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West Ham United F.C.
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West Ham United Football Club is an English football club based in Upton Park, London Borough of Newham, East London. They have played their home matches at the Boleyn Ground stadium since 1904.
The club was originally founded as Thames Ironworks F.C. in 1895 and was later reformed, in 1900 as West Ham United. They initially competed in the Southern League and Western League before joining the full Football League in 1919 and enjoyed their first top flight season in 1923, featuring in the first FA Cup Final to be held at Wembley that year against Bolton Wanderers.
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Encyclopedia
West Ham United Football Club is an English football club based in Upton Park, London Borough of Newham, East London. They have played their home matches at the Boleyn Ground stadium since 1904.
The club was originally founded as Thames Ironworks F.C. in 1895 and was later reformed, in 1900 as West Ham United. They initially competed in the Southern League and Western League before joining the full Football League in 1919 and enjoyed their first top flight season in 1923, featuring in the first FA Cup Final to be held at Wembley that year against Bolton Wanderers. The club have won the FA Cup three times: in 1964, 1975 and 1980. They have also been runners-up twice, in 1923 and 2006.
In 1965, they won the European Cup Winners Cup, and in 1999 they won the Intertoto Cup.
They also won the inaugural Football League War Cup in 1940. The club's best final league position is third place in the 1985–86 (old) First Division.
West Ham currently compete in the Premier League, and finished in 10th position in the 2007–08 season. They have been members of the Premier League for all but three seasons since its creation in 1992, and their highest finish in the Premier League was 5th in 1998–99.
History
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The earliest generally accepted incarnation of West Ham United was founded in 1895 as the Thames Ironworks team by foreman and local league referee Dave Taylor and owner Arnold Hills and was announced in the Thames Ironworks Gazette of June 1895.
The team played on a strictly amateur basis for 1895 at least, with a team featuring a number of works employees including Thomas Freeman (ships fireman), Walter Parks (clerk), Tom Mundy, Walter Tranter and James Lindsay (all boilermakers), William Chapman, George Sage, and William Chamberlain and apprentice riveter Charlie Dove.
The club, Thames Ironworks F.C. were the first ever winners of the West Ham Charity Cup in 1895 contested by clubs in the locality, then won the London League in 1897. They turned professional in 1898 upon entering the Southern League Second Division, and were promoted to the First Division at the first attempt. The following year they came second from bottom, but had established themselves as a fully-fledged competitive team. They comfortably fended off the challenge of local rivals Fulham F.C. in a relegation play-off, 5-1 in late April 1900 and retained their First Division status.
The team initially played in full dark blue kits, as inspired by Mr. Hills, who had been an Oxford University "Blue", but changed the following season by adopting the sky blue shirts and white shorts combination worn through 1897 to 1899. In 1899 they acquired their now traditional home kit combination of claret shirts and sky blue sleeves in a wager involving Aston Villa F.C. players, who were League Champions at the time.
Following growing disputes over the running and financing of the club in June 1900 Thames Ironworks F.C. was wound up, then almost immediately relaunched on 5 July 1900 as West Ham United F.C. with Syd King as their manager and future manager Charlie Paynter as his assistant. Because of the original "works team" roots and links (still represented upon the club badge), they are still known to this day as 'the Irons' or 'the Hammers' amongst fans and the media.
The reborn club continued to play their games at the Memorial Ground in Plaistow (funded by Arnold Hills) but moved to a pitch in the Upton Park area when the team officially severed ties with the company (losing their works provisioned offices in the process). After being made groundless in 1901 the team became transient, playing their home games on a number of local teams' grounds until moving to its current home, Upton Park (in the guise of the Boleyn Ground stadium), in 1904.
West Ham's first game in their new home was against local rivals Millwall F.C. (themselves an Ironworks team, albeit for a rival company) drawing a crowd of 10,000 and with West Ham running out 3-0 winners, and as the Daily Mirror wrote on 2 September 1904:
West Ham Utd F.C. had joined the Western League for the 1901 season in addition to continuing playing in the Southern Division 1. In 1907 West Ham were crowned the Western League Division 1B Champions, and then defeated 1A champions Fulham 1-0 to become the Western Leagues Overall Champions.
In 1919, still under King's leadership, West Ham gained entrance to the Football League Second Division and were promoted to Division One in 1923, also making the FA Cup final that year. The team enjoyed mixed success in Division 1 but retained their status for 10 years and reached the FA Cup semifinal in 1927.
