Category: Memories

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 84th and 90th 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.

West Ham face the stiffest Premier League test of all when Manchester City are the visitors on Saturday

Last Weekend at Palace

Before last Saturdays game at Selhurst Park I asked the question as to whether more of our summer signings would make the starting eleven. The answer was no. That was disappointing but I guess the head coach either believes they are not ready or he wants to give every chance to existing players to stake a claim. I was unable to see the game so had to make do with highlights. From those I would deduce that both Soucek and especially Bowen took their goals well in the second half, Kilman had yet another excellent game and looks to be a superb acquisition, and Wan-Bissaka too looked very good in the limited time he was on the pitch.

Kilman’s drive forward with the ball and well timed pass showed what a good ball-playing defender can add to a team. And Wan-Bissaka (ironically described as a world class one on one defender but limited going forward – not good enough for Manchester United anyway!) proved doubters wrong with some fine work down the right flank which led to Soucek’s goal.

There seemed to be chances at both ends in the first half with Eze (unluckily hitting the bar with Areola well beaten), Edouard missing a relatively easy chance, and both Antonio and Kudus missing chances where they could have done better.

I would also assume that Health and Safety people will be visiting the ground in view of the barrier that gave way when West Ham fans were celebrating Soucek’s goal. Well done to both Soucek and Bowen for rescuing what could have been a very serious situation.

That was my interpretation of the highlights. What did I miss?

Carabao Cup v Bournemouth

 I was disappointed (I suspect not the only one) when the starting line-up was revealed for the Palace game. I had hoped for Wan-Bissaka, Todibo, Fullkrug and Summerville to be in the starting eleven in place of Coufal, Mavropanos, Antonio and Soucek. But I am told that Mavropanos had a decent game (benefitting from playing alongside Kilman perhaps), and of course Soucek scored the opening goal so the right result was achieved. An important three points.

The summer signings who have yet to be involved from the start (or had minimal minutes on the pitch) will have been chomping at the bit to show what they can do in the all-Premier League cup tie against Bournemouth. The four I referred to all started in the game. The whole team looked rusty in the first half and it showed that they are not really up to speed yet in many cases. It didn’t improve much (if at all) in the second half until the substitutes appeared.

Wan-Bissaka was the pick of the four for me, I thought that he looked an absolute bargain for £15 million, once again showing attacking qualities as well as well-known defensive ones despite having to fill in at left back. For me he will provide so much more than Coufal. Once again Kilman looked very impressive. Alvarez was right on the ball from the off. For everyone else I’ll reserve judgement for the time being, although I thought that Coufal, Soucek and Mavropanos had very poor games.

Incredibly this is a competition that we have never won (although we have come close) yet in theory it is possibly the easiest trophy to lift with just a few wins needed to reach a Wembley final. Traditionally clubs field weakened teams in the earlier rounds to keep squad players happy and with the stronger squad that we appear to have assembled this time around you would hope that we would not be too disadvantaged, but at times in this game our team played like strangers who hadn’t played together (which I guess was the case!).

Bournemouth were rightly aggrieved to go out of the competition in the way that they did. After being robbed of a win last Sunday against Newcastle when VAR controversially disallowed a winner which went in off a shoulder, they would almost certainly have been saved by VAR this time, except it wasn’t in operation. Bowen was probably offside when the ball went in (it seemed) off his elbow, but neither of the two reasons that VAR would have found to disallow the goal were spotted by the officials and hence we went into the next round after a game that gave us little to get excited about.

The controversy doesn’t end there though. Winning the tie meant that we were ‘rewarded’ with a trip to Anfield in the next round, after a ‘rigged’ draw kept all the sides playing in the Champions League and Europa League apart. I remember the days when draws for domestic cup competitions were purely random! And don’t get me started about the draw for the Champions League and the other European competitions. To accommodate 36 teams in the Champions League which means more games (189 up from 125) and added revenue (£4.1 billion up from £3.1 billion) the draw for the new format (where ‘every game counts’) with a league phase replacing the traditional group games, was done using Artificial Intelligence. Apparently if the draw had been done in the traditional manual way with people unscrewing plastic balls taken from a bowl, it would have taken four hours with 1000 different balls in 36 bowls!

Historical memories of games v Manchester City

We have faced Manchester City 17 times in the Premier League since we last beat them in September 2015. Moses and Sakho put us 2-0 up in the first half that day before De Bruyne pulled one back just before half time. But we held on for a 2-1 win. Cresswell, Antonio and De Bruyne are the only survivors from that day that remain in the squads today. We did beat them 5-3 on Penalties in a League Cup tie in 2021 after drawing 0-0, and we have managed draws at Upton Park in 2016 and at the London Stadium in 2020 and 2022.

