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Dan Coker's Match Preview

Match Preview: Burnley

Blast from the past

28th September 1974: Ceefax was five days old, the football world was reeling from the ending of the short but turbulent tenure of Brian Clough at Elland Road, Carl Douglas was ‘Kung Fu Fighting’ at the top of the charts and the country was twelve days from its second General Election of the year. And West Ham United scored five goals in one match away from home. Heady times indeed.

Being West Ham, we didn’t make it easy – we let three in at this weekend’s destination, Turf Moor, that day in front of 17,613. But legends Brooking and Bonds were on target, supplemented by a Billy Jennings strike and a double from Keith Robson. The 5-3 victory was one of only three on the road in 1974/75. Burnley would close the season in tenth position, while the Hammers would finish in thirteenth place and as FA Cup winners.

West Ham United: Mervyn Day, John McDowell, Kevin Lock, Tommy Taylor, Frank Lampard, Billy Bonds, Trevor Brooking, Graham Paddon, Billy Jennings, Keith Robson, Bobby Gould.

Club Connections

A small collection of players have turned out for the Hammers and the Clarets. They include Tyrone Mears, Frank Birchenough, Matt Taylor, Jack Tresadern, Walter Pollard, Junior Stanislas, Herman Conway, Reg Attwell and Zavon Hines.

Today’s focus though falls on a player who had just a short stint at West Ham before finishing his career with Burnley – Joe Gallagher.

Gallagher was born in Liverpool in 1955 but signed for Birmingham City as a 15-year-old trainee. After 335 appearances for the Blues (and one England B cap), the central defender moved to Wolves in 1981 for £350,000. Within months, the Molineux outfit were declared bankrupt and Gallagher’s contract was cancelled by the club.

The Hammers were suffering a defensive crisis in late 1982 – Alvin Martin was injured, Ray Stewart was suspended and Billy Bonds had a broken toe. Gallagher himself took up the story in an interview with the official club site in 2011:

“My move to West Ham came out of the blue. It was a Sunday evening and I was putting my daughter in the bath as usual when my phone rang. It was about 7.30pm and on the other end of the phone was John. I couldn’t believe it was John Lyall, but he asked if he could come up and speak to me about signing for West Ham.

“I said ‘Yes’ and within two hours there was a knock at my door and there was John on my doorstep. John explained that West Ham had a few defenders out.

“John told me that night he really needed me to come to West Ham, which I said was fine, but he said there was one problem. I thought ‘Oh no, here we go, there’s a problem’. He said ‘You have to come with us now’.

“I said ’That’s not a problem, give me two minutes to pack a bag’. So I packed a bag and within a couple hours me, John and Eddie Bailey, who’d come up with John, were back down in London and they put me up in a hotel in Essex.”

“John took me down to West Ham on that Sunday night and although I was only there for about nine months, I had a fantastic time. It was a dream come true for me to be playing and getting changed alongside the likes of Trevor Brooking, Billy Bonds, Frank Lampard, Alvin Martin, Phil Parkes and Ray Stewart.”

“It was an absolute joy being at West Ham. We’d go into training and every day it would be different. John took a lot of the training but there was also a lot of input from Ronnie Boyce.

“It was amazing because every training session was different. If you ask most players from the ‘70s and ‘80s, training was pretty boring and it was the same thing every day. At West Ham it was different every day. I’d come off the training pitch and say ’I’d never done that before’ and all the lads would say they never did the same session twice. Every day was an absolute joy.”

“The first thing that struck me about John was how down to earth he was. He told me not to call him ‘Boss’ but to call him ‘John’. I thought for someone so high ranking it was amazing that he didn’t want to be called ‘Boss’ but ‘John’.

“Also, everyone at the club was treated the same – Billy Bonds, Trevor Brooking, Alan Devonshire, Francois Van der Elst, or the youngsters coming through, the likes of Tony Cottee and Alan Dickens. John was not only a top football manager but a thorough 100 per cent English gentleman.

“I couldn’t believe the way I was looked after at the club. On the first and second days that I was at the club, I was treated like I had been there for 15 years – everyone took me under their wing. I would go back to my hotel and think ‘This can’t be true. I can’t believe I’m being treated like this’.

“The lads couldn’t do enough to help me, the likes of Alvin Martin and Ray Stewart would even take me round the local area to look for houses to buy.”

After nine league appearances for the Hammers, and a couple in the cup, Gallagher signed for Burnley in 1983, appearing 47 times and scoring three goals. After playing, Gallagher managed non-league Midlands outfits Coleshill Town, Atherstone United and Kings Heath before opening a hotel and subsequently losing all the money he made from the game. Now 59, Gallagher upholds his football links through his work with the Press Association at Birmingham home games and the hospitality work he does at St Andrews, while his full-time occupation as of three years ago was as a shift manager at Land Rover. In 2012, Gallagher was one of seven former players elected to Birmingham City’s Hall of Fame.

Referee

Saturday’s referee is Kevin Friend. The Leicester-based official has been involved in top-flight matches since 2009 and last took charge of the Hammers in our 3-1 defeat at The Emirates in April. He is probably more renowned for the soft penalty he gifted Hull City in our 1-0 defeat at The KC Stadium last September when Joey O’Brien was adjudged to have shoved Robbie Brady. Friend compounded the error by later denying the Irons a clear penalty when Jake Livermore handled in the area.

Possible line-ups

Burnley are set to be buoyed by the return of several first-team regulars: defender Michael Keane and midfielders Nathaniel Chalobah, Dean Marney and David Jones could all make the starting line-up, along with striker Danny Ings. Right-back Kieran Trippier faces a late fitness test, while Steven Reid, Matt Taylor and Sam Vokes look set to miss out.

West Ham United’s squad is set to be boosted by the return of Mark Noble, James Collins and Ricardo Vaz Te. Carl Jenkinson was released from England Under-21 duty but should be fit, while Guy Demel faces a late fitness test. Sam Allardyce faces the tough decision of whether to stick with a winning side or restore vice-captain Noble to the starting XI. Mauro Zarate is the man most likely to make way for Noble should Big Sam opt to twist.

Possible Burnley XI: Heaton; Trippier, Duff, Shackell, Ward; Arfield, Chalobah, Marney, Kightly; Barnes, Ings.

Possible West Ham United XI: Adrian; Jenkinson, Tomkins, Reid, Cresswell; Song, Amalfitano, Downing, Zarate; Sakho, Valencia.

Enjoy the game – Come On You Irons!

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