Blast from the past
By scoring in his last appearance, the winner against champions Manchester City, Diafra Sakho took his goalscoring exploits in consecutive matches beyond the likes of Hammers legends Johnny Byrne, David Cross, John Dick, Tony Cottee and Pop Robson. His seventh goal in seven games (6 Premier League, 1 League Cup) also equalled the efforts of Jimmy Ruffell and Sir Geoff Hurst. Sakho should return from injury against Aston Villa this weekend but will still not be able to match the efforts of West Ham United’s all-time greatest goalscorer even if he continues his remarkable baptism to English football by notching in this weekend’s fixture.
Vic Watson is, without question, the most prolific striker East London has ever seen. He scored 298 league goals in 462 appearances, bagging a further 28 goals in the FA Cup, making him the club’s record goalscorer with 326. He scored six goals in one match, against Leeds in an 8-2 win in February 1929, scored four in one game on three occasions and scored a further 13 hat-tricks. Watson scored in nine consecutive games (6 in Division One, 3 in the FA Cup) in 1930, currently placing him two ahead of Sakho.
Victor Martin Watson was born in Girton, Cambridgeshire on 10th November 1897 – next Monday would have been his 117th birthday. He fought in the British Army during World War One, reaching the rank of sergeant. Syd King signed Watson for a fee of £25 in 1920 as cover for Hammers hero Syd Puddefoot (who scored in 18 consecutive matches in the Wartime London Combination). Watson consequently started his West Ham career at outside-left – it wasn’t until two years later, when King sold Puddefoot for a British record fee of £5,000 to Falkirk, that Watson took his place at centre-forward. The rest is Hammers history. The following season, we reached the FA Cup Final and won promotion to the First Division. Watson’s goal celebration was to pick a blade of grass from the turf and put it between his teeth – no wonder the grass didn’t seem to grow back at Upton Park until the mid-1990s!
Watson ended his career at Southampton before running a fruit and vegetable small holding back in Cambridgeshire. He died at the age of 90 in his hometown of Girton on 3rd August 1988, nine days after West Ham sold one of his goalscoring successors, Tony Cottee, to Everton and six days after fellow Hammers legend Billy Bonds retired.
So, why Vic Watson? Why now? Well, apart from Sakho’s recent, almost comparable, form, Watson scored 18 goals in 15 matches against this weekend’s opponents, Aston Villa. This statistic included three hat-tricks, the first of which came in a First Division fixture almost 88 years ago, on the 13th November 1926 in front of 7,647. A trio from Watson that afternoon was supplemented by strikes from England colleague Stan Earle and Thomas Yews, with Arthur Dorrell replying for the visitors as the Hammers recorded a 5-1 home victory.
West Ham would end the 1926/27 season in 6th position, while Aston Villa would close the campaign in 10th place.
West Ham United: Ted Hufton, Thomas Hodgson, John Hebden, James Collins, Jim Barrett, George Carter, Jimmy Ruffell, Thomas Yews, Viv Gibbins, Vic Watson, Stan Earle.
Aston Villa: Tommy Jackson, Tommy Smart, Tommy Mort, Victor Milne, Frank Moss, Billy Kingdon, Arthur Dorrell, Richard York, Billy Walker, George Ternent Stephenson, Walter Harris.
Club Connections
Stewart Downing, Carlton Cole and James Collins could all face their former club on Saturday, while Hammers favourite Joe Cole returns to Upton Park for the first time since departing for the Villans in the summer.
Other players who have appeared for both clubs include Thomas Hitzlsperger, John Carew, David James, Nigel Reo-Coker, Marlon Harewood, Ray Houghton, Robbie Keane, Franz Carr, Nolberto Solano, Tony Scott, Gary Charles, Frank McAvennie, Mervyn Day, Les Sealey and Phil Woosnam.
Today’s focus, though, falls on a player who turned out for Aston Villa but came through the Academy at West Ham United and later returned to manage the club. Alan Curbishley was born a mile from West Ham station – as a spot of trivia, his elder brother, Bill, was manager of The Who and one of the pallbearers at Reggie Kray’s funeral. ‘Curbs’ joined West Ham straight from school and made his debut in March 1975 in a 1-0 home defeat against Chelsea. At the end of that season, he was part of the West Ham youth team that was defeated 5-1 on aggregate by Ipswich in the FA Youth Cup Final; his team-mates in that side included Geoff Pike, Paul Brush and Alvin Martin. Aged 18, Curbishley appeared in both legs of the European Cup Winners’ Cup tie against Den Haag. He scored 5 goals from midfield in 85 matches for West Ham but left for Birmingham the season after relegation, in April 1979, for £225,000.
