Know Your Vintage History

WEST HAM UNITED enjoys one of the proudest traditions for playing entertaining, attacking football that has thrilled millions since the East London club formed in 1900, five years after the formation of our forerunners, Thames Ironworks.

It is enshrined in Hammers' history that regardless of their status at any given time, whether challenging for silverware or fighting relegation, the club has never sacrificed its long-held football principles. Our knowledgeable fans have come to expect nothing less and they are rightly proud of it.

Throughout the years, West Ham have invariably employed managers who embody these values, doing much themselves to promote and sustain our footballing philosophy. The majority of them joined the club as youngsters, were brought up through the playing ranks at Upton Park, so they understood everything the club stands for.

Even Ron Greenwood, the first 'outsider' to be appointed manager when he arrived from Arsenal in 1961, epitomised the West Ham Way. Greenwood continued to build on the excellent foundations laid by his predecessor, Ted Fenton, and the vastly influential skipper, Malcolm Allison, in the 50s which established the club's famed 'Academy'. Allison combined his defensive duties in the then Second Division side with coaching the schoolboys. He, more than anyone, helped nurture the man who would ultimately replace him in the first team and become arguably the most famous English footballer of all - Bobby Moore.

Allison, with the encouragement of Fenton, inspired progress in all the youngsters who came under his tuition at the coaching sessions he held on the old main forecourt of the Boleyn Ground each Tuesday and Thursday night. He commanded the respect of team-mates young and old and was a tactician ahead of his time.

At the instigation of Allison, who marvelled at the magnificent Hungary side of the late 50s, West Ham embraced continental ideas and thinking before any of our English rivals. We adopted foreign training methods and were the first to wear new, lightweight boots, smaller shorts and lighter, silk shirts.

Allison and his disciples, great club men like Noel Cantwell, Frank O'Farrell, Dave Sexton, Malcolm Musgrove and Jimmy Andrews, would follow daily training sessions by getting together again in the afternoons at Cassettari's Cafe, just a short walk from the ground in Barking Road (it's still there today). There, Allison would hold court and the players would exchange views on the game and make tactical plans around the dinner table, illustrating their ideas with the use of salt and pepper pots. The culmination of those years of hard work, on and off the field, was the Second Division championship in 1958 - the springboard to great cup successes at a much higher level in the mid-60s. Those later achievements owed much to the tactical genius of Greenwood and the emergence of quality players like Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters, but no one should underestimate the positive influence of Malcolm Allison's earlier role in Hammers' history.

[PAGE]West Ham United's most successful period came in the mid-60s, when we reached three consecutive cup finals. Although the club had never been able to sustain a serious challenge on the league championship, we have enjoyed a reputation as a more than useful cup side. Our first taste of the big occasion came in 1923, when Hammers met Bolton Wanderers in the first-ever FA Cup final to be played at Wembley Stadium. On a day remembered more for the extraordinary crowd scenes than the football itself, Syd King's 'Irons' lost 2-0.

The next Cup final appearance was at Wembley against Blackburn Rovers in the 1940 Football League War Cup, which West Ham won 1-0. The patient fans had to wait another 24 years before returning to Wembley. Greenwood's side, playing with typical style and swagger, inflicted a memorable 3-1 semi-final defeat over FA Cup holders Manchester United in the mud at Hillsborough before finally overcoming Preston North End, 3-2, on final day, with long-serving midfielder Ronnie Boyce heading the last minute winner.

If the Hammers were not near their best in beating Preston, they reached probably an all-time high on their return to the national stadium just over a year later to meet West Germany's TSV Munich 1860 in the final of the European Cup Winners' Cup. On an evening that nobody who was present will ever forget, West Ham scaled new heights, playing the brand of entertaining, attacking football that had become synonymous with the club. Right winger Alan Sealey emerged as the unlikely hero, scoring both goals in a well-earned 2-0 triumph, yet within a year his top flight career had virtually ended after he broke his leg in a bizarre training ground accident. Sealey was playing cricket with team-mates during a break in pre-season training when he sustained the serious leg break while falling over a wooden bench.

The European Cup Winners' Cup win represents the pinnacle of Hammers' achievements as a club but for the trio of Moore, Hurst and Peters, there was an even more glorious day in prospect against the Germans just a little over a year later, when England hosted the 1966 World Cup finals for the first time. The final, against West Germany, was won 4-2 after extra time - and all three Hammers distinguished themselves. Moore, as captain, set up the opening goal for Hurst - a quick free- kick to the near post, where Hurst got free of his marker to head home. The move looked simple yet it was the product of Greenwood's training ground routine at Chadwell Heath and would yield many similar goals at club level, too. Peters, rated the most naturally talented of the famous trio, slotted England's second goal but the rest of the day belonged to Hurst, the former wing-half who Greenwood had converted into a forceful, hard-working centre-forward.

They still debate today whether Hurst's second goal actually crossed the goalline after his shot struck the underside of the crossbar but there was no doubt about his third - a thunderous left-foot shot that flew into the roof of the net in the final seconds of extra-time. Geoff Hurst became the first, and so far only, player to score a hat- trick in the World Cup final.

[PAGE]With Moore collecting the Jules Rimet Trophy on behalf of the country, and Peters netting the other England goal, most West Ham fans will tell you that it was the Hammers, not England, who won the World Cup in '66! Greenwood's reputation as one of the most intelligent coaches in the game led to his appointment as England manager in 1977, when his training ground protégé, John Lyall, stepped up to become the new Hammers' boss in his own right, having earlier become team manager under Greenwood in 1975. Lyall made a great start to his senior management career, guiding West Ham to their second FA Cup success in his first season in charge. The '75 final against Bobby Moore's Fulham was no classic but the men in claret and blue were well worth their 2-0 win, thanks to a brace from whippet-like winger Alan Taylor, a bargain signing from lowly Rochdale.

