History – Under The Hammers

West Ham entertain Tottenham this weekend, things are looking up, and we look back on great memories of some previous encounters

We line up against our old foes from North London on Saturday evening in a much better frame of mind than existed just two games into the season. Before the games which preceded the international break we sat at the bottom of the Premier League table with zero points and two terrible displays against Sunderland and Chelsea as well as being dumped out of the Carabao Cup at Wolves. Spurs on the other hand had comfortably beaten Burnley and won away at Manchester City and were at the top.

But in the games in Matchweek 3 we comprehensively beat Nottingham Forest 3-0 with late goals, Fernandes had an excellent debut, the cameo return and pace of Summerville changed the game, and Wilson showed that he can be a short-term asset if he can stay fit. Diouf showed he could be the buy of the window, strong defensively and a superb crosser of the ball, and Walker-Peters had an equally impressive game on the other flank. Mavropanos and Kilman were much happier as two (rather than three) central defenders, Paqueta looked happier and looked like he might be returning to his best, and Bowen was his usual impressive, energetic self. He might have even scored the goal of the season had Wilson not unfortunately intervened, but it was 3-0 by then so it didn’t really matter from the team perspective, although it was still a little sad.

Hermansen looks to have settled and although he wasn’t tested too much he did all that was asked of him comfortably which hopefully will settle the hysteria that surrounded his first couple of games. And we still have high hopes for Magassa and Igor Julio, Wan-Bissaka, the under-rated Irving, the under-used Guilherme and the other youngsters (Earthy, Potts, Marshall, Scarles) as well as the other stalwarts in the squad. If only Potter can integrate our pacey players into his system it can only get better.

Tottenham were brought down to earth with a 1-0 defeat at home to a very under-rated Bournemouth team, so a win and we can be level with them on points!

With matches going back to the end of the nineteenth century West Ham have faced Tottenham so many times, with our North London neighbours having the upper hand more often than we have. My memories only go back to 1958 but as I was only four at the time I can barely remember my second ever visit to Upton Park on 25^th December 1958. That’s right – the date is correct – we faced Tottenham at Upton Park on Christmas Day. Regular buses ran along the Barking Road from Canning Town when I went to the game with my dad and uncle. It had a morning kick off at 11 o’clock. All I do remember is that John Dick (my first ever West Ham hero) and Vic Keeble scored the goals in a 2-1 win. I was also aware that the return fixture took place at White Hart Lane the following day and we won that 4-1 with Dick and Keeble once again amongst the goalscorers.

The next game against Tottenham that I remember being at came very early in the season that followed their double winning season. On a hot August Monday evening in 1961 we beat them 2-1 again. Once again I remember little of the game but there was also great jubilation amongst the adults I was with. All of my early games were viewed from the old West Stand.

In the 1963-64 season we won our first ever FA Cup. We had two terrific cup runs in that campaign as we also reached the semi-final of the League Cup. On my 10^th birthday the first leg of the League Cup semi final was played away at Leicester and although we lost I was happy with the result, a 4-3 defeat with the second leg to come at Upton Park later. (Unfortunately we lost 2-0 at home in the return!). But on the Saturday which followed the first leg one of my birthday treats was a visit to Upton Park with Tottenham the visitors. We gave them quite a thrashing, 4-0 to be precise. Geoff Hurst and Johnny Byrne were among the goalscorers on that freezing cold afternoon.

The game that really stands out in my memory came a few months later, early in our European Cup Winners Cup winning season of 1964-65. On a warm sunny early September afternoon, just five days after we had put five goals past Wolves on a Monday night, Spurs came to Upton Park. In what turned out to be a game where one player of either side stood out I remember an entertaining game which in the end had the result I hoped for. Nine of our cup winning team lined up that day with two changes, a surprise at centre half where the versatile Martin Peters wore the number 5 shirt and Alan Sealey replacing Peter Brabrook on the right wing.

In an entertaining first half Geoff Hurst ran from the halfway line deep into the Tottenham half and released a superb pass to Johnny Byrne who calmly slotted home past (I think) Jennings in the opposition goal. We went into the interval holding a 1-0 lead. Spurs were on top early in the second half and a mazy run and cross down the right wing by (I think) Jimmy Robertson landed at the feet of Jimmy Greaves who calmly sidefooted the equaliser. Both teams were looking for a winner when West Ham had pushed up too far and Spurs broke away leaving (I think) Robertson again one on one with Jim Standen in our goal. He went round him and Standen brought him down. A blatant penalty which Greaves calmly sent Standen the wrong way and once again calmly slotted into the opposite corner.

West Ham were pressing forward trying for an equaliser when Boyce who was having an influential game was pushed in the penalty area and it was our turn for a penalty. Unfortunately Jennings went the right way and saved the (weak?) spot kick that Byrne took so we were still trailing 2-1. That was one of only two penalties that he missed for West Ham. But we continued to attack and a wonderful cross from Boyce was met by an outstanding header from Byrne (not noted for his heading ability) to level the scores at 2-2. We continued to attack the South Bank and from a corner close to the end Geoff Hurst rose high to head the ball towards goal and it was scrambled home by Byrne to complete his hat-trick. A great afternoon.

Apparently the game was the first ever time we appeared on Match of the Day which began broadcasting three weeks earlier at the beginning of the season. In those days they only showed highlights from one game. The game that they selected was not announced in advance and information was not released on TV until 4pm on the day when the game was in its second half. They were worried that fans would stay away from games to watch the game on TV. How times change! It made no difference to me as Match of the Day was shown on BBC2 then in the early evening and our TV couldn’t get BBC2. But I do remember watching parts of some games through the window of a TV rentals shop in Canning Town as I waited at the bus stop with my parents for the Green Line bus to take us home to Rainham.

Other things I remember from those 1950s and 1960s games were the lack of argument following the awarding of penalty kicks with virtually no time between the offence and the kick being taken. And do you remember that when goals were scored whole toilet rolls were thrown onto the pitch from behind the goals. What was that all about?

The four games I’ve highlighted all happened by the time I was just ten years old. There have been other excellent wins since, a 5-3 in 1976 when we had five different goalscorers, Bonds, Brooking, Curbishley, Jennings and Pop Robson, a 4-1 on New Years Eve 1983 (Brooking, Cottee, Martin and Stewart) and a 4-3 in 1997 (Dicks 2 with one net breaking penalty, Hartson and Kitson). And a couple of very satisfying 1-0 victories too. Lanzini’s second half winner in 2017 and Antonio’s in 2021 come to mind. I’ve concentrated on the home games but some notable matches in North London too, perhaps one of the best was recovering a 3-0 deficit from the first 15 minutes of the game with three goals in the last ten minutes to draw 3-3. There have been lots of defeats too (too many really) but I prefer to forget them.

Three games to go as West Ham travel to Stamford Bridge, hoping for an unlikely win.

But (clutching at straws) playing them on a Sunday and on May 5th may not be the worst time to go there!