In 1932 the club was relegated to Division Two and long term custodian Sydney King was sacked after serving the club in the role of Manager for 32 years, and as a player from 1899 to 1903. He was replaced with his assistant manager Charlie Paynter who himself had been with West Ham in a number of roles since 1897 and who went on to serve the team in this role until 1950 for a total of 480 games.
The club spent most of the next 30 years in this division, first under Paynter and then later under the leadership of former player Ted Fenton. Fenton succeeded in getting the club once again promoted to the top level of English football in 1958 and in helping develop both the initial batch of future West Ham stars and West Ham's approach to the game.
Ron Greenwood was appointed as Fenton's successor in 1961 and he soon led the club to two major trophies, winning the FA Cup in 1964 and the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1965. During the 1966 World Cup, key members of the England national football team were West Ham players, including the captain, Bobby Moore; Martin Peters (who scored in the final); and Geoff Hurst, who scored the only hat-trick (to date) in a World Cup final. After a difficult start to the 1974-75 season, Greenwood moved himself "upstairs" to become General Manager and without informing the board, appointed his assistant John Lyall as team manager. The result was instant success - the team scored 20 goals in the their first four games combined and won the FA Cup that year.
Lyall then guided West Ham to another European Cup Winners' Cup final in 1976, though the team lost the match 4-2 to Anderlecht. Greenwood's tenure as General Manager lasted less than three years, as he was appointed to manage England in the wake of Don Revie's resignation in 1977.
In 1978, West Ham were again relegated to Division Two, but Lyall was retained as manager and led the team to another FA Cup win in 1980. This was notable because no team outside the top division has won the trophy since that time. West Ham were promoted to Division One in 1981, but were relegated again in 1989. This second relegation resulted in John Lyall's sacking, despite the fact that that stay in Division One saw West Ham achieve their highest-ever placing in the top division, finishing 3rd in 1986.
After Lyall, Lou Macari briefly led the team, though he resigned after less than a single season in order to clear his name of allegations of illegal betting whilst manager of Swindon Town. He was replaced by former player Billy Bonds. In Bonds' first full season (1990-91), West Ham again secured promotion to Division One. The following season they were again relegated to Division 2, which had been renamed Division One as part of the league realignments surrounding the creation of the English Premier League in 1992. West Ham spent the 1992-93 season in Division One. finishing second and returning to the Premier League in May 1993.
After the 1993-94 season, Bonds quit and was replaced by Harry Redknapp in August 1994. Redknapp was active in the transfer market, and gained a reputation as a "wheeler-dealer" especially with foreign players being more available following the Bosman ruling. He led West Ham to fifth place in the 1998-99 season, but missed automatic qualification for the UEFA Cup, and instead qualified as winners of the Intertoto Cup. Despite consolidating the league placings for a handful of seasons, a disagreement with the board of directors during the close of the 2000-01 season, found Redknapp replaced with Glenn Roeder, promoted from youth team coach.
In Roeder's first season the team finished seventh, but West Ham lost by wide margins in several matches (7-1 to Blackburn, 5-0 to Everton and 5-1 to Chelsea) The subsequent season started badly and eventually resulted in relegation. Roeder, who had missed some of the season after being diagnosed with a brain tumour that was treated) was sacked on 24 August 2003, three games into the Championship campaign. Trevor Brooking (who served as manager during Glenn's ill health the previous season) stepped in as interim manager before being replaced by Alan Pardew in October 2003, headhunted from fellow promotion contenders Reading. Pardew led the team to a playoff final, though they were beaten by Crystal Palace. The club stayed in Division One (which at this time became the Championship) for another season, when they again reached the playoff final, but this time won and gained re-entry to the Premiership.
On their return to the top division, West Ham finished in 9th place,. The highlight of the 2005-06 season, however, was reaching the FA Cup final, and taking favourites Liverpool to a penalty shootout, after a thrilling three-all draw. Although West Ham lost the shootout, they gained entry to the UEFA Cup as Liverpool had already qualified for the Champions League through league position.
In August 2006, West Ham completed a major coup on the last day of the transfer window, after completing the signings of Carlos Tévez and Javier Mascherano. The club was eventually bought by an Icelandic consortium, led by Eggert Magnússon in November 2006. Manager Alan Pardew was sacked after poor form during the season and was replaced by former Charlton manager Alan Curbishley.
