Blast from the past

19th April 1952 – Nat King Cole was number one with ‘Unforgettable’ and Ted Fenton’s mid-table West Ham United beat George Roughton’s Southampton 4-0 in a Second Division encounter in front of 18,119 at The Boleyn Ground.

This match was the Hammers’ last home game, and final victory, of the 1951/52 campaign – they would close the season with two away draws, at Brentford and Sheffield Wednesday. They came up against a side containing future Chelsea and England right-back Peter Sillett, while fellow full-back Bill Ellerington had already been capped by the Three Lions.

West Ham’s goals in this victory 68 years ago came courtesy of a brace from 32-year-old East Ham-born outside-right Terry Woodgate (pictured) and strikes from 21-year-old inside-right Jim Barrett Junior (the son of Hammers legend and England international ‘Big Jim’ Barrett) and 24-year-old Irish centre-forward Fred Kearns.

John Terence (‘Terry’) Woodgate had made his Hammers debut before the Second World War, on 7th April 1939 in a 2-0 Good Friday home defeat to Bradford Park Avenue. He won a regular place in the first team after the conflict having served for more than six years with the Essex Regiment and Royal Artillery. He scored a seven-minute hat-trick against Plymouth in a Football League South fixture at Upton Park on 16th February 1946. He bagged a total of 74 goals in 355 appearances in the claret and blue, making his final appearance in a 5-1 Essex Professional Cup defeat at Colchester on 22nd October 1953 before transferring to Peterborough in March 1954 following the emergence of Harry Hooper and Malcolm Musgrove as regular first-team contenders. He later played for March Town United, and went on to be the landlord of the Cock Inn pub in the Cambridgeshire town of March after his retirement from playing. Terry Woodgate died in the town of March, aged 65, on 26th April 1985.

West Ham went on to finish the 1951/52 season in 12th position. Bert Hawkins was the club’s top goalscorer with 15 goals from 37 matches. Southampton finished 13th, Sheffield Wednesday won the Second Division title, Manchester United won the league and Newcastle won the FA Cup.

West Ham United: Ernie Gregory, George Wright, Harry Kinsell, Derek Parker, Malcolm Allison, Frank O’Farrell, Terry Woodgate, Jim Barrett Junior, Fred Kearns, Gerry Gazzard, Jimmy Andrews.

Southampton: Fred Kiernan, Peter Sillett, Billy Ellerington, Bryn Elliott, Stan Clements, Joe Mallett, Eric Day, Ted Bates, Walter Judd, Jimmy McGowan, Tom Lowder.

Club Connections

Michail Antonio welcomes his former club. An array of West Ham United’s good, bad and ugly have also turned out for Southampton:

Goalkeepers: Richard Wright, George Kitchen.

Defenders: Richard Hall, Christian Dailly, Joe Kirkup, Wayne Bridge, Neil Ruddock, Jose Fonte, Ian Pearce, Bill Adams, Darren Powell, Albie Roles, Horace Glover, Calum Davenport.

Midfielders: Bobby Weale, Luis Boa Morte, Nigel Quashie, Eyal Berkovic, Robbie Slater, Peter Cowper, Jimmy Carr, Paul Allen.

Strikers: Vic Watson, Justin Fashanu, David Speedie, David Connolly, Viv Gibbins, Iain Dowie, Ted MacDougall, Henri Camara, Alex McDonald, Frank Costello, Walter Pollard, Arthur Wilson, Jimmy Harris, Jack Foster, Jack Farrell.

In addition, George Kay played for the Hammers and managed the Saints while Harry Redknapp and Alan Pardew have managed both clubs.

Today’s focus though is on a player who turned out for Southampton before representing West Ham later in his career. Fred Harrison was a centre-forward who was born on 2nd July 1880 in Winchester. Starting his career with local sides Fitzhugh Rovers and Bitterne Guild in Southampton, he was discovered by famous Saints player Joe Turner who recommended him to the Southampton directors as a “fast goal-getter with a deadly shot”. The 20-year-old Harrison made his Saints debut in the penultimate match of the 1900/01 Southern League championship season. During the following season, Harrison gradually established himself in the team on the left wing, making 15 league appearances and scoring five goals.