Back in March 1996 Niall Quinn deprived me of £400 in the fixture at Upton Park. City were a softer touch around that time and I had placed a £5 bet at 80-1 on us beating them 4-1 in the game. Unfortunately, Quinn scored with the last kick of the game and it ended 4-2! I should have repeated the bet four years later when, despite being 1-0 down at half time at Upton Park, we ran out 4-1 winners with goals from Lomas, Sinclair, Pearce, and a 90th minute penalty converted by Di Canio. But I didn’t.

In December 1994 Tony Cottee scored a hat trick in a 3-0 win at Upton Park. A year earlier in November 1993 we beat them 3-1 with goals from Burrows, Chapman and Matty Holmes. I remember that game as one of the first I can recall on Monday Night Football on Sky – it came shortly after Julian Dicks joined Liverpool in a swap deal which involved full back David Burrows and Mike Marsh coming to West Ham. To add some power to the forward line Lee Chapman was bought from Portsmouth.

A memory from the 1980s from September 1982 – at Upton Park we beat City 4-1 (that score has featured a few times hasn’t it in history) – Sandy Clark notched a brace (do you remember him?), Paul Goddard and our skilful Belgian Francois Van der Elst scored the goals.

In March 1970 we were struggling in the league and were 17th in the table. A new goalscorer was needed and one arrived when a swap deal was arranged with Tottenham as Martin Peters joined Spurs and the legendary Jimmy Greaves arrived at Upton Park. Greaves first game was at Maine Road in pouring rain on a mudbath of a pitch and was covered by Match of the Day in the days when only one game was shown on the programme. Greaves scored twice, Geoff Hurst scored twice and Ronnie Boyce scored from 50 yards volleying back City keeper Joe Corrigan’s kick from his penalty area straight into the net. An unforgettable game.

My memory stretches back even further to the 1962-63 season. We met fellow strugglers (we were 19th at the time) Manchester City early in the season (September) and beat them 6-1 at Maine Road. We faced them again on the final day of the season and again beat them 6-1 to relegate them from the top-flight. We had improved as the season progressed and finished twelfth.

Although City were co-founders of the initial Premier League when it was created in 1992 (they finished ninth in the first season) they then struggled and were relegated in 1996 – the season I referred to earlier writing about the late Niall Quinn goal – I won’t forgive him! After two seasons they then fell to the lowest point in their history when they were relegated to the third tier. Younger fans will find it hard to believe that City were that low at the end of the twentieth century, just a quarter of a century ago.

This Saturday’s Game v Manchester City 

Of course facing the modern Manchester City is an entirely different proposition to the fixtures against them in the 1960s, 70s, 80s and 90s that I highlighted above. The revival began at the turn of the century and following purchase by the Abu Dhabi Group in 2008 they have gone from strength to strength with massive investment.

Following the appointment of Pep Guardiola in 2016 they have achieved unprecedented success. In the seven seasons from 2017 to 2024 they have won six league titles and finished second once. In 2022-23 they achieved the treble of Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League. In short, they are almost unbeatable and, as I wrote earlier we haven’t beaten them in our last 17 attempts in the Premier League going back nine years.

They already top the Premier League after just two games this season following a comfortable 2-0 win at Chelsea and then beating newcomers Ipswich 4-1 last Saturday. Six points and six goals already – Haaland has four of them. He has also scored four times in four league games against us and is an obvious danger once again, although they are so strong throughout the team, we will have to be at the very top of our game and hope they are below par to stand any chance.

Once our newcomers have bedded in I have no doubt that we will be a stronger team (and have a stronger squad) than we have been in under the previous manager. However, these are still early days and perhaps it would have been better for us to face the stiffest test of all in the Premier League after more time together. Undoubtedly we have some excellent attacking players – let’s hope for an early season surprise on Saturday. Bookmakers don’t think there will be. We are quoted at about 6/1 to win the game with City at 1/3 and the draw at 4/1. Can we defy the odds? We’ll need to improve considerably on our performances in the past week to do so.

Memories of fixtures against Everton as West Ham visit Goodison Park for the David Moyes derby

Once more an excellent article from Geoff published on Thursday ahead of our trip to Goodison Park this weekend. If you’ve missed it have a read now.

Following Monday night’s welcome victory against a faltering Brentford team I can now stop writing about (record breaking) winless runs. Let’s hope that the game was a sign of things to come in the remaining twelve games of the Premier League. Jarrod Bowen had gone five games without a goal ahead of the game, coinciding with our sequence of eight games in 2024 without a victory, but his well taken hat trick took us back up to eighth in the table. The reality is that we are probably fighting for seventh place and a return once again to the Europa Conference League. To get there I reckon we would need to keep all our key players fit, especially Paqueta, as the records show we can’t win games without him. At this stage it looks like a straight fight between ourselves, Brighton, Wolves, Newcastle and Chelsea for the final European place, but things can change of course.

