West Ham travel to Newcastle in the early Saturday kick-off with both teams still in the mix for a European place next season.

I enjoyed Geoff’s article published yesterday as always and smiled at his made-up statistic that West Ham haven’t won away in an early Saturday kick off against a team in stripes. How can he have forgotten our Division One trip to Huddersfield on Saturday 17^th January 1925 when in an early kick off we came away with a 2-1 victory with goals from our all time leading goalscorer Vic Watson (326 goals) and Jimmy Ruffell, fourth on the all-time list (166 goals)? Only Geoff Hurst (249) and John Dick (177) were in the same league as those two when it came to scoring goals for West Ham.

I’m not making up that game – Huddersfield did wear stripes, it was a Saturday and we won the game 2-1. I’m not certain regarding the early kick off, but I’ve seen pictures of the Leeds Road ground (where they played until 1994) with floodlights being put up in 1963, and therefore assume that a mid-January kick-off in 1925 must have been early as it would have been too dark to kick off at 3pm. By the way, that game was even more remarkable in that it was Huddersfield’s only defeat in their last 27 games of the 1924-25 season when they finished up as Division One champions, the second of three consecutive top flight titles, the first club to achieve that feat.

Some famous games that I remember against today’s opponents, Newcastle, include a 5-5 draw in 1960 with five different West Ham goalscorers. They certainly knew how to score goals in those days. That season we finished 16^th (out of 22) and scored 77 goals but conceded 88!

In April 1968 just after Easter we beat them 5-0 with a Trevor Brooking hat-trick in his first season in the team, which I believe to be his only ever hat-trick in his 528 games for us. Unless of course you know different?

In a Division Two match in late March 1979 we again beat them 5-0 with three of the five goals coming from our full backs, John McDowell with two, and Frank Lampard.

I’ve written before about our 8-1 victory against them in our record-breaking season of 1985-86. The game was notable for an Alvin Martin hat-trick scored against three different goalkeepers. Glenn Roeder was playing for Newcastle on that Monday night in April 1986.

In January 2011 (in the middle of the Avram Grant season when we were relegated) we lost 5-0 at St James Park with a Leon Best hat-trick and a goal from Kevin Nolan, who came to us in the following summer and helped us to promotion the next season. It was only 13 years ago but some names of players wearing claret and blue that day (either starting or on the bench) – Tal Ben Haim, Radoslav Kovac, Frederic Piquionne, Zavon Hines, Victor Obinna, Ruud Boffin, Valon Behrami, Pablo Barrera. Do you remember all of them?

On 15^th August 2021 we won 4-2 at St James Park in an early kick off (the first game of the season?), I think Newcastle were wearing stripes, but it didn’t quite meet Geoff’s criteria as it was a Sunday not a Saturday. We came from behind twice with goals from Cresswell, Benrahma, Soucek and Antonio.

Since that game three of the four meetings have been drawn including the 2-2 draw at the London Stadium in October. The other game was an embarrassing 5-1 home defeat in April last year.

At least the international breaks are now over for another season – how I do hate how they interrupt the season! I rarely watch internationals outside tournaments as friendlies are meaningless with endless substitutions spoiling the ‘entertainment’. I made an exception this week to watch Jarrod Bowen starting and starring. Surely he will make the England squad for the Euros, as understudy to Saka on the right?

The Moyes debate continues to rumble on with fans on social media groups tearing into each other with opposing views of should he stay or should he go. If we do opt for a new manager next season I’d love to see us go for Kieran McKenna who has performed wonders at Ipswich in this season and last. After bringing them up from League One in his first season in charge, their record this season has been superb, keeping up at the top with the ‘big boys’ who received their parachute payments (Leicester, Leeds and Southampton). Ipswich have lost just five of their last 58 games playing a brand of football pleasing to the eye.

I live in Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk where Ipswich are the most supported club locally. The ‘buzz’ created in the last couple of seasons is quite something. He has first class coaching credentials as assistant to Mourinho at Manchester United and I believe he will continue to be one of the up and coming coaches / managers in the years to come. Some believe we should go for a ‘name’ such as Potter who is always banded about. McKenna for me.

Newcastle have a long injury list for this game, although some are due back. We will be under strength too with Alvarez suspended (we’ve never won a game this season when he hasn’t been playing) and Paqueta, Aguerd and Kudus are apparently being assessed or monitored. The Geordies have a relatively poor defensive record but they do know how to score goals. They are one of the teams still in the mix for a European place next season. I never feel that confident when we go up to the North-East so I won’t hold my breath for a victory to match the one on the opening day of the 2021/22 season. But I’ll forecast a high scoring draw, although perhaps not 5-5! What are the chances?