Moving to centre-forward ‘Buzzy’, as he was known by his adoring public at The Dell, quickly found his form scoring five goals in consecutive Southern League home matches against Wellingborough Town and Northampton in March 1903. He finished the 1902/03 season as top scorer with 17 goals from just 13 matches as Southampton won the Southern League championship. He was again top scorer in the 1903/04 season with 27 goals from 32 league appearances as the Saints clinched the Southern League title for the sixth (and final) time in eight seasons – he scored hat-tricks in a 5-1 victory over Northampton on 7th December 1903 and in a 6-1 defeat of Bristol Rovers on 12th March 1904 with his form earning him an England trial. Harrison suffered from illness in 1904/05 and struggled to find the form which had made him such a success in the previous season. He regained some of his form in the 1905/06 and 1906/07 seasons, during which he was again top scorer. By now Southampton were beginning to struggle both on the pitch and financially and in November 1907, along with Fred Mouncher, he was sold to Fulham for the huge sum of £1,000. Harrison had made 166 appearances for Southampton, scoring 88 goals.

After nearly four years in the Football League with the west Londoners, the 30-year-old Harrison (pictured) moved to Southern League West Ham United with team-mate George Redwood in 1911, again for £1,000, and got off to a flying start in Hammers colours by scoring on his debut in a 4-1 win against former club Southampton on Good Friday, 14th April 1911; he also bagged the only goal of the game in the reverse fixture at The Dell three days later. He endeared himself further to the West Ham faithful when he scored both goals in a 2-1 win over Millwall at Upton Park on 4th November 1911 in front of a 23,000 crowd, more than double the usual Hammers attendance at the time. Harrison scored 16 goals in the 1911/12 campaign, partly making up for the loss of George Webb when illness ruled the England international out for the rest of the season in December. He formed a great partnership with Danny Shea and was part of the Irons team that defeated First Division Middlesbrough in the FA Cup second round in February 1912 – Harrison scored West Ham’s goal in the first match which was drawn 1-1 at Ayresome Park and, despite carrying an injury from the first match, he scored the winner in the replay at the Boleyn.

George Hilsdon, returning to the club from Chelsea, replaced Harrison in the front-line in the 1912/13 season. Harrison was switched to play at centre-half for several games, including a notable 5-0 FA Cup second round defeat at Aston Villa on 1st February 1913 – Villa would go on to finish second in the First Division and win the FA Cup at the end of the campaign. Harrison scored his last goal for the Hammers in a 1-1 home draw, again against former club Southampton, on 15th February 1913; his final appearance for the Irons was on the 29th March 1913, in a 2-1 home win over Brentford. Harrison had made 62 appearances in his two years with West Ham United, scoring 23 goals. He transferred to Bristol City in August 1913, where he ended his career the following year.

After being gassed during action in the First World War, he set up a master plasterers business in Southampton. Fred Harrison passed away in Swaythling, Southampton on 21st November 1969, at the age of 89.

Referee

The referee on Saturday will be 41-year-old Anthony Taylor – his Irons appointments this season have been for our 1-1 draw at Brighton in August and, most recently, our 2-0 home win over Manchester United in September. He also refereed our 1-0 win at Tottenham last April.

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Controversy and incident are never far away when the Cheshire-based official is the referee for a West Ham United match. Taylor was in charge for our 2-1 opening-day defeat at Chelsea in August 2016, awarding the home side a penalty and later controversially failing to issue a second yellow card to Diego Costa for an awful lunge at Adrian – Costa remained on the pitch to score the 89th-minute winner. Taylor also awarded a controversial and ultimately match-winning penalty to Liverpool at Upton Park in April 2014, while there was also controversy surrounding Guy Demel’s equaliser for West Ham in that game. Taylor is also the referee who had not one, but two red cards rescinded from the same game after he had sent off Carlton Cole and Darron Gibson in the Hammers’ 2-1 home defeat to David Moyes’ Everton in December 2012. He sent off the home side’s Kevin Mirallas against the Hammers at Goodison Park in March 2016 and awarded the Toffees a penalty which Romelu Lukaku saw saved by Adrian.