The signings of Mascherano and Tévez were investigated by the Premier League, who were concerned that details of the transfers had been omitted from official records. The club was found guilty and fined 5.5 million pounds in April 2007. However, West Ham avoided a points deduction which ultimately became critical in their avoidance of relegation at the end of the 2006-07 season. Following on from this event, Wigan Athletic chairman Dave Whelan, supported by other sides facing possible relegation, including Fulham and Sheffield United, threatened legal action.
West Ham escaped relegation by winning seven of their last nine games, including a 1-0 win over Arsenal, and on the last day of the season defeated newly crowned League Champions Manchester United 1-0 with a goal by Tevez to finish 15th, above the relegation zone. Tevez' contributions were arguably important to the survival of the club in the Premiership as he scored seven goals, five of them crucial, in the last couple of months of the season to enable the team to stay up, notwithstanding his ineffectiveness throughout the early part of the season.
In the 2007-08 season, West Ham had a reasonably consistent place in the top half of the league table despite a slew of injuries; new signings Craig Bellamy and Kieron Dyer missed most of the campaign. The last game of the season, at the Boleyn Ground, saw West Ham draw 2-2 against Aston Villa; ensuring 10th place, finishing three points ahead of rivals Tottenham Hotspur. It was a five-place improvement on the previous season, and most importantly West Ham were never under any realistic threat of relegation.
After a row with the board over the sale of defenders Anton Ferdinand and George McCartney to Sunderland FC, manager Alan Curbishley resigned on 3 September 2008. His successor, Gianfranco Zola took over on 11 September 2008 and in so doing became the club's first foreign manager (The Scottish manager Lou Macari was the only other manager not from England), to coach the club and became West Ham's 12th manager..
Crest
The original club crest was a crossed pair of rivet hammers; tools commonly used in the iron and shipbuilding industry. A castle was later (circa 1903/4) added to the crest and represents a prominent local building, Green Street House, which was known as "Boleyn Castle" through an association with Anne Boleyn. The manor was reportedly one of the sites at which Henry VIII courted his second queen, though in truth there is no factual evidence other than the tradition of rumour.
The castle may have also been added as a result of the contribution made to the club by players of Old Castle Swifts, or even the adoption (in 1904) of Boleyn Castle FC as their reserve side when they took over their grounds on the site.
The crest was redesigned and updated by London design agency Springett Associates in the late 1990s, featuring a wider yellow castle with fewer cruciform "windows" along with the peaked roofs being removed; the tops of the towers had previously made the castle appear more akin to Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty's Castle than a functioning fortress. The designer also altered other details to give a more substantial feel to the iconography.
When the club redesigned the facade of the stadium (construction finished 2001/02) the 'castle' from the later badge was incorporated into the structure at the main entrance to the ground. A pair of towers are now prominent features of the ground's appearance, both bearing the club's modern insignia (which is also located in the foyer and other strategic locations).
Colours
The original colours of the team were dark blue, due to Thames Ironworks chairman Arnold Hills being a former student of Oxford University. However the team used a variety of kits including the claret and sky blue house colours of Thames Ironworks, as well as sky blue or white uniforms.
The Irons permanently adopted claret and blue for home colours in the summer of 1899. Thames Ironworks right-half Charlie Dove received the Aston Villa kit from his father William Dove, who was a professional sprinter of national repute, as well as being involved with the coaching at Thames Ironworks. Bill Dove had been at a fair in Birmingham, close to Villa Park, the home ground of Aston Villa and was challenged to a race against four Villa players, who wagered money that one of them would win.
Bill Dove defeated them and, when they were unable to pay the bet, one of the Villa players who was responsible for washing the team's kit offered a complete side's 'uniforms' to Dove in payment. The Aston Villa player subsequently reported to his club that the kit was 'missing'.
Thames Ironworks, and later West Ham United, retained the claret yoke/blue sleeves design, but also continued to use their previously favoured colours for their away kits, and indeed, in recent years the club have committed to a dark blue-white-sky blue rotation for the away colours. For instance, the 2008-09 squad will wear sky blue away kits, while last year's campaign saw white away kits, the year before saw navy blue, etc. However, last year's away kit will be the Hammers' third kit for the coming season.
