May 19th marks 53 years since West Ham United lifted the European Cup Winners' Cup, a moment former player Brian Dear desribes as the 'best' moment of his career.
Contested at Wembley Stadium, two goals from Alan Sealey secured victory for the Hammers over 1860 Munich and in the process won the Club's first ever piece of European silverware.
The occasion is still celebrated to this day by Hammers across the globe and, for Dear, who played in that contest, it was the stand-out moment in an impressive career.
Everything fell into place. It was good to do that with my mates. It was fantastic to get that trophy and still be talking about it today.
Brian Dear
"That was the best achievement of my career," Dear told West Ham TV. "You go to the Club you live half a mile from, you spent a couple of years with your mates on the ground staff, and then the culmination was the team winning the FA Cup in 1964.
"I didn’t get to play in that but I fortunately got to play in the European Cup Winners’ Cup final the next season. Everything fell into place. It was good to do that with my mates. It was fantastic to get that trophy and still be talking about it today."
Dear himself had found the back of the net in the first half, only for the goal to be ruled out for offside. Half a century on from the result, and the forward is still convinced it was the wrong decision.
"It was a tight first half," Dear recalled. "I scored and I keep seeing it back, and it still looks a perfectly good goal to me, but it was deemed to be offside. I forced a good save before half-time. We didn’t have it all our own way but there were good performances from everybody.
"Of course, we got the goal in the second half. It was great to get that and then the second one came very quick. I came bursting through and the goalkeeper came flying off his line, which today would have been a red card. He smacked me onto the floor and then we got up and shook hands! It was amazing!
"I would like to claim an assist for our second goal, although Bobby got the perfect cross and Alan smacked it into the net. Someone had to score, although I would have loved to have scored.
"Most of us grew up together and there wasn’t a lot between our ages. Of course, the result was fantastic. It was a wonderful day, a wonderful evening, and it’s lovely to still be talking about it 50 years later."