Last season was a great one in Europe and a poor one on the domestic front. A first trophy for 43 years whilst at the same time battling amongst the teams at the foot of the table. We certainly weren’t going to get into Europe via a league position. We were in the bottom three with 15 games of the season remaining but pulled away relatively comfortably with six wins and three draws (21 points) to finish in 14^th place on 40 points.

This season has been almost the reverse. At the halfway stage which coincided with the end of 2023 we had won ten, drawn three, and lost just six games. We had 33 points from the 19 games, just seven short of last season’s total. We had scored 33 and conceded 30. Despite our football being less than convincing on a number of occasions the results were good and we sat in sixth place in the table and well placed for another tilt at Europe next season. In my first article of 2024 I speculated (hoped) that similar results in the second half of the season would see us finish on 66 points which would be a record total in the Premier League era with 66 goals scored (another record). 60 goals conceded wouldn’t be a record but would rank in the top half dozen of goals conceded in our 28 years of Premier League football.

So with just three games of the season to go where are we? Certainly not close to emulating the first half of the season. Incredibly we are still in the top half of the table (9^th) despite in the last 16 games (as Geoff pointed out in his article this week) moving on to just 49 points, that is 16 points from 16 games. If we’d achieved a point a game over the whole season we’d now have 35, which, not quite relegation form would see us languishing in 16^th, even worse than in the last campaign. So it’s just as well we collected as many points as we did up to the end of 2023.

Even now with three games left, three wins would see us bump our points total up to 58 which would be our third best ever in the Premier League. But with away games at Chelsea and Manchester City and a home game against Luton that’s not going to happen is it? Chelsea have been rejuvenated recently despite a thrashing at Arsenal, and it is hard to see us getting anything there. Luton will be fighting for their lives and Manchester City on the last day will be quite a challenge. Nevertheless as professional footballers three wins to end the season has got to be the aim. Stranger things have happened? Perhaps not.

Let me give you some hope for the Chelsea game by looking back at our record of games played on May 5^th in my lifetime. None of our three FA Cup final wins came on this date. Our 3-2 win over Preston in 1964 was on May 2^nd, it was May 3^rd when we beat Fulham 2-0 in 1975, and May 10^th when we beat Arsenal 1-0 in 1980. On May 5^th1976 we lost 4-2 in the Cup Winners Cup Final to Anderlecht, on May 5^th 1979 we lost 1-0 to Blackburn, on this date in 1984 we lost 1-0 to Aston Villa and in our record breaking season on May 5^th 1986 we lost 3-1 at Everton to drop from 2^nd to 3^rd as the final position that season.

I haven’t convinced you yet have I? Well in the eight other games played on May 5^th in history we haven’t lost any of them, in fact the 1986 defeat at Everton was the last time we went down on this date. In 1980 in a Division 2 game we beat Charlton 4-1, and in 1990 Wolves were put to the sword 4-0 – remember this for Liam Brady’s final game including the magnificent goal he scored.

Julian Dicks scored in our 1-1 draw with Sheffield Wednesday in 1996, and in 1998 we drew 3-3 with Palace, a game where Manny Omoyinmi (remember him?) scored two goals, the only two goals he ever scored for us. He is best remembered for coming on as a substitute in our quarter final League Cup win over Aston Villa in 2000, although he had already played in the competition when out at Gillingham on loan. The Villa game had to be replayed as we had used an ineligible player, Harry was fuming, and sent Omoyinmi out on loan to Scunthorpe and Barnet – he never played for us again.

Four games in the twenty-first century on 5^th May have all resulted in victories. In 2001 Cole, Di Canio and Kanoute were the scorers in a 3-0 win over Southampton and in 2007 (the Great Escape year) we won 3-1 against Bolton in the penultimate game of the season with Tevez scoring twice and Noble with the goals. In 2017 a Lanzini goal was enough for a win over Tottenham at the London Stadium and the following year Joao Mario and Noble were the scorers in a 2-0 win at Leicester.

And did you know that Chelsea are as bad at playing on Sundays as we are? They’ve only won once in their last 13 attempts in Sunday games.

How many famous recent wins at Stamford Bridge can you remember? With David Martin in goal we held on for a 1-0 win in November 2019 with a goal from Cresswell (the only West Ham win in the last 17 games at Chelsea), a 3-2 victory in 2002 with two goals from Di Canio and one from Defoe, a Paul Kitson goal in a 1-0 win in 1999, Dicks and (Danny) Williamson goals in a 2-1 win in 1996, Martin Allen and Moncur in a 2-1 win in 1994, and for the best one of all are you old enough to remember the great win there in the famous 1985/86 season when we thrashed them 4-0 (McAvennie, Devonshire and Cottee 2)? Just six victories at Stamford Bridge in the last 40 plus years.

It would be great to record another win but can it happen? As you would expect the bookmakers have Chelsea odds on to win the game – we are at 15/4, which is exactly the odds they gave us to draw at home to Liverpool last week!

I won’t enter the Moyes debate today – Geoff covered that in this week’s article. My choice would be McKenna from Ipswich. It won’t happen of course. Lopetegui heads the betting with bookmakers, closely followed by Potter, Fonseca and Carrick. Three unlikely wins to end the season, qualification for Europe, and Moyes could stay! Surely not!

West Ham entertain Liverpool with just four games to go until the end of the season.

You can just imagine the thoughts of the TV people who select the games to be shown on domestic television sitting down to decide what to show this weekend. They would obviously be looking towards the top of the Premier League as there is not too much excitement when assessing the relegation struggle at the foot of the table. The points deductions for Everton and Nottingham Forest threw those clubs into the mix, but surely it’s hard to see beyond last year’s promoted sides from the Championship making a swift return (although Forest are still involved), unless there are any other surprise points deductions. Manchester City perhaps??

So let’s look at the top 3. Manchester City at Brighton on Thursday night meant that their game at Forest was one destined for Sunday as was the North London derby. That meant the three games to be selected for Saturday TV had to include Liverpool (who were well placed to win the title when the schedules were drawn up) visiting the London Stadium to face West Ham who, at the time (in theory) were well placed to be pushing for a European place themselves via their league position.

But what has happened? Liverpool, favourites in the Europa League lost their invincibility at Anfield collapsing to Atalanta, effectively putting them out of the competition, and then followed this on the Sunday with a defeat at home to Crystal Palace. This week’s loss in the Merseyside derby has put them out of the title race. Palace, Brentford and Everton (14^th, 15^th, 16^th) have all collected more points in their last five games than Liverpool, that’s how poor they have been in recent games.

Unless Arsenal and Manchester City both have a nightmare of a time in their remaining games (which is unlikely to happen) then Liverpool’s chances of the title are over. They are both saying to Liverpool catch us if you can. It won’t happen. Following City’s comprehensive demolition of Brighton on Thursday evening they are now in pole position to claim the title for a fourth successive season. They always seem to come on strongly at the end of the season. That’s what a big squad can help with. David Moyes prefers small squads and would probably prefer an even smaller one than he has got.

