Memories – Under The Hammers

From Upton Park Thrashings to Where We Are Now. The changing fortunes of West Ham and Aston Villa (part two)

Ten years is a long time in football. In yesterday’s article I looked back at previous fixtures against Villa that I remembered. At the time we were riding high in the Premier League and they were bottom. Contrast that to the present where we are in the relegation zone and they are third having won their last five games in a row and are now just three points behind league leaders Arsenal.

Today’s article is the follow on chapter which reviewed what actually happened. What especially made me smile was where I wrote about Villa in freefall, a club in decline, in a downward spiral, and made comments about their ownership. West Ham finished seventh that season and qualified for the Europa League. Villa finished at the bottom with just 17 points, 22 points adrift of safety. Oh how times have changed. As I said, ten years is a long time in football!

2 February 2016 – The Villain of the Piece West Ham 2 Aston Villa 0

For a quarter of an hour Aston Villa belied their lowly league position several points adrift at the foot of the table and probably had the better of the early exchanges. They might have even been awarded a penalty when the ball struck the outstretched arm of Antonio when Agbonlahor attempted to cross the ball but referee Moss waved the appeal away in dramatic fashion. You know the way some referees do; they make an exaggerated crossing of their arms in front of them to signify that they are aware of a potentially contentious decision that they are about to make by denying an appeal of the players and crowd. It wasn’t his final theatrical wave of the arms in the evening as there were others to follow, normally when denying that a foul had been committed, usually upon one of the home players.

My friend John sent me a text message that said that Howard Webb (on BT Sport’s coverage on TV) had disagreed with the referee (another unusual occurrence) and felt that the penalty should have been awarded as Antonio’s arms were not in a natural position. I have since looked at the laws of the game and, in respect of hand ball I could find nothing about arms being in unnatural positions. I have written before about the constant debates over hand ball decisions (almost always occurring in the penalty area) and suggest that some clarity must be forthcoming to ensure some form of consistency.

Then for some inexplicable reason Jordan Ayew took exception to being closely marked by Cresswell and deliberately swung an elbow into our left back’s face in full view of many in the crowd. The referee obviously hadn’t seen it but his assistant had (for once) and drew his attention to it. The referee didn’t hesitate to theatrically flourish the red card from his pocket and Ayew had to go. Why do footballers do this for no apparent reason? It shows the complete lack of a brain. Even if the officials hadn’t seen it there are so many cameras around these days that their stupidity is picked up on camera and retrospective punishment is meted out after the game anyway.

Up until that point Villa would have been in with some sort of chance in the game as West Ham had in the early stages continued in the form that they showed a few days earlier at Anfield, that is to say not impressively. I could not understand the delight and cheering of the crowd as Ayew slowly made his way off the pitch. I hate watching eleven versus ten. It doesn’t make for good entertainment and so it was to prove for the remainder of the first half as we struggled to open up any spaces in the Villa defence. They had pulled everybody back deep into their own half, surrendering any form of attacking initiative, and hoping to play out 75 minutes for a 0-0 draw. In their perilous position one point wouldn’t really have been much of a result for them, only slightly better than none at all, although I was surprised by their total lack of ambition.

Payet looked to be the only one who had the necessary creativity to create a chance, but he was below his imperious best. Noble was the main instigator of our attacks but we were constantly thwarted and had to move the ball across the pitch and back again in an attempt to get through. How we could have done with the additional guile of Lanzini in a game like this. Towards the end of the half Valencia headed the ball over when it seemed easier to score but, apart from that the first 45 minutes were massively disappointing.

Our back four must have had more touches of the ball in the opposition half than ever before, but there were no incisive passes, it was just safely moving the ball across amongst themselves, occasionally Noble and Song retreating to join them. Villa continued to waste time, especially at throw-ins and at goal kicks where their keeper decided to slowly walk across to the opposite side of the six yard box, place the ball down as if he was handling a precious object and then hesitate before finally sending the ball back into play.

I’ve raised this point before, but I was interested to see how much time the referee was going to add on at the end of the first half to make allowance for the sending off and time wasting. It should have been at least five minutes but I wasn’t surprised to see the (almost mandatory) number one on the fourth official’s board, indicating that the referee had paid total disregard to proper timekeeping and was just adding one minute at the end of the first half. Shocking. My previous writing about the need for an independent timekeeper in the stand, stopping and starting the clock appropriately came to mind. Why can nobody else, especially the authorities see this?

In so many games this season we have begun the second half in lethargic fashion, but this time we were definitely showing more urgency and moving the ball quicker. The breakthrough eventually came with about half an hour to go when a long through ball from Noble was met by the head of Antonio. Everything seemed to be in slow motion as his header appeared to be going wide and the Villa keeper was almost rooted to the spot, probably also believing that it was missing the target. But it nestled into the bottom of the net to the great relief of the home crowd. Some reports afterwards suggested that he may have been marginally offside, but I refer once again to my previous writing. It would only take seconds for a video replay to confirm or deny this, but we don’t use video to help the officials so their instant decisions are always the ones that stand.

Villa at this point would have nothing to lose and I felt, with half an hour to go, that they would press forward to try for an equaliser. Such was their ineptitude that nothing changed. They seemed to be content with a 1-0 defeat, pulling all players back behind the ball and showing no signs of adventure whatsoever. In fact, I reckon they had forgotten about our goal, as they (especially the keeper) inexplicably continued to waste time. They only really moved players forward with a few minutes to go, and this was their undoing for our second goal. Valencia broke from deep inside our half and was unchallenged as he ran towards the Villa penalty area before releasing a perfect pass to Kouyate who had admirably kept pace with him. Our box to box midfielder finished with aplomb and the game was all over.

Two other really good incidents in the second half shouldn’t go unreported. Firstly, an impudent free kick from a wide position by the relatively quiet Payet struck the outside of the woodwork. Secondly, a long corner kick by Payet to the opposite side of the pitch was inch perfect and met with great technique by Noble on the volley bringing out an excellent save from the Villa keeper. A move right out of the training ground as they say. Villa were poor and will undoubtedly finish the season in bottom place. They are a club in free-fall and I wouldn’t be surprised to see them in League One the season after next unless something drastic is done to halt their steep decline. They certainly won’t be visiting us in Stratford in the foreseeable future. It just goes to show how even famous clubs can go into a deep downward spiral when ownership falls into the hands of disinterested or incompetent foreign owners who don’t really understand the game, and don’t appoint competent executive management.

So, not a particularly entertaining evening, we certainly weren’t at our best and many passes and attempted moves did not come off. But the three points kept us in contention in sixth place, just a point behind Manchester United, and still only six points away from the top four. Of course we aren’t going to trouble the top four teams in the remaining games but it would be good to overtake United and finish fifth. We have opened up a five point gap ahead of the teams below us, but it will be important to pick up points in the next two away league games at Southampton and Norwich to maintain the possibility of qualification for the Europa League.

