Category: History

Love is in the air but it has not always been a week of romance (even of the cup variety) with West Ham victims of a variety of harrowing Valentine’s Day massacres over the years.

The most painful of these occurred in a 1990 League Cup semi-final first leg against fellow Division 2 side Oldham Athletic.  The Latics were in fine cup form that season and West Ham were no match on their ‘plastic’ pitch providing little resistance and going down by six goals to nil.  West Ham did win the second leg 3-0 but it was all rather academic by then.  In 1996, it was banana skins rather than roses courtesy of an away defeat in an FA Cup 4^th round replay to lowly Grimsby Town and just two years ago a particularly limp performance was on show when surrender 4-0 in a 4^th round tie to West Bromwich Albion at the Hawthorns.

A game very close to my heart, and one with a more pleasing outcome, took place in 1972 when West Ham faced a 4^th round replay with non League Hereford United.  The country was in the middle of severe power restrictions at the time due to a long running miner’s strike and the associated picketing of power stations.  With electricity rationed the midweek game was moved to an usual kick-off time of 2:15 pm.   Nevertheless a crowd of over 42,000 took the opportunity to leave work or school early and packed into Upton Park to watch the game against the Southern League part-timers.  In the end West Ham were comfortable 3-1 winners, with Geoff Hurst’s final hat-trick for the club, despite a spirited performance from Hereford who left the pitch to a standing ovation.

One final 14^th of February game to mention was a match in 1981 when West Ham hosted Chelsea in what was at the time a Second Division fixture.  This was an all-conquering season for the Hammers who had gone top of the table in mid-November and remained there for the duration and collected a record points haul for the division (in the days of two points for a win).  Chelsea had been early season challengers but were easily brushed aside; the game ending with a decisive 4-0 West Ham victory (Devonshire, Brooking (2), Cross).

This week being 5^th round cup week it also featured further games on the road to Wembley (& Cardiff) for each of our post-war FA cup finals.  In 1964, West Ham were visitors to the County Ground in Swindon, having taken an early lead through John Sissons the Hammers were well on top before easing up to let the host level the scores before half time.  The second period was evenly contested before Peter Brabrook provided crosses that were converted by Byrne and then Hurst to ease the Hammers into the 6^th round.

Standen, Bond, Burkett, Bovington, Brown, Moore, Brabrook, Boyce, Byrne, Hurst, Sissons

The 5^th round opponents in 1975 were west Londoner’s Queens Park Rangers.  It was one of those games played in the Upton Park mud where players ploughed rather than glided over the surface.  Dave Clement put Rangers into the lead before Trevor Brooking took control; first setting up Pat Holland for the equaliser and then with a cheeky back-heel to start a move that ended with Keith Robson’s winner.

Day, McDowell, Lampard, Bonds, Taylor, Lock, Jennings, Paddon, Robson, Brooking, Holland

In 1980, the 5^th round saw the Hammers drawn at home, for the first time in that season’s competition, against fellow second division side Swansea City.  The Swans with player/ manager John Toshack and fellow ex-Liverpool star Ian Callaghan in their lineup came to frustrate and as the minutes ticked by it looked that a replay at the Vetch Field was the most probable outcome.  However, with just 5 minutes remaining a shot from David Cross ran loose in the area and Paul Allen, on as a substitute for Stuart Pearson, pounced to give West Ham the lead.  Within a minute it was game over as Cross, himself, doubled the lead with a fine strike.

Parkes, Lampard, Brush, Stewart, Martin, Devonshire, Neighbour, Pearson (Allen) , Cross, Brooking, Pike

For the under 40s, with no trophy winning memories to fall back on, the road to Cardiff in 2006 was the closest to glory that has been witnessed.  The 5^th round draw in 2006 had West Ham visiting Sam Allardyce’s Bolton Wanderers who were also competing in the UEFA Cup at the time.  Both sides had chances to score but the tie ended goalless to set up a replay at Upton Park, which would not take place until almost a month later. An interesting feature of the matchday squad (by contemporary standards) is the presence of four strikers for manager Alan Pardew to call on.