West Ham, who reached the halfway point in the league in sixth place with a win at Arsenal at the end of December, are incredibly still in contention to finish seventh; we are eighth just two points behind Newcastle. When I say in contention I mean mathematically of course; in reality it would need a miracle with the closing pack with games in hand and our remaining fixtures and form.

Liverpool, Chelsea, Luton and Manchester City are the opponents in the final four games. Liverpool are having a disastrous end to the season seemingly unable to give Klopp the farewell he wanted, Chelsea were thrashed 5-0 by Arsenal this week, and Luton have won just one of their last thirteen league games. That still doesn’t give me any confidence for our run-in. In 2024 we have won just four times in twenty-one attempts. Three wins in fifteen league games (Brentford, Everton and Wolves), with the other win against Freiburg at home in the Europa League.

No doubt on TV they will be building Saturday’s game up as two teams with a lot to play for (as they always do) when in reality they haven’t. It’s now just a two horse race to be Premier League champions, so Liverpool have nothing really other than a vain hope that Arsenal and Manchester City will both falter. One might perhaps but two of them? And what have we got to play for? Each incremental position in the final league table is worth £2.2 million so that’s about all really.

As the players were leaving the pitch last weekend in South London after yet another poor performance the Palace anthem Glad All Over by the Dave Clark Five rang out. I bought the single to help it to the number one spot in the UK charts where it took over from the Beatles I Wanna Hold Your Hand in January 1964, more than 60 years ago now. Any lingering thoughts of a return to Europe next season are all over and surely it’s all over for our manager too. Everybody knows it’s just bits and pieces of the season left for us now.

There have just been too many embarrassing games in 2023/24. The 4-1 defeat at Villa was poor, but the 5-0 loss at Fulham topped that (7-0 aggregate in two games against Fulham!). What about the tame surrender to Liverpool in the League Cup? Or exit from the FA Cup to mediocre Championship side Bristol City? Eleven goals conceded without reply in a three game spell in February to Manchester United, Arsenal (6-0 on our ground!), and Forest! The 5-2 thrashing at Palace to follow the home defeat to Fulham. For a manager who likes to believe he creates teams that are hard to play against the 63 goals conceded is only ‘bettered’ by the three teams in the relegation places.

I find it amusing to read the various names being suggested on social media as to the manager who will be taking over from David Moyes in the summer. The delay in confirming his departure (or otherwise) is not helpful. No decision is apparently going to be made until after the final game of the season at Manchester City. Surely it would be beneficial for the situation to be made clear before then? Compare this with Liverpool who knew Klopp was going some time ago – I reckon they are well on their way to announcing who will be taking over the vacant slot – it’s sure to be announced before we get our act together. If we win our final games will Moyes be offered a new contract? Are they really waiting for that? Surely not! But I guess nothing should surprise us with the hierarchy at West Ham.

So far there have been more names put forward than there usually are for players we are interested in. Whoever it turns out to be has a massive rebuilding job taking over with so many out of contract this summer, an ageing squad (almost the oldest in the Premier League) especially in defence where there is a lack of mobility to cope with pacy attackers.

What chance a West Ham win in this weekend’s game? It will be our ninth league game at the London Stadium in 2024. How many of the previous eight have we won? Just one – against Brentford. So current home form does not bode well. Let’s look back at previous games against Liverpool. Going right back to 1901 we have faced them 149 times and won just 29. Restricting the record to the 21^st century we have won 7 out of 45 encounters and claimed victory just once in the last 16 fixtures. That sole win came in November 2021, the season when we came seventh, and Liverpool were aiming for the quadruple. They had won the League Cup and FA Cup but were pipped by one point by Manchester City in the Premier League and lost in the Champions League final to Real Madrid.

We won the game 3-2. Do you remember the goals? A Declan Rice corner went straight in, although it was credited as an Allison own goal – he claimed he was impeded but the goal stood. Alexander-Arnold equalised from a free kick before a driving run from Bowen sent Fornals through for a low left-footed shot that Allison got his hand to but couldn’t prevent the goal. We went 3-1 ahead when Zouma headed in a corner from beyond the far post. But in typical West Ham style we conceded a second goal a few minutes from the end from Origi, setting up a tense finish, and in the dying seconds Mane had an open goal but headed wide when he should have scored.

Before then you have to go back to the 2015-16 season when we met Liverpool four times, winning three of them and drawing the other. A 3-0 win at Anfield in August (Lanzini, Noble, Sakho) when Brendan Rogers was in charge was followed by completion of the league double the following January when Antonio and Carroll scored in a 2-0 victory at Upton Park. By then Klopp had taken over and we met them in the FA Cup drawing 0-0 at Anfield before winning the replay 2-1 at home with a goal from Antonio, and then in the 120^th minute in extra time Ogbonna headed the winner.

We have done the double over Liverpool twice before. Once was in the 1920s which I don’t remember, but in our cup winning season of 1963/64 Hurst and Peters scored at Anfield in a 2-1 win, and I remember Johnny Byrne scoring the only goal of the game in the return at Upton Park. Liverpool finished as champions that season so to take maximum points off them was quite something. We finished 14^th. We were just so inconsistent then as we also beat Manchester United, Everton and Tottenham (who finished 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th) in that campaign yet we failed to beat Ipswich and Bolton who finished in the bottom two places and were relegated.

The 2015 win at Anfield is famous in that it was the first time we had won a game on their ground since 1963! Our home record is a little better, but they have still beaten us here more times than we have defeated them. Form and history both suggest that we can’t win this game. Bookmakers agree with odds of around 9/2 on a West Ham win. Liverpool are 4/9 and the draw is 15/4. What are the chances of an upset?

Aston Villa visit the London Stadium to face West Ham in the Claret and Blue derby

Before last week’s article I developed a programme to anticipate where West Ham would finish in this season’s Premier League final table. This week I provide an update based upon what happened last weekend, including our unfortunate two points dropped in the 2-2 draw with Burnley at the London Stadium.

There are probably six teams still in the reckoning to finish sixth or seventh in the final table and all now have ten games remaining apart from Chelsea with eleven. I have discounted the top five in the Premier League as I believe they have enough points and decent enough run-ins to maintain those places. The teams from 6^th to 11^th are now:

6. Manchester United – 47 points (28 games)
7. West Ham – 43 points (28)
8. Brighton – 42 points (28)
9. Wolves – 41 points (28)
10. Newcastle – 40 points (28)
11. Chelsea – 39 points (27)

You may recall that I considered the degree of difficulty in the remaining fixtures for each side based upon the current position in the league table of their remaining opponents. The degree of difficulty factor suggested that Newcastle have the easiest run-in.

I then took it further and predicted the results of each teams remaining games with a formula based upon fixtures remaining, categorised into teams being faced with a current position of 1-3, 4-5, 6-11, 12-17, and 18-20 given different weightings, whether or not the remaining games were home or away, and the results when the sides met earlier in the season. Additional factors included games against the top 5 teams, and games against each other (i.e. the 6 teams being considered).

