Firstly, I’d like to take this opportunity to wish all West Ham Till I Die readers a very Happy New Year!
Blast from the past
Three months to the day before English football’s greatest day in 1966, Liverpool were on their way to Bill Shankly’s second league title, Everton were to go on to win their third FA Cup trophy and West Ham United were in the midst of a season that would see them finish in 12th place in the First Division. As the Hammers hosted Manchester United on the 30th April 1966, Manfred Mann were number one with ‘Pretty Flamingo’ and Doctor Zhivago was in UK cinemas.
In front of 36,423, the Hammers were 2-0 up at the interval thanks to their two England strikers – Geoff Hurst (pictured below) put the hosts ahead after 28 minutes and strike partner Johnny Byrne doubled the advantage with a penalty three minutes before half-time.
The Red Devils pulled one back after 63 minutes through a rare goal from former West Ham full-back Noel Cantwell but Hurst doubled his tally ten minutes later to restore the Hammers’ two-goal cushion. John Aston Junior struck what turned out to be a further consolation for the Red Devils with 12 minutes left to play, the Irons holding out to secure the points in their final home match of the season, a fitting send-off for World Cup heroes-in-waiting Hurst, Bobby Moore and Martin Peters. Indeed, with Nobby Stiles and Bobby Charlton, this match featured half of the outfield players England used in the World Cup Final against West Germany exactly three months later.
Scottish forward David Herd, who sadly passed away three months ago on 1st October 2016 at the age of 82, became Manchester United’s first ever used substitute in this match.
The victory pushed West Ham into 11th place in the First Division going into their final two games but away defeats at Stoke and Leicester resulted in a 12th placed finish. Manchester United would end the 1965/66 campaign in fourth position. Two-goal hero of the day Hurst ended the season with 40 goals from 59 games in all competitions and would be voted Hammer of the Year, with Peters runner-up.
West Ham United: Jim Standen, Dennis Burnett, Dave Bickles, Bobby Moore, John Charles, Ronnie Boyce, Martin Peters, Peter Brabrook, Johnny Byrne, Geoff Hurst, Johnny Sissons.
Manchester United: Harry Gregg, Shay Brennan, Noel Cantwell, Tony Dunne (David Herd), Paddy Crerand, Nobby Stiles, John Connelly, David Sadler, Bobby Charlton, Denis Law, John Aston Junior.
Club Connections
Michael Carrick could face his former club. A largely impressive list of players join the Geordie midfielder in having turned out for both West Ham United and Manchester United over the years. These include:
Goalkeepers: Roy Carroll, Les Sealey.
Defenders: Noel Cantwell, Jonathan Spector, Rio Ferdinand.
Midfielders: Paul Ince, Ralph Milne, Luke Chadwick.
Strikers: Billy Grassam, Stuart Pearson, David Bellion, Carlos Tevez, Teddy Sheringham.
In addition, Dave Sexton and Frank O’Farrell both played for the Hammers before going on to manage the Red Devils. Lou Macari played for Man Utd before managing West Ham.
Today’s focus though is on one of the most talented players to come through Manchester United’s academy during Sir Alex Ferguson’s reign, by the Scot’s own admission – Ravel Morrison was born in Wythenshawe, Manchester on 2nd February 1993. He signed on as a first-year scholar at Manchester United in 2009 and turned professional on his 17th birthday the following year.
Morrison made his first team debut as a substitute in a 3-2 League Cup win over Wolves on 26th October 2010 and was part of the Red Devils’ FA Youth Cup-winning side later that season, scoring against Chelsea in the semi-final and bagging a brace in the second leg of the Final against Sheffield United. He made two more League Cup substitute appearances for Manchester United in the first half of 2011/12, against Aldershot and Crystal Palace, before signing for Sam Allardyce’s West Ham United for an undisclosed fee on 31st January 2012.
The 19-year-old Ravel made his Hammers debut as a substitute in a 1-1 Championship draw at Leeds on 17th March 2012 but would not play for the club again for another 17 months. The tricky midfielder spent the 2012/13 season on loan at Birmingham in the Championship before returning to West Ham intent on making his mark on the Premier League.
