Blast from the past
Christmas Day 1912 – an opportunity to look back on a year which included British polar explorer Captain Robert Falcon Scott and a team of four reaching the South Pole, only to find that Norwegian Roald Amundsen had beaten them to it (Scott and his party died on the return journey) and the sinking of RMS Titanic after the liner struck an iceberg and sank on her maiden voyage from the United Kingdom to the United States. Not, then, the best of years to be a Brit – West Ham United supporters, though, would be provided with Christmas cheer as they triumphed 5-0 over Stoke City, in front of 8,000 spectators at Upton Park.
Legendary West Ham inside-forward Danny Shea (pictured), who scored 186 goals for the club in 290 appearances, bagged a brace while the other Hammers goals came courtesy of a rare strike by Leslie Askew, Herbert Ashton and Albert Denyer, who was also the first London schoolboy to be capped by England.
West Ham would finish the 1912/13 Southern Football League Division One season in third place, while Stoke would be relegated to Division Two in bottom position.
West Ham United: Joseph Hughes, James Rothwell, Dan Woodards, Henry Forster, Herbert Ashton, Leslie Askew, Thomas Randall, Jack Casey, George Hilsdon, Albert Denyer, Danny Shea.
Club Connections
A reasonable number of players have worn the shirts of both West Ham United and Stoke City. These include: Lee Chapman, Sir Geoff Hurst, Steve Banks, Abdoulaye Faye, Clive Clarke, Matthew Etherington, Luke Chadwick, John Carew, Henri Camara, Paul Allen, Danny Collins, Frank Richardson, Lawrie Leslie, Bob Dixon, Matthew Upson and Nicky Morgan. Lou Macari has also managed both clubs, with two spells in charge of the Potters.
Today’s focus, though, falls on a man who enjoyed playing spells at both clubs as well as a coaching stint with the Hammers. Kevin Keen began his career at Wycombe, making his debut in September 1982 at the tender age of 15 years and 209 days. He played three games for Wycombe before joining West Ham United as a 16-year-old apprentice, signing professional forms in March 1984. The son of former QPR, Luton and Watford midfielder Mike Keen, Kevin made his debut as a substitute for Geoff Pike in a 5–2 home defeat against Liverpool in September 1986 and scored his first goal for the Hammers in a 4-1 FA Cup third round replay win over Leyton Orient in January 1987. Under John Lyall, Keen made 17 appearances in 1986/87 (scoring 1 goal), 25 appearances in 1987/88 (2 goals) and 33 appearances in 1988/89 (4 goals).
1989/90 was a stellar season for Keen personally as he made 57 appearances under Lou Macari and later Billy Bonds, scoring 13 goals. He scored 2 goals in 51 matches in 1990/91 as the Hammers won promotion but scored only once in 39 games as the club were immediately relegated in 1991/92. He played a major role in ensuring the Hammers won promotion to the Premier League in 1992/93, being ever-present in league and cup and scoring 7 goals in 56 appearances, ending the season as runner-up to Steve Potts in the Hammer of the Year poll. This was a significant final seal of approval for Keen, who had struggled to win over some fans in the late 1980s. Keen was one of my personal Hammers heroes during my childhood – I loved watching him come inside from the wing and spray one of his trademark cross-field, outside-of-the-foot passes. A class player who always gave his all.
Despite his key role in the Hammers’ promotion, Keen was not to join his team-mates in experiencing Premier League football. West Ham had allowed his contract to run down and were only offering marginally improved terms. After 278 appearances in all competitions, and 30 goals, Keen opted to stay in the second tier and signed for Wolves for £600,000. After just over a year, Keen was on the move again, this time to Stoke for £300,000 where he teamed up with his former West Ham manager Macari. He marked his arrival by scoring against Wolves in his second match. He formed a decent midfield partnership with Ray Wallace as Stoke made a push for promotion to the Premier League in 1995/96; unfortunately for Keen he picked up an injury against Luton in April 1996 and missed the rest of the season, including an unsuccessful play-off tie with Leicester.
Keen struggled for starts in 1996/97 as he recovered from his injury but was a regular in 1997/98 in Stoke’s first season at the Britannia Stadium, scoring the winning goal in the first Potteries derby with Port Vale at the new stadium but it was a shocking season for Stoke as they finished in 23rd position and were relegated to Division Two. He played in 49 of the club’s 52 fixtures in 1998/99 as Stoke failed to mount a consistent promotion challenge under Brian Little. He spent one more season at Stoke before leaving for Macclesfield on a free transfer. Keen became a huge favourite with the Stoke supporters in his final years at the Britannia Stadium, winning several Player of the Season awards along the way. A fine volleyed goal by Keen for Stoke against Derby in 1995 can be seen in the video below.
Keen appeared against West Ham during his second and final season with Macclesfield, with the Hammers running out 3-0 winners in a televised FA Cup third round tie in January 2002. He was particularly delighted to receive a warm reception from the travelling claret and blue army when he was taking a corner. Keen rejoined West Ham in July 2002 as under-17 academy coach under Glenn Roeder and was later appointed reserve team coach before becoming first-team coach in October 2006 under Alan Pardew. He reverted to his previous role as reserve team coach when Glynn Snodin was appointed as first-team coach by Alan Curbishley in June 2007. He was announced as caretaker manager after Curbishley’s resignation, taking charge of the 3-2 away defeat to West Brom on 13th September 2008 before handing over the manager’s role to Gianfranco Zola. Keen was appointed again as caretaker manager for the last game of the 2010/11 season, a 3-0 home defeat to Sunderland, following the post-relegation sacking of Avram Grant.
On 3rd July 2011, Keen left West Ham to join Liverpool as first-team coach under Kenny Dalglish. Keen left Liverpool after the arrival of Brendan Rodgers as manager and joined West Brom as joint assistant head coach under Steve Clarke, who Keen had previously worked with at both West Ham and Liverpool. Keen started 2014/15 as Head of Coaching and Under-18s Manager at Fulham before Clarke appointed him as his assistant manager at Reading in December 2014. Now 48, Keen is currently looking forward to an FA Cup semi-final with Arsenal at Wembley next weekend.
Referee
Saturday’s referee will be Roger East; the Wiltshire-based official has been taking charge of Premier League fixtures since 2012 but is yet to officiate a West Ham match in the top flight. He was recently in the news for a mistaken identity controversy involving Wes Brown and John O’Shea in Sunderland’s recent visit to Manchester United.
Possible line-ups
For West Ham United, James Tomkins and Andy Carroll are definitely out but Enner Valencia is available again. Sam Allardyce will have to decide whether to start with Valencia or introduce him from the bench – Carlton Cole could start while Nene is a further alternative. Winston Reid is one yellow card away from a two-match suspension – if Reid were to be booked against Stoke, he would subsequently miss the trips to Manchester City and QPR. However, should Reid avoid a booking this weekend, he will have passed the FA’s cut-off date and would not incur a ban were he to be cautioned in any of the season’s remaining matches.
Stoke will be without Peter Odemwingie and Bojan Krkic through long-term injuries. Victor Moses is available again after being unable to play against parent club Chelsea last weekend.
Possible West Ham United XI: Adrian; Jenkinson, Collins, Reid, Cresswell; Kouyate, Song, Noble; Downing; Sakho, Cole.
Possible Stoke City XI: Begovic; Cameron, Shawcross, Wollscheid, Wilson; Ireland, N’Zonzi, Sidwell, Adam, Moses; Diouf.
Enjoy the game – Come On You Irons!