Some of the results last weekend were as expected, the only ones that were not were West Ham who were expected to beat Burnley, and Newcastle who were expected to draw at Chelsea based on the criteria used. This therefore adjusts the forecast for the final standings at the end of the season which is now:

6. Manchester United – 61 points
7. Newcastle – 56 points
8. Chelsea – 56 points
9. Wolves – 55 points
10. West Ham – 55 points
11. Brighton – 51 points

Chelsea have now risen to a predicted eighth placed finish whilst West Ham have fallen to tenth. As I wrote last time, it’s just a bit of fun, and my gut feeling is that perhaps tenth is just about right. Football matches are notoriously unpredictable to forecast which stems from various factors like team dynamics, player and overall team form, European and FA Cup games to play, the Thursday / Sunday mix which is often an issue, injuries, and even unpredictable events during a game, as well as all sorts of other miscellaneous factors.

I noted this week that the Opta Supercomputer forecast is that West Ham will finish eighth on 55.47 points. (I’m not sure where we’d get the 0.47 points from!). Their programming must have some similarities to mine based on their figures. I will look back at the end of the season to compare The Bennett model versus the Opta Supercomputer at this stage to make a comparison.

This is how Opta see the Premier League ending up…

6. Manchester United – 62.41
7. Newcastle United – 58.35
8. West Ham United – 55.47
9. Chelsea – 54.84
10. Brighton & Hove Albion – 54.61

On Thursday night we gave Freiburg a bit of a thrashing which on the face of it would compare the relative merits of the Premier League versus the Bundesliga. Seventh in the Premier League were shown to be massively superior to eighth in the Bundesliga based upon this last 16 tie. This was also a significant victory for English clubs who are now on course to claim a fifth spot in next season’s Champions League.

Two additional performance places are up for grabs due to the new format in 2024-25. They will go to the countries with the best average performance in all the European competitions this season. Before Thursday night Italy were top with Germany second and England third, but our win meant that England narrowed the gap on Germany.

Coefficient Rankings:

1. Italy – 17.714 (4 teams remaining)
2. Germany – 16.357 (3 teams remaining)
3. England – 16.250 (5 teams remaining)
4. France – 14.750 (3 teams remaining)
5. Spain – 14.437 (3 teams remaining

We’ve now drawn another German side in the quarter finals and this time it will be much tougher as we face the might of Bayer 04 Leverkusen, the runaway leaders in Germany who have won 21 and drawn 4 of their 25 games, being the only side in the top 5 leagues in Europe to still be unbeaten at this stage of the season.

Having said that they came mightily close to being eliminated from the competition on Thursday night when they trailed Karabakh (of Azerbaijan) 2-1 on the night and 4-3 on aggregate as the tie reached the 90^th minute of the second leg. Leverkusen then scored twice in the time that was added to ensure progression. That game surely gives us some hope in the quarter final tie doesn’t it?

Also, if England get the second spot in the ‘performance table’ and the FA Cup winners finish in the top seven, then it would appear that England would have five places in next season’s Champions League, two places in the Europa League and the team finishing eighth would take the Europa Conference League spot. All the more reason to continue to push for a high enough spot in the Premier League, apart from the kudos and the prize money on offer of course.

And what about the Kudus goal where he ran from the middle of our half, dribbled through the Freiburg team on an incredible run then clinically finished with his so-called weaker foot? That got me thinking of the best goals I’ve seen us score at the London Stadium. In no particular order it joins Payet’s amazing dribble through the Middlesbrough defence, and Andy Carroll’s wonderful volley against Crystal Palace. There are others to consider I’m sure. What ones have I missed?

Great goals that they were, none of them compare in my eyes to Martin Peters’ goal against Leicester in November 1968, Trevor Sinclair’s goal against Derby on Boxing Day 2001, or Harry Redknapp’s goal v QPR, also in November 1968 (just two weeks before Martin Peters goal).

I’ve written before about the 1968/69 season and a golden period of four consecutive and absolutely brilliant entertaining games at Upton Park in the Autumn of 1968. When we faced Sunderland on October 19^th we’d come off the back of a run of nine winless games. We ended that run thrashing Sunderland 8-0 (the game where Geoff Hurst scored six). A fortnight later in a great game we defeated QPR 4-3, which included the Redknapp goal I referred to above, and a magnificent Bobby Moore goal frequently shown on the screens at Upton Park before games. The game with the Martin Peters wonder goal came in a 4-0 win over Leicester two weeks after that. And finally move on another fortnight for a 2-1 win over Manchester City, the first scored by Geoff Hurst, a near post header from a Martin Peters cross, and the second a carbon copy but this time a near post header by Martin Peters from a Geoff Hurst cross. They could do it both ways around and in this match they did. Those were the days. Wonderful memories.

As the game today is against Aston Villa an abiding memory from fixtures against them is a penalty awarded to us in the last minute of the FA Cup quarter final in March 1980. Up stepped Ray Stewart, the perfect penalty taker when under the greatest pressure to score. He slammed it high into the net in front of the South Bank, we won the game 1-0 and went on to win the FA Cup, the last team to do so as a second-tier side. We’ve had some great penalty takers, in no particular order the best ones in my opinion were Ray Stewart, Julian Dicks, Geoff Hurst, Mark Noble, Johnny Byrne, John Bond, and Paolo Di Canio.

Aston Villa are one of those teams that we have beaten more often than been defeated by. The recent record is strongly in our favour. The last 11 meetings (since and including Boxing Day 2015) – West Ham have won six, four have been drawn, and Villa have only won once – that was this season when they won 4-1 last October. The overall record in history shows West Ham with 45 wins, Villa with 39, and 35 draws.

Two worrying statistics: We have won four and drawn four of our last eight home league games against Villa, and Villa have only ever beaten us once both home and away in a single season in the Premier League. How often do impressive runs like that come to an end?

Our record in Sunday games that follow Thursday evening games is not the best but at least this time Villa are in the same boat, as they had a Europa Conference League game on the same night that we put five past Freiburg when they beat Ajax 4-0 to win by that aggregate score and progress into their first European Quarter Final for 25 years. We will be hoping to improve on our record of dropping points in five of the seven Sunday games that have followed a Europa League game.

Villa’s impressive England striker Watkins is always a threat but he is battling to recover from a gashed knee to be fit for the game. Their captain John McGinn is banned following the reckless tackle last weekend that got him sent off against Tottenham. Emerson has been missing for a couple of games but he may be fit to resume at left back. Cornet is the only definite absentee – apparently he has a hamstring injury. Will we miss him? Is he still with us?

I wonder if Danny Ings will get a run out at some stage? If by chance he scores a goal he would become only the third player to score a Premier League goal against four of his former teams – Peter Crouch and Nicolas Anelka are the others. We will hope that Lucas Paqueta starts of course and has calmed down following his substitution in the week – all our 12 league wins this season have come with him in the starting eleven whereas we’ve failed to win any of the seven games where he hasn’t been involved.