Leicester continue to march on relentlessly at the top and they beat Liverpool 2-0 with goals from Vardy, the first being a wonderful strike and contender for goal of the season. Manchester City were apparently fortunate to hold on to a one nil win at Sunderland (who are our next visitors in the League at the end of February – looking forward to seeing Big Sam again!). Arsenal blew their chance of keeping up the pressure at the top by drawing 0-0 at home to a Southampton whose returning goalkeeper Forster apparently made a number of world class saves. Wenger had a bust up with both the referee and the Saints manager after the game. This is becoming the norm these days. Every time Arsenal don’t win Wenger seems to lose the plot falling out with all around him, blaming everyone else. Surely he is approaching the end of his time in the Arsenal manager’s chair? Although perhaps not? He seems to be untouchable in the eyes of the Arsenal board, but despite his past achievements in the early years of his management of the club, he seems unable to get a really good team to become Premier League champions again. Perhaps he will prove me wrong in the final games of the season? I really thought that this was their best chance of winning the league for many years, but even Tottenham have now overtaken their North London rivals with an impressive 3-0 win at Norwich to keep up their chances of finishing at the top.

From Upton Park Thrashings to Where We Are Now. The changing fortunes of West Ham and Aston Villa (part one)

Ten years ago we were about half way through the final season at the Boleyn Ground. Geoff and I were writers on the West Ham fanzine Over Land And Sea which was sold outside Upton Park. During that season I was writing my book Goodbye Upton Park, Hello Stratford. In the book I wrote a chapter to precede each fixture and another to review the game after it had been played. I thought that as Villa were our opponents this weekend I’d look back at what I wrote then. The game was played on 2^nd February 2016. Ten years is a long time in football as you can see from my article written then when I looked back at previous fixtures against Villa that I remembered. At the time we were riding high in the Premier League and they were bottom. Contrast that to the present where we are in the relegation zone and they are third having won their last five games in a row and are now just three points behind league leaders Arsenal. Tomorrow I will publish the follow on chapter which reviewed what actually happened.

Going Down, Going Down, Going Down West Ham v Aston Villa – Before The Game (as published prior to the game in 2016)

On 9 January I recalled my earliest vague West Ham memories at the start of the 1958-59 season. We had won away at Portsmouth on the opening day, and then we beat the champions Wolves in the first home game under floodlights. The next game was our first Saturday home game of the season against today’s opponents, Aston Villa. We gave them quite a thrashing, 7-2! All of our goals were shots from outside the penalty area apparently and we also hit the woodwork several times. Incidentally Villa were relegated that season. It is rare to get a score like this in the modern game, but at the time in my earliest football recollections it wasn’t that unusual for big scores. In that first season we had league games at Upton Park that finished 6-0, 6-3, 5-1, 5-3, 4-3, 4-2 and I was disappointed when we didn’t win a game scoring lots of goals. As a four year old I thought it was the norm.

Just over a week later after beating Manchester United in another night game we were top of the league six games into the season. My football team headed Division One. Once again I thought it was the norm! I was disappointed that by the end of the season we had dropped to sixth! Never mind, I thought we would probably win the league the next season. 58 years on and I am still waiting! I was desperate to go to see a game live but that wish wasn’t fulfilled until a couple of months later.

A lot is made of the cost of going to football these days, especially the admission prices considering the vast TV money that comes into the game which should, in theory, enable clubs to keep down entrance costs. It is all relative of course but you may be interested to know what it cost to watch West Ham in that first season back in the top flight. Promotion the previous May had enabled the board to increase ticket prices for the 1958-59 season to: North and South Bank 10p, Chicken Run 15p, West Stand Lower (standing) 17.5p, and in the West Stand you would pay between 22.5p up to 37.5p for the best seats. Children had concessionary prices in the North and South Bank at 5p. The cost of the programme rose from under 2p to 2.5p. Some rough equivalent prices at the time were Milk 3p pint, Bread 2p loaf, Beer 4.5p pint, Petrol 2p per litre. You can do the maths to decide whether we get good value now compared to then. I’ve converted the prices to the current currency – at the time we used pounds, shillings and pence. It is frightening to think that in a couple of weeks it will be 45 years since we made the change to the current decimal currency system (it happened on my dad’s 46th birthday). Anybody reading this under the age of 50 will not really remember the old system, with 12 pence to the shilling and 20 shillings to the pound.

Villa returned to Division One a couple of seasons later and they were our visitors in the first game of the season, but this time we could only beat them 5-2! By the time we met them in March 1966 we beat them 4-2, with Geoff Hurst scoring one of our goals to celebrate his international debut just a week before. Martin Peters was still two months away from winning his first international cap. It’s amazing to think that at the end of that season they were so instrumental in England winning the World Cup. Can you imagine a modern scenario of a footballer who hasn’t yet played for England making his debut in the next three months and then scoring all the goals in the final of Euro 2016?

I can’t recall anything much of note in Villa games from then until our FA Cup quarter final in 1980, when as a second division club over 36,000 crammed into Upton Park to see us win 1-0 with a coolly taken late penalty from Ray Stewart. With my friend Geoff we were season ticket holders in the West Stand B Block that season, which was particularly useful for getting into this game, as well as getting tickets for the subsequent Wembley final. The Villa game was an “all-ticket only” match which was quite unusual in those days when paying at the turnstiles was the norm for most games. 20,000 standing tickets were on sale to fans queueing at Upton Park on the Sunday before the game as postal applications were not allowed. Obviously this was not especially convenient for those supporters who lived some distance from the ground, but 36 years ago this was perhaps less of an issue than it would be today. In an attempt to be helpful the club decided to allow two tickets per applicant so that only one fan had to attend rather than the fan and his friend. This led to ticket touts having a field day on the day of the game. Well done West Ham!

In the record breaking league season of 1985-86 we beat them 4-1 with two goals from McAvennie and two from Cottee. McAvennie scored quite a few goals for us in his two spells at the club, especially in this season when he scored 26 league goals, a figure that hasn’t been bettered in a single season since. He frequently scored a brace of goals (don’t you just love that phrase when used for goal scoring) but didn’t manage a hat-trick until his very last game for us when he came on as a substitute against Nottingham Forest in 1992.

When this fixture was played in October 1985 (just 12 games into the season) Manchester United were unbeaten and running away with the league with 11 wins and a draw giving them 34 points and a ten point lead from Liverpool in the title race. We were 17 points off the pace in eleventh so it is incredible how we got so close to winning the league. Considering we had a 17 point deficit and then finished 8 points ahead of United means that there was a 25 point turnaround with them in the last 30 games of the season! They finished fourth in the end losing ten of their final 30 games, quite a decline after such an outstanding start.

It is easy to forget in the current climate of capacity crowds at Upton Park that the game was in the doldrums in the mid-1980s in terms of spectator numbers. Just 15,000 were there to see the Villa game in October 1985, and there had been three even lower league attendances than that prior to the game that season. As the season progressed and we were challenging for the title the numbers began to rise into the 20,000s, but it wasn’t until our final home league game on a Wednesday night in April against Ipswich that 30,000 was exceeded for the first time. The attendance didn’t even reach 20,000 for the visit of Liverpool who ended the season as champions.

With just a few days of the twentieth century remaining on a Wednesday evening shortly before Christmas we experienced another of those incidents that was so West Ham. We played Aston Villa in the quarter final of the League Cup. The score was 2-2 with just a few minutes of extra time remaining when Harry Redknapp sent on Manny Omoyinmi as a late substitute. He barely touched the ball and the game was decided on penalties which we won 5-4 to take us into the semi-final. Omoyinmi didn’t take a penalty so he had no influence on the game whatsoever.