Hislop, Scaloni, Ferdinand, Gabbidon, Konchesky, Benayoun (Dailly), Etherington, Mullins, Reo-Coker, Ashton (Sheringham), Harewood (Zamora)

Some Hammer’s Birthdays

13 February     Liam Brady  (61)
15 February     Manuel Lanzini (24)
16 February     Ken Brown (83)
18 February     Anton Ferdinand (32)

A first read through of the results from the week 30 January to 5 February in Hammer’s history was similar to watching a late night horror movie, best viewed through the gaps between your fingers.  There was an embarrassing 3-1 cup exit at the hands of 3^rd division Swindon Town (1967), FA cup capitulation at Loftus Road with a 6-1 hammering by QPR (1978) and League cup humiliation of the worst kind in a 5-0 defeat at White Hart Lane (1987).  In the league, 5 goals were shipped without reply to dirty Leeds (1966) and more recently top of the (Championship) table West Ham were brushed aside in a 5-1 demolition by lowly Ipswich Town at Portman Road (2012).

Such misfortunes are wildly out of step with the current sense of togetherness and optimism surrounding the club that has been fostered by a couple of encouraging wins and the atmosphere of unity against the common enemy; the now departed two-faced Frenchman.    So it is in that spirit that I have singled out some of the rarer triumphs as a way to develop that mood. In the middle years of the 1960’s West Ham were on a run of winning trophies and at the end of January 1966 were still competing in that season’s ECWC, FA and League Cups.    A 5-1 second leg League Cup victory away to Cardiff City, courtesy of goals from Hurst (2), Sissons (2) and Burnett, secured an impressive 10-3 aggregate win and set up the Hammers for a final tie against West Bromwich Albion.  We had recently seen off Albion by four goals to nil in a league encounter so surely more silverware was on its way to Upton Park!

In the calendar year of 1968 West Ham scored 7 or more goals on three occasions.  The first of these was in January 1968 when the visitors to Upton Park were west London rivals Fulham.  The Cottagers raced into the lead with a goal from Steve Earle (not the American country rock singer I believe) but that early set-back only served to galvanise the Hammers into action and a goal blitz involving Hurst (2), Brooking (2), Peters, Moore and Dear saw the game finish in a 7-2 romp.

Ferguson, Bonds, Lampard, Peters, Cushley, Moore, Dear, Boyce, Brooking, Hurst, Sissons

The stand-out game of the week, however, has to be the 2006 clash with Arsenal in their final season at Highbury.  It was the Gunners 2,000 match at their old stadium and they started out in dominant form pinning the Hammers back with typical high-tempo football.  However, after 25 minutes Nigel Reo-Coker beat Sol Campbell to a Hayden Mullins pass and ran on to give West Ham the lead very much against the run of play.  It got better still 7 minutes later when Bobby Zamora out-muscled Campbell, checked and placed a delightful shot into the far corner of the net to double the lead.  There was a wobble just before the break when Terry Henry scored to become Arsenal’s all-time leading league scorer and set up a nail biting second period.

Arsenal started the second half without Campbell (who had gone home) but once again dominated the play.  Midway through the half West Ham introduced new signing Dean Ashton for his club debut (probably our best ever January signing and the last great striker we never got the opportunity to properly enjoy).  After 80 minutes the unexpected happened and Matthew Etherington scored another to make it 3-1 to West Ham.  There was still time for Pires to score for Arsenal but despite a frantic finale it turned out to be merely a consolation.  As it turned out West Ham were the last away team to win at Highbury and the game was the Hammers fifth consecutive win in all competitions (a run that ultimately extended to seven).

Hislop, Clarke (Fletcher), A Ferdinand, Gabbidon, Konchesky, Mullins, Benayoun (Newton), Etherington, Reo-Coker, Harewood, Zamora (Ashton)

Notable Birthdays

2 February          Ravel Morrison                 24
5 February          Carlos Tevez                       33
5 February          Richard Bennett               63

The final week in January is another that is largely dominated by cup action being generally reserved for FA Cup 4^th round matches; at least for those occasions where we progress that far. In each of three successful FA Cup campaigns, plus the ultimately unsuccessful 2006 one, West Ham advanced on their journey towards Wembley during the week 23-29 January.