Villa are impressive going forward with only Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal scoring more goals in the league so far this season. I cannot see them failing to score which will mean that we will need to be positive, and all four of Kudus, Paqueta, Bowen and a fit Antonio will need to be firing at the same level as they were on Thursday night. Can we win the game? I hope so but it won’t be easy. I’ll go for a 2-2 draw for the second weekend in a row.

Were you there the last time West Ham beat Brentford in a league match?

This was how I began last week’s article prior to the game against Nottingham Forest:

“Once again Geoff hit the nail on the head with his article published on Thursday. Week after week we seem to be writing the same thing about the current state of the team, and the ongoing debate concerning the manager. The longer the winless run continues the further the pendulum will swing towards Moyes Out, especially with catastrophic performances like the one we witnessed last Sunday.”

For Sunday read Saturday but otherwise the same applies this week. We are slowly making our way down the Premier League for the second time this season. We began the campaign with ten points from four games and held second place in the table despite three of those four games being played away from home. The first slide began at that point with just one win and one draw in the next seven games seeing a descent into twelfth following the defeat at the hands of Monday’s opponents Brentford.

The revival began then with the next eleven league games producing six wins, four draws and just the solitary defeat (5-0 at Fulham). Somehow, despite some very average performances, we picked up 22 points from 11 games. Can you imagine us keeping that up for a whole season and finishing on 76 points from 38 games? No, nor can I. Of course there have been three defeats to follow that ‘eleven game run’.

At the turn of the year, after 19 games, at the halfway point in the season we sat in sixth. The three draws to begin 2024 meant that we stayed sixth but the teams below were catching up. Week by week we lost a place falling to seventh, eighth and currently ninth. As Geoff pointed out in his article by the time the Brentford game gets underway on Monday evening we will probably be tenth with Wolves likely to go past us (they are at home to Sheffield United on Sunday). If Chelsea had a league game rather than contesting the Carabao Cup Final against Liverpool on Sunday then we might have even been down in the bottom half once again as we were in early November.

Apart from Chelsea and Wolves we have a seven-point cushion above the team in twelfth, Fulham, so we are unlikely to fall any further in the near future. Our winless run since the start of 2024 in the league now stands at six games with three points from three draws in those games. Only one team in the Premier League has a worse record than that – Burnley have only collected two. Even bottom club Sheffield United have four!

The winless run in all competitions to begin the year 2024 has now reached eight after last week’s loss to Forest, equalling the winless record of Redknapp’s team at the beginning of 1997, and that of the team at the start of 1922, more than one hundred years ago. Failure to beat Brentford on Monday will create a new (unwanted) record of nine consecutive winless games.

Our current form doesn’t suggest that we can beat Brentford on Monday. Since they beat Forest 3-2 on 20^th January (as we did last November) they have had a tough run of fixtures, losing 3-2 at Tottenham, and also to Liverpool and Manchester City (twice), the last game a narrow 1-0 defeat on Tuesday this week. They did also beat Wolves so they have collected six points in 2024.

Our record against Brentford since they came into the Premier League in 2021 makes for depressing reading. We have faced them five times in league games, two at home and three away losing all five games 2-0, 2-1, 2-0, 2-0, and 3-2. We did beat them 1-0 on their ground in the third round of the FA Cup a little over a year ago. Five defeats, and they scored at least twice in all five games. In the reverse fixture at the Gtech Community Stadium in November we were 1-0 down, led 2-1 (Bowen and Kudus) before losing 3-2.

If we do lose the game then we will equal another record. In the whole history of the top-flight in English football apparently only three teams have a 100% record involving more matches against a single opponent – 6 games. They are Manchester City (v Bournemouth), Arsenal (v Reading), and Nottingham Forest (v Portsmouth). That would be another unwanted record heading our way in this poor run.

Losing our last three games 6-0, 3-0 and 2-0 means it is now over 300 minutes since we scored a league goal (the Ward-Prowse penalty v Bournemouth). We haven’t failed to score and lost the game in four consecutive league games since Alan Pardew was in charge when the run extended to five in September / October 2006. Less than two months later he was gone. In the six winless league games of 2024 we have scored only one goal in open play in 540 minutes (9 hours!) – Cornet’s goal v Sheffield United.

Are you depressed yet? I’ll continue to look for ways that we might possibly win this game. Perhaps the return of Paqueta? Is he fit yet? His wife said he was fit weeks ago. He has started 18 out of our 25 league games this season. All 10 of our wins have come in those games. In the 7 games he has missed we have failed to win any of them. Also we have scored an average of 1.7 goals per game in the games he has started, and 0.7 goals per game in the games he has missed. It seems we can only win when he plays. Surely he has to start even if he is not 100% fit yet?

Do you know when we last beat Brentford in a league game? How far back does your memory go? It was over 30 years ago. It was the very first season of the Premier League but we weren’t in it following relegation at the end of 1991/92. We were in the second tier (ridiculously called Division One at the time!). In April 1993 we beat them 4-0 at Upton Park with goals from Kevin Keen, Trevor Morley, Martin Allen and Peter Butler. I was there on that Saturday afternoon with 16,000 others for that game. Following the match we were third in the league pushing for promotion (only two went up automatically then). We still had three games to play.

The following Saturday (again only 16,000) we beat Bristol Rovers (Julian Dicks penalty and David Speedie). I remember great humour from the Bristol Rovers away fans that day who were singing “we’re going down in a minute” as the match was drawing to a close. They were applauded by the whole stadium. We were still third. A week later we played on the Sunday away at Swindon and won 3-1 (Clive Allen, Kenny Brown and Trevor Morley).

The final game of the season was at home to Cambridge. We needed to win to ensure automatic promotion. Over 27,000 of us were there that day (I should think so too!), a record attendance at Upton Park that season. I can remember the tension being unbearable as we failed to score in the first half and went in 0-0 at the break. Fortunately goals from David Speedie and Clive Allen sealed a 2-0 win and we were in the Premier League for the first time! We were level on 88 points with Portsmouth in second but our goal difference was 40 (81-41) and theirs was 34 (80-46). Great memories and great entertainment too!

To put current attendance levels into perspective the biggest league crowd at Upton Park in in our first season in the Premier League (1993-94) was the 28,832 of us who turned up for the visit of Manchester United. We hardly managed to exceed 21,000 for most games with that figure only exceeded three times with a low of just above 15,000. I mention the Manchester United game specifically as that was played on February 26^th1994, exactly thirty years to the day before the game against Brentford on Monday. We drew 2-2 that day (Lee Chapman and Trevor Morley). That season Manchester United finished as Champions and also we saw the end of terraces at Upton Park. We were all-seater for the beginning of the next season.

How much of a surprise was West Ham’s defeat to Bristol City in the FA Cup?

