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Dan Coker's Match Preview

Match Preview: West Ham v Swansea

Blast from the past

West Ham United went into a Second Division fixture against this weekend’s opponents Swansea City (or Swansea Town as they were known then) on Saturday the 20th October 1934 in fine form having won their previous four matches. Scoring ten goals in the process, the Hammers had climbed to fifth in the table after a difficult start had seen them lose four of their opening six games.

On the day when former Eastenders actor Timothy West was born 81 years ago, the Hammers recorded a 2-0 victory in front of 21,227 at the Boleyn Ground. The goals came from centre-forward Hugh ‘Bunty’ Mills (pictured) and outside-left Jackie Morton. Scotsman Mills, 22 years of age at the time of this match, scored an impressive 12 goals in ten consecutive appearances for the Hammers between December 1933 and November 1934. He was to depart for Celtic at the end of the 1934/45 season having netted 17 times in 23 matches for the Irons, although Mills had to appeal to the English Football League to get West Ham to reduce the transfer fee they had placed on him – in the end, the League insisted he move for free!

Charlie Paynter’s Hammers would finish 3rd in the Second Division in 1934/35, missing out on promotion to Bolton on goal average, while Swansea would end the campaign in 17th. Full-backs Alf Chalkley and Albert Walker would be ever-presents for the Irons, along with wing-half Joe Cockroft. Outside-left Jimmy Ruffell was top scorer with 20 goals from 36 league appearances.

West Ham United: Herman Conway, Alf Chalkley, Albert Walker, Joe Cockroft, Jim Barrett, Jimmy Collins, John Foreman, Vic Watson, Hugh Mills, Jackie Morton, Jimmy Ruffell.

Club Connections

A small number of players have worn the shirts of both West Ham United and Swansea City. These include:

Goalkeeper: Noel Dwyer.

Defenders: Andy Melville, Shaun Byrne.

Midfielders: Matthew Rush, Frank Lampard Junior.

Strikers: Frank Nouble, Lee Chapman.

With a nod to the final season at the Boleyn Ground, this season’s match previews for home games will focus on one of the more high-profile names to have represented both clubs. John Bond was born in Dedham, in rural Essex on 17th December 1932. A schoolboy footballer with North-East Essex and Essex Army cadets, he played for non-league Colchester Casuals before being spotted by West Ham assistant manager Ted Fenton, who convinced manager Charlie Paynter to offer Bond a professional contract with West Ham in March 1950. He made his debut on 9th February 1952 at the age of 19 in a 2-1 Second Division win at Coventry. Bond’s first goal for the Hammers was the winner in a 1-0 victory at Hull on 13th September 1954. A goalscoring right-back known as ‘Muffin’ after children’s TV’s ‘Muffin the Mule’ for his powerful kick, Bond (pictured with a young Bobby Moore) missed only one game and scored nine goals in the 1957/58 promotion campaign, including a brace in a 3-1 home triumph over Notts County on 4th April 1958.

Bond adapted well to top-flight football, scoring 14 goals in two seasons including four penalties. He bagged a brace in a 4-3 home win over Bolton on 21st March 1959 and notched a hat-trick in a 4-2 victory over Chelsea at the Boleyn Ground on 6th February 1960 – Bond played up front in both of these games. After being left out of the side, Bond fell out with manager Ron Greenwood – during a meeting that Bond was summoned to with Greenwood and chairman Reg Pratt, Greenwood asked Bond, “don’t you think I was ever left out when I played?”, to which Bond responded with “yeah but you couldn’t play”. Having played 30 league games or more in each of his previous seven seasons, Bond consequently found himself demoted to the ‘A’ team and he made only 14 league appearances in 1962/63.

Realising his arrogance had done him few favours, Bond knuckled down and forced his way back into the first team, scoring in his first appearance of 1963/64 in a 2-0 League Cup third round win at Aston Villa on 16th October 1963. He played in every game of the Hammers’ run to the 1964 FA Cup Final, including the 3-2 Wembley win over Preston. Bond experienced European football in his 14th season with the Hammers, playing both legs against La Gantoise of Belgium and Czechoslovakia’s Sparta Prague, and scoring in the 2-0 second round first leg win at home against the Czechs. His final appearance for the club came in a 1-0 defeat at Leicester on 17th April 1965. After 449 appearances and 39 goals for West Ham, a 33-year-old Bond signed for former team-mate Frank O’Farrell’s Torquay in January 1966 and saw out his playing days with the Gulls, helping them to promotion and opening a sweet shop, Bondy’s Tuck Shop, in the Torre area of the seaside town.

Bond’s coaching career began when he joined the staff at Gillingham (having been turned down on applying for the manager’s job at Torquay) and, in May 1970, he replaced Freddie Cox as manager of Bournemouth, leaving the Cherries in November 1973 to become manager of Norwich. Known for his flamboyant style, went on to manage Manchester City and Burnley before taking up the managerial reigns at Swansea.

After a fairytale rise through the divisions which culminated in a sixth-placed finish in the top flight in 1981/82, the Swans were on the slide and faced going out of business. Bond arrived at the Vetch Field in December 1984 with the club in the Third Division and in danger of dropping back into the bottom tier after two successive relegations. Against the backdrop of ongoing financial problems, several court appearances and the threat of liquidation, Bond steered Swansea to safety on the final day of the campaign by virtue of a nail-biting draw with Bristol City. This result ensured the Swans finished one point clear of Burnley, Bond’s previous club. He left the following December and went on to manage Birmingham and Shrewsbury.

Bond then worked as a football commentator for BBC Radio Five Live before returning to coaching in November 1998 as manager at Witton Albion, who were struggling in the Northern Premier League First Division but eventually finished in a healthy eighth place. John Bond died on the 25th September 2012, at the age of 79.

The video below is an excerpt from an interview that the brilliant ‘EX-Hammers’ magazine conducted with Bond.

Referee

The referee on Saturday will be Michael Oliver. Since West Ham United achieved promotion back to the top flight in 2012 Oliver has refereed seven of our league matches, officiating in two wins for the Hammers and five defeats. He was the man in the middle for the Irons’ 2-0 reverse at Chelsea last season and also sent off Kevin Nolan at Anfield two seasons ago. His only Hammers appointment this season was for the 2-1 home victory over Southampton in December.

Possible line-ups

Slaven Bilic will hope to name an unchanged side for the third successive match. West Ham United are unbeaten in their last six matches against Swansea, while Andy Carroll has scored four goals in four league appearances against the south Wales club for the Hammers.

Swansea City manager Francesco Guidolin has stated that he will rest skipper Ashley Williams while left-back Neil Taylor (groin), midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson (shoulder) and striker Alberto Paloschi (hamstring) are all out. Kyle Naughton, Stephen Kingsley and Jordi Amat could start while Leon Britton, a former West Ham youth player, is tipped to captain the Swans in the absence of Williams. Leroy Fer and Jefferson Montero are doubts with hamstring problems. Swansea have won their last two league games against London clubs, versus Arsenal and Chelsea, having not won any of their previous eight.

Possible West Ham United XI: Adrian; Antonio, Reid, Ogbonna, Cresswell; Kouyate, Noble; Sakho, Lanzini, Payet; Carroll.

Possible Swansea City XI: Fabianski; Naughton, Amat, Fernandez, Kingsley; Britton, Cork, Ki; Routledge, Montero; Ayew.

Enjoy the game – Come On You Irons!

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