However there was one big problem. He had been out on loan earlier in the season and had played in the League Cup for Gillingham and was therefore ineligible to play for us in the competition that season. The Football League ordered the game to be replayed and of course we lost when it was played in January, despite leading late in the game and Di Canio missing a penalty in extra time (the only penalty he ever missed in a West Ham shirt I believe). Rules are rules I guess. The League had the power to throw us out of the competition but at least gave us another chance. Omoyinmi never played for us again and two club administrators resigned as a result of the incident.

Incredibly it wasn’t the first time we had played an ineligible player that season! In the UEFA Cup we played Igor Stimac in a game when he shouldn’t have played because he had a European ban outstanding from his days before joining us. We got away with that one as UEFA admitted fault saying they didn’t tell us he was ineligible. We were lucky that time but not when we played Aston Villa. Does it only happen to us?

In the past ten years or so there is little to recall. Goals have dried up since Marlon Harewood scored a hat-trick in one of the season’s early games in our return to the top flight in 2005. In fact since that day, in our last eight league games at Upton Park against Villa we have managed just seven goals. Last season we met them when we were in the middle of a superb pre-Christmas run which yielded just one defeat in eleven games, but the game finished 0-0.

So what will happen in tonight’s game? In theory we should give them quite a hammering given their abysmal form this season. They are surely on their way down to the Championship. But we only drew with them at Villa Park on Boxing Day. This is West Ham remember. You never know. I’d love to see a return to the fifties or sixties tonight. 4-2? 5-2? Or even 7-2? Perhaps not, but a good entertaining game with a few goals and three more points would do nicely.

Much Ado About Nuno – The Tragedy of the Claret and Blue – A Halloween Play for West Ham

Characters:
BOBBY MOORE’S GHOST (narrator, wise and wry)
NUNO (bewildered manager)
SQUAD (players)
FANS (chorus, multiple voices)
SIR TREVOR BROOKING
PAOLO DI CANIO
BILLY BONDS
SIR GEOFF HURST
MARTIN PETERS
ALAN DEVONSHIRE
JULIAN DICKS
THE STADIUM GHOST (optional, for sound effects and atmosphere)

Scene 1: The Haunted Stadium
(Dim lights. Mist swirls. The faint sound of wind and distant football chants. BOBBY MOORE’S GHOST stands centre stage, scarf draped over his shoulders. FANS hum “I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles” softly in the background.)
BOBBY MOORE’S GHOST (stepping forward, solemn):
My name is Bobby Moore, Sir Bobby to the fans,
Although my boots are long hung up, my spirit haunts the stands.
I drift through empty terraces, unseen but ever near,
A claret and blue ex-captain, I’ll whisper in your ear.
I watched them train on Halloween, ‘neath Friday’s haunted moon,
Nuno’s boys looked weary, has all hope gone this soon?
(Sound: eerie wind, distant whistle. NUNO paces nervously with a clipboard. SQUAD looks tired.)

Scene 2: The Curse Begins
BOBBY MOORE’S GHOST:
At Sunderland the curse began, with three goals, no reply
Then Chelsea came to London, all we did was sigh.
Paqueta’s early magic, then five goals rained in fast,
A London Stadium nightmare, the spell was truly cast.
Brentford, Palace, Tottenham, another haunted three
But sadly all the London teams have danced in victory.

Scene 3: Nuno’s Dilemma
(NUNO stands, looking at his clipboard, confused. SQUAD gathers around.)
BOBBY MOORE’S GHOST:
And then the new boss Nuno, his clipboard in his hand,
Making team selections no mortal could understand.
His full backs on the wrong side, and no striker in sight
Callum Wilson on the bench, that really couldn’t be right.
Paqueta as a false nine, and Soucek in the middle
Irving in there too, no pace or power, a riddle.
And what about the centre backs, when corners bring us dread,
Nine goals conceded from set pieces, their boots are filled with lead.
BOBBY MOORE’S GHOST (echoing, voice in the mist):
I spoke to the squad, my voice echoing through the mist
I’ve got some questions Nuno, a very lengthy list.
Your choices leave us baffled, I know that you’re the boss
Please get it right this time, we can’t take another loss.

Scene 4: Shadows and Despair
(FANS stand, scarves raised. Shadows creep across the stage. Sound: low, haunting hum.)
FANS:
As fans we sing the anthem, our scarves held to the sky
But shadows creep along the pitch, and hope is running dry.
The echoes of old triumphs, the roar of distant cheers
Are drowned by restless spirits, and mounting modern fears.
The ghosts of Upton Park still wander through the night
They rattle in the rafters, they shiver in the light.
BOBBY MOORE’S GHOST:
We long for days of glory, for heroes brave and true
But now we’re left with curses and dreams that won’t come through.
FANS:
The pies are cold and costly, the beer’s a ghostly brew
The players heads are spinning, possessed by something new.
The substitutes are shivering, the bench is freezing cold
They really should be starting that’s if the truth be told.

Scene 5: The Legends Gather
(Fog thickens. LEGENDS appear, each with their own style. Sound: ghostly football crowd, faint cheers and groans.)
BOBBY MOORE’S GHOST (introducing the legends):
The spirits of old legends, they gather in the mist
Sir Trev is juggling pumpkins, Di Canio shakes his fist.
Billy Bonds is howling, defend that haunted post
Sir Trev is floating gently, a most polite old ghost
SIR GEOFF HURST (steps forward, swinging his arm):
Now here comes Sir Geoff, people on the pitch, how?
They think that it’s all over, it certainly is now.
The shot that hit the bar, ghosts gather and they groan
But even in the afterlife the answer’s still not known.
MARTIN PETERS (drifting by, pumpkin on head):
Martin Peters drifts by, with a pumpkin on his head,
He’s nutmegging the phantoms, his shirt 16 and red.
Arriving late as ever, that’s how he gets his kicks
And that is why he’s known as the ghost of 66.
ALAN DEVONSHIRE (dancing, hair wild):
Alan Devonshire’s dancing, his hair a haunted mop,
He glides through spectral midfielders, they trip until they drop.
He conjures up a cross, it swerves and disappears—
The keeper’s left bewildered, the crowd erupts in cheers!
JULIAN DICKS (swaggering in, boots muddy):
Julian Dicks arrives, he’s come straight from a rave
He scares off all the wingers, none of them are brave.
A sweet left-footed penalty, he shoots with all his might
But if he played with Nuno he’d be moved to the right.

Scene 6: The Haunted Warning
BOBBY MOORE’S GHOST (addressing audience):
So heed this haunted warning to every claret and blue heart
The curse can yet be broken, but all must play their part.
Believe in West ham’s spirit, let courage see us through
And maybe then we’ll lift, the curse of the claret and blue.

Scene 7: The Bubbles and the Dream
(Soft instrumental of “I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles” begins. FANS blow bubbles, which float across the stage. Mist glows in the moonlight.)
BOBBY MOORE’S GHOST:
And through the misty darkness the bubbles start to rise
They shimmer in the moonlight, heading to the skies.
They fly so high as they nearly reach up to the sky
But just like our dreams they begin to fade and die.
Our fortunes forever hiding as we look around in despair
Just keep on blowing bubbles, pretty bubbles in the air.

Scene 8: The Finale
(Midnight bells chime. The fog rolls off the Thames. LEGENDS fade into the mist. FANS raise scarves, voices strong.)
BOBBY MOORE’S GHOST:
Now the midnight bells start chiming and the fog rolls off the Thames
The legends fade to shadows but the dream it never ends.
Raise your scarves to the heavens as the voices haunt the night
For every ghost in claret and blue still yearns to see us fight.
With fortunes always hiding, pretty bubbles shining through
One day we’ll break the curse and make our dreams come true.
(All join in singing “I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles.” Bubbles drift across the stage. Lights fade.)

