Former West Ham United and Liverpool defender Julian Dicks boasts one of the all-time great penalty taking records in the Premier League.
The Englishman took 16 penalties in the English top-flight, burying 15 of them, giving him a 94% success rate from 12 yards. The only goalkeeper to save one of his attempts was Arsenal gloveman David Seaman, who stopped Dicks in February 1996. That puts Dicks third in the all-time standings, behind only Matt Le Tissier and Danny Murphy, and level with James Beattie.
Yet West Ham icon Dicks tells FourFourTwo, following the release of his new book Hammer Time (Headline, £22), that his successful streak only started following a glaring miss in the cup.
"When I was at West Ham, we played against Watford and it went to a penalty shootout and I missed my penalty," reveals Dicks. "I tried to place it and I hit the post."
The harrowing failure would lead to Dicks changing his tactic – something that would ultimately prove a masterstroke.
"From that day forward, I said to myself, ‘I'm never going to try and place another one – I’m just going to hit it as hard as I can’," he recalls. "Because to me, a professional footballer should never miss a target from 12 yards.
"I'm thinking if I hit it as hard as I can, the ‘keeper ain’t got a clue where it’s going and, even if he goes the right way, he’s never gonna save it. So that’s what I did for the rest of my career."