Do you remember the fanzines that used to be produced and sold outside Upton Park as an alternative to the programmes produced by the club? They began in the 1980s and I remember reading On The Terraces, Home Alone, Fortunes Always Hiding, On A Mission, The Water in Majorca and many more that went by the wayside with the exception of one surviving printed publication that lasted right up to the end of the 2015-16 season. Did you know that Geoff and I used to write for that publication, Over Land and Sea (OLAS – edited by Gary Firmager) right up until the final edition, the last game at Upton Park against Manchester United in 2016? It was a shame that it came to an end and just like West Ham playing at the Boleyn Ground it was the end of an era. From the beginning of the following season after the move to the London Stadium Geoff and I started to write Under The Hammers. I had a look back through and a count up, and this article is the 1,106th.

I also wrote a book in 2016, Goodbye Upton Park, Hello Stratford, my personal story of following West Ham, reminiscing about great games, favourite players, games and goals, the triumphs and disappointments, and concentrated on the progress of the team game by game throughout that last remarkable and emotional season. I have been looking back at some of our old writing. I began in February 2015 and had a smile to myself when looking back at an article I wrote prior to the last game of the penultimate season (2014-15) which coincidentally was against this weekend’s opponents Everton. I’ll repeat one paragraph from the piece written prior to the game on 16 May 2015 – can you spot the similarity with the current situation?

“And when it comes down to the debate regarding the manager then fans continue to be divided. It is a permanent feature of forums. Some say that in terms of the league table he has done exactly what was expected, but others say that in terms of entertainment he hasn’t. We’ve had some good performances, a few superb ones, and many disappointing ones. The club’s stance is that nothing will be decided until the end of the season, but reports coming out this week very strongly suggest that Sam won’t be here next season. I’m sure he’ll get plenty of offers elsewhere. Will we be sorry if he goes? Perhaps today will be the last time we see him as our manager?”

We lost that final game of the season 2-1 with a stoppage time winner from Lukaku – remember how many times he used to score against us? For a time Everton were a real bogey team and at one stage we went around eight years without beating them in 90 minutes (16 league games from 2007 to 2016. That miserable run came to an end in March 2016 when we were trailing 2-0 at Goodison Park around 12 minutes from the end of the game, then scored three times though Antonio, Sakho and Payet). In many ways the 2-1 defeat in 2015 summed up that season in a nutshell. It did turn out to be Big Sam’s final game in charge and Slaven Bilic was appointed to be in charge for the final season at Upton Park. Ironically we qualified for Europe by virtue, not of our league placing (12th), but by coming top of the Premier League’s Fair Play League!

In reminiscing mode I can recall several memorable fixtures against Everton. Our FA Cup replay encounter with them in that penultimate season at Upton Park was one of the most exciting games against them I can remember. The score was 2-2 after extra time and a penalty shootout followed. It was tense as the score reached 8-8 when Adrian stepped up, threw his gloves to the ground and smashed home the winner.

There was also the classic FA Cup semi-final in 1980 when the first game ended 1-1 (Stuart Pearson) and then the replay was at Elland Road four days later. Do you remember Frank Lampard (senior) heading the winner and dancing around the corner flag to take us to Wembley, where, as a second-tier side we defeated Arsenal with Trevor Brooking’s header.

I also remember Trevor Sinclair making his debut for us on a cold January day in 1997 and scoring both goals in a 2-2 draw.

And then in the following year (1998) do you remember the Paolo Di Canio winning a FIFA Fair Play award on his own. At Goodison Park the game was locked at 1-1, the Everton keeper lay prone injured on the ground and the ball was crossed to Paolo who had the simple task of heading it into an empty net. So what did he do? He caught the ball to enable the Everton keeper to be treated. What went through my mind at the time was that the game would have been stopped just as quickly if he had headed it into the goal and we would have won the game, but nonetheless he chose not to and won many plaudits for his action including the Fair Play Award.

I was behind the goal in the Bobby Moore Stand in February 2000 when, with Sasa Ilic in goal (not his finest hour as a goalkeeper in his one and only appearance for us), we lost 4-0 with a terrible defensive performance riddled with errors and a fine game from Everton including a Nicky Barmby hat trick.

Another memory of an Everton game goes back to the 1976/77 season. I was standing on the North Bank (our favourite place to watch the games at Upton Park) when Ronnie Goodlass of Everton scored with a left footed shot past Mervyn Day from (in my memory) near to the dug-out. The game ended 2-2 and I remember it featuring on the Big Match (remember Brian Moore on Sunday afternoons? – those of you of a certain age will). I managed to find Goodlass’ goal on You Tube – it finished fourth in the Big Match Goal of the Season – and it wasn’t quite as far out as I remembered – perhaps about 45 yards.

