Month: June 2023

Europa Champions, Silverware, Moyes and Rice: Where Do West Ham Go From Here?

A week of untold joy for Hammers fans across the globe. Is this just a random act in history, or can it be the start of lasting east-end legacy?

Oh, what a night. Why’d it take so long to see the light? The thrill, the buzz and the pinching ourselves after last week’s famous victory has slowly started to fade away – but how sweet to witness the pent-up joy and emotion that was released when the final whistle blew in Prague on Wednesday night.

Any doubts that the Europa Conference League wasn’t a major trophy were swept away in a wave of a celebration and euphoria that spread from the Fortuna Arena to the streets of east London to the hordes of happy Hammers living around the world. What a fabulously supported club this is. And what devotion, passion, and commitment from a following that has been starved of success for so many years.

A first European trophy for 58 years, the first silverware for 43 years and West Ham joining the alternative big six of Premier League clubs to have won a UEFA title. There was no questioning what victory meant to players, coaches, and supporters alike.

As with many finals, the game itself was instantly forgettable – aside from the manner of victory, that is. A last-minute winner and the anxious wait for VAR couldn’t have been better scripted. As the dust settled, several new generations of West Ham fans (anyone under 50) can now proudly tick-off experiencing a West Ham trophy win from their lifetime to-do lists.

But the world of football does not stand still. The fixtures for the new season are revealed tomorrow morning and the 2023/24 season starts in just 60 days’ time. Those two months may prove to be a pivotal time at the club as they seek to refresh an ageing squad into one capable of competing in both Premier and Europa Leagues.

It was no surprise in the aftermath of the historic trophy win to learn that David Moyes would stay to fight another season at West Ham. It would have been a harsh decision to remove the manager who had just delivered a first trophy since 1980. But that victory does not erase what was otherwise an atrocious league season. In terms of defeats (20 out of 38 games) and goals scored (42) it was among the Hammers worst ever Premier League seasons.

There is a disconnect between those who regularly sit through games and those who follow the results in the media. On paper, the achievements of the last three seasons look excellent – two top seven finishes and three European campaigns on the trot is unprecedented for the club. But on the pitch we are not seeing entertainment and the approach is riddled with caution and fear. Unless that changes, Moyes will never be able to win over the fans.

Despite being critical of Moyes brand of football, it would be churlish not to share his excitement or acknowledge his role in achieving victory in Prague. It’s a fact of modern footballing life, with its concentration of power in the few, that not many managers get to add a major honour to their CV these days. And it was apparent from the celebrations that a great spirit exists between the manager and his players – contrary to the dour and distant reputation that is often painted.

The West Ham board have received widespread praise for sticking with Moyes and maybe the outcome did justify the decision. We can never know for sure. A change of manager may still have won the Conference and finished half a dozen places higher in the league. Or we may have been relegated! Impossible to tell with any certainty!

Sadly, I don’t have high hopes that Moyes is open to new ideas as to how to play football. He maintains that he had tried something new in the early part of last season, but whatever it was it passed me by. As he enters the final year of his contract it will be interesting to see if he becomes any less cautious. I fear not but possibly there will be clues in the player recruitment?

A few weeks before the end of the season, the manager was talking about tweaks in the transfer window rather than the wholesale arrivals seen the previous summer. With the imminent departure of Declan Rice, question marks over the future of Gianluca Scamacca, and several other players – Manuel Lanzini, Angelo Ogbonna, Michail Antonio, Aaron Cresswell, Danny Ings, and Lukasz Fabianski – all at the wrong end of the age and fitness scale, that sounds like a recipe for disaster. Add in an injury prone Kurt Zouma and the rebuilding task feels massive. I make that a minimum of six new players for the first team squad.

It seems it will only be a matter of time before Rice is being paraded in an Arsenal/ Manchester United/ Chelsea shirt. He has been very diplomatic and respectful in stating that he is a West Ham player, until he isn’t. But the tactless Chairman has already spilled the beans that he needs to be sold as the club cannot afford to let him run his contract down any further. Rice has been the heartbeat of the side for the past three seasons and will be a hard act to follow. His importance on the pitch is so much more than as a defensive midfielder – where he has excelled with a sublime ability to read of the game. He has also been the main man for carrying the ball forward and central to orchestrating the lion’s share of attacking plays.

