As we approach the 20th anniversary of Ron Greenwood’s induction into the English Football Hall of Fame, West Ham United legend Sir Geoff Hurst looks back on what made the iconic coach so special.
You may have heard the phrase; ‘West Ham won the World Cup’. Specifically, the 1966 title on home soil.
Well, although it was Sir Geoff Hurst who downed West Germany at Wembley with arguably the most iconic hat-trick ever scored on these shores, Sir Alf Ramsey certainly owed a debt of gratitude to his colleague in the West Ham United dugout.
The captain STAYS! How big of a coup is this for West Ham? 🥳
It was Ron Greenwood, at Upton Park, who nurtured Hurst, Martin Peters and Sir Bobby Moore into eventual world champions.
The core of England’s greatest-ever team, made in East London.
Sir Geoff Hurst pays tribute to West Ham United legend Ron Greenwood
Now, speaking opposite Giles Brandreth on The Rosebud Podcast, Hurst reflects fondly on Greenwood’s silver-coated, thirteen-year spell in charge, and the innovative methods that made him such a visionary.
“Ron Greenwood was an absolutely brilliant coach, years ahead of his time,” says Hurst. “He was a fantastic coach, and some of the stuff we did under him at West Ham…”
Greenwood would mastermind FA Cup and European Cup Winners’ Cup successes over Preston North End and 1860 Munich shortly before the Jules Rimet found itself in English hands for the first – and last – time.
“We hadn’t been to Wembley since it was built 100 years [previously]! We won the FA Cup in ’64 and then we won the Cup Winners’ Cup in ’65,” Hurst adds. “That was only about the second time a club won a European trophy predominantly with English players.
“We played against a really tough German side, not Bayern Munich, but a team called Munich 1860, and won that 2-0. It was incredible.
“And then the next year, ’66, we go to the World Cup and, unbelievably, we provide three players! The captain, Bobby Moore, and the two goalscorers from West Ham, Martin Peters and myself. Martin was my next-door neighbour for four years!”
Hurst remembers Greenwood providing a perfect balance between keeping his players on a relatively loose leash – what was 1960s football without a couple of pints thrown in? – and the pioneering, possession-based football we now refer to as the ‘West Ham Way’.
“He was an absolutely brilliant coach.
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“Probably, discipline wasn’t quite as strict in those days. You hear about people drinking, I think we had one or two players that probably would pop out for a beer on maybe a Friday. [Greenwood] was more a coach, not a boss in those terms.
“But he was brilliant. Some of the work we did, the coaching we did, the goals we scored that we’d worked on…
“I look back, just unbelievable the work that he did.”
Greenwood gave Hurst advice he will never forget
While cutting inside and finding the far corner against Japan in the group-stages, Crysencio Summerville joined a very exclusive West Ham club at the 2026 World Cup.
He became only the sixth player ever to score a World Cup goal while contracted to the Hammers, after Javier Hernandez, Matthew Upson, Lucas Paqueta, Peters and, of course, the man who brought football ‘home’.
“The advice I got from Ron Greenwood [before the 1966 World Cup], when I got selected, he said, ‘Congratulations’,” adds Hurst, who plundered 272 goals for West Ham and England combined. “And then he said something which always stuck with me.
“He said; ‘When you get involved with England, prepare exactly the same way as you’ve been doing at West Ham in the last few years.
“‘Don’t think of it as something different or special. It’s just playing more football’.”
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