Some West Ham links in that season’s Goal of the Season competition – an Alan Taylor goal (one of two he scored on the day) at Highbury in a 3-2 win there came third (remember he also scored twice there in our FA Cup quarter final in the cup winning season in 1975). Plus Derek Hales won the goal of the season playing for Charlton following a length of the field move, It was a superb team goal – do you remember he came to us for a short time a season or so later, scoring ten goals in around 20 appearances before being transferred back to Charlton?

Because of their continuing appearance in the top-flight of English football, we have faced them whenever we have been there too. That means that we have probably played games against them more often than most other teams. Looking back at the record books it seems we have played them 150 times in league and cup games – they have won exactly half of them (75), we have come out on top 44 times and 31 have been drawn. In Premier League games they have won more than half, 29 out of 55, we have won 13 and 13 have been drawn. The game earlier in the season at the London Stadium was a drab affair with Calvert-Lewin scoring the only goal of the game. I’m not expecting a goal fest to follow the six goals on Monday night. There has only been one goal in it in six of the last seven fixtures between the two sides. The only exception was our 2-0 victory last season at home when Jarrod Bowen scored two first half goals. While he is in goal-scoring mood perhaps he can nab the winner in this game too. What are the chances?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Memories of a massive win in a great season (1985/86) – West Ham 8 Newcastle 1

I began last week’s article with “It has been a decent start to the season hasn’t it?” Since then it has got even better. Our very comfortable 2-0 win over Sheffield United made it 4 wins and 13 points from our first 7 games, and seventh place in the table. We’ve scored 13 goals in those games and conceded 10. Only 3 of the 7 games have been at home, a figure that will be balanced with the visit of Newcastle to the London Stadium.

In the Europa Cup we surpassed the record for any English side by beating Freiburg 2-1 in Germany to make it 17 consecutive European games unbeaten, surpassing the 16 of Leeds from 1968 and Tottenham in 1972 who were tied with us on 16. Even more remarkable is the fact that 16 of the 17 games have been victories, the sole draw coming against Gent (1-1) last season. The Germans finished fifth in the Bundesliga last season and are currently 8th this time. Their record this season after 6 games mirrored our Premier League one with 3 wins and a draw, 10 points. An impressive result with an outstanding performance from Paqueta, and Kudus is looking very good too. In fact most of the team had good games.

Our squad is looking impressive and we now have a range of options in a number (but not all) positions. And how good is James Ward-Prowse? Six assists and two goals so far – what a start to the season. Gareth Southgate, when picking his England squad, prefers 33 year old Henderson (playing in the Middle East in front of less than 1000 spectators), Kalvin Phillips (who can barely get a game for Manchester City) and Conor Gallagher (what are his statistics this season?) as midfielders. Amazing! At least the early season form of Jarrod Bowen hasn’t gone unnoticed.

Those of us of a certain age (my first game at Upton Park was in the late 1950s) will remember some seasons more fondly than others. It has been a roller coaster ride following the Hammers but some seasons have been particularly memorable. Newcastle’s eight goal mauling of Sheffield United recently took me back to 1985-86, one of the great seasons in our history, when we put eight past Newcastle on a Monday night in April when we were pushing towards the first division title which would have been the first in our history.

Ironically that season had started poorly with only one win in our first seven games. With six points we sat in seventeenth place in the league. Nowhere near our start this season. But from this point we went 18 successive league games without defeat before losing 1-0 at Tottenham on Boxing Day. But we then resumed winning ways and by the time we faced Newcastle in April we were still well placed to challenge for the title.

Our 8-1 win is remembered for an Alvin Martin hat-trick scored against three different Newcastle goalkeepers, goals from Goddard, McAvennie, Orr, a Stewart penalty, and a Glenn Roeder own goal. It was a fabulous season with the goalscoring partnership of McAvennie and Cottee (who scored 46 league goals between them), and a defence built upon the solid foundations of Parkes, Gale and Martin. We finished with 84 points in third place, just 4 points adrift of champions Liverpool.

Despite our improved start to this season compared to 38 years ago, we will not be challenging for the title, nor finish as high as third, but the opening has been promising, and I look forward to consolidation of a strong top half finishing position.

Our opponents this weekend had a massive resurgence last season and qualified for the Champions League. A fine draw in Italy was followed by the 4-1 demolition of PSG this week which suggests that this game will not be an easy one. But we must look to fixtures such as these to prove why we should be pressing towards the top eight this season.

How will we get on? Bookmakers have the Geordies as evens favourites, while we are priced at around 12/5, with the draw at 14/5. Thursday / Sunday psychologically seems to be a difficult challenge, especially as the late return from abroad reduces the time to recover for the next game. Newcastle, on the other hand, played at home on Wednesday, so have a distinct advantage in time between fixtures. Nevertheless I expect a close game to be settled by the odd goal. It won’t be a repeat of the 8-1 in 1986, but hopefully we can be the team to edge it. What are the chances?