There is so much nonsense written about transfers in the media, making it impossible to separate the feasible from the fanciful. We can only speculate whether the club has a well-thought-out plan to improve the squad – one that has an eye on both immediate needs and longer-term development. Past performance suggests that is unlikely and that we will again rely on agents rather than a comprehensive scouting network. The talk of bringing in a Director of Football has suddenly gone quiet with The Guardian now reporting that it is being reconsidered following discussions between Sullivan and Moyes.

A recurring theme has been that the focus of transfer activity will be on players with Premier League experience. A reaction, no doubt, to the poor return from last summer’s transfer window. But I do wonder how much of the failure to ‘hit the ground running’ was due to the absence of that experience. Or whether the integration was badly planned or managed. With football increasingly ‘systemised’ adjustment might equally be attributed to adapting to a system rather than a country – Jack Grealish taking a year to flourish at Manchester City is an example.

Buying the right players to fit specific needs or positions on the pitch is the ideal and sensible solution, regardless of where they now play. The £100 million from the sale of Rice will not go far when restricting your options to proven PL players – unless there are fire sale bargains from relegated clubs to be had, or we want to pick a few more past their bests (see D Ings).

It will be an interesting couple of months. As well as finding a suitable replacement for Rice, we cannot forget the club’s long running and continued struggle with striker recruitments. It is the most difficult position to fill in the best of circumstances but in the way that West Ham currently play, finding a suitable candidate becomes close to impossible.

It is tempting to see winning the Europa Conference as the springboard for a golden era of success. But cup wins can just as easily be no more than a blip in history. Hard work and inspired decisions are required if the cup win has any hope of leaving a legacy. Let’s hope the board and management are up for it. COYI!

East London Expects: Excitement Builds As West Ham Battle To Write New Chapter in Hammer’s History

Cup final day has finally arrived as the Hemmers face off with Fiorentina in Prague. Equal measures of anticipation, excitement and anxiety promise to define an important night for the supporters, players, and coaching staff of West Ham United.

There’s more to supporting a football team than winning trophies. But that doesn’t mean the occasional piece of silverware wouldn’t go amiss. Tonight, West Ham have the opportunity to chalk a rare trophy win onto the honours board when they face Fiorentina in the final of the Europa Conference League at Prague’s Fortuna Arena.

For a club with a history that extends back for over 120 years, the list of major successes is a meagre and sorry read. Tree FA Cups and one European Cup Winners Cup triumph represent the only excuse the club has had to organise an open top bus parade. Indeed what we have was all achieved in a brief 16-year period between 1964 and 1980. Only two of West Ham’s 17 managers – Ron Greenwood and John Lyall – have ever experienced the thrill of leading their side to a major honour.

Tonight’s showdown is the Hammer’s first appearance in a European final for 47 years. A victory would be the first major piece of silverware in any competition for 43 years, and a first European trophy for 58 years. The absence of success has made the heart grow fonder as several generations of Hammer’s supporters have yet to experience the euphoria that comes with it. No surprise then that the ten days since the end of the league season has seen anticipation increasingly build, creating a heady atmosphere of celebration, expectation, excitement, and anxiety. Will the story have a happy Hammers ending?

In an uncertain season, a West Ham win requires alignment of all the footballing planets. The team must be well prepared, they must go into the game with belief and perform at the height of their abilities. We know that it should be possible in theory, but has been all too rarely seen in practice during the past season and a half. David Moyes spoke at the press conference about the need for motivation, inspiration, determination, commitment, and the right attitude. Difficult to argue against those sentiments, but the reality is that too often it has been fear and too much respect for the opposition that has been his side’s downfall, particularly in the opening exchanges of games. Without being reckless, West Ham need to be the team asking the questions. Not sitting back and waiting to react. Moyes spoke about ‘finding a way to win’ when I really hope he will be setting set out with a bold plan for victory!

Our final opponents, Fiorentina, are also experiencing something of a trophy drought. Their sole European success came in the 1961 Cup Winners Cup when they overcame Glasgow Rangers in a two leg final. And their last major trophy win was the Coppa Italia back in 2001. They will be making history tonight as the first team to appear in a final of all four UEFA competitions.

