Tag: #facup

It’s FA Cup time again and even though finding enthusiasm the competition each year gets a little harder it retains a special place in the hearts and minds of many supporters. I have had the good fortune to attend three FA Cup finals (and one League Cup final) and the experience of a day out of Wembley is difficult to beat – although one of mine was in Cardiff. It would be a great shame if the current generation of Hammer’s supporters never got to enjoy one – even if it means watching it an empty stadium.

Once it was the greatest event on the domestic sporting calendar, that left the streets eerily quiet as 20 million or more settled down to seven hours of coverage with Frank or Des on Grandstand. A time when you crowded around a transistor radio on Monday afternoon just to be among the first to hear the draw for the next round. Much of that excitement is lost forever.

For clubs like West Ham, though, the Cup is surely one of the best chances of bagging some  silverware. With a favourable draw, winning six games in a row is not an impossible dream. Why then do managers not give the competition the same respect that the fans demand? Is it better to have ‘Finished 9^th’ on the managerial CV than ‘FA Cup Winners 2020/21’?

The irony is that it was the big clubs with European obligations who started the trend of fielding weakened teams in the Cup. For reasons unknown, everyone else followed suit as if your managerial standing was diminished by fielding your strongest side. That the top sides had far better reserves to call on seems not to have registered, but the records show that five of the big six (not you, Tottenham) have won 25 of the 28 finals since the start of the Premier League.

If there is any romance left in the Cup it is generally to be found in the 3^rd round, where non-league clubs, like today’s opponents, Stockport County, get the opportunity to go toe to toe with the big boys. It is their day and they really have nothing to lose. Jim ‘The Giant Killer’ Gannon will have no problems in motivating his players for a game that might be the highlight of their careers. The question is, will the new found spirit and determination in David Moyes side survive the expected onslaught on a cold winter’s night in Greater Manchester?

As far as I know, despite being on the receiving end of many giant-killing shocks, the Hammers have never lost to a non-league side in the FA Cup – although, it has been a close call on several occasions as I discussed in this post from a few years ago.

Although Stockport are now plying their trade in the National League they have a long history within the Football League pyramid. Originally elected to the league in 1900 they experienced their first ever relegation to non-league in 2011, from which they are now striving to return. Off the top of my head I wasn’t aware of their Hatters nickname – a reference to the town’s hat-making industry.

Since West Ham’s victory at Everton, the already thin squad has become even thinner with the departures of Sebastien Haller and Robert Snodgrass. Haller made his debut from the bench for Ajax last night, while Snodgrass has gone off to face certain relegation under Fat Sam at the Hawthorns. Good luck to them both.

The internet is once again awash with transfer speculation, from the fanciful to the farcical. I doubt whether many of those linked so far would actually qualify under the new visa regulations, which will make picking up bargains from minor European leagues far more difficult in the future. If there is any activity it will typically be a last minute cliff-hanger as Sullivan makes a desperate dive through the closing window with a bunch of IOUs. This leaves our slender hopes of progression even more in the hands of Michail Antonio’s hamstrings. West Ham: the original one-horse club – as already extravagant noises are being made about the possibility of deploying Andriy Yarmolenko or Said Benrahma as a false nine.

Moyes has stated it will be a strong side that he puts out tonight although there are reportedly potential Covid absentees. I’m sure he will also prefer to give some bench-time to a few of his over-worked regulars, including Antonio, Declan Rice, Tomas Soucek and Angelo Ogbonna. A similar approach worked well enough in the early League Cup rounds (against Charlton and Hull City) and should be good enough, technically, to ease past Stockport.

As ever, though, these games rely as much on attitude as they do on footballing ability. Respect the opposition and ensure there is no room for complacency and it should be ok. The 3^rd round has already had one shock with Crawley defeating Leeds. Hopefully, that is enough to appease the banana-skin deities leaving passage through to the next round assured. I will go for a 2-0 and the satisfaction of the owners banking the £82,000 winner’s cheque – should be enough to pay for a squad player for a couple of weeks.

Fred Perry, Tess Daly, Norman Foster, Joan Bakewell, Ricky Hatton, Tina From Coronation Street, John Mayall, Captain Darling, Mike Yarwood … your boys are gonna take a hell of a beating!

