood locked at 1-1 after Bob Latchford’s header cancelled out Alan Devonshire’s opener, before Lampard picked the perfect time to score his only goal of the 1979/80 season.
There were just two minutes remaining, and the prospect of a second replay looming, when Lampard swooped to meet David Cross’ flick-on from a Trevor Brooking cross with a diving header, greeting the goal with that famous dance.
West Ham would go on to lift their third FA Cup – and Lampard’s second – by defeating Arsenal at Wembley, with that famous team writing themselves into Club folklore.
Born in East Ham in September 1948, he began in the Academy of his local side, the Hammers, progressing to make his first team debut in November 1967.
He quickly established himself as the Club’s first choice left back, featuring in 40 or more games for six consecutive seasons between 1969/70 and 1975/76.
Lampard claimed his first FA Cup winners’ medal during that run, when the Hammers defeated Bobby Moore’s Fulham 2-0 at Wembley in 1975, thanks to Alan Taylor’s double.
The following season Lampard featured in all nine of the Hammers’ ties of their run to the final of the European Cup Winners’ Cup, coming up just short to Belgian side Anderlecht.
By the time he added the 1980 FA Cup and 1981 Division Two titles to his medal cabinet, Lampard had secured his place as one of the most decorated players in the Club’s history.
He continued to perform strongly throughout the first half of the 1980s, remaining in east London until the end of the 1984/85 campaign.
Over those 18 years of first team football, he amassed 670 appearances and 22 goals, placing him second in the Club’s list of all-time appearance-makers, only behind his long-time teammate Billy Bonds.
Lampard ended his career with a brief spell at Southend United, before returning to the Boleyn Ground to serve as assistant manager to Harry Redknapp between 1994-2001