West Ham announced on 2 March 2007 their new kit supplier will be Umbro for the next 3 seasons but has since been extended to the 2013/2014 season, with the club also announcing they will be changing the home and away kits at the end of every season for the next 3 years.
On 7 June 2007 the club announced their new kit sponsor will be XL.com.. On 12 September 2008 XL Leisure Group was put into administration, leaving the club without a sponsor.
On 3 December 2008, the club announced that SBOBET, a betting company, will be the shirt sponsors until the end of the 2009/10 season. Their logo will be worn on West Ham's first team shirts and replica adult kits. The Youth Academy and kids replicas will sport the Bobby Moore fund as sponsor due to the main sponsor being a betting firm.
Supporters, hooliganism and rivalries
Supporters
The team's supporters are famous for their rendition of the chorus of their team's anthem, "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles" introduced to the club by former manager Charlie Paynter in the late 1920s. At the time, a Pears soap commercial featuring the curly haired child in the Millais "Bubbles" painting who resembled a player Billy J. "Bubbles" Murray in a local schoolboy team of Park School for whom the headmaster Cornelius Beal coined singing the tune "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles" with amended lyrics.
Beal was a friend of Paynter, whilst Murray was a West Ham trialist and played football at schoolboy level with a number of West Ham players such as Jim Barrett. Through this contrivance of association the clubs fans took it upon themselves to begin singing the popular music hall tune before home games, sometimes reinforced by the presence of a house band requested to play the refrain by Charlie Paynter.
There is a slight change to the lyrics sung by the Upton Park faithful. The second line's "nearly reach the sky" is changed to "they reach the sky", "Then like my dreams" is also changed to "And like my dreams". In addition the fans begin a chant of "United, United!" to cap it off.
The 1975 FA Cup version - which contains the original lyrics, and features vocals from the teams then current players - is always played before home games, with the home crowd joining in and carrying the song on after the music stops at the verse line "Fortune's always hiding". The song was originally released as a single by the 1975 Cup Final squad and has been covered on occasion by such as the Cockney Rejects.
Like other teams (such as Liverpool F.C.'s adoption of "You'll Never Walk Alone") the team also have a history of adopting or adapting popular songs of the day to fit particular events, themes, players or personas. These have included serious renditions of theatre and movie classics such as "The Bells are Ringing", along with more pun laden or humorous efforts such as chanting former player Paolo di Canio's name to the canzone La donna è mobile by Verdi, or D.I.Canio to the tune of Ottawans D.I.S.C.O., or singing That's Zamora to the tune of Dean Martins 1953 classic That's Amore in honour of former Iron striker Bobby Zamora (this chant was originally created by the Brighton fans when he was at the club).
On the fans' darker side, they gained national attention after giving a torrid time to David Beckham in his first away match of 1998-9 the season after the England midfielder was sent off for a petulant foul on Diego Simeone. Coinciding with the game there were claims (and an image taken) that fans, organised by a hardcore, had hung an effigy of the player outside a local pub. Although it was later revealed that the pub was in South-East London, the heartland of West Ham's greatest rivals Millwall. The West Ham fans did boo Beckham's every touch of the ball during the game, however.
They have also displayed a particular zeal when it comes to abusing former players particularly those who are perceived to have abandoned the club, or performed some disservice. Famously Paul Ince ("Judas, Judas"), Frank Lampard("Fat Lumpolard"), Jermain Defoe ("You're just a small Paul Ince"), Craig Bellamy and Nigel Reo-Coker have born the brunt of verbal assaults and a guaranteed hostile reception at Upton Park. However, players such as Joe Cole, Michael Carrick, Rio Ferdinand, Bobby Zamora and Carlos Tevez receive applause and even standing ovations in honour of their contributions during their time at the club.
Many West Ham fans also follow Leyton Orient and Dagenham and Redbridge, West Ham fans can be seen at either Leyton Orient or Dagenham and Redbridge, whenever West Ham are playing away from home, although the warmth felt by West Ham fans for Orient is not usually reciprocated by the Orient supporters.
Hooliganism
The origins of West Ham's links with organised football-related violence starts in the 1960s with the establishment of The Mile End Mob (named after a particularly tough area of the East End of London).
During the 1970s and 1980s (the main era for organised football-related violence) West Ham gained further notoriety for the levels of hooliganism in their fan base and antagonistic behaviour towards both their own and rival fans, and the police.
