Frank Lampard says ‘unreal’ West Ham icon was ‘much better’ than people think

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When it comes to naming the greatest West Ham United academy graduate of the last 30 years, there is no shortage of options. Frank Lampard, Joe Cole, Rio Ferdinand, Jermain Defoe, Declan Rice, Michael Carrick, take your pick.

Former Upton Park boss Harry Redknapp feels that Sir Alex Ferguson’s ‘Class of 92’ would’ve had their work cut out if West Ham United had managed to keep their own crop of homegrown talent together in East London.

In the space of just a few years, Frank Lampard, Joe Cole, Rio Ferdinand and Michael Carrick all burst onto the first-team stage.

Carrick and Cole won the FA Youth Cup together in 1999. Ferdinand and Lampard would face off in the Champions League final between Manchester United and Chelsea just shy of a decade later.

Reflecting on his formative days in claret and blue, though, Lampard recalls another one-time West Ham wonderkid he looked up to in the academy.

And while Lee Hodges might never have ascended to the same storied heights, a former England U-16 starlet still went on to enjoy a very respectable career lower down the pyramid.

Frank Lampard remembers Lee Hodges’ time as a West Ham United wonderkid

Speaking to the club’s official website a few years back, Hodges puts his inability to break through down to the quality of those ahead of him in Harry Redknapp’s pecking order.

Eyal Berkovic and Trevor Sinclair, in particular.

After a series of loan spells at the likes of Ipswich Town, Plymouth Argyle and Leyton Orient, Hodges moved on to Scunthorpe around the same time that West Ham – with Lampard’s help – secured a record fifth-place finish in the Premier League table.

A placing they are yet to beat, nearly 20 years later.

“Rio Ferdinand came through just after me. That little hotspot of West Ham’s academy, the Joe Coles, the Defoes, I could go on and on,” Lampard says.

“I realised that there were sort of better players around me in the youth team. We had Lee Hodges, who was a really, really good youth team player. He played for England [at Under-16 level].

“I wasn’t quite getting in those England teams, but I had a real desire to try and get there. So, I just filled my time with trying to get better.”

That formidable work ethic would stand Lampard in very good stead in the years to come, of course. As an old-school football obsessive at heart, a Chelsea icon with claret and blue blood running through his veins relished the chance to scrape every inch of mud off the legendary Julian Dicks’ boots.

Lampard says Julian Dicks was so underrated at Upton Park

Cult hero Ian Bishop remembers the uncompromising Dicks flying into a young Joe Cole on the training pitch. He took no prisoners when it came to a baby-faced Lampard either, although he would embrace his enrolment in the proverbial School of Hard Knocks.

“He used to hammer you! He used to absolutely give it to you!” Lampard laughs.

“He used to wear blades. They were like the first blades as we know them now, they were pretty new. It was a bit out there, and Dixie wore blades. Mud would get stuck right in the blades and he would just throw them at you! ‘Clean them again’.

“That sounds bullish, but it was Dixie.

“I loved him and respected him as a West Ham fan. This bloke was like my king at the time! He would throw [the boots] at you and you would clean them again. Come Christmas, it was bonus time and they would give you a little tip at the end of the year. Dixie was really generous, so it was worth it.

“He was great with me as well. It was part of the growing up period and the respect. [I thought], ‘I want to be Julian Dicks or anything like him’. So, cleaning his boots, no problem. When I look back, magical moments, getting to touch Dixie’s boots when I was an academy player.”

While the former West Ham captain is understandably best remembered for his tough-tackling style and his thunderous penalty kicks, Lampard feels that his often-underrated technical qualities deserve some overdue respect.

“Unreal. A really good footballer. He was much better than [people think],” Lampard says. “He was a tough man and obviously got his foot in, but he could play.

“He used to have that great [move] as a left-back where he would go to play it down the line and then just chop inside and take it into the middle of the pitch.”