La Viola are a team that loves to have possession. They were second only to Napoli in Serie A this season with a staggering (compared to West Ham) 56% of ball possession. They play with the highest line of all Italian clubs and will be seeking to press the Hammers across the pitch. Attacks are frequently down the flanks with the tricky feet of Ikone and Gonzalez looking to pepper the opposing penalty area with crosses. This will be a test for the Hammer’s defensive discipline. Fiorentina have been free-scoring in the Conference League with Cabral their main man, but they can also be vulnerable at the back, in part due to their high line. The centre of midfield will see an intriguing dual between Declan Rice and Sofyan Amrabat , so impressive for Morocco in the World Cup.  

Manager Vincenzo Italiano is regarded as one of the most promising and progressive managers in Italian football – you can tell by his shaved head, beard and woollen jumper – a pre-requisite for any future Hammer’s boss, I think! He has hinted at the use of the dark arts by his team to frustrate the West Ham’s counter attacking threat. If last week’s Europa League final is any guide, a game dominated by tactical fouls, time wasting, and simulation would not be unthinkable. It will require further discipline from the Hammers to resist reacting to provocation – I am thinking about Lucas Paqueta here – and the intervention of a strong referee.

West Ham and Fiorentina have met on just one previous occasion, in the 1975 Anglo Italian Cup. The Italians winning both home and away legs 1-0. Tonight, is pay-back time.

There are unlikely to be any surprises in the West Ham starting eleven where I think Moyes will opt for: Areola, Coufal, Zouma, Aguerd, Cresswell, Rice, Soucek, Paqueta, Bowen, Antonio, Benrahma. Unfortunately, it doesn’t leave much by way of variety on the bench if the need to try something different is required. Indeed, Moyes was less than convincing at the Press Conference when asked about plans for making in-game changes – where he most often opts for like-for-like changes.

My claret and blue spectacles are telling me, though, that Rice and Paqueta will be too hot for Fiorentina to handle in midfield; and that they will find it difficult to cope with the runs of Jarrod Bowen and the power of Michail Antonio. But it wouldn’t be West Ham without a tense and anxious final ten of fifteen minutes to keep us on the edge of our seats.

It’s a huge night all around for those connected with the club. For supporters, games like these are what we live for – an all too rare opportunity to enjoy moments of glory. For the players it has been a great achievement to reach the final, and it will be massive for them to go on and win it. Becoming just the third West Ham captain to lift a major trophy will be a fantastic way for Declan Rice to sign off on his Hammers career. And for the manager, it could well be a make-or-break game for his future at the club. Everything is now all about tonight.

As a famous statesman once said: ‘I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.’ If we get that commitment from the players and approach the game with the right positive attitude, then the day will end in one of the most memorable episodes of the club’s history. I’m already dreaming of pretty bubbles flying high into the Prague sky until the early hours of Thursday morning. Fiorentina 1 West Ham 3. COYI!

Can West Ham win a major European trophy for the second time?

A concise history of West Ham in European Competition

In 1964 we won our first major trophy beating Preston 3-2 in the FA Cup Final. As a result we qualified for the European Cup Winners Cup competition in 1964/65, our first foray into a European competition. In September 1964 we travelled to Belgium to face La Gantoise in the first round where we won 1-0 (Boyce) and two weeks later in the return leg at Upton Park it was a 1-1 draw (Byrne). In November we faced Sparta Prague (Czechoslovakia) in Round 2 beating them 2-0 at home (Bond, Sealey) before losing 1-2 away (Sissons). The following March we travelled to Lausanne Sports (Switzerland) for the third round winning 2-1 (Byrne, Dear), before winning the home leg a week later 4-3 (Dear 2, Peters, og). Brian Dear was in sparkling goalscoring form at this time scoring 13 goals in a five-week period including five in a 20 minute spell against West Brom. We were at home in the first leg of the semi-final against Real Zaragoza (Spain) winning 2-1 (Byrne, Dear) and after drawing 1-1 (Sissons) in Spain we had reached the final where we would meet TSV Munich 1860 of West Germany. In front of 100,000 at Wembley on May 19th we won our first (and so far only!) major European trophy beating the Germans 2-0 – a great game where as an 11 year-old boy I witnessed Alan Sealey’s two goals from high up in the Old Wembley stands directly behind the goal where the two second half goals were scored.

