Clyde Best pictured above during West Ham United's 3-1 away defeat
at Coventry City.
|
| West Ham Utd.: |
1969-1970 |
Played |
25 |
Scored |
5 |
goals |
(Division 1) |
| |
1970-1971 |
Played |
22 |
Scored |
5 |
goals |
(Division 1) |
| |
1971-1972 |
Played |
42 |
Scored |
17 |
goals |
(Division 1) |
| |
1972-1973 |
Played |
42 |
Scored |
7 |
goals |
(Division 1) |
| |
1973-1974 |
Played |
34 |
Scored |
12 |
goals |
(Division 1) |
| |
1974-1975 |
Played |
15 |
Scored |
0 |
goals |
(Division 1) |
| |
1975-1976 |
Played |
7 |
Scored |
1 |
goal |
(Division 1) |
| |
|
|
Playing career
1968–1976 West Ham United 186 (47)
1975 Tampa Bay Rowdies (loan) 19 (6)
1976 Tampa Bay Rowdies 19 (9)
1977–1981 Portland Timbers 118 (38)
1977–1978 Feyenoord 23 (3)
1979–1980 Cleveland Force (indoor) 30 (33)
1980–1980 Portland Timbers (indoor) 6 (2)
1981–1982 Toronto Blizzard 22 (2)
1981–1982 Toronto Blizzard (indoor) 18 (3)
1982–1984 Los Angeles Lazers (indoor) 90 (29)
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Clyde Best is pictured above playing for The Hammers in their goalless draw
on 17th November 1973, against Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux.
Biography of his West Ham United career.
The big Bermudian arrived at West Ham in August 1968 at the age of seventeen for
a week-long trial and after impressing manager Ron Greenwood, was given a full
contract in April 1969. Best made his first team debut against Arsenal at Upton Park
in August 1969 and the powerful striker did not have to wait too long for his first goal
for the Hammers, scoring in a League Cup tie against Halifax Town in September that
year, netting his first league goal a month later against Burnley.
Over the next two seasons Best slowly established himself in the Hammers team,
forming a potent striking partnership with Geoff Hurst. He also became particularly
notable as one of the first black players to play regularly at the highest level of English
football. Best was an ever present for West Ham in the 1971/72 season, finishing as
club top scorer with seventeen league goals and becoming renown for scoring spectacular
goals. During that season Best played in the same West Ham team, in a game at Upton Park
against Spurs as Clive Charles and Ade Coker, the first time that three black players had
been fielded by an English league team.
Best was also to appear in every game in the following season, scoring a further nine
goals as the Hammers enjoyed a successful league campaign finishing sixth.
He remained
a first team regular in season 1973/74, as the Hammers narrowly avoided relegation and
finished joint top scorer in all competitions with Billy Bonds. However, early in the following
season his form began to decline and the success of new team manager, John Lyall’s signings
Billy Jennings and Keith Robson, ensured that Best was out of favour, whilst he also became
a target for a small section of the Upton Park crowd.
With only a handful of first team appearances that season and with no goals to his name,
it was no surprise that he was left out of the team for the 1975 FA Cup Final against Fulham.
Sensing that his days at West Ham were drawing to a close, Best decided to leave the club
in January 1976 for a fresh start in the USA with Tampa Bay Rowdies after a brief loan spell.
In total Best played over two hundred games for West Ham, scoring fifty-seven goals and is
fondly remembered by Hammers fans, despite possibly never quite fulfilled his huge potential
at Upton Park. His legacy however will undoubtedly be though as an inspirational trailblazer
for other black players in the English game. (Mark Matthews.)