Last Tuesday night the BBC took their cameras to the Ashton Gate stadium. I wonder why they went there? No, in fact I know why they went there. They just love it when a lower division team knocks a team from the Premier League out of the FA Cup and this game was one that stood out as a potential win for the Championship side. I’ve read reports since that described the game as a shock result, a surprising result or an upset. Was it really?

We went into the game without our most influential players Kudus, Paqueta, Alvarez, Aguerd and Bowen. Key fringe players like Antonio and Fornals were missing too. We lined up at the start with a front three of Ings, Cornet and Benrahma, none of whom had scored a goal this season, but all of whom have been capped by their respective nations.

Ings, an international footballer (hard to believe if you’ve seen him in a West Ham shirt) has scored just three times in over 40 games for the Hammers, admittedly many as a substitute. He just does not fit into the West Ham style, and his alleged vast salary seems to make him even more of a target to the Hammers faithful. The early promise of Benrahma when he signed from Brentford has now seemingly totally disappeared. His form is very poor and he was quite rightly sent off for kicking out after he had been fouled, although conversely Taylor Gardner-Hickman was very lucky to escape with only a yellow card for his assault on Cresswell.

Cornet is a mystery to me. An Ivory Coast international with 30 caps he seems to have been frequently injured, but not picked when available, and the nearest he has come to scoring in a claret and blue shirt in East London was hitting the post in one of his early appearances for us against Chelsea when it would have been easier to score. Before the game it looked like we would have difficulty scoring with those three up front, and so it proved. Ings did make a turn and shot from outside the area that went wide, but that was his only real contribution that I can remember.

The game was barely underway when Mavropanos (for the second time this season) tried a suicidal back pass which resulted in an early goal for the opposition. Our Greek defender had a sorry night. His defensive duties (apart from being the culprit for the goal) were OKish but his distribution was woeful. Look back at the game and see how many of his forward passes were successful. He frequently gave the ball to our opponents. Zouma and Cresswell, never the fastest players, seemed to be running in sand all night and were frequently outpaced. Fabianski didn’t have a lot to do as Bristol City weren’t much of an attacking threat either, but he did OK with what he had to save. But was he a little slow off his line for the backpass? Would Areola have been there quicker?

Coufal continued with his angry mood of recent games and once again seemed to enjoy fouling opponents and looking innocent when penalised. Soucek had a frustrating time too, failing to control the ball and passing waywardly far too often.

So that just leaves JWP of the starting eleven who had an OK game I thought, at least his passing generally went to a team-mate. And finally Emerson who was the stand-out performer for us in my opinion (not much to beat though!) who had a good game as a wing back with some probing runs forward, but with not a lot of help from others. Johnson looked surprisingly good going forward too when he replaced Coufal, and our other two substitutes, Marshall and Mubama were given little time to impress. I couldn’t believe how long it took for our two forward substitutes to be introduced given our lack of effectiveness in an attacking sense with less than 10 minutes of the 90 remaining. In the few minutes available Mubama’s control and passing didn’t look too great, but Marshall did enough in that short time to suggest to me he should be given further opportunities.

One set of ratings I saw on BBC Sport had Emerson as the standout player for us with 5.77, followed by Fabianski 4.86, Johnson 4.8, Marshall 4.68, JWP 4.62, Soucek 4.53, Zouma 4.14, Coufal 4.08, Cresswell 3.8, Mubama 3.57, Cornet 3.27, Mavropanos 2.88, Ings 2.8, Benrahma 2.39. The ratings are based on fans giving players marks out of 10 and averaged. I couldn’t disagree too much with the overall findings but they do reflect how poorly we played according to those who bothered to add their scores.

The post-match statistics said that we had two goal attempts on target. A Soucek volley straight at the keeper and … you’ll have to remind me of the other one. Rightly or wrongly that was how I saw the game, and once again the anti-Moyes and pro-Moyes keyboard warriors were out in force after the match. In his post-match summary Moyes highlighted looking forward to the European games and our good position in the league. How convincing was he when he said it was disappointing to go out of the Cup?

An eight-man bench comprising two goalkeepers and five academy players highlighted the need (which many of us fans have known for a long time) for greater depth to be added to the squad. Our first eleven when all fit is a decent side, but beyond that this game demonstrated that we are lacking quality to come into the side when injuries and lack of availability are taken into account.

But how much of a surprise was the result? We have ‘form’ in this respect. A ‘non-scientific’ study of West Ham’s performances in domestic cup competitions in the 65 or so years that I have followed the team suggests that we have ‘probably’ been knocked out of the FA Cup or League Cup more times by lower league opposition than any other team in England.

Beginning in 1960, a list of just some of the teams who have eliminated us reads as follows: Huddersfield, Stoke, Darlington, Plymouth, Rotherham, Blackburn, Swindon, Huddersfield (again), Coventry, Mansfield, Middlesbrough, Blackpool, Huddersfield (yet again), Stockport County, Hull City, Hereford, Swindon (again), Newport County, Wrexham, Watford, Birmingham, Barnsley, QPR, Luton, Norwich, Oldham, Torquay, Oxford, Norwich (again), Sunderland, Crewe, Barnsley (again), Luton (again), Bolton, QPR (again), Grimsby Town, Stockport County (again), Wrexham (again), Northampton Town, Swansea, Tranmere, Sheffield Wednesday, Reading, Oldham (again), Bolton (again), Chesterfield, Watford (again), Middlesbrough, Aldershot, Sheffield Wednesday (again), Nottingham Forest, Sheffield United, Wigan, and now Bristol City. Quite a list.

I have probably missed one or two but the teams listed above were I believe either in a lower division to ourselves, or perhaps relegated (or finished very close to bottom) from the same division in the season in question. Of course, cup upsets happen, but I wonder if there are any other top-flight clubs who can match this record in domestic cup competitions?

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 19^th 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.

West Ham entertain Leicester in the final game before the 2022 World Cup

West Ham United met Leicester City 54 years ago this week when I witnessed my favourite ever goal being scored

On Saturday 16^th November 1968 West Ham met Leicester in a First Division game, almost exactly 54 years ago this week. It was a game I remember well and one I refer to in my book, Goodbye Upton Park Hello Stratford that was published in 2016. One of the chapters was entitled ’60 Favourite West Ham Goals’ and number 1 at the time and still my all-time favourite was scored by Martin Peters in that game. I stood on the North Bank behind the goal that it went in. I asked the question “what constitutes a great goal?” and two key elements that I identified, a spectacular volley, and a team goal were present in this goal being scored.

Bobby Ferguson was our goalkeeper and he had the ball in his hands at the South Bank end of the ground and rolled it out to Martin Peters on the edge of the penalty area. Peters advanced forward a few yards then passed it out to John Sissons on the left wing. Sissons, a tricky winger, moved forward and from just inside the Leicester half played a long diagonal cross into the penalty area where it was met by Peters on the volley as it came over his shoulder. His thunderous shot from about 12 yards almost decapitated Peter Shilton, the Leicester keeper as it sped into the roof of the net. He hadn’t stopped running from the moment he passed the ball out to Sissons.

