Kicking off a brand new series commemorating the 40th anniversary of our highest-ever top-flight finish, West Ham United legend Alan Devonshire recalls his brave comeback for the 1985/86 campaign…
If the Boys of ‘86 story is not already astonishing enough, then one iconic Hammer’s courageous contribution to our record-breaking campaign makes it yet more remarkable still.
Written off by many commentators after being on the receiving end of a horror tackle playing against Wigan Athletic in January 1984, Alan Devonshire had barely kicked a ball in anger during some 18 lonely months on the sidelines.
It was not the first time that the eight-times capped England international had found himself battling to overcome the uglier side of the beautiful game.
Heartbreakingly released by Crystal Palace as a teenager, a devasted ‘Dev’ had then combined his £80-per-week driving shifts at Perivale’s Hoover factory with Saturday afternoon run-outs for non-league Southall.
But in September 1976, West Ham United shrewdly swooped for the winged ex-Eagle in a bargain-bucket £5,000 deal and, just three seasons later, the former fork-lift truck operator bounced back from rejection and dejection to hoover up an FA Cup winner’s medal in our 1980 victory over Arsenal (1-0).
Now, as 1985/86 kicked off, the mercurial midfielder had to prove the doubters and naysayers wrong once more.
“Every surgeon said that I was finished except for one - our Club doctor Brian Roper,” reveals the 69-year-old, who sits in 14th place in the Club’s all-time appearance charts with 448 outings down West Ham way. “He undertook a complicated operation, attaching my hamstring to the middle of my knee. That restricted me to just a 90-degree bend in the joint, but it was the only way.
“I still had to keep having surgery under anaesthetic to get my knee bent back - they did that six times and, on every occasion, I’d wake up in hospital in agony.
“Before that reckless tackle, I’d been playing the best football of my career. I was rapid, really pleased with the levels I was achieving and, game-by-game, becoming a better footballer. We were third in the league behind only [champions] Liverpool and Manchester United, while I’d been playing for England in the Euro 84 qualifiers, too.
“John Lyall once told me that virtually every big club in Europe had enquired about me at some stage, but there’s no way I would’ve ever left for a few extra quid. I was loving everything about playing for West Ham United.
“Ironically, John wanted to rest me against Wigan but I’d only missed one game - a League Cup replay at Everton (0-2) - and I told him that I wanted to get as close as possible to having an ever-present season.
“I ended up playing in that FA Cup tie and after just a quarter-of-an-hour - ‘Bang!’ - that one shocking challenge smashed my knee. It cost me so dearly. If I could change just one day, it’d be to sit out that match - it’s the only regret of my life.
“I’d been out of action for 14 months when John asked me to play in the FA Cup at Wimbledon (1-1). The team had struggled during the second half of 1984/85 and, although I knew in my heart of hearts that I wasn’t ready, I wanted to try and give the boys a lift.
“I also played in the replay (5-1) and, while it was lovely to be out there at Upton Park again, I told John that I was only coming back once I was 100% happy with my fitness.
“My knee was strong but - with that limited range of movement - I had to accept that I could now only run at three-quarter pace. Returning for 1985/86, I needed to re-invent myself because I couldn’t now do what I’d done at my peak.”
Devoid of Devonshire - and with fellow midfield maestro Trevor Brooking now retired - that 1984/85 campaign had been one to forget for a West Ham side finishing 16th after only securing top-flight safety with a win at Ipswich Town (1-0) in the penultimate game of the season.
Preparations for the upcoming term had not exactly gone to plan either.
“Pre-season didn’t go well,” grimaces Dev, recalling a friendly defeat at Orient (1-3) just six days before the start of 1985/86. “Afterwards, a fan got past security and burst into our dressing room. I won’t repeat the actual language (!), but basically he told us that we’d played rubbish before calling players out individually.
“After he’d been escorted away, John looked around at us all before saying: ‘You’ve got to admit it, he’s right isn’t he?’”
There had only been two relatively low-key signings, too - Frank McAvennie (St Mirren) and Mark Ward (Oldham Athletic), while crestfallen, first-choice striker Paul Goddard dislocated his shoulder just half-an-hour into our opening-day defeat at Birmingham City (0-1).