As winners we were automatically entered into the 1965/66 competition where we received a bye in the first round. The defence of the cup began with a 4-0 home win over Olympiakos (Greece) (Hurst 2, Brabrook, Byrne) and a 2-2 draw in the return away leg (Peters 2). The following March we faced FC Magdeburg of East Germany in the Quarter Final winning the home leg 1-0 (Byrne) and drawing 1-1 away (Sissons). Unfortunately the West German opposition (Borussia Dortmund) proved to be far too strong for us in the semi-final where we lost 1-2 at home (Peters) and 1-3 away (Byrne). We had the best possible revenge in July when West Ham won the World Cup defeating West Germany 4-2 at Wembley with Bobby Moore captaining the side (2 assists), a goal from Martin Peters, and an infamous hat-trick from Geoff Hurst (plus 1 assist).

We had to wait a decade before we could return to Europe after winning the FA Cup in 1975. The 1975/76 campaign was a thrilling one which began with a 5-2 aggregate win over Finnish part-timers (Lahden Reipas) (3-0, 2-2) (Bonds, Brooking, Holland, Jennings, Robson) before beating Ararat Erevan (Russia) 4-2 on aggregate (3-1, 1-1) (A.Taylor 2, Paddon, Robson). In March 1976 we travelled to Holland to face Den Haag where we lost the first leg (2-4) (Jennings 2) (at one stage we were 4 goals down in the game), before winning an exciting home leg 3-1 (Bonds, Lampard, A.Taylor) to progress to the semi-final on the away goals rule. We travelled to Eintracht Frankfurt where we lost 1-2 (Paddon) before winning the home leg 3-1 (my favourite ever game of football) with two goals from Trevor Brooking and one from Keith Robson in pouring rain at Upton Park. An entertaining final in Brussels (except for the result!) saw us go down 2-4 to two late goals to Anderlecht of Belgium (Holland and Robson were our two goalscorers).

Five years later we won the FA Cup for the third time in 16 years, this time as a second division side when a Trevor Brooking header was the only goal of the game when we beat Arsenal 1-0. Our first three European campaigns had seen us as winners, losing finalists, and losing semi-finalists but this time round (1980/81) we went out in the quarter-final. In the first round we had beaten Castilla of Spain (5-1, 1-3) 6-4 on aggregate (Cross 4, Goddard, Pike). In Round two Poli Timisoara of Romania were despatched (4-0, 0-1) 4-1 on aggregate (Bonds, Cross, Goddard, Stewart). The Russians Dinamo Tbilisi were much too strong beating us 4-1 at Upton Park, although we won in Russia 1-0 to go down 2-4 on aggregate (Cross, Pearson). Never mind, our consolation that season was to reach the League Cup Final (an excellent feat for a second division team) where we lost to Liverpool after a replay, and also to regain our place in the top flight as runaway winners of Division Two winning 19 and drawing one of our 21 home games, and losing just 4 of our 42 league games. It seems hard to believe now how good a side from the second tier could be. But that team were one of my all time favourite West Ham sides.

Almost twenty years were to pass before we finished fifth in the Premiership in 1998/9 thus qualifying for the Intertoto Cup. The games began in July starting with a 2-1 aggregate win over Jokerit of Finland (1-0, 1-1) (Kitson, Lampard), followed by a 2-0 aggregate win against Dutch side Heerenveen (1-0, 1-0) (Lampard, Wanchope). FC Metz of France were our opponents in the Final. A disappointing home leg saw us lose 0-1 before a superb return leg in France saw us win 3-1 (Lampard, Sinclair, Wanchope) and as a result qualify for the UEFA Cup in the same season. Osijek of Croatia were beaten 6-1 on aggregate in Round One (3-0, 3-1) (Di Canio, Lampard, Wanchope, Foe, Kitson, Ruddock). However we went out in Round 2 losing 2-0 on aggregate to Steaua Bucharest of Romania (0-0, 0-2).

As runners-up in the FA Cup in 2006 we qualified through the back door for the 2006/7 UEFA Cup. But we went out at the first hurdle losing 4-0 on aggregate to Palermo of Italy (0-1, 0-3). Until now that was the only time we have faced Italian opposition in Europe. Palermo are now a mid-table Serie B team.