The game ended 4-0, which included a brace from Brian Dear and came a fortnight after we had beaten Queens Park Rangers 4-3 with goals from Moore, Hurst, Peters and Redknapp. Harry’s goal in that game was number 3 in my favourite goals chapter, and Bobby Moore’s goal in the game was at number 8. Two weeks prior to the QPR game we had beaten Sunderland 8-0 when Geoff Hurst scored 6. Oh for a return to those free scoring days!

The QPR game as well as Martin Peters spectacular volley against Leicester can be seen on You Tube with commentaries from Brian Moore from the Big Match Sunday TV highlights programme, although sadly Martin’s goal doesn’t show the whole move, just the end of it. I’ve written about it before but even to this day it still remains as my favourite. I met Martin in 2007 at a book signing when I bought his book ‘The Ghost of ‘66’. He was a lovely man and we had a long chat. He couldn’t remember the goal and in fact could barely recall any of the many goals he had scored in his career. Sadly it was perhaps the beginning of the symptoms of the Alzheimer’s disease which brought about his untimely death at 76. I took along my programme from the game which I dug out of my collection and he very kindly signed it for me as well as his book.

Some interesting features from the programme:

The cost 1 shilling (5p)
The proposed teams on the inside cover (with no number 7) – of course no squad numbers in those days. The West Ham team that day was actually Ferguson, Bonds, Charles, Cushley, Stephenson, Moore, Peters, Boyce, Dear, Hurst, Sissons – it didn’t really pay to predict the team in advance, although there were fewer changes of personnel from game to game.
An interview with 22 years-old Billy Bonds
Trips by Lacey’s coaches to the forthcoming away game at Ipswich (70p)
A quote from Ron Springett the QPR keeper prior to the game a fortnight earlier where he said that West Ham was one of his favourite grounds, he never had a bad game there, he was leaving himself wide open to look a proper Charlie, he’d probably let four goals in (And he did!)
The league table prior to the game showed West Ham in 7^th place (5 points from the top), with 21 points from 18 games (7 wins, 7 draws and 4 defeats) – only 2 points for a win in those days. Goals for 34, conceded 21. Only Liverpool and Everton (top and 2^nd) had scored more (35 and 36)
Leicester were 2^nd from bottom.

At the end of the season we had finished 8^th, Leeds were champions, and Leicester were relegated despite reaching the FA Cup Final. We scored 66 goals, the third highest (exactly the same number as the champions Leeds, although we conceded 50 compared to Leeds 26)

So now we face Leicester 54 years on in a season that isn’t going particularly well so far, certainly on the domestic front. A look at the league table shows us in 15^th place with 14 points from 14 games, having lost 8 times, and just two points above the relegation zone. The league is very tight with just 7 points separating Liverpool (19) in 8^th from Southampton (12) in a relegation place (18^th). If we had beaten Palace last weekend we would be in the top half, but after an inept performance we sadly didn’t. A look at the six teams immediately above us tells the story for me – Fulham, Palace, Brentford, Leeds, Villa and Leicester – all teams I would have expected to be on top of. It would take a very unlikely set of results, but if we lose to Leicester in this game it is mathematically possible for us to go into the break for the World Cup in the bottom 3. A defeat on Saturday is unthinkable, isn’t it?

The manager is getting increasingly tetchy in interviews and articles are beginning to emerge regarding his position. After two successful seasons and eight wins out of eight in Europe surely that is unthinkable too. Isn’t it?

Two West Ham games against Leicester appear in my book among my 20 favourite West Ham matches. The 4-0 game that I referred to earlier is at number 16, and at number 11 I recount the 4-2 win that took place on the morning of Boxing Day 1967 which kicked off at 11am. We came from two goals down in the first quarter of an hour to win the game thanks to the first Trevor Brooking goal that I remember seeing, and a hat-trick from Brian Dear.

Either of those scorelines would be a great result going into the break, but there is little logic in expecting that to happen given our recent form and performances. Leicester have picked up after a poor start and sit immediately above us in the table. Perhaps we can repeat the Boxing Day 1967 result? I say that more in hope than expectation. What are the chances?

A Very Brief History of West Ham in the FA Cup in the last 62 years, as Leeds visit the London Stadium today

The Third Round of the FA Cup was one of the great footballing days when I was a boy. But that was some time ago (when I was a boy that is). Of course it was (and still is) the day when the minnows who have battled through the qualifying rounds and the two proper rounds join the teams from the top two tiers hoping to perform a giant killing act. As a West Ham fan for many years I have witnessed plenty of those but unfortunately in the majority of cases we have been on the wrong end of them.

My first FA Cup memory was in season 1958-59. The third round in early January 1959 saw me approaching my fifth birthday. We were riding high in the top half of the table in our first season in Division One following promotion (we eventually finished 6^th) whilst Tottenham were languishing near the bottom (eventually finishing 18^th). They beat us 2-0. The following season we met Huddersfield of Division 2 and drew the away game in Yorkshire 1-1, taking them back to Upton Park where they thrashed us 5-1! In 1961 (again in Round 3) we drew 2-2 at home to 2^nd Division Stoke, and then lost 1-0 in the replay. In 1962 (round 3 yet again), despite being a top half Division One team, we crashed out 3-0 at lowly Plymouth. At this time I’d never known us play an FA Cup game beyond 13^th January! After 4 seasons I knew what giant killing was all about. We had been humbled on every occasion by inferior opponents.

But in 1963 we reached the quarter final (disposing of Fulham, Swansea and Everton) before losing 1-0 at Anfield. We were really getting the hang of the FA Cup by now and the following season (aged 10) I witnessed the first of what I expected to be many trophies when we beat Second Division Preston 3-2 to lift the cup. I wasn’t there on that day, but the win took us into Europe and I was at Wembley the following May when we won our second trophy, lifting the European Cup Winners Cup beating Munich 1860 in the final. But in that year we reverted to type in the FA Cup losing 1-0 at Stamford Bridge in Round 4.

In 1966 we lost 4-1 in a 4^th round replay to Blackburn (who finished bottom that season), and the following year we got no further than the third round losing 3-1 away at 3^rd Division Swindon in a replay. In 1968 we got to round 5 where we lost 2-1 at home to Sheffield United who were relegated that season. In 1969 we had progressed to round 5 before we were unceremoniously dumped out 3-0 by lowly Mansfield, and in 1970, once again in the third round we were beaten by a team from a lower level going down 2-1 at Middlesbrough.

It’s not making great reading so far (1964 excepted) so surely it would only get better you would think. Wrong! 1971 was the year of the famous Blackpool night club incident (Google it if you don’t know the detail) when we went out 4-0 in round 3 to the team who were to finish bottom that season. Huddersfield finished bottom in 1972 but that didn’t stop them knocking us out in the third round (4-2), and in 1973 we went out in round 4 to lowly Hull City. 1974 was no better when we lost to third division Hereford in a third round replay.