“Nobody had heard of Frank and Wardie but they were immediate hits in training,” contends Dev, who currently manages Maidenhead United. “We could tell they were decent players, who’d both add something to the squad.
“I felt so sorry for Paul but his injury saw Frank move up top and, as we all know, he never looked back with his 28 goals that year.
“The success of 1985/86 was all about the balance of our team - while Wardie played further forward over on the right, I held deeper on the left.”
Another season of toil and trouble looked on the cards, when the Hammers recorded just one win in their opening seven games.
But in mid-September, the tide turned with victory over Leicester City (3-0) at the Boleyn Ground, where Alan netted for the first time in almost two years.
“I’d been growing in self-belief with every game and remained quietly confident that my knee was going to be alright,” he nods. “I just had to play clever. Scoring against Leicester was a big confidence-booster, too.
“We then went on a brilliant run and, by Christmas 1985, had climbed into third place having been unbeaten in 18 matches. Looking back - considering how close we came at the end - our poor start cost us the league title!”
Come Easter Saturday - following the harshest of harsh winters - with postponed games in hand, the seventh-place Hammers faced fourth-place Chelsea.
“There was rivalry between both clubs and whoever won at Stamford Bridge would be firmly in the title race. We knew it had to be us,” continues Dev, who shook off an ankle knock to star in our formidable 4-0 victory. “One injury all year? I played 47 matches that season… not bad for someone who’d been out for so long.
“The Premier League’s played on carpets nowadays but Chelsea’s pitch was a sand-pit. Then again, Upton Park wasn’t exactly the best surface either. Opposing defenders hadn’t realised I’d lost my pace so they still stood off and that really helped me,” confides Devonshire, who climaxed a memorable mazy run with a dipping 25-yarder to open the scoring midway through the first half, before 26-goal Tony Cottee’s double and McAvennie completed the rout. “I came off late on but by then it was job done.”
Forever playing catch-up throughout spring, the Hammers were left to play 13 manic matches inside 38 frenetic days.
“We only used 16 different starters all season and, while managers now rotate entire squads, we only had one substitute, too,” he recalls. “We were tired but on one hell of a run, and everyone connected with the Football Club felt we’d go out and win every game - players, staff, supporters, everyone...”
The final Saturday of 1985/86 saw second-place Hammers head to West Bromwich Albion four points adrift of leaders Liverpool but - significantly - still with a game in hand on the Reds, whose last match of the season was now at Chelsea.
Victory for West Ham and a draw or defeat for the Merseysiders would mean Lyall’s men could win the title by overcoming third-place Everton in two days’ time.
“A rumour went around The Hawthorns reckoning Chelsea were leading and, while we did our bit to win 3-2, once we returned to our dressing room we found out Liverpool were champions after winning at Stamford Bridge (1-0),” curses Dev, still feeling the hurt. “Pure adrenaline had kept us going but now we were totally flat. No-one really wanted to play on Monday at Goodison Park, where we ended up losing (1-3).
“We’d spent those final dozen matches telling ourselves: ‘We’re still in it.’ Everything had been taken away at West Brom, but it’s testament to the players that we got through 1985/86 like we did.”
Dev was at London Stadium last Friday night, where he witnessed at first hand the progress made by one of his former protégés.
“We signed Maximilian Kilman as a teenager and everyone could see that he was going to be a top centre-half capable of playing in the Premier League,” explains Dev, who is aiming to lead the Magpies to instant promotion from the Enterprise National League South following last season’s disappointing drop into the sixth-tier of English football. “At Maidenhead, I played Max at left-back both to protect him and help him learn defensively. We still keep in touch and it’s been so rewarding to see Max do well over these past ten years.”
Four decades on, there’s also bound to be a moment or two for this Boy of ‘86 to rekindle memories of his courageous comeback campaign that saw him effectively become our third ‘new signing’ alongside McAvennie and Ward.
“The West Ham supporters have always been brilliant to me because they understood what I could and couldn’t do after my injury,” concludes Dev. “Personally, I just never felt the same but, regardless, everyone saw me giving my best in every game. People tell me I was a big part of helping us finish third in 1985/86 and that makes me very proud indeed...”