Possible line-ups

David Moyes is without Tomas Soucek, Jack Wilshere and Andriy Yarmolenko, while Ryan Fredericks is expected to be out for six weeks following surgery.

Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl will be without Nathan Redmond but on-loan Tottenham right-back Kyle Walker-Peters is expected to be available. Saints winger Moussa Djenepo is a doubt for the game due to personal reasons after his mother sadly passed away.

Possible West Ham United XI: Fabianski; Ngakia, Diop, Ogbonna, Cresswell; Fornals, Rice, Noble, Anderson; Antonio, Haller.

Possible Southampton XI: McCarthy; Walker-Peters, Stephens, Bednarek, Bertrand; Ward-Prowse, Romeu, Hojbjerg, Armstrong; Ings, Long.

Enjoy the game – Come On You Irons!

I would like to make a tribute to our away fans, the most loyal and viciferous of our supporters. Game after away game, they can be heard above the home supporters urging our team on.

The fact that they, the heart of our club, staged a demonstration against GSB yesterday shows how widespread the dissatisfaction is with our board. Whatever happens, this will not change. Unfortunately, they will never be able to distance themselves from the promises they made when we moved to the London Stadium. I urge them to get rid of Brady and disassociate themselves from any decision making at the club. Get a true Director of Football or even Directors of Football.

By the way, I believe one lesson Husillos taught us is that we should only buy players who are British, or have at least two year’s experience in the football league. One of our main problems is we have a hotchpotch of players with all the associated problems of adapting to England and the Premier League. Probably for every good buy, such as Payet and Lanzini, we have five who don’t make the grade. Make your own list.

In my last post, I stated that David Moyes has brought new commitment and effort from the players. Some disagreed, but last night ,our players cannot be faulted on that score. If this continues, there is no way we shall be relagated, although I am afraid of the inconsistency we have shown in the past on that score.

I also questioned why Ngakia had disappeared.I believe there is now complete agreement that his place in the team should be made permanent.

Now, despite what I have already said about David Moyes, his tactics, team choice and substitutions seemed to be deteriorating and no better than Pellegrini. We should highlight particularly the treatment of Pablo Fornals. I must admit I thought he was a waste of space for his first few games, but then , just as he started improving game by game, he was dropped. This was a great mistake. Based on his performance against Liverpool, he needs to be reinstated.

We are all agreed it was a great performance against Liverpool and very heartening. However, we have in Snodgrass, Noble and perhaps Cresswell, players who lack the pace for the Premier League. If we are to move on, they need to be replaced. We keep hearing about what a great captain Noble is, but I keep thinking about the confrontation he had with Ogbonna on the pitch.

Antonio is not a striker/centre forward.He needs to play further back , so his ability as a bull in a china shop can be fully exploited. He is the one player who has always given his best. Anderson was out worst player, but he can be excused as he was coming back from injury. He reminded me of my snooker game. Everything is perfect in my head, but the execution is awful. But, we should have faith, because he is the one player who can reach the level of a genius, but his confidence to go for goal himself needs to be restored.

Tragically, Fabianski made an unexplainable error. He should donate a week’s wages to charity and undergo a flogging by Brady. That, at least , would give her something to do for her £20,000 per week. By the way, what does she do, apart from adding London to our logo?Answers on a postcard please.

What to do with Haller? I havent got a clue.But for his brief appearance, Bowen showed he has pace and got himself in a position to have his Roy of the Rovers moment. Perhaps , Haller should be sent on a sabbatical to Striker’s School. His positional sense seems to be lacking.

By the way, I thought Rice was sensational and showed his real class – the finest tribute to Bobby Moore. Soucek also showed commitment and it would be a shame to lose him for a few games.

So, onwards and upwards to the game against Southampton.

Liverpool v West Ham
FA Premier League
Anfield
KO 8pm
TV: Sky Sports
Radio: BBC Five Live

Please use this thread to comment on the match as it progresses.

Blast from the past

Since our first game at the home of Liverpool in 1914, we have only ever won there on four occasions – the most recent was in 2015, 52 years after our previous victory there in 1963; prior to that was a win in 1954 and our first victory was back in 1928. Needless to say, Anfield is not the happiest of Hammers hunting grounds!