The End

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.

Remembering 50 years ago when West Ham won the FA Cup

(Prior to facing rock bottom Southampton this weekend we take a trip down memory lane with a nostalgic look back at the 1974-75 season)

After a 4-0 opening day defeat at Manchester City to begin the 1974-75 season West Ham only won one game in the first seven matches and were bottom of the league. This led to a managerial change and long-standing coach and former player John Lyall became the team manager under the guidance of Ron Greenwood.

A big change at Upton Park at a time when Britain was in the midst of a double-dip recession and change was present everywhere. At the time colour TVs had only been here for a few years enabling us to watch the three channels available, BBC1, BBC2, and ITV. A new 22-inch colour TV cost £259 (inflation adjusted to the present this is approaching £2000!), and we could watch a brand new comedy series (Fawlty Towers), but the internet, mobile phones, (even the Premier League!) and many other aspects of modern life as we know it now were still some years away. Petrol costs at the time had risen rapidly and had now reached around 17p per litre, although it was still sold in gallons at the time, and we could buy a brand new Ford Cortina for £1,765. A pint of beer set us back around 28p, a newspaper around 5p, and the average house price was around £12,000.

But, back to football, and we needed changes on the pitch if we were to progress after the dismal start. Billy Jennings and Keith Robson were bought and this had an immediate effect when they were teamed up with Bobby Gould in a front three which was immediately successful when all three scored (Jennings and Robson were on their debuts) when Leicester City were thrashed 6-2, Birmingham 3-0 and Burnley 5-3. Our new recruits had scored nine goals between them in their first three games together.

Five wins in September and October were followed with an unbeaten run of nine games from the beginning of November until Boxing Day as we rose to fifth in the First Division. That was the highest placing we managed in the season as we then began what was traditionally known as West Ham coming down with the Christmas lights as we gradually descended the table to finish thirteenth.

Looking back at the season we can see how things have changed in the last fifty years. The 22 team first division saw Derby County crowned as champions for the second time in four years (ironically they too only recorded one win in their first seven games), and teams such as Ipswich, Stoke, Sheffield United, Middlesbrough, Leeds, Burnley and QPR all finished in the top half. Newcastle, Arsenal and Tottenham (like ourselves) all finished in the bottom half and Chelsea were relegated alongside bottom club Carlisle. Just look at the league tables to see where Carlisle are now! (second from bottom of league 2 and likely to be relegated from the football league). Manchester United were a second division team, as were this weekend’s opponents Southampton who finished 13^th.

We did face Southampton that season though in the third round of the FA Cup at the start of a memorable cup run. Gould and Lampard scored our goals in a 2-1 victory at the Dell. In Round 4 we were drawn against third division Swindon Town but we could only draw 1-1 at home (Jennings) before winning the replay away 2-1 (Brooking, Holland). And 2-1 was once again the score when we defeated QPR at Upton Park with goals from Holland and Robson to earn a quarter-final tie at Highbury.

There had been a surprise signing just before Christmas that season when a young Alan Taylor was signed for £45,000 from fourth division Rochdale. He had only four substitute appearances before he was chosen to start at Arsenal and he scored twice as we once again scored two goals to win the game 2-0.

We were now in the semi-final and having seen all the games up to this point I remember travelling with Geoff to Villa Park on April 5^th to witness one of the most drab games of football we had ever witnessed as both ourselves and Ipswich played out a 0-0 bore draw. The replay was at Stamford Bridge the following Wednesday when in snowy conditions we were outplayed by high flying Ipswich but somehow once again won the game 2-1 with Alan Taylor scoring twice again. Ipswich were a top team at the time finishing third that season just two points behind champions Derby.

Fifty years ago this Saturday (19^th April) I had to miss the home league game against Coventry City as I was getting married on the day. We lost the game 2-1, the eighth game in a run of nine league games where we had failed to win. A honeymoon in Majorca was kept to one week to enable me to be back for the final on May 3^rd where for the sixth round of cup football in a row we once again scored two goals in a 2-0 win against second division Fulham who had Bobby Moore and Alan Mullery in their side. Alan Taylor made history scoring two goals that day to follow his two goals in the quarter- final and semi-final.

This Saturday we face already relegated Southampton who are rock bottom with 10 points and looking to pick up more to avoid the unenviable record of being the worst team in Premier League history. Our league position is not much better than theirs – following our late 2-1 defeat to Liverpool last weekend we have slipped to 17^th, immediately above, and thankful for, the three teams who are so far below us. (See Geoff’s article reviewing the game). I agree with most of his excellent review but personally I wouldn’t want Alvarez replacing JWP. We are, however, just three points below Everton in thirteenth, so a successful run in our final six games of the season could possibly elevate us into 13^th, the exact position we occupied 50 years ago.

But this time around we don’t have a Cup Final to look forward to, and I suspect most of us as West Ham fans are just looking forward to the end of this poor season, the summer transfer window, a clearout, some new faces, and with renewed hope for a better campaign starting in August.

A look back at West Ham’s unexpected win at Arsenal (I wasn’t expecting that!) and a look ahead to Leicester.

Arsenal 0 West Ham 1. I wasn’t expecting that. Liverpool had given Arsenal a little bit of hope in the title race with four draws since the turn of the year when they were held by Manchester United, Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa and Everton. The hope was slammed back in their faces by a brave and disciplined performance by inconsistent West Ham. We were well worth the three points. I wasn’t expecting that.

Our last game at home to Brentford was dreadful as was the home game against Palace in January. But a win against Fulham (albeit a little lucky), a creditable draw at Villa, and an unlucky defeat at Chelsea showed evidence of Graham Potter’s impact since his appointment. This was perhaps the best performance and result so far in his short time in charge.

We exposed Arsenal’s shortcomings. They might have enjoyed the lion’s share of possession, but they had no cutting edge. Similar to all the excuses coming out of their North London neighbours they moaned about their injury list, especially in attack. Hold on a minute. We are missing Antonio, Fullkrug, Summerville, and Paqueta was added to the list before this game. We all have problems so enough of the excuses.

Manchester United were keen to offload Aaron Wan-Bissaka for what is beginning to look like a bargain fee. They were happy with him defensively but felt they needed a full back who was better going forward. For me he has been a revelation in this respect. I wasn’t expecting that.

We were massively threatening when we broke, Wan-Bissaka in particular a danger on the right. It was no shock really that he instigated what turned out to be the winning goal with a break down the right before an expert cross found Jarrod Bowen who scored with a diving header. All afternoon he caused massive problems for Calafiori, and then his replacement Lewis-Skelly who came on early in the second half.

I was shocked when Arteta decided to replace Rice with Zinchenko, nominally a left back. I wasn’t expecting that. Our travelling supporters let loose with that decision with some chants aimed at our former captain. I don’t believe that Arteta is using Rice to get the best out of him.

The Arsenal fans were venting their frustration and then they were furious when Lewis-Skelly was correctly dismissed following a VAR call for bringing down Kudus. How poor was the referee to not show the red card immediately rather than having to wait for VAR? That was Arsenal’s fifth red card of the season. They have dropped ten points in the five matches where they have had a player dismissed. The gap to Liverpool increased to eleven points the following day when Slot’s team comfortably disposed of fading Manchester City. The title race, if it still existed, was definitely over.