Some great memories of West Ham games against Chelsea

We’ve had some great games against Chelsea over the years. I can go back to the 1960s – here are some of my favourites. How many do you remember?

The most recent one that I can recall goes back to December 2021. We were 2-1 down at half-time (Lanzini penalty), Bowen equalised early in the second half, and then there was that comical shot / cross where Masuaku deceived Mendy close to the end of the game.

Then going back to the previous summer behind closed doors (remember Covid?) we were drawing 2-2 going into the last minute when Yarmolenko scored a breakaway goal to earn the three points.

In November 2019 we played at Stamford Bridge with David Martin in goal. Cresswell scored and we held on for a famous 1-0 with Martin taking all the emotional headlines.

Do you remember Arnautovic? In December 2017 he scored a very early goal and we held on for a 1-0 win.

We played them in the League Cup in 2016, one of the very early games I remember at the London Stadium. We won 2-1 with goals from Kouyate and Fernandes (remember him?). I thought he was a good prospect and was sad to see him go.

Just a year before that in 2015 a memorable game against the champions from the previous season was won with a late goal from Andy Carroll who had come on as a substitute for Zarate who scored our first. We went to third in the league in a game remembered for six Chelsea bookings and both Matic, and Mourinho being sent off. 2-1 in the end.

Going back to December 2012 we were one down at half time but a superb second half performance with goals from Carlton Cole, and then Diame and Maiga both scoring in the last 5 minutes in front of the Bobby Moore stand gave us an excellent 3-1 win.

Back now to that ill fated season 2002-2003 when we were relegated with some excellent players, going down with 42 points from 38 games. We had rallied well towards the end of the season and our penultimate game was at home to Chelsea. Our caretaker manager sent on Di Canio early in the second half and he scored the goal which gave us a 1-0 win to give us an outside chance of survival. Sadly it was not to be when we drew 2-2 in the final game and went down as a result.

Earlier in that season we had beaten them 3-2 with Di Canio netting twice, one of them very late in the game to clinch the victory.

In October 2001 Carrick and Kanoute scored two early goals to give us a 2-1 win.

Now back to some much earlier games. Towards the end of 1987-88 we had only won one game since January when we faced Chelsea in the penultimate game of the season. We gave them a thrashing 4-1 with the goals from Cottee, Rosenior (2) and Hilton.

In 1986 we beat them twice in high scoring games. It was 5-3 in October (Stewart 2, Cottee 2 and McAvennie) and the season before in March we recorded a splendid victory at Stamford Bridge, with McAvennie, Cottee 2, and Devonshire scoring the goals. I remember Brian Moore’s commentary of that game when watching it on the Big Match on Sunday afternoon.

In our record breaking Division 2 season (1980-81) we completed the double over them – in the home gam we won 4-0 with goals from Brooking 2, Cross and Devonshire.

Back into the 1970s we did the double over them in 1973-74 with a 4-2 away victory where Clyde Best scored two of the goals and a 3-0 win at home with a hat-trick from Billy Bonds who was playing in midfield for us at the time.

Back into the 60s I can remember a Peters / Hurst double in a 2-0 win early one season, and perhaps one of the most remarkable West Ham v Chelsea derbies in the week before Christmas in the year we won the World Cup. We led 2-0, trailed 3-2, led 5-3 before the game finally ended in a 5-5 draw, Sissons 2, Brabrook, Byrne and Peters scoring the goals.

That season was one of my favourites watching West Ham for entertainment despite finishing sixteenth in the league and being eliminated in the third round of the FA Cup to third division Swindon. We did reach the semi-final of the League Cup before going out to West Brom over two legs. Apart from the 5-5 against Chelsea there were some highly entertaining games. We lost 5-4 at Leicester and recorded wins of 4-1 (v Man City), 1-0 (v Spurs), 3-1 (v Arsenal) and then in a famous fortnight in November beat Fulham (6-1), Leeds (7-0), Spurs 4-3, and Newcastle 3-0. There were other big wins (we scored four goals two days in a row against Blackpool too). We also suffered some heavy defeats, 4-0 twice, 6-1 and 6-2!). We scored 73 league goals that season and conceded 69. We also scored 20 goals in the FA Cup / League Cup.

You will have noticed lots of gaps going back over the last 60 years or so. I guess they beat us a few times but I’ve forgotten those. Can I add to memories of West Ham v Chelsea games this weekend? I hope I can. A debut goal from James Ward-Prowse to equal Beckham’s free kick record perhaps?

