Blast from the past
In today’s preview, we travel back to Monday 13th September 1954, when Winston Churchill was Prime Minister, Frank Sinatra was number one with ‘Three Coins in the Fountain’ and Humphrey Bogart, Audrey Hepburn and William Holden were in UK cinemas in Sabrina.
The Hammers ran out 1-0 winners in front of 25,851 spectators at Boothferry Park that evening, thanks to a goal from the 21-year-old right-back John Bond (pictured). The victory sent the visitors seventh in the Second Division table.
Ted Fenton’s Irons would end the 1954/55 season in eighth position while the Tigers would finish six points and two places clear of relegation in 19th place. Birmingham topped the Second Division, Chelsea win the league title and Newcastle beat Man City to be crowned FA Cup winners, with Jackie Milburn opening the scoring after just 45 seconds – a Wembley Cup Final record which stood for the next 42 years.
West Ham United: George Taylor, John Bond, Ken Brown, Harry Kinsell, Andy Malcolm, Frank O’Farrell, Harry Hooper, John Dick, Dave Sexton, Albert Foan, Jimmy Andrews.
Club Connections
A small collection of players have turned out for both West Ham United and Hull City. Winter window recruit Robert Snodgrass returns to Hull for the first time since signing for the Irons, while Hammers captain Mark Noble had a loan spell with the Tigers early on in his career. The following have also appeared for both clubs:
Goalkeepers: Roy Carroll and Stephen Bywater.
Defenders: Dennis Burnett, Robbie Stockdale, Tommy Brandon and Abdoulaye Faye.
Midfielders: Nolberto Solano, Richard Garcia and Alf Fenwick.
Strikers: Alan Taylor, Cliff Hubbard, Nikica Jelavic, Stuart Pearson, Ricardo Vaz Te and Tony Weldon.
Iain Dowie played for the Hammers and managed the Tigers.
Today’s focus is on a midfielder who had just over two years with West Ham before signing for Hull. Mohamed Diame was born in the Paris suburb of Creteil, France on 14th June 1987 and was selected to attend the Clairefontaine academy between 2000 and 2003. On completion, he began his professional career with Lens but left four years later after facing health problems. He signed for lowly Spanish side Linares before moving to Rayo Vallecano the following year. While playing for the Madrid-based team, Diame was reportedly targeted by Real Madrid, Barcelona and Arsenal but he ended up signing for Wigan in the summer of 2009.
On 20th June 2012, with West Ham United newly-promoted back to the Premier League, the out-of-contract Diame signed for the Hammers on a free transfer. By now an international player for Senegal, the 25-year-old underwent a stringent medical after heart problems had been detected when he had signed for Wigan. Diame – an agile, powerful, pacey midfielder – made his Hammers debut in a 1-0 home win over Aston Villa on 18th August 2012. He scored his first goal on 6th October 2012, giving the Irons the lead against Arsenal at Upton Park when curling a sumptuous strike into the far corner from a tight angle after cutting into the penalty area down the left – the Gunners hit back to win 3-1 though. His second strike for the club was in much happier circumstances as his low strike from the edge of the penalty area, from a Carlton Cole lay-off, put the Hammers 2-1 up against Chelsea on 1st December 2012 – the match, which ended 3-1, gave the club their first win over the Blues for over nine and a half years. Diame scored his third and final goal of 2012/13 on 17th April 2013 against another ‘top club’, Manchester United, spinning away from Wayne Rooney on the right corner of the penalty area to make space before firing a curling, left-footed rocket into the far corner beyond David de Gea after fine work by Ricardo Vaz Te and Guy Demel.