Not that the red card really made a great difference. In many ways we were better against eleven than against ten. Lewis-Skelly is being talked about as a future England left back. I’m probably a bit premature but Ollie Scarles had a storming game and perhaps he will move on to such heights too. It’s a bit early I know but he does look a tremendous prospect.

For me Wan-Bissaka was the star of the show but Scarles, Ward Prowse and Kudus weren’t far behind. In fact it was a superb performance by all the players. Arsenal have only lost three games at the Emirates since the beginning of last season. We have won two of those. I wasn’t expecting that.

We now move on to Leicester who are (like Ipswich and Southampton) demonstrating the enormous gulf that exists between the Premier League and the Championship. They have lost six of the seven league games played in 2025; their only win came against Tottenham. In fact they’ve only won four games in the whole season. In addition to Tottenham they beat Bournemouth, Southampton, and in early December ourselves.

We went one down in that game to a very early Jamie Vardy goal and despite peppering their goal with shots and multiple corners we conceded two more before Fullkrug’s late consolation in added on time. It was Van Nistelrooy’s first game in charge. Had the Dutch boss dreamed of the perfect start to his tenure in the East Midlands he could scarcely have hoped for anything better than the move which led to Vardy’s opening goal shortly after the first whistle which stood after a lengthy VAR check.

If we put in anything like our performance at the Emirates then we should be too much for the ailing Foxes. But anyone who has supported West Ham for any length of time will know that this is the type of game where we have been known to fall down. However, I believe that Jarrod Bowen is really beginning to come into form after his injury layoff and expect him to be among the goals in a resounding victory. The pictures below show him in goalscoring form for West Ham against Leicester in recent seasons.

There have been some great games against Leicester throughout my time following West Ham, and in fact two of them made it into the top 20 games I’ve seen when I wrote my book, Goodbye Upton Park, Hello Stratford. The first one I’ll recall was on Boxing Day in 1967. I watched the game from my seat in B Block in the old West Stand at Upton Park. It kicked off at 11am (yes, there were morning games in those days), and by 11.15 we were 2-0 down. But the very first goal that I can remember a very young Trevor Brooking scoring, plus a superb hat trick from one of my favourite West Ham goalscorers, Brian Dear, ensured a great win in a very entertaining game. But the undoubted man of the match was a very young (17-year- old) teenager playing in the Leicester goal who had an unbelievable game and was destined to become a star in the future – Peter Shilton.

When we met Leicester on that Boxing Day we were 20^th in the league and in a relegation tussle (although only two were relegated in those days). By the end of the season we had rallied somewhat and finally finished 12^th; Leicester were 13^th. Incidentally we visited Filbert Street four days later and won the game again, with the identical score, 4-2, with goals from Dear 2, Brooking and Sissons.

Another great game against Leicester came in the following season. On 16^th November 1968 we were 7^th having won our two previous home games 8-0 v Sunderland and 4-3 v Queens Park Rangers. It was amazing that we were that high in the table considering we had a run of 9 winless games from early September to mid-October. There were a few memorable games in that 1968/69 season and this one came a fortnight after the QPR game. I watched from the North Bank and, apart from being an exciting game it also included my all-time favourite goal scored by Martin Peters.

When I met Martin almost 40 years later at a book-signing I asked him to sign the programme for that game, as well as his autobiography. And what a lovely man he was, although he had no recollection of the game. He told me that he couldn’t really remember many of his goals. An early sign perhaps of the illness that was to strike him down at too young an age.

The goal was a fantastic move started by Ferguson in goal, the ball rolled out to Peters, then to Charles, then to Sissons, and finally a fantastic unstoppable volley by Peters who had run the length of the pitch virtually to get on the end of it. You can see the last part of the goal on YouTube from where Sissons crosses it, but unfortunately not the whole move. From our position on the North Bank we had a super view of the finish. We won that game 4-0.

Leicester have conceded four goals on five occasions so far this season including in two of their three games in the month of February, last week at home to Brentford and at Everton. In their seven league games in 2025 they have only scored three goals, the 2-1 win over Tottenham and another in a 2-1 loss to Aston Villa. In those seven matches they have conceded 17 goals. I’ll be disappointed if we don’t inflict another heavy defeat on them.

The history of West Ham’s visits to Stamford Bridge indicates a likely home win. But does Chelsea’s poor recent form suggest otherwise?

History of Chelsea v West Ham fixtures and form in 2024-25 gives West Ham little chance of beating Chelsea on Monday evening. Only one player who could possibly be in our line-up for this game has ever scored a goal for us at Stamford Bridge and that is Aaron Cresswell. In our last two Premier League games v Chelsea they have scored eight goals against us without reply.

The first few minutes of the game could be important (as we found at Villa recently). Apart from Brentford, Chelsea have scored more goals than any other team in the opening ten minutes of Premier League games this season whereas we have conceded more goals in that time than any other team. Let’s hope we can withstand the opening period!

There are some hopeful factors though. Despite being sixth in the table, Chelsea have the poorest form in their last six games of all the top 14 Premier League teams. That’s where we are in our customary position this season of 14^th. They have only collected five points in those whereas we have seven. The Premier League form table for the last six games has Chelsea in 15^th.

In those six matches which go back to Boxing Day Chelsea have scored first in five of them but only won one of those five games. Their record of dropping more points from winning positions than anyone else in the period is only surpassed by Tottenham who have only picked up one point in the six-game form table up until the end of January.

I was looking through some statistics on the BBC website and saw that West Ham have won just one of their last 18 Premier League away games against Chelsea, drawing 4 of them and losing 13. That alone would suggest that winning there on Monday evening will not be likely if history is repeated. The one win in the period was in November 2019, a game remembered because of our goalkeeper that day, David Martin (son of Alvin) who kept a clean sheet and Aaron Cresswell scored for us as we won the game 1-0.

My first recollection in any detail of West Ham / Chelsea games goes back to the World Cup winning year of 1966. Towards the end of the 1965-66 season we played at Stamford Bridge and they thrashed us 6-2. Names from the past – George Graham (2), Ron Harris, Terry Venables and Bobby Tambling (2) scored against us that day. Our goals were from Peter Bennett and an own goal.

In the very first game at Upton Park after the World Cup final we met them at Upton Park. Our World Cup winning trio of Moore, Hurst and Peters received a tremendous reception when they came onto the pitch alone before the teams came out, but Chelsea spoilt the day with a 2-1 win. Johnny Byrne scored our goal that day.

Later that season in the reverse fixture at Stamford Bridge the week before Christmas there were ten goals in the game as it ended 5-5. Not many games end with that scoreline. Byrne, Brabrook, Peters, Sissons (2) were our scorers that day.

I was looking at the cost of programmes in those days. Both West Ham and Chelsea programmes at the time cost 6d (2.5p equivalent). The cost of the Matchday programme this season is now £4. That’s inflation for you.

Since that 5-5 draw we have played them 45 times in league games at Stamford Bridge, mostly top-flight games, although a couple of times in Division Two. We have won 10 of them, the last one being the David Martin game in 2019.