Morrison scored his first goal for the Irons in his first start, in a 2-1 League Cup second round win over Cheltenham on 27th August 2013, before bagging his first Premier League goal in a 3-2 home defeat to Everton the following month. Another goal followed just three days later, just 20 seconds into a 3-2 League Cup win over Cardiff. Morrison’s finest moment in claret and blue came on the 6th October 2013, applying the gloss to a fine 3-0 victory at Tottenham, the Hammers’ first win at White Hart Lane in 14 years – he picked the ball up in his own half before maximising every shred of his pace, skill and impudence to bamboozle the Tottenham defence and goalkeeper Hugo Lloris. Morrison’s final goal for West Ham came the following month, giving the Hammers the lead from close range at Norwich before the Canaries fought back in the second half to claim a 3-1 win. This, impressively, was Morrison’s fifth goal in 11 matches.
Morrison joined Queens Park Rangers on loan for the rest of the season in February 2014. He returned to West Ham for the 2014/15 season and made his final appearance for the Hammers on 30th August 2014 in a 3-1 defeat to Southampton. He was shipped out on loan for a third spell, this time to Cardiff and joined Italian side Lazio on a free transfer at the end of the season. Morrison had scored five goals in 24 appearances for West Ham United. Now 23, he has failed to make an impression at the Rome-based club.
Referee
Monday’s referee will be Mike Dean; 2016/17 is Dean’s 17th as a Premier League referee. Since West Ham United achieved promotion back to the top flight in 2012 Dean has refereed 18 of our league matches, officiating in nine wins for the Hammers, five draws and four defeats.
Dean was the man in the middle last season for our 2-2 home draw with Norwich in September, the 1-1 draw at Aston Villa on Boxing Day, our 1-0 win over Sunderland in February and our 3-1 win over Watford in April when he awarded the Hammers two penalties. He also refereed our final match at the Boleyn when we famously triumphed 3-2 over Manchester United – in fact, Dean has been the referee for our last two Premier League victories over Man Utd as he also took charge of our 2-1 win in December 2007. Dean’s most recent Hammers appointment saw him award a penalty to both sides and send off Winston Reid in our 3-2 defeat at Tottenham in November.
Possible line-ups
Slaven Bilic has Sam Byram available and is boosted by Sofiane Feghouli’s exclusion from Algeria’s AFCON squad. Mark Noble may miss out with the knee injury suffered at Leicester. Alvaro Arbeloa is out for a few more weeks with a badly bruised leg which has put him on crutches since the Arsenal match while fellow full-back Arthur Masuaku is several weeks away from a return after suffering a knee injury in training. James Collins returns to training this week after a calf strain but Gokhan Tore and Diafra Sakho are out for months after knee and back surgery respectively. My understanding is that Cheikhou Kouyate and Andre Ayew are available for this match (despite FIFA rules stating clubs must release players 14 days before an international tournament) before departing for Gabon to represent Senegal and Ghana respectively over the coming weeks. West Ham are unbeaten in their last four league meetings with Manchester United and have never before gone five league games unbeaten against the Red Devils. Slaven Bilic could become only the second manager (after Ruud Gullit) to remain unbeaten in his first four Premier League matches against Man Utd
Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho is without Luke Shaw and Daley Blind so Matteo Darmian could return, while Juan Mata could also start. Mourinho must make a decision on whether to play Zlatan Ibrahimovic who, at 35, may not be able to start two games in just over 48 hours – Wayne Rooney has apparently not travelled but Marcus Rashford could come in. Eric Bailly has been denied permission to play by the Ivory Coast. Marouane Fellaini, so often influential against the Hammers, could retain his place. Manchester United have only failed to score in two of their past 17 trips to West Ham. Ibrahimovic has scored three goals in two matches against the Hammers, while Anthony Martial has five in four against the Irons.
Possible West Ham United XI: Randolph; Nordtveit, Reid, Ogbonna, Cresswell; Kouyate, Obiang; Antonio, Lanzini, Payet; Carroll.
Possible Manchester United XI: De Gea; Valencia, Smalling, Rojo, Darmian; Mata, Fellaini, Pogba; Mkhitaryan, Rashford, Martial.
Enjoy the game – Come On You Irons!