Qualification for the 2015/16 Europa League was even more bizarre when we finished top of the Fair Play (Premier) League in the previous season. We are a well-behaved side aren’t we? – in the season just ended we collected the least bookings of all 20 teams in the Premier League – just 44. In the first qualifying round we faced Lusitanos of Andorra beating them 4-0 on aggregate (3-0, 1-0) (Sakho 2, Tomkins, Elliott Lee), In the second qualifying round we faced Birkirkara of Malta drawing 1-1 on aggregate (1-0, 0-1) (Tomkins) before winning the penalty shoot-out 5-3. Unfortunately, we didn’t get beyond the third qualifying round losing 3-4 on aggregate to Astra Giurgiu (2-2, 1-2) (Valencia, Zarate, Lanzini).

In the following season (2016/17) yet another back door entry into Europe finishing seventh in the league was enough to gain entry into the Europa League courtesy of Manchester United winning the FA Cup, having already qualified with their fifth-place finish in the 2015/16 season. Our competition began in the third qualifying round against Domzale of Slovenia, our first European game at the new (London) Stadium. We lost the first leg away 1-2 before going through to the next round winning the home leg 3-0 making a 4-2 aggregate (Noble, Kouyate 2, Feghouli). In the Play-Off Round that followed we were drawn against Astra Giurgiu for the second year running and came a cropper once again, drawing 1-1 away (Noble) before a very disappointing home defeat to the only goal of the game.

Our ninth European campaign came in 2021/22 as a result of our sixth-place finish in the previous season. Six games in the group saw us finish at the top with 4 wins and a draw, with games against Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia) (0-1, 2-0) (Antonio, Rice), Genk (Belgium) (3-0, 2-2) (Dawson, Diop, Bowen, Benrahma 2) and Rapid Vienna (Austria) (2-0,2-0) (Rice, Benrahma, Yarmolenko, Noble). In the Round of 16 we beat Sevilla (Spain) 2-1 on aggregate winning the home leg 2-0 after extra time with goals from Soucek and Yarmolenko (his second goal in two games after returning following compassionate leave due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In the quarter-final against Lyon (France) we drew 1-1 at home (Bowen) and then won convincingly 3-0 in France (Dawson, Rice, Bowen) for a 4-1 aggregate score. However, in a disappointing semi-final Eintracht Frankfurt (conquerors of Barcelona in the quarter-final) gained revenge for their 1976 defeat to us beating us 3-1 on aggregate this time (1-2, 0-1) (Antonio).

That brings us to the current campaign, our first venture into the 2022/23 Europa Conference League. I won’t break down our games in the play-off round, the group stage, and the rounds of 16, quarter-final and semi-final as they are fresh in our mind and the competition is not yet over. Suffice to say we have played 14 games and won 13 of them (drawing the other one) against Viborg, FCSB, Anderlecht, Silkeborg, AE Larnaca, Gent, and AZ Alkmaar. We have scored 33 goals and conceded 8. That is why we are in the final this week against Fiorentina of Italy.

In Europe we have faced 35 different clubs (including two we have played twice that have changed their name – La Gantoise / Gent, Steaua Bucharest / FCSB, and two others that we have faced twice Astra Giurgiu and Eintracht Frankfurt). We have faced teams from 20 different nations, with negative records (more defeats than wins) against teams from just 3 of them, Germany, Romania and Italy. Of the teams from those 20 countries the only nation that we have failed to beat in at least one game is Italy! Although we have only had one two-legged tie (Palermo). Let’s hope that we can put this right on Wednesday night in Prague.

We have played a total of 78 games, winning 44, drawing 14, and losing 20. We have scored 135 goals and conceded 77. Our leading goalscorers in Europe, mainly due to the last two seasons, are Antonio 9, Bowen 8, Benrahma, Byrne, Cross 6, Scamacca 5.

To conclude, we have reached three European finals, winning one, losing one, and one to play. We have been losing semi-finalists twice and losing quarter-finalists once also. In addition we did win the Intertoto Cup but that doesn’t really count as it was a feeder competition for that season’s UEFA Cup. Not a bad record for just ten European competitions. It’s a pity there haven’t been more. A win in this game and we will be entered for an eleventh, and for the first time three in a row. Here’s hoping for a second major European trophy this week! It hasn’t been one of our better seasons domestically, but we can forgive a lot if we win this game.