In 1964 we were drawn away against second division Leyton Orient.  A record attendance of over 34,000 packed into Brisbane Road for the game where Orient, with three former Hammers in their team, raced into a 2^nd minute lead.  Following the goal the game was one-way traffic in the Hammer’s favour but a Peter Brabrook goal just before the interval was the only reward and the tie went to a replay.  The second game at Upton Park four days later was more of a formality and three goals in the first 15 minutes (Hurst 2, Byrne) wrapped up the tie for West Ham.

The 1975 4^th round opponents were 3^rd division Swindon Town in the mud at Upton Park.  West Ham got away with a cynical flying rugby tackle by Tommy Taylor (no automatic red card in those days) to prevent Swindon taking the lead before a Billy Jennings strike made it one-nil.  However, the visitors were not to be denied and Peter Eastoe grabbed a deserved equaliser with just over 5 minutes left.  A midweek replay at the County Ground was a tight affair with goals from Trevor Brooking and Pat Holland enough to steer West Ham to a 2-1 victory.

In 1980 West Ham again faced near neighbours Orient in the 4^th round, this time at Brisbane Road.  Both teams were competing in the second division at the time but West Ham had recently seen off their opponents 4-0 in a league match at Upton Park.  Orient went a goal up when Billy Bonds gave away a penalty which was then converted by ex-Hammer Tommy Taylor.  However, an own goal and a Ray Stewart penalty put West Ham ahead only for Chiedozie to even things up again.  A second Ray Stewart goal as the match entered the last 10 minutes was enough to put the Hammer’s through.

In the 2006 4^th round tie, at home to Blackburn, West Ham were a goal down after 28 seconds.  A Teddy Sheringham penalty, a Matthew Etherington strike and an own goal (from someone called Zurab Khizanishvili) put the Hammers in command before a Lucas Neil curler reduced the deficit.  Any hopes of a Blackburn come-back were ended when Bobby Zamora poked home to secure a 4-2 victory.

A game that we shouldn’t let pass without a mention is the tie against Manchester United at Old Trafford in 2001.  This was the match of the famous Paolo Di Canio/ Fabio Barthez offside appeal incident, of which, one can never get tired of watching.

In League Cup action the epic 1972 semi-final series against Stoke City finally ended with defeat in an Old Trafford mud-bath.  An incident packed match saw Bobby Ferguson get concussion, Bobby Moore save a penalty, West Ham go a goal down and then take a 2-1 lead before conceding another two and losing 3-2 on the night.

Semi-final disappointment also in 2011 where, a goal up from the first leg against Birmingham, West Ham took a first half lead only then to throw away the advantage by conceding three times without further reply.  There was also defeat in the 1981 semi-final first leg away to Coventry City where an early 2 goal lead was surrendered to end the game with a 3-2 defeat.

Notable Birthdays

There is a hypothesis called nominative determinism which suggests a causal relationship based on the idea that people tend to be attracted to areas of work that fit their name.  Born this week in 1854 was former Upton Park FC player and referee Segar Richard Bastard.  Bastard refereed the 1878 FA Cup Final between Wanderers and Royal Engineers although there is no record as to whether he wore black.

As I peruse the results from the week 16 – 22 January in Hammer’s History (and I am only looking at games played since our promotion to Division 1 in 1958) my impression is that this has been a generally bad week for West Ham.  On further inspection it is not really the case with the 59 games played ending in 19 victories, 25 defeats and 15 draws.  The reality is that it is a week with very few matches that stand-out; particularly those that ended in our favour.

On two occasions this week has witnessed dreams of League Cup glory being dashed in two unsuccessful semi-final appearances.  One being of the contractual obligation variety in 2014 where, already losing 6-0 from the first leg, we went on to gift Manchester City a 9-0 aggregate win.  The other, in 1967, was a repeat of the previous year’s League Cup final with the Hammers up against West Bromwich Albion.  The final of the 1966/67 tournament would be the first to be played in a one-off match at Wembley but it was to be a dreadful night at The Hawthorns with Albion romping to a 4-0 first leg lead.