But, lo and behold come 1975, and we were once again FA Cup winners beating second division Fulham in the final, thanks to a brace from Alan Taylor in the quarters, semis and final itself. But for the remainder of the 1970s, it was back to despair in the FA Cup losing 2-0 at home to Liverpool (round 3 1976), 3-0 at Aston Villa (round 4 1977), 6-1 (!) at QPR (4^th round replay 1978), and (how low can you get!) 2-1 at 4^th division Newport County – by now we were a second division side ourselves for the first time since I had started watching in 1958.

Incredibly, as a second division team we battled through to the final in 1980 where we won the FA Cup for the third time beating Division One Arsenal 1-0 with Trevor Brooking’s famous header. And for most (but not all of the next decade) our FA Cup performances were generally better than I had experienced before. In 1981 we lost in a third round second replay to lowly Wrexham (1-0), and in 1982 it was round 4 to another team from a lower division Watford (2-0). In 1983 it was 2-0 at Old Trafford in round 3, but the following year we reached the fifth round before losing 3-0 to (eventually relegated) Birmingham.

For the next two seasons we lost in round 6 to Manchester United and Sheffield Wednesday, and in 1987 it was Wednesday again in a fifth round replay. In 1988 we lost 3-1 to QPR in round 4 and the following year it was a sixth round replay where we went out 3-1 to Norwich. So, a slight improvement in the 1980s?

In 1990 we lost 1-0 in Round 3 to lowly (I keep using that word!) Torquay but the following year we reached the semi-final at Villa Park where thanks mainly to Keith Hackett we were denied a place at Wembley. The following seasons were not too great losing 3-2 at home to Sunderland (round 5 replay 1992), 4-1 to Barnsley (round 4 1993), 3-2 at Luton (round 6 replay 1994), 1-0 at QPR (round 4 1995), 3-0 at Grimsby (!) (round 4 replay 1996), 1-0 at home to Wrexham (!) (round 3 replay 1997), on penalties at home to Arsenal (round 6 1998), 1-0 at Swansea (round 3 replay 1999).

We have done better in the 21^st century (in not being the victims of giant killing!) going out to Tottenham, Chelsea, Manchester United (4 times), Manchester City twice), and Arsenal. But there have still been some less than impressive performances losing to Fulham, Sheffield United, Watford, Middlesbrough, Stoke, Sheffield Wednesday, Nottingham Forest, West Brom (twice), Wigan, and AFC Wimbledon. The best performance was, of course, in 2006 when we unluckily lost the final in Cardiff to Liverpool on penalties after drawing 3-3 after extra time and conceding the late equaliser in normal time to Steven Gerrard when the ball should have been planted into the stands in the last minute!

Without carrying out a study of every club I am quite confident that we have probably lost in the FA Cup to “lesser” teams (that is those lower than us in the same division or from a lower division) on more occasions than any other team in the top tier of English football. And our record in the League Cup is equally poor. Nonetheless I am confident we will dispose of Leeds on our way to our 4^th FA Cup win in 63 years next May. What are the chances?

The rollercoaster ride of following West Ham

A brief summary of more than sixty years of being a West Ham fan

I read an article recently that was written by a West Ham fan who likened following the team to a rollercoaster ride. I could see where he was coming from with the ups and downs from season to season, and even from game to game. I suppose a lot of football supporters feel this way about their team, but at West Ham I’m sure we experience it more than most.

As a fan I came in when we were fairly high on the ride. The first season I remember (as a five- year-old) was 1958-59. We had been promoted the previous year from Division Two into the top flight (Division One in those days) and in our first season finished in sixth position, and were holding third place before losing our final game. The following season we began a slow descent. A magnificent run through September to November where we won 11 out of 13 games in all competitions (losing just one) meant that we topped the league on 21 November. The following Saturday (I remember it so well because I was in hospital) we travelled to Hillsborough and were soundly beaten 7-0 by Sheffield Wednesday. We began to go down at that point, were bundled out of the FA Cup in the third round 1-5 at home by second division Huddersfield, and finished the season in 14^th.

The 1960s were good in that we remained in the top division throughout, hovering between lower top half and bottom half, with the highs of the FA Cup trophy in 1964, followed by the European Cup Winners Cup a year later. The rest of the sixties and early seventies saw more of the same with another peak in the middle of the latter decade with our second FA Cup followed by an excellent run to another European final, playing some great football on the way through the competition.

Following that we began to hover just above the relegation places and eventually went down in 1978. A win in the final game at home to Liverpool would have kept us up but the Merseysiders cruised to a 2-0 win and our 20 year stay in the top flight was over. But all our best players remained and we began to go upwards again. It took us three years to get promoted, but we had a wonderful run in that time, winning the FA Cup for the third time in 1980, and then breaking all records the following season winning promotion as champions with a record points haul, and reaching the League Cup final where we unluckily lost to Liverpool after a replay.

Top half finishes throughout most of the early 1980s culminated in our best league season ever (1985-86), finishing third after being in contention to be champions for most of the season, despite a poor start where we only won one of our first seven matches. Liverpool finished top that year and we were pipped for the runners-up spot after losing at Everton on the final day.

A sharper decline followed that great year however, and three seasons later we were once again relegated. We came back at the second attempt, only to be relegated the following season and then promoted once again in the next campaign. This was a real yo-yo period but we stayed in Division One throughout the nineties and managed a fifth place finish in 1999. We partied with Prince after the final game of the season (a 4-0 win over Middlesbrough) as we qualified for the Inter Toto cup which meant a July start to the following campaign. Success in that early season tournament gave us entry into the UEFA Cup where we were eliminated in the second round, but still finished in the top half in the last year of the twentieth century.

The roller coaster was back in the early noughties with a lower half followed by a seventh place followed by relegation under Glenn Roeder. But we were back in the Premier League once again a couple of years later and reached the FA Cup Final in our first season. The final against Liverpool at the Millenium Stadium was one of the great finals, but Gerrard’s 30 yard shot in injury time denied us victory, and of course we lost the penalty shoot-out.

Top half finishes throughout most of the rest of the decade came to an end with a 17^th place finish under Zola in 2010 followed by another relegation a season later under Avram Grant. This time we bounced back at the first attempt under Big Sam and have remained there since, with an excellent final season at the Boleyn in 2015-16, followed by a leaner period since.

So we have come full circle with the high of six wins in a row to begin 2021 followed by a reality check from Liverpool on Sunday. Looking back it is interesting how often Liverpool have featured in this brief summary of more than 60 years of following the ups and downs of West Ham.

Has it been a rollercoaster ride? In one respect the analogy is a false one because the greatest thrill that you get when riding the rollercoaster is not when you are ascending, but more in the rapid plunge to the low point after reaching the top. As a football fan, the best times are the ride to reach the peak, not the fall that has inevitably followed. Nevertheless it has been a great ride that, despite some of the many frustrations in being a West Ham fan, I wouldn’t have swapped for growing up following any other team.