Farewell Roberto

Strange that the club has let the legendary Roberto go on loan to Deportivo Alaves, where he will join Lucas Perez. Roberto was surely the greatest West Ham goalkeeper since Allen McKnightmare. The calamity keeper was a strange set of contradictions; after punching a corner into his own goal against Burnley he then produced a series of brilliant saves to keep the score down. He seemed all arms and legs and I've rarely seen a keeper induce such panic in his own box. 

Roberto joins a long line of dodgy Hammers' keepers. We had the original Calamity James, who was a quality goalkeeper, but produced quite a few rickets in our relegation season. Plus the less good Sasa Ilic who played one match that ended in a 4-0 home defeat. And of course there was Perry Suckling and late-period Mervyn Day getting lobbed from the halfway line. While we chose Bobby Ferguson over Gordon Banks. Nurse, the screens…