The Cup win meant another crack at the ECWC the following season. West Ham made it to the final again, but this time home advantage counted in favour of the Belgians, as Anderlecht delighted the Brussels crowd with a 4-2 win.

Lyall simply continued to imbue all the same qualities of leadership, integrity and tactical nous of his predecessor. West Ham maintained their proud tradition for playing attacking football but, under Lyall, added a more steely edge that was crucial in winning the FA Cup in 1980, followed by the Second Division championship 12 months later with a record points haul.

For the '80 final against Arsenal, West Ham were the Second Division underdogs. But Lyall got his tactics spot on and had the players to carry out his instructions to perfection. Trevor Brooking, a stylish, creative midfield talent who emerged as Hammers' biggest star of the 70s and 80s, netted the winner with his head in a 1-0 victory. Brooking and skipper Billy Bonds, a lionhearted, swashbuckling character who gave everything as a player for 21 years before joining the management team at Upton Park, typified the loyalty that existed at the club, and which Lyall did so much to foster, during this period. Even after Hammers were finally relegated in 1978, following numerous narrow escapes, Brooking and Bonds never considered leaving. Since the late 70s the club has experienced a turbulent period. After regaining top flight status in 1981, Lyall continued to rebuild the side and in 1985-86 his efforts were rewarded when Hammers achieved their highest-ever league placing - third, behind champions Liverpool and Everton. West Ham went into the final Saturday of that season still in with a chance of winning the coveted title for the first time, only to see the dream shattered by Liverpool's victory at Chelsea. Lyall was unable to build on that promising campaign and, just three years later, the club was relegated and its manager sacked. For the first time since Greenwood's appointment, the Board of Directors sought a replacement from outside the West Ham 'family' - and it backfired on them. Lou Macari, who had enjoyed some success lower down the league ladder with Swindon Town, didn't really fit it and, amid personal problems, suddenly resigned just seven months into his tenure. His replacement, the legendary Billy Bonds, proved a popular choice and at the end of his first full season in charge Bonzo's boys were promoted back to the First Division in 1991 as runners-up to Oldham Athletic. But what should have been a happy return to the top flight quickly became a nightmare for Bonds and his players. The Club had introduced a controversial new bond scheme as a the prime means of funding the redevelopment of the Boleyn Ground following Lord Justice Taylor's Report into the 1989 Hillsborough Disaster which required all leading clubs to replace the old concrete terraces with expensive seating. The club hoped to raise £19 million through bonds bought by supporters to secure their seats at discounted prices over a long-term period, but the scheme was drastically under-subscribed and sparked a wave of unrest among die-hard fans whose loyalty was being tested to the limit. Crowds fell significantly and on-pitch protests and demonstrations ensued as fans made their feelings known. The ultimate effect of this winter of discontent was relegation from the top division for the second time in three years. The 1991-92 season had taken its toll on Bonds' morale and before the start of the following campaign he brought in his former team-mate and good friend, Harry Redknapp, as his assistant. The new duo forged a formidable partnership which resulted in promotion back to the top flight, and a place in the newly-launched FA Premier League, as runners-up to Newcastle United.

[PAGE]The fans had a shock when Bonds quit in unhappy circumstances on the eve of the 1994-95 season, having rejected the Board's proposal for him to 'move upstairs' as Director of Football and leave Redknapp to manage the first team alone. But Redknapp, whose efforts on the training ground and in the dressing room, had played a key role in regaining top flight status and he was up for the challenge of keeping Hammers there. It has been a tough battle, however. Lacking the financial resources of the wealthiest clubs, notably Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea and Leeds United, and others whose bigger stadiums generate greater revenue than the 26,000-capacity Upton Park, West Ham United have done well to remain a respectable Premier League force. We have done so largely due to the manager's uncanny ability to wheel and deal in the transfer market - signing players for free or on the cheap and selling others for more than their real market value. After too many seasons of struggle near the wrong end of the table, narrowly avoiding the drop in 1997, Redknapp and his new assistant, brother-in-law Frank Lampard (senior), guided Hammers to fifth place in 1999 and a brief return to European football via the Intertoto Cup.

As Hammers enter the new millennium, there is a fresh sense of optimism about the club. Moore, Hurst and Peters will probably forever remain the three most famous players in West Ham United's history and it is with a deep sense of pride that we remember them as the finest products of the club's thriving youth policy of the late 1950s and 60s. But even in the modern era, where Premiership players routinely change clubs for multi millions and receive a weekly wage the average fan would be pleased to earn in a year, West Ham's tradition among the leading entertainers in British football remains undiminished. So, too, is our reputation for discovering and producing exciting, young talent.

The England trio of Frank Lampard, Joe Cole and Michael Carrick are modern-day examples of Premiership stars who cut their football teeth as members of the famed West Ham United Academy, while Rio Ferdinand, sold to Leeds United in November 2000 for an astonishing £18 million, is its most valuable product to date.

Three FA Cup victories and a solitary triumph in Europe may not compare very favourably with the achievements of some of our more illustrious Premiership rivals, but West Ham United and its supporters are nevertheless proud of our virtues.

Win, lose or draw, enterprising football, played by largely home-grown players for supporters who appreciate the finer points of the game. That says so much about what West Ham United represents.