Ludek Miklosko
Born: Protesov (Czechoslovakia) 9/12/61
Height: 6'05"
Weight: 14.00
Int honours: 44 full caps for Czechoslovakia
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Before: Banik Ostrava (01/08/89- 19/02/90)
Another true West Ham great. The big goalkeeper was an absolute snip at £300k as he went on to play over 350 games for the club (169 of them in the Prem). Incredibly the man that signed him never saw him play in West Ham colours as then manager Lou Macari had resigned before 'Ludo' had made his debut!
His International career of over 40 caps was brought short when he retired from International football in 1992. His last appearance for his native Czech Republic being against England at Wembley.
His amazing agility and shot stopping prowess along with great distribution and a fine temperament made him a very reliable last line of defence. His record of 22 clean sheets in his first season is still a club record (equal with Phil Parkes) and he won Hammer Of The Year to top off one of the most impressive goalkeeping performances many could remember. His fitness record was also very good hardly missing any appearances at all in his nearly 10 years at the club and a run of 162 consecutive games was only broken by a controversial sending off. His end though was very sad. An injury, a couple of poor(ish) games and he was dropped and replaced almost immediately by Craig Forrest and then Bernard Lama and the end of his Hammers career seemed inevitable.
His return was almost as dramatic. Ludo had been released by hard-up QPR at the end of 2000-01 and Glen Roeder appoints him as goalkeeping coach when Les Sealey resigns and the West Ham fans welcome back one of their all-time favourites.
Where to: QPR (10/98-12/98 loan), QPR, WHU goalkeeping coach (6/01)