Chelsea are favourites to win the game. You can name your own odds on a 5-5 draw.

Perhaps an England Women / West Ham winning double on Sunday? That’s about 10/1! What are the chances?

Enjoy the game. COYI!

Manchester memories as West Ham face Manchester United in a vital game

We have just four league games to go to collect enough points to ensure that we are playing Premier League football next season starting with Sunday evening’s home fixture against Manchester United. Of course, depending on results elsewhere we might have enough already, especially as our goal difference is perhaps worth an additional point in the final reckoning. But we can”t rely on what happens elsewhere; we’ve got to make sure that we do the business ourselves.

One of my favourite West Ham games was back in the 1976-77 season when Geoff and I were at Upton Park for the final game of the season on a Monday night in May when we needed at least a point to maintain top flight status. Our opponents that evening were cup finalists Manchester United who would finish the season in sixth position.

We had narrowly avoided relegation twice in the previous three seasons and we went into the game sitting 19th in the table, having miraculously climbed away from the bottom three due to a six match unbeaten run, in fact in the previous twelve games we had only lost one with two wins and nine draws including a 0-0 draw at Anfield on the Saturday two days before.

Our home record that season was superb and we hadn’t lost a league game at Upton Park since January, but the confidence at kick off was dented when Gordon Hill put the Red Devils ahead after 25 seconds. However Frank Lampard brought the scores level with a 30 yard thunderbolt. Geoff Pike missed a penalty by missing the target but made amends scoring a goal early in the second half. Pop Robson made it 3-1 before Stuart Pearson (later to join us of course) reduced the lead to one. Pop Robson settled nerves by heading home a Trevor Brooking corner and the game ended 4-2. If we had lost we would have been relegated. As it happens we did go down the following season!

It was Pop Robson’s 11th goal in 15 games after rejoining us. He was one of my all time favourites and to me it was a complete mystery why he was never selected for England. He was a prolific goal scorer with over 250 goals in a great career. 94 were for West Ham in not much over 200 appearances. What we’d give for a goal scorer like that now. He played for us in two spells in the 1970s, ironically we went on to win the FA Cup twice each time in the season after he left. 

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When we played Manchester City on Wednesday evening I was fearing the worst in view of the gulf between the two sides. City have been such a force in English football in the past few years, and are now undoubtedly one of the best club sides in the world. What a difference money can make!

Almost 25 years ago to the day after they beat us on Wednesday there was a massive gulf then between our two sides too. West Ham finished the 1997-98 season in eighth place in the Premier League. Manchester City were relegated from the second tier (then ridiculously known as Division One) into the third tier!

There was an amazing coincidence between ourselves and City that season. We both scored 56 goals in league games and conceded 57. But that was the only similarity. We were streets ahead of them at the time. How times change.

Back to the present day and Manchester City are about to win the league for the fifth time in the last six years; they haven’t finished outside of the top four since 2010 (when they finished 5th!). Our record as we all know is not quite so formidable.

And Manchester United? They are nowhere near as impressive as their local rivals. City was a game we had no realistic chance of winning. Despite our poor recent results United are a different proposition. At our best we can beat them and allay fears of relegation. What chance of 4-2 to match that vital game 46 years ago? 

A remarkable two years as we look back on West Ham’s progress in that time.

Tonight West Ham face Southampton in the fifth round of the FA Cup hoping to take another step towards winning a trophy

It has been quite an amazing couple of years for West Ham. Just two years ago as coronavirus (we didn’t call it COVID 19 then I don’t think) was beginning to attract more attention and we were all washing our hands more regularly (no lockdown or social distancing at that early stage) there we were battling relegation. We had already been dumped out of the FA Cup by Championship side West Brom, as well as on the end of a 4-0 thrashing in the EFL Cup by lowly Oxford United.

Our last home game before the (2019-20) season was suspended on 13th March was on 29th February 2020 was against Southampton, almost two years to the day before we meet them again in the fifth round of the FA Cup this evening. We beat them 3-1 that day, climbing out of the bottom three in the process, and rising to 16th in the league. We only played once more (a 1-0 defeat at Arsenal) before the season resumed on the 19th June (we lost to Wolves on that day too).

On that Leap Year’s Day two years ago, Jarrod Bowen put us in front, scoring his first Premier League goal on his full debut when he lifted the ball over McCarthy in the Saints goal from Pablo Fornals’ fine through ball. Southampton equalised with a goal from Obafemi but we restored our lead before half-time when Sebastien Haller beat McCarthy to Antonio’s cross that hung in the air and scored from close range. Antonio then increased our lead to 3-1 early in the second half, gathering Fornals’ pass and sliding the ball past McCarthy. It was our first win in eight matches. As we sat in the cold February sunshine little did we realise how long it would be before we could return to the London Stadium to see our team again. In front of empty stadiums we picked up 12 points from our final seven games to avoid relegation.