One win in 1967 was followed by two in the seventies, two in the eighties, three in the nineties, a surprising win in the relegation season of 2002-03, and then in 2019. The biggest win came in the great season of 1985-86 when we won 4-0 (McAvennie, Cottee 2, Devonshire), on our way to finishing third.

Despite their recent poor form and our encouraging display at Villa Chelsea are big odds-on favourites with the bookmakers to win the game at 1/3. We are 4/1 or greater to win and the draw is around 7/1 if you fancy a flutter.

Five years ago at the beginning of February we were just beginning to hear about Covid although we were unaware of the effect it would have on our lives for a year or two. The effect on football was that a season that began in August 2019 didn’t end until the end of July 2020. The season was halted for three months in March and of course social distancing entered the language with games played behind closed doors.

Looking back at those times we didn’t have VAR, which was to start at the beginning of the following season. Surprisingly (you may think?) the makeup of the Premier League was similar in terms of the teams with sixteen of the current twenty sides involved. The four who were in the top flight then who aren’t now are Sheffield United, Burnley, Watford and Norwich. Sheffield United and Burnley both finished in the top half of the table whereas Watford and Norwich were both relegated (along with Bournemouth). Liverpool were runaway champions (as they well might be this time?). We finished sixteenth just above Aston Villa who narrowly escaped relegation by one point.

The four teams here now who weren’t then are Brentford, Fulham and Nottingham Forest who in that Championship season finished third, fourth and seventh. The other team is Ipswich who were a mid-table League One side that year. The teams who came up from the Championship were Leeds and West Brom (who are now back there) and Fulham who beat Brentford in the Play-Off final.

I wonder if you had looked forward then to the current day and been able to predict the Premier League table at the beginning of February 2025. Would you have predicted Forest in third place having just put seven past Brighton? Bournemouth seventh, Fulham, Brighton, Brentford ninth, tenth and eleventh? Manchester United, Tottenham and West Ham all in the bottom half?

I wonder what team and formation will we see against Chelsea? There seems to have been a new manager bounce in that the players seem to be responding to Graham Potter more than appeared to be the case with the departed Lopetegui. Geoff raised the issue of new manager bounce in a recent article. There has certainly been that effect at Everton too.

Hopefully Jarrod Bowen will be back for this game and it won’t be too long until we see Summerville too. At the time of writing we still haven’t signed a centre forward, a box to box midfielder or central defender that are key positions that most need strengthening although the signing of Ferguson from Brighton is looking close? The window slams shut at 11pm – let us hope that there is some good news on this front.

As West Ham visit Aston Villa in the Third Round of this season’s FA Cup the debate continues – has the competition lost its magic?

My first recollection of the FA Cup goes right back to the 1958-59 season. West Ham were drawn away to our local rivals Tottenham in the third round. This was our first season back in Football League Division One, the top flight of the English game, and we were flying high. When the game was played on Saturday January 10^th we were a very respectable tenth in the 22 team division, having been top after six games. By the end of the season we had climbed to sixth. Tottenham were poor that season eventually finishing eighteenth, although they were to finish third a year later and champions (and double winners) the year after that. What is more, we had faced them on Christmas Day, beating them 2-1 at Upton Park (the day I saw my first ever league game), and then thrashing them 4-1 at White Hart Lane on Boxing Day (the following day – and players today complain about the number of games!). A little under two weeks later they got their revenge beating us 2-0 on their home ground to knock us out of the cup.

This was the first of my personal FA Cup competition disappointments losing to a team lower placed than us. In the ensuing (approaching 70) years there have been so many more. The following season we went out in Round 3 again in a replay losing 5-1 at home to second division Huddersfield Town. The season after that round 3 again losing to second division Stoke City in a replay, and the following year the third round once again to lowly Plymouth Argyle! The list goes on – name the most embarrassing – Swindon, Mansfield, Blackpool, Hull, Hereford, Newport County all knocked us out in the sixties and seventies. The amazing thing is that we won the competition three times by 1980, 1964 v Preston North End, 1975 v Fulham, and 1980 v Arsenal. Three great final memories that live with me all these years later.

Back in those younger days the FA Cup was a magical competition for me, and I suspect most fans. Apart from the odd England international the final was the only game that we could see live on TV each season. But has it lost it’s magic? I guess this is a question that has been a recurring topic in football discussions for some years now.

Certainly, there has been a decline in prestige. The rise of the Premier League and the UEFA Champions League and other European competitions has overshadowed the FA Cup. Top clubs prioritise these competitions over domestic cup games.

‘Bigger’ clubs often field weakened sides, especially in the early rounds, which sends out a signal that the FA Cup is not a priority, leading to the perception that it’s less important than it used to be. And it’s not just the so called ‘bigger’ clubs. All the Premier League clubs have big squads and want to keep all squad players happy. And with an ever-growing calendar the FA Cup sometimes feels like an afterthought in the crowded schedule, especially for those clubs involved in multiple competitions. Clubs involved in the relegation struggle prioritise league games, and mid-table clubs (like us?) seem to believe that finishing a place or two higher in the league is more important than a good cup run. I don’t believe that fans agree with that.

However, analysis of the eventual winners in the last twenty years shows that in general ‘big’ clubs win the trophy. Two notable exceptions in that time are Portsmouth (2008) and Wigan (2013). Perhaps you could add Leicester in 2021? Otherwise it has been Chelsea (5), Arsenal (5), Manchester City (3), Manchester United (2), Liverpool (2).

Another aspect relates to TV and scheduling issues. These days, kick-off times prioritise national and global television audiences over match-going fans. In theory late-night or weekday games have perhaps alienated some traditional supporters. But fans still attend games in vast numbers so football authorities are not concerned and are happy to spread the games for maximum TV coverage.

In my younger days the FA Cup third round was another magical day in the football calendar. It was the day that the top two divisions joined the other clubs from the top ten levels of the English football league pyramid who had competed through up to six qualifying rounds to reach the First Round proper and then two further rounds when teams from Divisions Three and Four (now equivalent to Leagues One and Two) also joined in. 64 teams playing 32 matches that all kicked off at 3pm on the same Saturday afternoon.

What happens now? Well this season there were 3 games on Thursday 9^th, there’ll be 2 games on Friday 10^th, including our own trip to Villa Park, 19 games on Saturday, 7 games on Sunday, and one on Monday. All in all 15 different kick-off times spread over five days for the 32 games.

One aspect that has grown over the years is the financial disparity. The prize money and financial impact of the FA Cup pales when compared to league placements or European competitions, reducing the monetary incentive. This season, the FA Cup winners will collect a prize of £2 million, whereas for each incremental position in the Premier League teams benefit by more than £3 million. In financial terms alone it’s a no-brainer. Unfortunately too many decisions regarding football are based on money.

Having painted a picture of a loss in the magic, the competition still retains it to some degree. The FA Cup continues to throw up underdog stories where smaller clubs upset the giants of the Premier League, moments that can capture the essence of why we love football. Unfortunately, this year’s format has removed replays from the First Round Proper onwards making it harder for lower league teams to secure financial windfalls. FA Cup replays were once part of the magic of the competition.

I still recall with fondness the memories of our semi-final replay over Ipswich in the snow at Stamford Bridge in 1975 on our way to lifting the trophy, and the semi-final replay in 1980 at Elland Round where we beat Everton on our way to winning the Cup in 1980 (remember Frank Lampard dancing around the corner flag!). You have to remember we were one of the ‘smaller’ clubs in 1980 (in league division terms we were second tier) – these games can sometimes create lifelong memories for fans, that few league games do.