Diame, the subject of much speculation throughout his time at the club due to a well-known £3.5m release clause in his contract, scored his first goal of the 2013/14 campaign at the Boleyn in a 3-0 win over Fulham on 30th November 2013, opening the scoring via a deflected shot. He bagged the Hammers’ first goal of 2014 in a 2-1 New Year’s Day defeat against the same opposition in the reverse fixture at Craven Cottage, giving the Hammers the lead early on after turning home a loose ball in the box. Diame produced a lung-busting run from his own half on a counter attack to seal the points with a deflected finish late on a 2-0 home win over Norwich on 11th February 2014 before scoring his final goal for the club three years ago today, on 31st March 2014 in a 2-1 win at Sunderland, a bobbling effort into the far corner which ultimately proved to be the winner.
Diame’s final game for the club came as a substitute on 30th August 2014 in a 3-1 home defeat to Southampton. Having scored seven goals in 79 appearances for West Ham United, the 27-year-old Diame joined Hull City on 1st September 2014. He scored on his Tigers debut against the Hammers in a 2-2 draw two weeks after signing. He scored four goals in his first five matches for his new club, the others coming in a 2-2 draw at Newcastle, a 2-0 home win over Crystal Palace and a 2-2 draw at Arsenal. A knee injury suffered in December 2014 virtually ended Diame’s season and he only made two further substitute appearances as the Tigers were relegated.
Diame made his return to the starting eleven in August 2015, with Hull in the Championship. He scored nine goals in 38 matches during the regulation Championship season before scoring the only goal of last May’s Play-Off Final for the Tigers against Sheffield Wednesday to return the club to the Premier League. Diame was not to join them in the top flight however, the 31-cap Senegalese midfielder signing for newly-relegated Newcastle instead. Now 29, Diame has scored six goals in 34 appearances for Newcastle so far this season.
Referee
Saturday’s referee will be Chester-based Mike Jones, who will take on his first Premier League Hammers appointment of the season – his most recent league match involving West Ham was the 2-1 final-day defeat at Stoke last May, although he did referee our 4-1 League Cup quarter-final defeat at Man Utd in November.
Jones is perhaps more infamous for a shocking display during our FA Cup quarter-final defeat at Stoke in 2011, when he allowed both goals for the home side to stand despite blatant infringements on Matthew Upson and Thomas Hitzlsperger respectively. He also awarded the Potters a penalty for a Matthew Etherington dive (which was saved by Rob Green) and astonishingly gave Stoke a free-kick for a tangle which should have seen James Tomkins awarded a penalty.
Possible line-ups
Hull City are without right-back Moses Odubajo, midfielder Ryan Mason and strikers Dieumerci Mbokani and Will Keane through injury while Tom Huddlestone is suspended. Goalkeeper David Marshall is a doubt but Michael Dawson could return. Oumar Niasse could come into contention for a starting position having scored both goals in the 2-1 win over Swansea before being ineligible to play against parent club Everton in Hull’s last match, a 4-0 defeat at Goodison Park. Hull are unbeaten at home against West Ham United in the Premier League, winning two and drawing two.
West Ham are without Winston Reid, Angelo Ogbonna, Pedro Obiang, Gokhan Tore, Michail Antonio and Diafra Sakho. Captain Mark Noble should return in midfield. Slaven Bilic has decisions to make in central defence and central midfield with James Collins, Havard Nordtveit and Edimilson Fernandes all coming into contention depending on which position Cheikhou Kouyate starts in. The Hammers have picked up 10 points out of a possible 15 from away games against teams currently below them in the table (won three, drawn one, lost one).
Possible Hull City XI: Jakupovic; Elabdellaoui, Ranocchia, Maguire, Robertson; Markovic, N’Diaye, Henriksen, Clucas, Grosicki; Niasse.
Possible West Ham United XI: Randolph; Byram, Fonte, Kouyate, Cresswell; Noble, Fernandes; Snodgrass, Lanzini, Ayew; Carroll.
Finally, I’d like to take this opportunity to wish my sister, a Season Ticket Holder and lifelong Hammer, a very Happy 30th Birthday for today – have a great one Nat!
Enjoy the game – Up The Hammers!