Ron Greenwood - 1961-1974

Greatest achievement: Winning the Cup Winners’ Cup and developing a style of football that is still associated with West Ham to this day.

Biggest mistake: Falling out with Bobby Moore and not being able to get more out of a talented squad.

While the West Ham Way may have been conceived in Ted Fenton’s time, there is no doubt that it grew up and matured under the fatherly eye of Ron Greenwood.

He was the first manager who had no previous connection with the club, but his footballing philosophy was precisely what was needed to develop the style that had been created on his predecessor’s watch.

Greenwood joined West Ham from Arsenal in April 1961 – the same month that Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space.

His ideas about how the game should be played can be traced back to the day he saw the brilliant Hungarian team of the mid-1950s trounce England 6-3 at Wembley.

It was a performance that revolutionised his thinking and convinced him he wanted to become a coach when his playing days as a centre-half were over.