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Bobby Zamora
Personal information
Full name	Robert Lester Zamora
Date of birth	January 16, 1981 (age 26)
Place of birth	London, England
Nickname	The Z-Man, Bobby Zee
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	West Ham United
Youth clubs
	West Ham United
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1999-2000 2000 2000-2003 2003-2004 2004-present	Bristol Rovers → Bath City (loan) Brighton & Hove Albion Tottenham Hotspur West Ham United	004 0(0) 006 0(8) 125 (76) 016 0(0) 108 (25)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 18:28, 4 March 2007 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Robert Lester "Bobby" Zamora (born January 16, 1981 in Barking, London) is a native born English footballer of Trinidadian ethnicity.

A life-long West Ham fan, he started his footballing career as an apprentice at the club's famed "Academy of Football", but was released from the East London club on the same day as Jlloyd Samuel, Fitz Hall and Paul Konchesky—the latter of whom has also now returned to the Hammers.^[1]

Zamora started his professional career at Bristol Rovers. He had a short spell on loan at Bath City, before playing the 1999-00 season on loan at Brighton & Hove Albion where he scored six goals in six games. In 2000, he made a full move to Brighton for £100,000.

Arguably one of the best players Brighton has ever had, he is still very popular player at the club—rivalled in popularity only by Peter Ward. During his tenure he quickly established himself as a prolific goalscorer, breaking into the England under-21 team and attracting interest from several higher-division clubs. He scored 87 times for the club, helping Albion win two successive championships, and he led the line as the team won promotion from the into what became the Championship. He was also the subject of a DVD, simply titled Zamora!.

The Brighton fans had a chant they used to sing in his honour, to the tune of Dean Martin's "That's Amore":

When the ball hits the goal, it's not Shearer or Cole, it's Zamora!

Chris Kamara once coined the phrase: "I'll have Zamora that!" following a superb strike against Chesterfield.

In July 2003, Zamora moved to Tottenham Hotspur for £1.5 million. However, he struggled to gain a consistent first-team place at White Hart Lane and the club cancelled his contract; this also removed any sell-on bonus for Brighton.

In January 2004 he joined West Ham, swapped for Jermain Defoe. In the 2004-05 season, Zamora scored twice in the second leg of the Championship playoff semi-final against Ipswich Town, and the only goal in West Ham's 1-0 victory over Preston North End in the Championship playoff final—sending West Ham into the Premiership.

Zamora is particularly popular in fantasy football leagues; at the start of the 2006-07 season, he was named "Top Fantasy Pick" for the Premier League by fantasy sports guru Mark Erickson. This was vindicated for many when Zamora started the season with 5 goals in the opening 4 Premiership games, making him the league's top scorer.

Zamora is currently dating Nicola Tappenden, a Page 3 model for The Sun newspaper.

• ↑ Sam Pilger (October 2003). "The Boy's A Bit Special". FourFourTwo (110): 31. 

• Bobby Zamora career stats at Soccerbase
• Boby Zamora top 10 goals from Brighton & Hove Albion

West Ham United F.C. - Current Squad

1 Carroll | 2 Neill | 3 Konchesky | 4 Gabbidon | 5 Ferdinand | 6 McCartney | 7 Dailly | 8 Sheringham | 9 Ashton | 10 Harewood | 11 Etherington | 12 Cole | 13 Boa Morte | 14 Pantsil | 15 Benayoun | 17 Mullins | 18 Spector | 19 Collins | 20 Reo-Coker | 21 Green | 22 Stokes | 23 Walker | 24 Noble | 25 Zamora | 27 Davenport | 29 Bowyer | 30 Tomkins | 31 Štěch | 32 Tévez | 33 Quashie | 35 Upson | 37 Kepa | Manager: Curbishley