That first victory came on 4th February 1928 in a First Division match in front of 23,897 spectators – Leon Trotsky had been exiled to Alma-Ata four days previously while, four days later, John Logie Baird broadcasted a transatlantic television signal from London to New York. Hammers legends Jimmy Ruffell (pictured) and Vic Watson were on the scoresheet, Ruffell scoring twice and Watson once in a 3-1 victory. Dick Edmed struck the hosts’ consolation from the penalty spot. Outside-left Ruffell would end the season as the Irons’ top goalscorer with 19 goals in 41 matches.

The Hammers went on to finish in 17th place in 1927/28, level on 39 points with six other teams and one point clear of relegated Tottenham. Liverpool were one of these sides, the Reds finishing one place above the Hammers while their Merseyside rivals, Everton, won the title. Blackburn won the FA Cup.

Liverpool: Arthur Riley, Tom Lucas, David McMullan, Tom Bromilow, Fred Hopkin, Dick Edmed, Harry Chambers, Tommy Reid, John Clarke, Don MacKinlay, Jimmy Jackson.

West Ham United: Ted Hufton, Billy Henderson, Alfred Earl, Jimmy Collins, Bill Cox, Albert Cadwell, Tommy Yews, Stan Earle, Vic Watson, Billy Moore, Jimmy Ruffell.

Club Connections

Adrian welcomes his former club. A whole host of players join the goalkeeper in having turned out for both West Ham United and Liverpool, particularly over the last 30 years. These include:

Goalkeepers: David James, Charles Cotton.

Defenders: Alvaro Arbeloa, Rob Jones, David Burrows, Glen Johnson, Julian Dicks, Rigobert Song, Neil Ruddock, Thomas Stanley.

Midfielders: Don Hutchison, Yossi Benayoun, Joe Cole, Victor Moses, Paul Ince, Ray Houghton, Javier Mascherano, Stewart Downing, Mike Marsh.

Strikers: Craig Bellamy, Peter Kyle, Titi Camara, Andy Carroll, Robbie Keane, David Speedie, Neil Mellor, Charlie Satterthwaite, Danny Shone, Tom Bradshaw.

George Kay made 237 league appearances for the Hammers between 1919 and 1926, becoming the first-ever player to play more than 200 league matches for the club. Kay was also the West Ham captain in the 1923 FA Cup Final. He went on to manage Liverpool between 1936 and 1951, winning the First Division title in 1947.

Today’s focus falls on a former England left-back who played for West Ham before later appearing for Liverpool. Paul Konchesky was born in Barking on 15th May 1981 and went to school in Dagenham. He was a product of the Senrab club, which also produced the likes of John Terry and Jermain Defoe. Konchesky attended the West Ham United Academy as a youngster and was a season-ticket holder at the club who idolised Julian Dicks.

Konchesky joined Charlton at the age of 16 and became the club’s youngest ever player in 1997, a record since broken by Jonjo Shelvey. He sent a penalty over the bar against West Ham in a 2-0 defeat for Charlton at Upton Park in April 2002. The 21-year-old Konchesky made his England debut at the Boleyn Ground under Sven-Goran Eriksson in a 3-1 friendly defeat to Australia in February 2003. He joined Tottenham on loan in the summer of 2003 but was recalled in December of that year due to an injury crisis at his parent club.

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Konchesky remained at Charlton until the summer of 2005 when he signed for Alan Pardew’s newly-promoted West Ham United for a fee of £1.5m. The 24-year-old made his West Ham debut on the opening day of the 2005/06 season, in a 3-1 home win against Blackburn on 13th August 2005. He was sent off in his next game, a 0-0 draw at Newcastle the following week, although the red card was later rescinded. He won his second and final England cap in a 3-2 friendly win over Argentina in November 2005 and scored his first goal for West Ham in a 2-0 home win over Sunderland on 4th February 2006. His second and final goal for the club, in the 2006 FA Cup Final in Cardiff, so nearly saw the Hammers lift the trophy before Steven Gerrard’s late intervention; Konchesky saw his penalty saved in the shoot-out as Liverpool won the FA Cup following a 3-3 draw. Both of Konchesky’s goals for West Ham can be viewed in my video below.