As the oldest national football competition in the world the FA Cup still carries a unique historical and cultural significance, certainly for those of us who recall moments of pure football romance. The FA Cup may not hold the same stature it did in its heyday due to changes in the football landscape, but it still provides moments of magic, particularly for smaller clubs and traditionalists (like me!). The “magic” may now be more selective rather than universal, but it hasn’t completely disappeared. Whether it has truly “lost its magic” often depends on what we as fans value most in football today.

Our third round tie this season is on 10^th January, exactly 66 years ago to the day from when I remember my first, way back in 1959. So many disappointments in those intervening years as well as three great memories on winning the trophy. By the time I was just 26 years old we had been FA Cup winners three times, but now as I approach 71, it hasn’t happened again, the closest we came was in 2006 when we were just a minute away before Steven Gerrard intervened.

We have only faced Villa three times previously in the FA Cup. In 1913, our first ever match against them, they beat us 5-0 in front of 51,000 at Villa Park. In 1977 (I remember this one) in front of 47,000 at Villa Park we were on the end of a 3-0 defeat.

But the one that really sticks in the memory came in the quarter final of the 1980 tournament in front of a full house at Upton Park. Geoff and I watched that game from the front row of B block in the old West Stand. We were just a second division outfit at the time, but ironically it was one of the best times ever to watch West Ham. Incredibly we only managed a seventh place finish in Division Two that season, with a team that boasted Phil Parkes, Alvin Martin, Ray Stewart, Frank Lampard, Trevor Brooking, Alan Devonshire, Stuart Pearson and David Cross. Billy Bonds also, but he was absent for the Villa game. Of course we rectified it the following season when we were runaway champions and gained promotion back to the top flight.

There was only about a minute of the game to go (it was goalless at the time) when Sir Trev swung in a corner from below the West Stand at the South Bank end and a Villa centre back (McNaught) rose and handled the ball as Alvin Martin challenged. The referee gave a penalty with the Villa defender complaining vehemently that Alvin had pushed his arm above his head onto the ball. There was no VAR of course and once the referee had made up his mind that was that. I do remember the incident being discussed at length by Brian Moore on the Big Match on Sunday afternoon. Ray Stewart, one of our master penalty takers in my time of watching West Ham, fired it hard and low to the keepers right and we led 1-0. In typical West Ham fashion there was still time in the minute remaining for Villa to win a free kick on the edge of our area and Phil Parkes was needed to make a save which saw us through to the semi-final. The rest is history. But memories of Cup games (especially of good ones) remain.

Villa are one of the teams against whom we have a positive record with more wins than defeats in history. But in the past couple of seasons they have been on the up. When they beat us 4-1 at Villa Park last season it ended a run of ten games where they had failed to win against us. And of course you will remember the opening game of this season at the London Stadium when we went behind to a header from Onana (who we apparently wanted to buy a couple of years ago) in the opening few minutes. Paqueta converted a penalty to equalise in the first half, and then of course their substitute Duran (who we had seemed to spend the whole summer wanting to buy) inevitably scored the winner. And he has gone on to have an excellent season, sometimes selected ahead of Watkins.

We go into today’s game without the head coach who has been in charge. The season has seemed like a wasted one so far with little prospect of climbing into the top half of the table or challenging for a European place next season. We desperately need a cup run to lift us. Wouldn’t it be great to progress to Round Four? Can the new boss bring a little magic to the club?

Memories of West Ham playing Nottingham Forest in the 21st Century

This weekend will be the fourteenth meeting of West Ham and Nottingham Forest in the twenty-first century. So how have we fared so far?

Overall, West Ham has won eight, lost four and drawn one of the thirteen games played. We are unbeaten in the seven home fixtures winning six and drawing one, but the record at the City Ground is not so good; we have won twice but lost four times. Four of the thirteen games have been Premier League matches, six have been second tier games (variously called League Division 1 or Championship), and we have met three times in the FA Cup.

In the three FA Cup games, five goals were scored in each. In our relegation season (2002-03 – Glenn Roeder) we met Forest in Round 3. Jermaine Defoe scored twice and Joe Cole once in a 3-2 victory. Marlon Harewood scored one of the Forest goals. We went out of the competition in Round 4 losing 6-0 to Manchester United. We also lost in Round 3 of the League Cup 1-0 at home to Oldham. And at the end of the season of course we went down.

In our next relegation season (2010-11 – Avram Grant) we met Forest in Round 4. Once again we won the game 3-2. Victor Obinna scored a hat trick – remember him? We went all the way to the sixth round where we lost 1-0 at Stoke. And surprisingly we had a long run in the League Cup losing on aggregate in the two-legged semi- final to Birmingham. But at the end of the season we went down.

So when we were once again drawn against Forest in Round 3 (in the 2013-14 season – Sam Allardyce) the manager decided that it would not be a good idea to win the game as history told him that it could lead to relegation. So he put out the following team: Adrian, Callum Driver, Dan Potts, Alou Diarra, Stewart Downing, Matt Jarvis, Sebastian Lletget, George Moncur, Modibo Maiga, Ravel Morrison, Danny Whitehead. And on the bench we had: Raphael Spiegel, Reece Burke, Matthias Fanimo, Blair Turgott, Jaanai Gordon-Hutton, Elliott Lee, Sean Maguire. Hardly 18 of West Ham’s most famous!

Do you remember Jannai? Me neither. He never actually played a game for the first team. An unused substitute in this game was the closest he got. I looked him up on Google. Still in his twenties he currently plays for Alvechurch in the Southern League Premier Central in step 3 of non-league football. That’s the level below the National League (North and South) and two levels below the National League. He’s done the rounds in non-league football. Alvechurch is his eighteenth club in the last ten years.

I remembered us signing Sean Maguire from Waterford in Ireland. Like Gordon-Hutton an unused substitute in that game against Forest was the closest he got to first team action at West Ham. He did go on to have a decent career in the lower leagues though and played eleven international games for the Republic of Ireland.

A weakened team to say the least in that game with debuts to five youth team players. In hindsight (or even before then to those of us who saw the team he had selected) it was a disaster as we were overrun by the more experienced Forest side who thrashed us 5-0! The manager was heavily criticised and rightly so.

In the calendar year of 2003, in addition to our 3-2 cup win, we drew our home game against Forest 1-1 (Defoe) and won 2-0 at the City Ground (Harewood & Defoe). These games were in the second tier called League Division One at the time. We met them again at that level the following season when it became known as the Championship losing 2-1 at the City Ground to goals in the 84^th and 90^th minute. Our goal was once again scored by Harewood. We won the return on Boxing Day 3-2 (Etherington, Sheringham 2).

In our promotion winning season (2011-12) we did the double over them winning 4-1 at the City Ground (OG, Nolan, Carlton Cole, Reid) and 2-1 at Upton Park (2 Mark Noble penalties).

Since that win at the City Ground in August 2011 we have not won a game at the ground and haven’t even scored. The 5-0 drubbing in the FA Cup at the City Ground in 2014 has been followed by two defeats there since Forest came up to the Premier League two seasons ago.

The four meetings at the top level in the last two seasons have always been won by the home side. In 2022-23 we won comfortably 4-0 (Ings 2, Rice, Antonio) and then last season another 3-2 victory (Paqueta, Bowen, Soucek). In the away games we lost 1-0 in the first game of the season (Awoniyi 45) in 2022-23, and the last time we met in February this year we lost 2-0 (note the times of the goals – Awoniyi 45+4, Hudson-Odoi (90 +4).