The Inter City Firm were one of the first "casuals", so called because they avoided police supervision by not wearing football-related clothing and travelled to away matches on regular "Inter City" trains, rather than on the cheap and more tightly-policed "football special" charter trains. The group were an infamous West Ham-aligned gang. As the firm's moniker "inter city" suggests violent activities were not confined to local derbies - the hooligans were content to cause trouble at any game, though nearby teams often bore the brunt.
During the 1990s, and to the present day, sophisticated surveillance and policing coupled with club supported promotions and community action has reduced the level of violence, though the intense rivalry and association with Millwall, Chelsea and other major players in the 'firm' scheme remains.
The 2005 film "Green Street" (an allusion to the road on which the Boleyn Ground stands) depicted an American student played by Elijah Wood becoming involved with a fictional firm associated with West Ham, with an emphasis on the rivalry with Millwall. The two teams and their Chairmen moved to distance the clubs from the movie at the time. West Ham hooliganism was again highlighted in film in 2008, with the film based on the life of well known former hooligan Cass Pennant, Cass.
Rivalries
West Ham have strong rivalries with several other clubs. Most of these are with other London clubs, especially with their neighbours Tottenham Hotspur and also with Chelsea, which sublimates the age-old East versus West London rivalry.
The strongest and oldest rivalry is with Millwall. The two sides are local rivals, having both formed originally around the works sides Thames Ironworks and Millwall Ironworks shipbuilding companies. They were rivals for the same contracts and the players lived in the same locality. The early history of both clubs are intertwined, with West Ham proving to be the more successful in a number of meetings between the two teams, resulting in West Ham being promoted at the expense of Millwall. Millwall later declined to join the fledgling Football League while West Ham went on to the top division and an FA Cup final. Later in the 1920s the rivalry was intensified during strike action started by the East End (perceived to be West Ham fans) which Isle Of Dogs-based companies (i.e. Millwall fans) refused to support, breeding ill will between the two camps.
The rivalry between West Ham and Millwall has involved considerable violence and is one of the most notorious within the world of football hooliganism. However, the two clubs have not played each other in 4 years.
Another rivalry which has recently developed is with Sheffield United. The Blades have tried to sue West Ham and the Premier League for damages, over their claim that West Ham had an unfair advantage by playing Carlos Tevez. The FA fined West Ham a record £5.5 million for a third party contract agreement (illegal in the English Premier League) in the deal that brought Tevez to Upton Park, but ruled that the player was registered to play and had always been registered. The FA has sat twice on the matter and has thrown the case out twice. Sheffield United still continue to pursue damages, as they believe that West Ham should have been docked points instead of fined.
The day after West Ham were fined, they continued their fight to stay in the Premier League by defeating Wigan Athletic 3-0. In their last 9 games West Ham picked up 21 points by winning 7 of their last 9 games. Sheffield United only won 2 of their last 9 games, one of which was by defeating West Ham 3-0 at home to initially go 5 points above them. Their 2-1 defeat by Wigan on the last day of the season sealed their relegation. Meanwhile, West Ham won 1-0 away to Manchester United, with Carlos Tevez scoring the only goal, to ensure that they remained in the Premier league. This action by Sheffield United has increased fan and club rivalry and they are now seen as fierce rivals.
Nicknames
The fans and club alike are known as "The Hammers" by the media, partly because of the club's origins as Thames Ironworks company football team (see club crest) and also (incorrectly) due to the club's name. However, they are also known as "The Irons" by their own supporters. They are also known as "The Cockney Boys" from their history of being a Cockney team. Yet another nickname is "The Academy of Football", or just "The Academy", a nickname given, then adopted by West Ham United, by the London media.
Trivia
- The first ever FA Cup final to be held at the old Wembley stadium, in 1923, featured West Ham United vs Bolton Wanderers. This was also known as the White Horse Final. This is because so many people turned up to the game, (estimated at 200,000), that they spilled out on to the pitch. The pitch had to be cleared prior to kick-off, by Billie, a giant white horse (actually grey) being ridden by P.C. George Scorey. The cup final match itself ended at 2-0 to Bolton Wanderers. Some West Ham supporters felt because of crowd encroachment the game should have been postponed. It was not postponed because King George V was in attendance to present the Cup and it was thought too impolite to ask the King to return. It was considered that it was very appropriate that West Ham United appeared at the first Wembley final on the basis that the club name is an anagram of "The New Stadium". Had the new Wembley Stadium been completed on schedule for the 2006 FA Cup final West Ham would also have featured in the opening of the new stadium.