Following 11 goals in 131 appearances for the Blues, and a promotion to the First Division in 1980 as his old side won the FA Cup, Curbishley joined their cross-city rivals, Aston Villa, in 1983. His stay at Villa Park was shortlived, departing after just 36 games, having scored one goal. He signed for Charlton in 1984 – while his former club north of the River Thames was finishing third in the top flight in 1985/86, Curbishley was again enjoying success of his own as his Addicks side was promoted to the First Division. He scored 6 goals in 63 matches for Charlton before joining Brighton in 1987 where he would score 13 goals in 116 appearances and again enjoy a promotion campaign, this time to the Second Division in 1988.
Curbishley rejoined Charlton as player-coach in 1990 and became joint-manager (alongside Steve Gritt) a year later. He enjoyed a remarkable 15-year spell as Charlton manager, including two promotions to the Premier League, the first via the play-offs in 1998 and the second as champions in 2000. Charlton finished the 2000/01 campaign in 9th place, enjoying home wins over Chelsea and Arsenal. Curbishley continued to consolidate Charlton as a Premier League outfit, finishing 7th in 2003/04 – following this campaign, he was strongly linked to the vacant managerial role at Liverpool but lost out to Rafa Benitez. With Steve McClaren being preferred in the race for another blue riband job, that of England manager in spring 2006, Curbishley brought the curtain down on his successful reign as Charlton manager. The season after his departure, the Addicks were relegated from the Premier League and were demoted again two years later to the third tier of English football, highlighting further the achievements during Curbishley’s tenure.
After a brief sabbatical, Curbishley jumped at the opportunity to return to the game in the form of the top job at his boyhood team, West Ham United, 27 years after he had left the club as a player. Winning his first game at home against Manchester United, he completed ‘The Greatest Escape’ with a run-in that included victories at The Emirates (Arsenal’s first defeat at their new home) and Old Trafford. Despite great upheaval involving the playing staff and a catalogue of injuries, Curbishley led the Hammers to a top-half finish in his only full season in charge, as well as to the quarter-finals of the League Cup. After three league matches of 2008/09, with the Hammers fourth in the league after a 4-1 win over Paul Ince’s Blackburn had secured a best start to a season for nine years, Curbishley resigned after half of his back four, Anton Ferdinand and George McCartney, were sold against his wishes. Perhaps Curbs’ greatest legacy at the club was the £7m signing of his former Charlton protégé Scott Parker, who went on to win the Hammer of the Year prize three times and pick up a Football Writers’ Player of the Year Award during his time at the club. Curbishley most recently spent two months as technical director at Fulham before Felix Magath joined the club.
Referee
Saturday’s referee will be Jonathan Moss. West Ham lost all three games in which Moss officiated last season – the 1-0 home defeat to Stoke, the 3-1 loss at Norwich and the 1-0 reverse at Everton. Moss was the man in the middle for our 1-0 victory at Stoke the season before.
Possible line-ups
Diafra Sakho trained on Thursday and is almost certain to return to the starting line-up. Winston Reid only participated in light training following his dead leg at Stoke last weekend and is more of a doubt, with James Tomkins more than capable of stepping up to replace the New Zealand international. Reid remains one yellow card away from a one-match suspension. Andy Carroll could make the bench for the first time this season if there are no issues for the England striker in Friday’s training session.
Aston Villa will be without the suspended Christian Benteke, along with the injured Libor Kozak, Fabian Delph and Alan Hutton. Gabriel Agbonlahor is the player most likely to replace the Belgian striker in the starting XI, being a player who is particularly suited to Villa’s counter-attacking style which can pay dividends on their travels, as proved at Anfield this season.
Looking ahead to our post-international break trip to Goodison Park for a moment, should Steven Naismith or Gareth Barry pick up a yellow card at the Stadium of Light this Sunday, they will subsequently miss our game with Everton on 22nd November.
Possible West Ham United XI: Adrian; Jenkinson, Collins, Tomkins, Cresswell; Noble, Kouyate, Song; Downing; Sakho, Valencia.
Possible Aston Villa XI: Guzan; Lowton, Vlaar, Baker, Cissokho; Cleverley, Sanchez, Westwood; Agbonlahor, Weimann, N’Zogbia.
Enjoy the game – Up The Hammers!