Blast from the past
Today’s blast from the past features a 1-0 victory on the 3rd of September 1962, with West Ham United welcoming the previous campaign’s Second Division title-winners, Liverpool. American poet E. E. Cummings died on this day at the age of 67, Frank Ifield was number one with ‘I Remember You’ and William Holden and Trevor Howard were starring in The Lion in UK cinemas.
The Irons went into the game third bottom of the table after five games – a 3-1 defeat at Aston Villa had been followed by successive heavy home defeats to Wolves (4-1) and Tottenham (6-1) before a 0-0 draw at Wolves in the reverse fixture arrested the slump. A 2-0 defeat at Leyton Orient immediately prior to the visit of Liverpool piled the pressure back on though.
The Hammers scored the only goal of this Monday evening encounter courtesy of 21-year-old Tony Scott. This was the Huntingdon-born right winger’s seventh goal of 19 in his West Ham career, which spanned from 1960 to 1965. The 1962/63 season turned out to be Scott’s best for West Ham as he went on to score ten goals in 34 appearances, this strike against the Reds being the first of them. Scott made 97 appearances in claret and blue before departing for Aston Villa. He went on to play for Torquay, where he played under former Hammer Frank O’Farrell and was reunited with former team-mate John Bond. He followed Bond to Bournemouth, where he also teamed up with another former team-mate in Ken Brown, before finishing his playing days at Exeter. Now 76, Scott lives in Perth, Australia. He is pictured below, on the right, alongside defender Eddie Presland and fellow winger Harry Redknapp.
Ron Greenwood’s West Ham would end the season in 12th place while Bill Shankly’s Liverpool finished in 8th. Bobby Moore won the second of his four Hammer of the Year titles, with Jim Standen voted runner-up. Geoff Hurst was the Irons’ top goalscorer in 1962/63 with 15 goals from 29 appearances. Everton won the First Division title and Manchester United won the FA Cup.
West Ham United: Lawrie Leslie, John Bond, Bobby Moore, Ken Brown, Jack Burkett, Martin Peters, Tony Scott, Phil Woosnam, Johnny Byrne, Geoff Hurst, Malcolm Musgrove.
Liverpool: Jim Furnell, Gerry Byrne, Ron Yeats, Phil Ferns, Ronnie Moran, Gordon Milne, Jimmy Melia, Ian Callaghan, Roger Hunt, Ian St John, Alan A’Court.
Club Connections
Andy Carroll and Alvaro Arbeloa both welcome their former club, although neither will play. Julian Dicks played for both clubs and is now First Team Coaching Assistant with the Hammers. A whole host of players join the trio in having turned out for both West Ham United and Liverpool, particularly over the last twenty years. These include:
Goalkeepers: Charles Cotton, David James.
Defenders: Rob Jones, David Burrows, Glen Johnson, Paul Konchesky, Neil Ruddock, Thomas Stanley.
Midfielders: Don Hutchison, Yossi Benayoun, Joe Cole, Victor Moses, Paul Ince, Ray Houghton, Javier Mascherano, Stewart Downing, Mike Marsh.
Strikers: Craig Bellamy, Titi Camara, Robbie Keane, Neil Mellor, Danny Shone, Tom Bradshaw.
George Kay made 237 league appearances for the Hammers between 1919 and 1926, becoming the first-ever player to play more than 200 matches for the club. Kay was also the West Ham captain in the 1923 FA Cup Final. He went on to manage Liverpool between 1936 and 1951, winning the First Division title in 1947.
Today’s focus falls on a player who played for Liverpool at the turn of the century before signing for West Ham United. Rigobert Song was born in Nkenglicock, Cameroon on 1st July 1976 – his father had died when he was young and Song has dedicated all his subsequent success to his late father. He began his career in France with Metz in 1994 and, in the same year at the age of 17, became the youngest player to be sent off in a World Cup. After four years with Metz, Song moved to Italy with Salernitana in 1998, a year in which he became the first player to be sent off in two consecutive World Cups. He was swiftly on the move again, this time to England to sign for Gerard Houllier’s Liverpool in January 1999 for a fee of £2.7m.
Song made his Liverpool debut against Coventry in a 2-1 defeat at Highfield Road on 30th January 1999. Predominantly a centre-half but often used at right-back, the Liverpool fans appreciated his strength, skill and bravery but his lack of discipline and tendency to be caught out of position did not fully endear him to the club’s management. His only full season at Liverpool, in 1999/2000, was mixed as he missed three months of the season due to international matches, captaining Cameroon to victory in the 2000 African Cup of Nations and scoring the decisive penalty in the Final against Nigeria. Song was not able to secure a starting spot in the early stages of the 2000/01 season and played just four games – his last appearance for Liverpool was a 1-1 draw with Sunderland at Anfield on 23rd September 2000. He made a total of 38 appearances for the Reds, without scoring, before departing for Harry Redknapp’s West Ham United on 28th November 2000 in a deal worth £2.5m that also saw Liverpool capture young £1m-rated Finnish forward Daniel Sjolund.