Football continued to be played in front of empty stadiums in 2020-21 and after losing our opening two games, we began to see a new West Ham. By 27 February 2021 (just one year ago) we had only lost a handful of games and sat proudly in 4th place in the Premier League table. I was one of the lucky ones in the ballot to be among the crowd of 10,000 to witness our final home game of the season when we comfortably beat Southampton 3-0, Pablo Fornals once again having a big influence on the game, scoring twice in the first half before Declan Rice wrapped up the scoring late in the game. That meant we finished 6th at the season’s end, narrowly missing out on the top four but qualifying for a place in the Europa League.

Fast forward another year and we sit in fifth place in the Premier League with just eleven games of the league season to go. We are also in the Europa League knockout stages, where we have been paired with La Liga side Sevilla, as well as the Fifth Round of the FA Cup tonight. What a transformation in just two years! None of us can honestly say we saw this coming when we went into lockdown two years ago.

It will not be easy for us tonight. Southampton have been in excellent form lately, and their 11 points from their last 5 league games is bettered by only two teams (Liverpool with 15, and Newcastle with 13). In fact they have only lost once in their last ten league games (3-1 at Wolves), a run (5 wins and 4 draws) which has seen them climb from 16th (just above the relegation places) to 9th, sitting vary comfortably in mid-table.

They needed extra time to knock out both Swansea and Coventry in the last two rounds, but now we’ve reached the stage where the winners of this tie will progress into the last eight, I would expect both teams to field close to first choice sides. They certainly should because at this stage we are only three wins away from a place in the FA Cup final and the chance to lift a trophy. Of course we remember the last round very well, only just surviving to get past Kidderminster thanks in the main to Declan Rice.

Ron Greenwood Taking Home The FA Cup in 1964. Will This Be David Moyes in 2022?

Southampton’s fine recent form sees them installed as favourites to win the tie by the bookmakers at around 13/10. The odds on a West Ham win are around 2/1 with 12/5 on a draw in 90 minutes. Betting on cup games is always a precarious business as you can never be sure how strong the teams will be. You’d like to think that being this close to a Wembley final would mean that teams are at full strength but that is not always the case.

In the next 19 days, starting with tonight’s last 16 game at Southampton we will play 6 matches, including home and away ties against Sevilla in the Europa League last 16, as well as three league games with visits to Anfield and White Hart Lane plus a home game against Aston Villa.

I wonder where we’ll be in three weeks’ time? We could be in the Quarter Finals of the FA Cup and the Europa League and still challenging towards the top of the Premier League. Or perhaps we might only have eight league games left of our season having gone out of both cups? Or perhaps even somewhere in between?

With the relatively thin squad available to choose from it is remarkable that we are where we are considering where we were looking back to just two years ago. But whatever happens in the next two weeks and then in the final weeks of the season it is interesting to hear David Moyes’ thoughts. At the Press Conference prior to tonight’s game these are some of his quotes:

“Every manager wants to win a trophy.” “We’re on a good track but the next couple of years will be an important time. We’re trying to build a team that’s getting stronger.” “I look more at how we’re going to continue to try to build the club and keep getting closer to winning trophies.” “We’ve made a swift move towards the top end of the Premier League. We’re involved in Europe, had a decent run in the Carabao Cup and we’re trying to get a good run in the FA Cup if we can as well”

Well done David Moyes and his coaching team. What a fantastic turnaround in our fortunes in just two years.

A look ahead to West Ham at Molineux this afternoon and memories of games against Wolves (mainly November ones!)

Thank heavens that is the last of the early season pointless international breaks finished. I get it that we have to play for World Cup qualification but surely someone can devise a better way to do it. I don’t wish to deny San Marino, Andorra or any other minor nation of their opportunity to take part but surely there should be some kind of pre-qualification among lesser teams and then the top teams from pre-qualification leagues can then progress to face the bigger teams. Our very own FA Cup is an example of how this can happen. The top teams don’t enter the competition until the third round proper. There are a number of qualification rounds to win through before the non-league teams who are successful in those get to face the big boys.

Albania aren’t exactly a minor footballing nation, picking up quite a few points in the group, but San Marino? I watched some of this and quite frankly it was a farce. The commentators and pundits did their best to talk up the England team and Harry Kane, but it was nonsensical as a game of football, it was really just attack versus defence. I got no pleasure from the twenty minutes or so that I watched.

