Blast from the past
Today’s blast from the past features a pre-war First Division victory at the home of this weekend’s opponents, