Fan-attics

THIS year marks the 25th anniversary of the 1980 FA Cup Final victory over Saturday's opposition, Arsenal.

The programme from that game simply has to form part of any serious collection of West Ham United memorabilia. Remarkably, it can still be picked up for under £10, quite a bit more if sporting the signature of the game's solitary goal scorer, the one and only Trevor Brooking.



The year 2005 also marks the 30th anniversary of West Ham's 1975 FA Cup victory over Fulham and it was in the sixth round of that famous Cup run when the Hammers took on the might of Arsenal at Highbury, a game in which a star was born. Alan Taylor grabbed the only two goals of the game, a feat he managed to repeat in both the semi-final and final in a landmark year for the Club.

The programme from that Highbury classic is understandably much sought after and has been exchanging hands for over £20 recently. Interestingly, the ticket stub from the same game recently sold for twice that sum.

Alan Taylor is held in very high esteem in Hammers history and trade cards of the lightning fast striker rekindle an age of classic shirts and haircuts! Such cards are an affordable way of preserving West Ham United history and would grace any collection.

With the illustrious and trophy filled history enjoyed by Arsenal it is not difficult to find some real gems on the market. There are far too many to choose from but two programmes which did catch the eye recently were the 1930 FA Cup final versus Huddersfield and the 1932 FA Cup final programme versus Newcastle.



These resonate with the glory glory days at Arsenal when Herbert Chapman's team was the best in the land. Each of these items sold for over seven hundred pounds and still stand as a good investment because the collecting bubble shows no sign of bursting and such programmes will soon crash through the £1,000 barrier.

Despite being an event that took place almost 80 years ago, mention must be made of West Ham's 7-0 thumping of Arsenal in March 1927.

The programme is rarely seen and would easily attract a three figure sum. 27,000 visited Upton Park to watch Victor Watson walk off with the match ball as West Ham United impressed with wave after wave of attacking football.

Many descendents of the fans from that day will be in attendance on Saturday at Upton Park praying that history will repeat itself!