- West Ham are the most recent team to win the FA Cup with an all English side when they beat Fulham 2-0 in the 1975 final. They were also the last team to win the competition whilst outside of the top flight of English football, this occurred when they beat Arsenal 1-0 in the 1980 FA Cup Final.
- West Ham are the last team to ever win at Arsenal's old ground Highbury, and became the first team to win at Arsenal's new Emirates Stadium on April 7 2007 winning 1-0. In that same season West Ham did the league 'double' over Arsenal and Manchester United winning all four games 1-0.
- There is a "Champions" statue in Barking Road, opposite The Boleyn pub, commemorating West Ham's three sons who helped win the 1966 World Cup: Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters. Also included on the statue is Everton's Ray Wilson.
- The character Alf Garnett in the TV series Till Death Us Do Part is a West Ham supporter. Episodes of the series featured Bobby Moore and other members of the team.
- Also, the character Dean Thomas in the Harry Potter series is a West Ham supporter. Dean keeps a poster of the West Ham team in the dormitory he shares with Harry and others in his year.
- A 2005 film entitled Green Street Hooligans is based around the exploits of a fictional West Ham firm (loosely based on the ICF).
- Iron Maiden founder and bassist Steve Harris is a die-hard fan of the team, and it shows on his bass guitar, which sports the West Ham United crest. During the mid 1970s he was a youth team footballer for West Ham United. He still is a talented amateur football player, and he has stated his first ambition in life before music was to become a professional footballer.
- United States president Barack Obama has been a fan of West Ham since a trip to the UK.
- On the 11th of August 2008 before the pre-season friendly versus Villareal the famous number 6 shirt worn by Bobby Moore throughout his time at West Ham was retired as a mark of respect for the former defender. This was the first shirt to be retired by the Hammers.
- Trevor Brooking is the only player for West Ham United F.C. to have been honoured with the title of 'Hammer of the Year' three times in a row (1976, 1977 and 1978). He also is the player who has won the award most times as he has won it on five occasions (1972, 1976, 1977, 1978 and 1984).
Stadium
West Ham are currently based at the Boleyn Ground, commonly known as Upton Park, in Newham, East London. The capacity of the Boleyn Ground is 35,303. This has been West Ham's ground since 1904. Prior to this, in their previous incarnation of Thames Ironworks F.C., they played at Hermit Road in Canning Town and briefly at Browning Road in East Ham, before moving to the Memorial Grounds in Plaistow in 1897. They retained the stadium during their transition to becoming West Ham United and were there for a further four seasons before moving to the Boleyn Ground in 1904.
Former chairman Eggert Magnússon made clear his ambition for West Ham United to move to the Olympic Stadium after the 2012 Olympics. However, the move to the Olympic Stadium was abandoned when it was revealed that the stadium would have a reduced capacity from the current Boleyn Ground, and would have to remain primarily an athletics venue.
The Academy of Football
The club promotes the popular idea of West Ham being "The Academy of Football", with the moniker adorning the ground's new stadium façade. The comment predominantly refers to the club's youth development system which was established by Manager Ted Fenton during the 1950s, that has seen a number of international players emerge through the ranks. Most notably the club contributed three players to the World Cup winning England side of 1966 including club icon Bobby Moore, as well as Martin Peters and Geoff Hurst who between them scored all of England's goals in the eventual 4-2 victory. Other academy players that have gone on to play for England have included Trevor Brooking, Alvin Martin, Tony Cottee and Paul Ince. More recently, Rio Ferdinand, Joe Cole, Michael Carrick, Glen Johnson and Frank Lampard have begun their careers at the club. Frustratingly, for the fans and managers alike, the club has struggled to retain many of these players due to (predominantly) financial reasons. West Ham, during the 2007/08 season, had an average of 6.61 English players in the starting line up, higher than any other Premiership club, which cemented their status as one of the few Premier League clubs left that were recognised to be bringing through young English talent and were recognised as having 'homegrown players'.
Players
Current squad
- As of 5 March 2009.
Out on loan
Retired numbers
West Ham dream team
In the 2003 book The Official West Ham United Dream Team, 500 fans were quizzed for who would be in their all time Hammers Eleven. The voting was restricted to players from the modern era.