In FA Cup action West Ham did record a thumping 6-1 victory against 4^th Division Aldershot – but only after a replay.  Aldershot had given up home advantage after the draw was made and both games were played at Upton Park.  The initial tie ending in a 0-0 stalemate but the replay was a routine affair with goals from Morley (2), Slater, Parris, Bishop and Quinn doing the damage for West Ham with Aldershot’s reply courtesy of a rare Miklosko blooper.

Miklosko, Breacker, Parris, Gale, Robson (Bishop), Hughton, Keen, Slater, Quinn, Potts, Morley

Not nearly as impressive was FA Cup replay exit at the hands of Wrexham in 1981 as we defended the trophy won the previous May.  This was not really a giant killing act as both teams were competing in Division 2 at the time but it still came as a surprise given our overall performances that season.  Defeat eventually coming in extra time of the second replay at the Racecourse Ground following two earlier drawn games.

A league game that sticks in the memory was one from the 1971/72 season which saw West Ham entertain Brian Clough’s Derby County side.  Derby would finish the season as champions in one of the closest title races that I can recall with four teams separated by a single point.  In the run-in Derby had completed their fixtures while both dirty Leeds (going for the double) and Liverpool could be crowned champions if either won their remaining game.  In the event, Liverpool drew and Leeds lost (at Wolverhampton) amid claims that manager Don Revie had tried to bribe the Wolves players.

When they visited Upton Park in January 1972 Derby were in 4^th place and West Ham in 12^th and there was plenty of entertainment for the 31,000 crowd.  Derby opened the scoring taking advantage of a Tommy Taylor slip before a Frank Lampard pile-driver evened things up at half-time.  Pop Robson struck to give the Hammers the lead after the break only for Derby to scramble an equalizer of their own with the ball appearing to go in through Bobby Moore’s legs.  A fine Trevor Brooking goal looked like it would be enough to secure all (two) points but Derby were not to be denied and the game ended all square at 3-3.  A nice comedy moment in the game when two teenage girls ran onto the pitch to mob Harry Redknapp instigating a chase by the local plod that ended with one of their number toppling into the crowd.

Ferguson, McDowell, Lampard, Bonds, Taylor, Moore, Redknapp, Best, Hurst, Brooking, Robson

This Week’s birthdays:

16 January   Bobby Zamora (36)
18 January   Steve Lomas (43)
19 January   Robert Green (37)

Today we are thumbing through the week 9 – 15 January in Hammer’s History and, to be honest, there is not a great deal to get excited about.  Nevertheless we will start with the undoubted high which was a 6-0 annihilation of Barnsley in a 1998 Premier League fixture at Upton Park.  At that time Harry Redknapp’s side were capable of some barnstorming and free flowing performances and this victory was their 9^th at home so far that season.  Goals from Lampard, Abou (2), Hartson, Moncur and Lazaridis made it a day to remember where the’ boos’ ringing out around the ground were in praise of striker Samassi Abou who, in addition to his two goals, also had a hand in several others.

Forrest, Potts, Lazaridis, Unsworth, Ferdinand, Pearce, Impey (Moncur), Lampard, Hartson, Berkovic (Alves), Abou

As FA Cup holders we started its defence in the 1964/65 season with a home 3^rd round tie against Birmingham City.  Goals by Hurst (2), Byrne and Sissons in a 4-2 victory were enough to send the Hammers into the 4^th round draw.