Having made 45 appearances in his first season at West Ham, a loss of form for both Konchesky and the Hammers team saw him make just 25 appearances in 2006/07, with new signing George McCartney increasingly preferred in the starting line-up. Konchesky’s former manager at Charlton, Alan Curbishley, took over midway through the campaign and Konchesky was sent off in Curbishley’s second match in charge, a goalless draw at Fulham on 23rd December 2006. His final appearance for the club came in a 4-3 home defeat to Tottenham on 4th March 2007.

Konchesky signed for Fulham for a fee of £3.6m in July 2007, having scored two goals in 70 appearances for West Ham United. He scored the BBC’s Goal of the Month in January 2009 against his old club at Upton Park, a game which saw the Hammers triumph 3-1. Having appeared for Fulham in the Europa League Final against Atletico Madrid, the 29-year-old Konchesky followed manager Roy Hodgson to Anfield, signing for Liverpool for £3.7m on August transfer deadline day in 2010. He made his debut on 12th September 2010 in a 0-0 draw at Birmingham and made 18 appearances for the Reds, without scoring. His final appearance for Liverpool came in a 3-1 defeat at Blackburn on 5th January 2011.

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With Kenny Dalglish taking over as Liverpool manager, Konchesky joined Nottingham Forest on loan in January 2011 for the second half of the 2010/11 season. He joined Leicester in a permanent move at the end of that season. Konchesky spent the 2015/16 campaign on loan at QPR and joined Gillingham in a permanent move in the summer of 2016. He dropped down to the Isthmian League Premier Division to join Billericay Town in February 2017 and had a short spell with East Thurrock United of the National League South in the summer of 2018.

Now 38, Konchesky owns Konch’s Kafe in Brentwood and is a patron of Stacey’s Smiles, a charity which provides treats and wishes for children with neuroblastoma.

Referee

The referee on Monday will be Jonathan Moss. The Yorkshire-based official’s matches in charge of the Hammers last season were our 1-0 home win over Arsenal in January and our 4-3 home win over Huddersfield in March. He refereed our 1-0 win at Chelsea in November and, most recently, our 2-0 home defeat to Liverpool last month.

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Arguably the 49-year-old’s most controversial Hammers appointment was the 2-2 draw at Leicester in April 2016 when he sent off Jamie Vardy and awarded two penalties, the second arriving deep into stoppage time as the Foxes rescued a precious point.

Possible line-ups

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp is without Nathaniel Clyne, Jordan Henderson and Xherdan Shaqiri. The Reds are unbeaten in seven league matches against West Ham, winning five and drawing two. Liverpool need five victories from their final 12 league fixtures to guarantee a first top-flight title since 1990.

West Ham boss David Moyes is without the injured Ryan Fredericks, Jack Wilshere and Andriy Yarmolenko. Moyes has not won any of his 15 matches as a manager against Liverpool at Anfield. Michail Antonio has scored in four of his five Premier League appearances against Liverpool.

Possible Liverpool XI: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Van Dijk, Robertson; Keita, Fabinho, Wijnaldum; Salah, Firmino, Mane.

Possible West Ham United XI: Fabianski; Zabaleta, Diop, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Masuaku; Rice, Soucek, Noble; Bowen, Antonio.

Enjoy the game – Up The Hammers!

Just to quickly let everyone know that at midnight we reached our target of £5,000 to fund the future development of WestHamTillIDie.com. It came due to a very genrous donation by a site regular of £390. This person wishes to remain anonymous, but I thank them, and indeed everyone else who donated.

What I need to do now is develop a proper spec for the new site. I’ve already discussed with Russell the basics, but now is the time to feed in any ideas or requests that you may have. Feel free to leave comments below or email me via the Contact button at the top of the page. I’ll probably launch a Survey Monkey survey over the course of the next few days as well.

I would hope the new site will be ready to launch in the Spring or early Summer. One thing I can promise is the return of the Predictor League for the start of next season… whichever league we happen to be in!

So thanks once again. It’s great to read all the comments from people about how you all value this site. It’s really brought home to me what a community we have built together. Let’s all be proud of it.

All the best

Iain