This was in contrast to the last Premier League game I saw where we denied Liverpool the opportunity to extend their long unbeaten record any further. I thought it was a magnificent performance that saw us leapfrog the Merseysiders to reach the dizzy heights of third place in the table. Unlike Mr Klopp I saw nothing wrong with our first goal. Goalkeepers have been a protected species for too long and I don’t see anything that says you can’t jump in front of them to put them off. And as for suggesting Cresswell should have been sent off I don’t agree with that either. His tackle clipped the top of the ball which lifted his leg to foul Henderson. To his credit the Liverpool captain made nothing of it and was soon back on his feet. A foul yes but anything more? Not for me. Perhaps I am a biased Hammer but others I have spoken to who support Arsenal, Fulham and Norwich didn’t agree with Mr Klopp either.

We have lost Angelo Ogbonna for a long period now, but personally I am happy with Craig Dawson alongside Zouma at the heart of our defence. There have been reports that we might renew our interest in Tarkowski in the forthcoming window. He is certainly a quality player, but do we need strengthening elsewhere first? Perhaps with our new Czech shareholder there will be an injection of finance to boost the transfer kitty? We’ve never been in a better position to challenge the top teams but the addition of two or three quality players would do us no harm in our endeavour to maintain that challenge in the league and the three cups that we can still aim for.

We visit Molineux today to take on a Wolves team that are in eighth place in the chasing pack where sixth to thirteenth positions in the table are separated by just three points. When I began to watch football as a young boy in the late 1950s Wolves were probably the best team in the country at the time, and were league champions in 1957-58 and 1958-59. One of my earliest football memories was our first home game following promotion to face the champions in our first home game of the 1958-59 season. I wasn’t there but I was excited to wake up on the Tuesday morning following the Monday night game to be told the result by my dad and to read of our 2-0 win in the morning paper.

The following season I was at our game against the champions – Saturday November 21st – so this weekend’s game is almost on the same date. My first favourite footballer Johnny Dick scored a hat trick in our 3-2 victory that retained our position at the top of the league. The following Thursday I went into St Mary’s hospital in Paddington to have my adenoids removed. And then in typical West Ham fashion we lost 7-0 at Sheffield Wednesday the following Saturday! How many times has a team at the top of the league lost their next game 7-0? Only West Ham could do that. That was a season when we went down with the Christmas decorations and finished in fourteenth place just four points above the relegation places.

Wolves went on to finish second in the table that season finishing a point below champions Burnley. They won the FA Cup too beating Blackburn 3-0 in the final and were so close to being the first team to achieve the league and cup double. If only they hadn’t lost to West Ham!

Other highlights from games against Wolves include an entertaining 3-3 draw in November 1970. Apart from surrendering a 3-1 lead my main reason for remembering this game was a Bobby Moore headed clearance that hit the referee square in the face that knocked him out cold. Moore picked up his whistle and blew it to stop the game. Bobby Gould, who five years later played for us tapped in the late Wolves equaliser in that game.

Two years later (yes in November once again!) we were 2-1 down at Upton Park in the last seconds of the game when a Bobby Moore cross was headed across the edge of the area by Clyde Best, and Trevor Brooking equalised with a stunning diving header from fully 15 yards. It’s always said that Trevor never scored with his head, but I can remember quite a few, including an important one in the European Cup Winners Cup in 1976 against Eintracht Frankfurt, and perhaps the most famous of all, the Wembley header in the 1980 FA Cup final.

Two years later once again in the month of November (are you picking up the pattern here?) we gave Wolves quite a thrashing (5-2) with five different goalscorers. The best goal of the lot, and one of the best free kicks I’ve ever seen was a result of Trevor Brooking flicking the ball in the air and Frank Lampard (senior of course) smashing a half volley into the bottom corner of the net.

I’ll deviate from the month of November with a final memory from the past to remember Liam Brady’s final game before retirement. After a fantastic career he spent his final three seasons at West Ham. Although he wasn’t quite the player he was at his peak, he was still great to watch with wonderful skill on the ball and magnificent passing ability. On as a substitute late in the game he picked the ball up midway in the Wolves half, moved forward, and unleashed a trademark left footed stunner that rocketed into the net, a fitting goal in his final ever game.

Last season we did the double over Wolves winning 4-0 at home and 3-2 at Molineux. What with our 3-2 win over Liverpool in our last game too, that seems to be the score of the moment and I’ll predict a win by that score today. We are around 7/5 favourites to win the game and around 22/1 to repeat last season’s score in the corresponding fixture. Jarrod Bowen scored in both games against Wolves last season, and is around 13/2 to score the first goal (same price for the last goal too) in the game, or 5/2 to score at anytime. One of those will be my fun bet. I might even combine Bowen scoring the first goal with a 3-2 win at odds approaching 200/1. With 12 points from our last 4 league games we are the form team in the Premier League. No other team matches that recent record. If Leicester can beat Chelsea in the lunchtime fixture, and if we can win at Wolves, then we would be level on points with Chelsea at the top of the table on Saturday evening. That would be good, wouldn’t it? What are the chances?