Hammer of the Year
The following is a list of the "Hammer of the Year award" won by West Ham United players.
| Year | Winner |
|---|
| 1958 | Andy Malcolm | | 1959 | Ken Brown | | 1960 | Malcolm Musgrove | | 1961 | Bobby Moore | | 1962 | Lawrie Leslie | | 1963 | Bobby Moore | | 1964 | Johnny Byrne | | 1965 | Martin Peters | | 1966 | Geoff Hurst | | 1967 | Geoff Hurst | | 1968 | Bobby Moore | | 1969 | Geoff Hurst | | 1970 | Bobby Moore | |
| | Year | Winner |
|---|
| 1971 | Billy Bonds | | 1972 | Trevor Brooking | | 1973 | Bryan 'Pop' Robson | | 1974 | Billy Bonds | | 1975 | Billy Bonds | | 1976 | Trevor Brooking | | 1977 | Trevor Brooking | | 1978 | Trevor Brooking | | 1979 | Alan Devonshire | | 1980 | Alvin Martin | | 1981 | | | 1982 | Alvin Martin | | 1983 | Alvin Martin | |
| | Year | Winner |
|---|
| 1984 | Trevor Brooking | | 1985 | Paul Allen | | 1986 | Tony Cottee | | 1987 | Billy Bonds | | 1988 | Stewart Robson | | 1989 | Paul Ince | | 1990 | Julian Dicks | | 1991 | Ludek Mikloško | | 1992 | Julian Dicks | | 1993 | | | 1994 | Trevor Morley | | 1995 | | | 1996 | Julian Dicks | |
| | Year | Winner |
|---|
| 1997 | Julian Dicks | | 1998 | Rio Ferdinand | | 1999 | Shaka Hislop | | 2000 | Paolo Di Canio | | 2001 | Stuart Pearce | | 2002 | | | 2003 | Joe Cole | | 2004 | Matthew Etherington | | 2005 | Teddy Sheringham | | 2006 | | | 2007 | Carlos Tévez | | 2008 | Robert Green |
|
Current staff
| Position | Name |
|---|
| Technical Director | Gianluca Nani | | Manager | Gianfranco Zola | | Assistant Manager | Steve Clarke | | First Team Coach | Kevin Keen | | Head of Sports Science | Nick Davies | | Head of Physiotherapy | George Cooper | | Head of Corporate Affairs | Ian Tompkins | | Reserve Team Physiotherapist | Dave Singleton | | Reserve & Conditioning Coach | Alex Dyer | | Fitness Coach | Antonio Pintus | | Youth Academy Director | Tony Carr | | Goalkeeping Coach | Ludek Mikloško | | Chief Scout | Roger Cross | | Kit Manager | Steve Rigby | |
Managers
West Ham have had only 12 managers in their history, fewer than any other major English club. Up until 1989 the club had only had five different managers. Before the appointment of Gianfranco Zola in 2008 the club never had an overseas manager, with the only non-Englishman being the Scot, Lou Macari. Former Hammers player and board member Trevor Brooking was briefly in charge during two separate spells as caretaker manager in 2003, first during the illness of Glenn Roeder and again between Roeder's sacking and the appointment of Alan Pardew. Former player Kevin Keen was a brief caretaker manager (just 1 game), prior to Zola's reign.
Ownership
West Ham United was owned by Terry Brown until 2006, when Eggert Magnússon and Björgólfur Guðmundsson bought the club. Soon after, manager Alan Pardew was sacked and ex-Charlton Athletic Manager Alan Curbishley was hired. In a bizarre twist of fate, the two managers met each other in a relegation battle where the Hammers lost 4-0 to their South East London rivals. However, West Ham eventually stayed up and Charlton were relegated. Terry BrownCutting Crew, ''Blue Rodeo, and Klaatu...
was criticised by some sections of the fans (including pressure group Whistle specifically formed for this purpose) due to a perception of financial and staff mismanagement. On 18 September 2007, it was announced that Magnússon would step down as executive chairman but would still retain the role as club non-executive chairman overseeing a new management structure, and would keep his stake in the club.
