Some West Ham fans were left shocked as the club’s Twitter account declared Paolo Di Canio as only the ’11th Greatest Hammer’ in a countdown of 50 players.
@WestHamUtd have been playing homage to some of their best servants down the years via a countdown over the past couple of months on the social media site, with the likes of Mark Noble, Bobby Zamora, Scott Parker, Trevor Sinclair, Tony Cottee and Frank McAvennie having all featured so far.
As always with such things, fans have voiced their disagreements with the way some players have been placed too low or too high, but it was the placement of Di Canio at number 11 that people were most annoyed by.
Di Canio came to English football in 1997 after transferring to Sheffield Wednesday from Celtic, where he spent a couple of seasons before signing for the Irons in a £1.5 million deal.
He would go on to spend four seasons at Upton Park, making 118 league apperances and scoring 48 goals while mesmerising crowds with his sublime skill and maverick ways.
The Italian scored one of the greatest goals in English top flight history against Wimbledon in 2000, and always captivated crowds with his aura alone.
It’s safe to say that West Ham fans were a mixture of confused, sad and irritated at him being placed as low down as 11th.
The club are now opening up a vote for the fans to decide the order of the top 10, which includes Alan Devonshire, Alvin Martin, Billy Bonds, Bobby Moore, Frank Lampard Sr, Sir Geoff Hurst, Martin Peters, Phil Parkes, Sir Trevor Brooking and Vic Watson as the options.
Here’s how some Hammers reacted as Di Canio somehow missed out on the top 10:
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