West Ham United fans have been gleefully reminiscing on social media after the official club Twitter account shared a post looking back to 1997, when the Hammers landed Paul Kitson.
Kitson moved to the Boleyn Ground from Newcastle, having been a bit-part player under Kevin Keegan, who only started the centre-forward on 26 occasions.
The deal set the Hammers back a reported £2.3million, but the money went a long way to solving Harry Redknapp’s striker crisis, and Kitson went on to record 70 competitive appearances in claret and blue, scoring 19 goals.
One of the best performances put in by the former England U21 international came against Charlton in 2001, when the 5 foot 9 hitman bagged a hat-trick in a 4-4 draw that, unfortunately, saw Jonatan Johansson score a stoppage-time equaliser.
The treble Kitson netted was the spotlight for West Ham’s tweet on Monday, as the club celebrated the 22 year anniversary of his signing, and the chance to reminisce got fans talking…
A very underrated Striker! ????
— ⚒Adrian Smith⚒ (@adiesmith64) February 11, 2019
Would love him or hartson at the moment!
— nevo⚒ (@crumplednev) February 11, 2019
Good solid striker …. great anticipation
— nevo⚒ (@crumplednev) February 11, 2019
22 years ago ???? I remember his debut when he scored & we beat spurs 4-3 …. where has the time gone #COYI https://t.co/fnUGqzhz3a
— Ryan Archer⚒ (@ryanarcher84) February 11, 2019
He always got us penalties.. very underrated I think
— Greg hobbs (@GH90whu) February 11, 2019
Even better I remember he scored 2 against Everton at home, we got a penalty and the players told him to take it (even though he didn’t want to), missed and Everton came back to draw 2-2 & Arry went mental afterwords!!!
— Anthony Morrissey (@AntMo1977) February 11, 2019
without the signings of the underrated kitson and @JohnHartson10 at that time of the season we were nailed on for relegation..
— ronan fagan (@rinanfafan) February 11, 2019