However on 13 December 2007, it was announced that Magnússon had left West Ham and that his 5 per cent holding had been bought by club majority owner Björgólfur Guðmundsson. He has since been blamed for West Ham´s overindulgence in the summer of 2007 when the team agreed sky-high wages for some players who then didn´t live up to expectations, Fredrik Ljungberg being a particular example.
Shirt sponsors and kit suppliers
On 11 September 2008, the BBC News Channel reported that the team's main sponsor, XL Leisure Group had been placed in administration, although Simon Calder of The Independent confirmed the group's website was still taking bookings.
The XL Leisure Group confirmed on their website that 11 companies associated with the group had been put into administration on 12 September 2008. This includes XL Airways UK Limited, Excel Aviation Limited, Explorer House Limited, Aspire Holidays Limited, Freedom Flights Limited, The Really Great Holiday Company plc, Medlife Hotels Limited, Travel City Direct, and Kosmar Villa Holidays plc. It does not affect the German and French divisions of the company's operations.
As of 12 September 2008 the club terminated its contract with XL Leisure group.
On December 3 2008 West Ham announced that they had signed a shirt sponsorship deal with Far Eastern betting firm SBOBET. The deal is set to run until the end of the 2009/10 season, and will see the company's logo on First Team and Reserve Team kit, and adult replica shirts; all Academy teams and child replica shirts will carry the logo of the Bobby Moore Fund.
Shirt sponsors
| Years | Sponsor |
|---|
| 1983-89 | AVCO Trust | | 1989-93 | BAC Windows | | 1993-97 | Dagenham Motors | | 1998-2003 | Dr. Martens | | 2003-07 | JobServe | | 2007-08 | XL.com | | 2008-present | SBOBET |
Kit suppliers
Honours
Senior
Domestic
League
- Premier League:
- Highest placing: 5th 1998-99
Cups
European
International
Other
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Youth
Reserve
As Thames Ironworks F.C.
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Statistics and records
Attendance
Transfers
Record results and performances
Victories
- League Cup:
- Home: 10-0 v Bury (Rd 2 leg 2), 25/10/1983
- Away: 5-1 v Cardiff City (sf leg 2), 2/2/1966 & 5-1 v Walsall (Rd 2), 13/9/1967
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Defeats
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Club league highs and lows
- See also West Ham United F.C. by season
- Home:
- Most:
- Most Home Wins: 19 (1980-81)
- Most Home Draws: 10 (1981-82)
- Most Home Defeats: 10 (1988-89)
- Most Home Goals Scored: 59 (1958-59)
- Most Home Goals Conceded: 44 (1930-31)
- Fewest:
- Fewest Home Wins: 3 (1988-89)
- Fewest Home Draws: 1 (1934-35, 1980-81)
- Fewest Home Defeats: 1 (1957-58, 1980-81)
- Fewest Home Goals Scored: 19 (1988-89)
- Fewest Home Goals Conceded: 11 (1920-21, 1922-23)
| | Away:- Most:
- Most Away Wins: 11 (1922-23, 1957-58)
- Most Away Draws: 10 (1968-69)
- Most Away Defeats: 17 (1932-33)
- Most Away Goals Scored: 45 (1957-58)
- Most Away Goals Conceded: 70 (1931-32)
- Fewest:
- Fewest Away Wins: 1 (1925-26, 1932-33, 1937-38, 1960-61)
- Fewest Away Draws: 1 (1982-83)
- Fewest Away Defeats: 3 (1980-81)
- Fewest Away Goals Scored: 12 (1996-97)
- Fewest Away Goals Conceded: 16 (1990-91)
| | Total:- Most:
- Most Total Wins: 28 (1980-81)
- Most Total Draws: 18 (1968-69)
- Most Total Defeats: 23 (1931-32)
- Most Total Goals Scored: 101 (1957-58)
- Most Total Goals Conceded: 107 (1931-32)
- Fewest:
- Fewest Total Wins: 9 (1987-88, 1991-92)
- Fewest Total Draws: 4 (1934-35, 1964-65, 1982-83)
- Fewest Total Defeats: 4 (1980-81)
- Fewest Total Goals Scored: 37 (1988-89, 1991-92)
- Fewest Total Goals Conceded: 29 (1980-81)
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Club goal records
- Most League Goals In A Season:
- 101, Division Two 1957-58
- Top League Scorer In A Season:
Follow link to Official West Ham United Records Page | |
Player records |
See also
Sources
External links
Official
Unofficial
External references
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