No less than four former Hammers will return to Upton Park this weekend when Queens Park Rangers face Sam Allardyce's side.
Rio Ferdinand, Robert Green and Bobby Zamora all featured for West Ham as players - whilst current Rs boss Harry Redknapp is of course a former Hammer himself.Ferdinand, 35, left the Boleyn Ground in December 2000 when he became the world's most expensive defender. Leeds United, then a Champions League team paid the Hammers £18million for the former England international who went on to make 81 appearances for his country.
Having joined Rangers in the summer from former club Manchester United on a free transfer, Ferdinand insists that keeping his new club in the top flight would be one of his career's outstanding achievements.
"Staying in the Premier League is our main aim," he said. "That will be a huge achievement for me at this stage of my career. It’s not what I’m used to but I knew going in the door what the aims were going to be so I didn’t set my stall out any higher or lower than that."
Joining Ferdinand in the Queens Park Rangers side this weekend will be goalkeeper Robert Green, who left West Ham in the summer of 2012 having failed to secure a new contract. Best known for his 2010 World Cup gaffe against the United States, Green was a popular figure in east London and rarely, if ever let his team down.
"It should be good, I’ve not been back," Green said recently about his return to the club where he spent six seasons as first-choice goalkeeper. "I had six great years there and I loved every minute of it. I moved on to a new challenge and I’m sure the day I left and walked out the door they moved on as well."
The third player in the ex-Hammers triumvirate is Bobby Zamora, whose name remains etched in Hammers folklore following his winning goal in the 2005 play-off final against Preston.
Like his two fellow former Hammers, the 33-year-old striker, who scored 30 goals for West Ham between 2004 and 2008 is likely to receive a warm welcome upon his return to the Boleyn - which is more than can be said for current Rangers manager Harry Redknapp, the fourth ex-Hammer currently at the west London club.
* Something to say about this story? Please visit the KUMB Forum to leave a comment.