Some years later in 2011 Birmingham were once again cup opponents but this time in a League Cup semi-final.  The first leg at Upton Park between two of the leagues struggling sides (both of whom would go on to be relegated) ended in a 2-1 win to give West Ham the advantage and dreams of Wembley.  Mark Noble volleyed the Hammers ahead in a one-sided first half but we were unable to convert any of the numerous further chances before the break.  In the second period an improved Birmingham performance saw Ridgewell equalise and when Victor Obinna was sent off it looked like it could be game over.  However, Carlton Cole (on as a replacement for Piquionne) scored with a trademark scuffed shot from a Spector cross to notch an unlikely winner.  There was intense speculation at the time that defeat in this game would cost manager Avram Grant his job but football moves in mysterious ways and he was able to survive to steer us on to relegation (but not to Wembley).

Talking of the League Cup this week also hosted the replayed 5^th round encounter against Aston Villa in January 2000.  The match which had to be played again as a result of the Mannygate debacle saw West Ham go a goal up through Lampard Junior, Di Canio have a penalty saved by David James, and Villa score twice in extra time to win the day.

We round of the week with two of those embarrassing banana skin FA Cup defeats.  In 1974 we had drawn our initial home tie with 3^rd division Hereford and so made the trip to Edgar Street four days later for the replay.  West Ham took the lead through a Clyde Best header before Keith Coleman gave away a penalty that led to the Hereford leveller.  With about a quarter of an hour to play Hereford scored again to prompt wild scenes by the home crowd; the match ending 2-1.

Day, Coleman, Lampard, Bonds, Taylor, Wooler, McGiven, Paddon, Lutton, Holland, Best

Ironically, the same largely uninspiring West Ham line-up managed to beat Manchester United 2-1 at Upton Park on the following Saturday (Bonds, Holland) in a season where the Red Devils were ultimately relegated to Division 2 with ourselves just above the drop zone.

In the 3^rd round of 1979, second division West Ham were away to 4^th division Newport County in a game that was postponed on Saturday due to bad weather and re-scheduled for midweek.  With the core of the team that would win the Cup the following year the Hammers suffered a humiliating 2-1 reverse which I believe John Lyall once described as the low point of his managerial career; Pop Robson scoring our goal.

Day, Lampard, Brush, Bonds, Martin, McDowell, Taylor, Devonshire, Cross, Brooking, Robson

The first week of January brings with it the 3rd round of the FA Cup. Once one of the most eagerly awaited weekends in the football calendar it doesn’t now have quite the same appeal, at least for the top clubs, but continues to offer romance to those further down the pyramid and remains one of the best opportunities of silverware for mid-table Premier League clubs such as West Ham.

Before we get into some of the more memorable FA Cup encounters there are two League Cup ties to mention. The first was the first semi-final replay in 1972 against Stoke City; a game that was played at Hillsborough on a miserable Wednesday night. This was a match that I remember bunking off school for to take a football special which deposited us at the largely abandoned Wadsley Bridge station in Sheffield a few minutes before kick-off. The game had started by the time that we made it into the ground but it was a very uneventful game despite Clyde Best having an excellent opportunity to send the Hammers through to Wembley thwarted by Gordon Banks.

The second League Cup semi final that took place this week was the first leg tie in 2014 against this weekend’s FA Cup opponents, Mancheter City. Fat Sam had prioritised this game over the preceding weekend’s FA Cup tie at Nottingham Forest and the game, played at the City of Manchester Stadium, saw the debut for West Ham or Roger ‘The Relegator’ Johnson. It was an awful night for the Hammers and a Alvaro Negredo hat-trick featured in a 6-0 demolition in a tie that we were to lose 9-0 on aggregate.

On to the FA Cup and we will start with a few of those banana skin defeats. Because we were already in 2014 the first stop is tie that took place a few days prior to the League Cup thrashing by City; Fat Sam fielded a team of kids against League 1 Nottingham Forest that ended in an embarrassing 5-0 defeat. The lineup included a host of players who were never heard from again such as Daniel Potts, Callum Driver, Danny Whitehead, George Moncur, Sebastien Lletget and Ravel Morrison (where is he now?) plus substitute appearances from Matthias Fanimo, Blair Turgott and Reece Burke. What a dark day for the club that was.

