We're kicking-off a new series today to find the ultimate West Ham 5-a-side team in partnership with our Official Energy Partner Utilita!
Over the coming weeks, you'll be able to vote for your top team of each decade from the 1960s through to the 2010s, when we'll pitch each winning side to find our 5-a-side Team of Teams.
First up is the Team of the 60s - check out the candidates below and submit your selection using the voting tool here!
The candidates
Goalkeepers
Between the sticks we have three choices for you. Lawrie Leslie started the decade with the No1 jersey, being named Hammer of the Year at the end of his debut campaign with the club - 1961/62.
A broken leg the following year saw Jim Standen take over to make 236 appearances in Claret & Blue - including the glorious 1964 FA Cup and 1965 European Cup Winners' Cup finals. Standen, remarkably, also won the County Championship in cricket with Worcestershire in 1964.
Bobby Ferguson saw out the 1960s in the West Ham goal, and played 118 of his 277 West Ham games in this decade.
Defenders
The 1960s was a golden period for the Hammers led by the incomparable Bobby Moore. The greatest Hammer walked up the famous Wembley steps to lift the FA Cup and European Cup Winners' Cup and was a virtual ever-present throughout the decade.
John Bond played nearly 450 games for the Hammers, and although many of them came in the 1950s, he was still a mainstay of the first half of the 60s, and was in the team which defeated Preston the land the club's first-ever FA Cup.
Another player who goes down as one of West Ham's all-time greats is Ken Brown. His contribution over 16 years of service was recognised with the club's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018.
Jack Burkett played at full-back in both the team's Wembley triumphs in the 60s and was yet another product of the Hammers' juniors.
The player who took Burkett's place in the team, John Charles, was a real pioneer as the first black footballer to play in the First Division, and represent England at any level - when he pulled on the Three Lions jersey for the Under-18s side.
Our final defensive candidate is Joe Kirkup, who started his Hammers career as an FA Youth Cup finalist in the late 1950s, and progressed to win the European Cup Winners' Cup on that most glorious of nights against 1860 Munich.
Midfielders
There are a wealth of options to pick from in midfield, with another of our three 1966 World Cup winners, Martin Peters, among them. ‘The complete midfielder’ – so named because he was equally adept with either foot, was good in the air and difficult to mark because of his stealthy movement – was a stalwart of the Hammers throughout the golden era of the 1960s.
Ronnie Boyce takes his place in the Hammers history books as the player who scored the goal which landed the club's first major trophy. His late header won the FA Cup for the Hammers at Wembley in May 1964, snatching a 3-2 victory over gallant Second Division challengers Preston North End.
The man who supplied the cross for that famous goal, Peter Brabrook, also features in our midfield choices. He scored 43 goals in 215 games for the Hammers in the 60s.
Right-half Eddie Bovington won the FA Youth Cup alongside Bobby Moore in 1959 and later featured in the Wembley win against Preston.
Malcolm Musgrove had a remarkable scoring record for the Hammers, notching 20 times in 1959/60, 18 in 1960/61 and 14 the following year to earn his place on the shortlist.
Another Academy product, Harry Redknapp, is another candidate, coming through the ranks to make his debut in 1965, and then become a regular in the latter part of the decade.
Last but not least, John Sissons' contribution to the Hammers is one which will never be forgotten - he was on the scoresheet as Ron Greenwood's men saw off Preston at Wembley in 1964.
Forwards
This list has to start with Geoff Hurst. It wasn't just his hat-trick for England in the 1966 World Cup final which stood out this decade, but also his consistent goalscoring for the Hammers. He scored 20 or more goals in six seasons over the 1960s - including 40 in 1965/66.
Sir Geoff wasn't our only forward to feature in England sides of the era - the prolific Johnny Byrne also won eleven caps for the Three Lions and scored 108 goals in Claret and Blue.
Brian Dear's most famous achievement in Claret and Blue was scoring five goals in an astonishing 20-minute spell in the 6-1 victory over West Bromwich Albion in 1965, and he also played in the Cup Winners' Cup victory later that year.
177 goals puts John Dick third in West Ham's all-time top goalscorers list. 47 of them came in the 1960s, including 23 in the 1961/62 season.
Alan Sealey scored two of the most famous goals in West Ham history - the brace which sealed the European Cup Winners' Cup win against 1860 Munich.