How many of you reading this can remember the last time West Ham beat Stockport County? No, me neither. It came in an FA Cup 4^th round tie at Upton Park in January 1958. We won the game 3-2 with two goals from Eddie Lewis and another from Vic Keeble. We were in the second tier of English football at the time and finished that season as Champions and were promoted to Division One. Stockport were in the third division. We went out in the next round losing at home to Fulham.

We had actually played them in the FA Cup before way back in 1935. We were in the second tier then, too, and we drew 1-1 at home in a third round tie, and then lost the replay 1-0. Stockport were also then in the third division.

Our record against them in the League Cup is equally poor. In 1972-73 we faced them in the third round. That was one of our better seasons in the top tier, as we finished sixth in Division One. Stockport were a Division Four team at the time but still beat us 2-1 with Clyde Best scoring our goal. Don’t be fooled and think we fielded a weakened side. On that Wednesday evening we had Bonds, Moore, Brooking, Pop Robson and all of our other first team regulars, only making one change from the side that had played (and won) a league game the previous Saturday.

Then in 1996-97 we met them in the fourth round and that was the only time I’ve seen Stockport play. It was at Upton Park and we could only draw 1-1 with Florin Raducioiu scoring our goal. Once again we fielded our “first team” as we did in the replay three weeks later. I can remember watching that game on TV, obviously chosen as the broadcasters could see a potential upset and they weren’t wrong. It was a night to forget for Iain Dowie, as not only did he head a goal (into his own net!) but he also broke his ankle. Julian Dicks scored our goal but we went out of the competition losing the tie 2-1.

An ignominious record in cup ties against Stockport is matched by some poor results in the few league games in which we’ve met them, as we have not very often been in the same division. Our record in away games in the north west at Edgeley Park is played 4, lost 3, and drawn 1, 0-0 back in 1937. So in 7 away visits in the league and cup ties we have lost 6 times and drawn once.

These days Stockport have sunk even lower in the football pyramid and are now in the National League. They are having a decent season and currently sit in fourth place, but some distance behind the runaway leaders, Torquay. In a very tight division they are hoping to get back into the Football League, although it would almost certainly only be via the play-offs.

In modern times teams in the Premier League (and sometimes lower leagues too) don’t treat cup games with the same respect as was once the case. League positions and the money that accompanies them are considered more important than chasing trophies, even though to win a cup only requires a successful run in a handful of games. Stockport on the other hand will almost certainly field a full strength side in a bid to claim a Premier League scalp. The broadcasters see the game as a potential upset too, and the TV cameras will be at Edgeley Park on Monday evening hoping to see one.

In my 60 plus years of following West Ham we have appeared in four FA Cup finals, winning three, and losing (unluckily) once to Liverpool in our last appearance in a penalty shoot out in 2006. Some of the teams who have knocked us out of the competition in those 60 years include Huddersfield (twice), Stoke (twice), Plymouth, Blackburn, Swindon, Sheffield United (twice), Mansfield, Middlesbrough, Blackpool, Hull City, Hereford, QPR (3 times), Newport County, Wrexham (twice), Watford (twice), Birmingham, Torquay, Sunderland, Barnsley, Luton, Grimsby, Swansea, Tranmere, Wigan. Last season we lost at home to West Brom (then in the Championship). It makes grim reading, doesn’t it? I could produce a similar list for teams that have beaten us in League Cup ties in the same period too.

Wouldn’t it be great to have a successful cup run and go back to Wembley? The last time I was there to watch us in an FA Cup Final was in 1980 (when I was 26, 40 years ago) when we famously beat Arsenal 1-0 with Sir Trevor’s header. That was the third time that we had won the trophy. I wasn’t expecting that more than 40 years later we would have not won it again.

Those three triumphs were days to remember and easily recalled all these years later. Our league position is comfortable with (almost certainly) no relegation fears this season. I’d love it if we gave it a good go this time. I’m not holding my breath though. But I reckon we can get through this tie. Let’s hope that we don’t add it to the long list of embarrassing FA Cup exits.