January 1971 witnessed the 4-0 hammering by struggling Blackpool. The game is famous for what later emerged concerning an early hours drinking session in boxer Brian London’s Blackpool nightclub involving Bobby Moore, Jimmy Greaves, Brian Dear, Clyde Best and club physio Rob Jenkins. Despite there being no Twitter at the time the players were still dobbed in by a disgruntled fan and were subsequently disciplined by manager Ron Greenwood.

In January 1990 West Ham, then in Division 2, visited 4th Division Torquay for a 3rd round tie at Plainmoor. A team that included Parkes, Potts, Dicks, Martin, Gale and Bishop suffered a humiliating 1-0 defeat to the lowly Devon club.

We published an article previously on West Ham’s cup encounters with non-League sides and this week included the 1992 1-1 draw with Farnborough Town and the narrow 1998 2-1 victory over Emley.

West Ham have won the FA Cup on 3 occasions and each of those occasions the journey to success kicked off with a hopeful 3rd round tie. The 1964 road to Wembley started with comfortable 3-0 home win against 2nd division Charlton Athletic with goals from Brabrook, Hurst and Sissons. In 1975, an away draw resulted in a 2-1 victory at The Dell against 2nd division Southampton; Frank Lampard and Bobby Gould the scorers; and in 1980 it was 2nd division West Ham drawn away to 1st division West Bromwich Albion. The first match at The Hawthorns ended in a 1-1 draw; Stuart Pearson scored the Hammer’s goal but the hero of the hour was Phil Parkes who pulled of a string of outstanding man-of-the-match saves to keep us in the tie. The replay took place just 3 days later where Pearson and Trevor Brooking scored the goals at Upton Park to record an excellent 2-1 victory and progress to Round 4.

1964 v Charlton: Standen, Bond, Burkett, Bovington, Brown, Moore, Brabrook, Boyce, Byrne, Hurst, Sissons
1974 v Southampton: Day, Coleman, Lampard, Bonds, McDowell, Lock, Jennings, Paddon, Gould (Hooland), Brooking, K. Robson
1980 v WBA: Parkes, Stewart, Lampard, Bonds, Martin, Devonshire, Allen, Pearson, Pike, Brooking, Neighbour (Brush replaced Bonds in the replay)

Notable birthdays this week:

2 January Tomas Repka (43)
3 January Adrian (30)
6 January Ron Boyce (74)
6 January Andy Carroll (28)

This Week in Hammer’s History has already taken a look at some of the memorable Boxing Day games over the years and now, as promised, we will cast an eye over other matches that have taken place between 26 December and 1 January.

In the days where games really did come thick and fast, rather than being a figment of manager and commentator imagination, high scoring matches were quite common; possibly due to players being more liberal in their festive celebrations at a time away when the possibility of twitter and facebook exposure was not a threat.

Fixtures on New Year’s Day are common nowadays but prior to 1974 it was just an ordinary working day and not a public holiday in England.  Still time, however, for the first day of the year to feature a number of high scoring encounters of which, the low point, was a 6-0 away drubbing for Alan Curbishley’s struggling side (Tevez an unused substitute) by the mighty Reading.

In 1974, the new holiday brought the Hammers a 4-2 home win (Paddon 2, Gould, Brooking) at home to Norwich while we returned the favour in 1988 going down 1-4 (Cottee) at Carrow Road.

Other New Year’s Day successes came with: a 4-0 away win at Orient in 1980 (Pearson 2, Devonshire, Pike); a 4-1 home victory over Leicester in 1987 (Cottee 2, McAvennie, Dickens) and a 4-2 win at Upton Park against Barnsley in 1990 (Keen 2, Dicks, M Allen).

West Ham also racked up four goals during the course of the week with 4-0 home wins against Blackpool in 1966 (Peters, Moore, Byrne, Hurst) and Blackburn in 1978 (Taylor, Cross, Robson, Own Goal).  Noteworthy successes on the road included a 4-3 win at Nottingham Forest in 1962 (Brabrook 2, Byrne. Own Goal) and another victory in 1967 against Leicester by the same 4-2 score-line as in the home fixture on Boxing Day, four days earlier (Dear 2, Brooking, Sissons).

