Julian Dicks says West Ham players are always being overlooked by England

Follow us on Google Discover

West Ham United legend Julian Dicks knows what it is like to be ignored by England.

West Ham most famously produced Bobby Moore, Martin Peters and Geoff Hurst for England

Historically the Hammers have been a great conveyor belt of talent providing the England team with countless players over the years.

From the days of World Cup winning trio Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters right through to present day with Aaron Cresswell and Michail Antonio called up to recent squads.

West Ham fans and numerous pundits feel Gareth Southgate’s selection of Cresswell – which only came as back-up after the withdrawal of Danny Drinkwater through injury – has come a season or two later than it should have done.

Michail Antonio was snubbed by Southgate this time around

Meanwhile Southgate also dropped Antonio from his latest Three Lions squad, despite the powerful free-scoring winger being called up for the last two England camps without getting a single minute on the pitch to show what he can do.

Roy Hodgson before him was accused of having a West Ham blind spot as he continually snubbed Hammers stars such as Mark Noble, James Tomkins, Andy Carroll, Cresswell and Antonio during his tenure.

And now Dicks, a coach under Slaven Bilic at West Ham, has told the club’s official website England have always overlooked West Ham stars.

West Ham’s Aaron Cresswell

“It surprised me that he (Cresswell) didn’t get a call-up during the summer and that he never got the chance to play last season,” Dicks told whufc.com.

“A lot of West Ham players have been overlooked by England over the years going back to when Billy Bonds was playing.

Hammers legend Billy Bonds

“But when you have players like Michail and Cress, you can’t keep overlooking them because they are two outstanding players.

“The World Cup in 2018 is a big goal for any player and now Cress has got into the squad, hopefully he can stay there and it would be lovely for West Ham to have some players performing at the World Cup.”

Dicks himself was one of the best Hammers players never to get an England cap although he was famously asked to play for England B by Terry Venables and refused.

Dicks with Bilic

The likes of Tony Cottee only received seven call-ups while more recently Stewart Downing was largely ignored despite producing the form of his career during his time in East London.

While most Hammers fans would concede – especially this season – that a player like Noble is not good enough for the national side, many feel he at least deserved the chance afforded to others in friendly matches when he was producing his best form last season.