Signed as an immediate (and cost-effective) replacement for Rio Ferdinand who had just left for Leeds, Song made his Hammers debut in a 2-1 home defeat to Sheffield Wednesday in the fourth round of the League Cup on 29th November 2000. He made 20 starts in his first season at West Ham and one substitute appearance, in a 3-0 defeat to his former club at Anfield. Song started the 2001/02 season as a regular under new manager Glenn Roeder – he is pictured below in the 2-1 defeat at Liverpool on the opening day of that season. He started six of the first seven matches of the campaign – the last of these was a 5-0 defeat at Everton on 29th September 2001, which transpired to be Song’s final appearance for the club. Song joined Cologne on loan in November 2001 and left permanently for French club Lens the following summer.
After two years back in France, Song signed for Turkish giants Galatasaray in 2004 and later became club captain. He moved to Trabzonspor in 2008, where he would also captain the side, and retired in 2010. Song appeared in the 1994, 1998, 2002 and 2010 World Cups for Cameroon and won the 2000 and 2002 African Cup of Nations with his country. He was on the pitch when team-mate and fellow former Hammer Marc-Vivien Foe collapsed and later died in the 2003 Confederations Cup. Song remains Cameroon’s most-capped player of all-time with 137 appearances and five goals for his country.
Song was appointed manager of the Cameroon ‘A’ team in February 2016, a national team composed only of players based in Cameroon. He is also a national ambassador for his country and uncle of fellow former Hammer Alex Song. Rigobert suffered a stroke on 3rd October 2016 and spent two days in a coma at a hospital in Yaounde, Cameroon before being flown to France for further treatment – the Cameroon government reportedly spent £78,000 on Song’s treatment, a measure of the esteem in which he is held in his home country. Song is pictured here in December, two months after his stroke – I’m sure all readers will join me in wishing Rigobert all the best in his continued recovery.
Referee
Sunday’s referee will be Neil Swarbrick. The Lancashire-based official took charge of two of West Ham United’s highlights from 2013/14, the 0-0 draw against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and the 2-1 League Cup quarter-final victory against Tottenham at White Hart Lane. He also officiated in two league matches involving the Hammers in 2012/13, those being the 4-1 home win over Southampton and the 3-0 defeat at Sunderland. He was the man in the middle for the controversy-laden 2-1 home defeat to Arsenal in December 2014, disallowing Alex Song’s volley from distance for offside, awarding the Gunners a penalty for a Winston Reid foul on Santi Cazorla and failing to award the Hammers an injury-time penalty for a clear tug on Morgan Amalfitano. Swarbrick was also the referee for the FA Cup penalty-shoot-out triumph over Everton in January 2015, sending off Aiden McGeady in the process.
Swarbrick’s only appointments involving the Hammers last season were for our two trips to the North East; our 2-2 draw at Sunderland in October 2015, when he sent off Jeremain Lens, and the 2-1 defeat at Newcastle in January 2016. His only two Hammers matches this season have seen our best two goals of the season – Dimitri Payet’s stunning solo effort in the 1-1 home draw with Middlesbrough in October and Andy Carroll’s scintillating scissor kick in the 3-0 home win over Crystal Palace in January.
Possible line-ups
West Ham United, unbeaten in five games after losing the previous five, are without Angelo Ogbonna, Cheikhou Kouyate, Pedro Obiang, Mark Noble, Gokhan Tore, Michail Antonio, Diafra Sakho and Andy Carroll. Arthur Masuaku is a doubt. None of the last 11 Premier League meetings against Liverpool in East London have ended level, with West Ham winning four and Liverpool claiming seven victories since a 1-1 draw in December 2001.
Liverpool and England players Adam Lallana and Daniel Sturridge could claim a place in the starting line-up for the trip to East London. Adam Bogdan, Jordan Henderson, Sadio Mane and Danny Ings are out while Lucas and Roberto Firmino face late fitness tests. The Reds have won their last three away games in the Premier League, at Watford, West Brom and Stoke.
Possible West Ham United XI: Adrian; Fonte, Reid, Collins; Byram, Nordtveit, Fernandes, Cresswell; Ayew, Lanzini; Calleri.
Possible Liverpool XI: Mignolet; Clyne, Matip, Lovren, Milner; Wijnaldum, Can; Lallana, Coutinho, Firmino; Sturridge.
Enjoy the game – Up The Hammers!