On the last day of 1983 West Ham entertained pantomime villains Tottenham Hotspur at Upton Park.  The Hammers were riding high in the top division that season having won their opening 5 games and had already beaten Spurs 2-0 at White Hart Lane in September.  Hopes were high that season (at least mine were).  We had been in the top 3 or 4 for almost all of the season and the team had a firm foundation built around Parkes, Stewart, Martin, Bonds, Brooking and Devonshire plus a young Tony Cottee knocking them in regularly.  This was to be Trevor Brooking’s last season before retirement and there was a feeling that it could end with something special.

On the day Spurs were blown away, 4-1, with goals from Stewart, Martin, Cottee and Brooking.  At the end of the year and with exactly half of the games played we stood in 3^rd spot, two points behind Manchester United and five behind leaders Liverpool.  Sadly this was to be one of the years where we faltered in the second half and despite keeping in touches with leaders until the middle of March West Ham then faded badly to end the season in 9^th place – one point and one place below Tottenham.

Parkes, Stewart, Brush, Walford, Martin, Devonshire, Whitton, Cottee, Swindlehurst, Brooking, Orr

We all know that during  the Christmas period that the games ‘come thick and fast’ which means that the week 26 December to 1 January in Hammer’s History has seen more than its fair share of games.  As a consequence I have split the week into two parts with today’s article looking just at Boxing Day; with the rest of the week covered in a separate post.

Of the 45 Boxing Day games played since 1958 we have won 13, drawn 12 and lost 20.  Although the overall record is not so good in the higher scoring games we have had the edge.  Starting in 1958 we completed a Christmas double over Tottenham with a 4-1 victory at White Hart Lane (having beaten them 2-1 at Upton Park the previous day).  There have also been high scoring victories on the road at Blackpool (4-1 in 1996), Chelsea (4-2 in 1973 to climb off the bottom of the table), and Portsmouth (4-1 in 2008).  On the flip side too much pudding and sherry was the harbinger of defeats at Villa (4-1 in 1975) and Tottenham (4-0 in 1986).  We had also played Tottenham on Boxing Day a year earlier and the 1-0 defeat to an 85^th minute Steve Perryman goal will forever be one of those ‘if-only’ matches from the memorable 1985/6 season.

A Boxing Day home fixture at Upton Park was often something special over the years including victories over Leicester (4-1 in 1967), Charlton (5-0 in 2000) and Derby (4-0 in 2001).  Possibly the most unusual Boxing Day, however, was in 1963 when 10 Division 1 games returned a record 66 goals.  Included in this was total was an 8-2 thrashing of West Ham by league leaders Blackburn Rovers.  A contemporary report summed up the game as follows:

“West Ham’s tactics were all wrong and their covering terrible. Blackburn on a rain-lashed, pudding of a pitch, banged the ball about with poise and precision.  It was attrition warfare, as Fred Pickering opened the scoring after seven minutes and Bryan Douglas made it two after half an hour. Before the break, it was 4-0 with goals from Andy McEvoy and Mike Ferguson. In the second half, Pickering and McEvoy strolled through the Hammers’ ‘woefully weak defence’ to claim their hat tricks and, despite Johnny Byrne’s double, there was no way back.”

The full list of results for that day:

Interestingly, in the return set of fixtures which took place just two days later: West Ham (with juts one change; Bovington in for Peters) beat Blackburn 3-1 at Ewood Park to begin a run in which Rovers eventually slid down to seventh in the table; Ipswich took their revenge on Fulham winning 4-2 at Portman Road (although they were relegated at the end of the season); Manchester United recovered from their mauling against Burnley to hammer them 5-1 at Old Trafford; and Bolton overcame Sheffield Wednesday 3-0 in their return game.

v Blackburn (H): Standen, Bond, Burkett, Peters, Brown, Moore, Brabrook, Boyce, Byrne, Hurst, Sissons
v Blackburn (A): Standen, Bond, Burkett, Bovington, Brown, Moore, Brabrook, Boyce, Byrne, Hurst, Sissons