So we haven’t won at the City Ground for over 13 years and in the three games since we haven’t scored losing 5-0, 1-0 and 2-0.

Forest are perhaps the surprise team of the Premier League in the first nine games of this season winning four, drawing four and losing just once with 16 points and sitting in seventh place. The wins have been against Southampton, Liverpool (away), Palace and Leicester. The draws were against Bournemouth, Wolves, Brighton (away) and Chelsea (away).

It’s interesting that their most impressive results were all gained on the road at Liverpool, Chelsea, Brighton and Leicester. At the City Ground they could only draw against Bournemouth and Wolves, they narrowly beat Palace 1-0, and their sole defeat this season was 1-0 at home to Fulham. So they have been unbeaten away from home with 11 points from their 5 games whereas at home they’ve won just once in four.

Our head coach loves to surprise with his team selections doesn’t he? Last week we were all aghast when we saw the starting eleven (well I was anyway), but he realised at half-time, made three changes, and the second half was much improved even if we did win the game with one of the softest penalties I can recall us being given. I make just one plea for this game. Play Summerville from the start!

Momentum, International Breaks, Current Form, and Notable Games as West Ham visit the Tottenham Stadium in the lunchtime kick-off on Saturday

You hear a lot of talk in football circles about momentum. What is momentum? Some kind of invisible force that keeps an event moving or developing after it has begun. Wouldn’t it be great if the football authorities understood the concept. But oh no, as football fans, or rather fans of the domestic game, we now have to put up with international breaks designed to discourage momentum during the season, especially at the beginning of a campaign, where it is interrupted after just three games and then once again after seven. But fear not international fans because another one will be coming along once four more Premier League games have been completed.

In all honesty our start to 2024-25 under our new head coach has been a stuttering one to say the least, although not unexpected with new ideas, new tactics, and an influx of new players that would take time to get used to each other and fit into what everyone expects to be a different way of playing. But what chance has there been to gain any momentum in matches? If all the players were at home then you could say that the boss would have time to work with them to enable them to gel more quickly, but with so many away with their international teams that is not the case.

Prior to the first international break we had lost narrowly to Aston Villa to the inevitable Duran goal following the summer shenanigans in attempting to sign him, we had come back with a not entirely convincing win at Palace but had then put up a spirited second half performance in the third game against champions Manchester City. But any chance to build on that was lost when the break came.

The second segment of the season began with an away draw at Fulham followed by a massively disappointing home defeat to Chelsea, then another away draw at Brentford before finally getting off the mark with a convincing 4-1 win at home to Ipswich. But could we build on that? Once again the momentum was lost with the second break enabling us to watch England lose at home to Greece before winning in Finland. I’m afraid that despite it being a competition this Nations League leaves me cold.

One consolation I suppose was the performance of Dinos Mavropanos who had played the first few games for us this season before dropping to the bench to let in new signing Todibo. Our Greek defender received rave reviews although interim manager Carsley had decided to play with what is described as ‘false nines’ in modern parlance. That was one experiment that didn’t work and the win in Finland wasn’t enough to save Carsley with the surprise announcement of ex-Chelsea manager Tuchel as the new boss of the international team. He’ll have the chance to get going in November and assess the team when the third international break arrives, although I understand that the current interim boss will remain in charge for those games.

Matchday 8 this weekend sees us visiting North London for a game at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. So how has their season begun? They have won three of their seven games and sit ninth in the table having defeated Everton and Brentford at home and Manchester United away and drawn at Leicester. An away defeat at Newcastle, a home defeat by local rivals Arsenal, and then just before the break a comical loss at the Falmer Stadium where they let slip a two goal half-time lead to lose 3-2 at Brighton.

We are twelfth just two points adrift of them at this stage and an unlikely win would take us above them. Despite our inconsistent start we are unbeaten on our travels, well I say travels, but we haven’t left London for a league game yet. A win at Palace and draws at Fulham and Brentford has given us five points, which is five points more than the equivalent three games last season where we were well and truly beaten in all of them with a combined goals record of scored 4, conceded 13.

Comparing our record to Tottenham’s this season, with just a few of the statistics, then they lead with goals scored (14-10), they have conceded fewer (8-11), shots at goal are very similar (83-80), but they have more on target (48-34). Have they had easier fixtures? The current league table might suggest so as they have faced four teams currently sitting in the bottom half of the table in the seven games played, whereas we have played four sides in the top eight. They have however won two of their three home games losing only by the only goal to Arsenal.

Head-to-head records between West Ham and Tottenham going back to 1898 in history give them the edge 55 wins to 45, with 28 draws. Notable games at their stadium include last season’s win there in December when we overturned a 1-0 half-time deficit with goals from Bowen and Ward-Prowse. Unlike many of our fans I am sad to see the latter gone.

In April 2019 we became the first team to win at their new stadium when Antonio’s second half goal was the only one in the game. Pedro Obiang’s stunning goal in January 2018 helped us gain a point in a 1-1 draw. There were two league cup wins over them in 2013 and 2017, the latter being at Wembley where Ayew scored a couple for us in a 3-2 victory, after we trailed 2-0 at the interval. And who can forget the Ravel Morrison game eleven years ago when his amazing solo run from our half was the third goal in a convincing 3-0 win?

Apart from those games our record there has generally been very poor and you have to go back to the twentieth century for the previous win (before 2013) there when Ian Wright and Marc Keller scored the goals in a 2-1 win. Before then Dani (remember him?) scored for us in a 1-0 win in Slaven Bilic’s debut game in our defence in 1996. There was a great win there towards the end of the 1993-94 season when we overcame them 4-1 with two goals from Trevor Morley and one each from Mike Marsh and Steve Jones. Before then it was 1983 when Steve Whitton and Dave Swindlehurst scored the goals in a 2-0 win.

My favourite game of all our visits to Tottenham though came in 1981 when we crushed them 4-0 at White Hart Lane, a personal triumph for David Cross who bagged all four goals. And perhaps the most exciting game between the teams that I can remember came in a 1966 victory there (4-3) with goals from Brabrook, Byrne, Hurst and Sissons when Gilzean, Greaves and Venables scored for them. That was the third game in an eleven match run where we scored 42 goals (yes you read that right) which included a 7-0 rout of (then) mighty Leeds and a 5-5 draw at Chelsea. Just a few months before then a 4-1 win came in the previous season with goals from Byrne, Boyce, Redknapp and Hurst.

I have vague memories of a 4-4 draw there in the early sixties, but I do remember more clearly a 4-1 win there on Boxing Day in 1958 in our first season following promotion to the top flight. That win came the day after my first ever visit to Upton Park for a league match – yes we played on Christmas Day (that was the last time we did) – when the famous duo of Johnny Dick and Vic Keeble scored the goals in a 2-1 win. Any momentum that might have been built at the start of the season has been interrupted by the international breaks. It’s hard to predict what will happen on Saturday but we went into the break on the back of a 4-1 win and perhaps would have preferred to play the next game sooner rather than later, whereas Tottenham were probably pleased for a break after their miserable second half performance at Brighton. It will be a good result if we avoid defeat to extend our unbeaten away record but I’m hoping for a win of course.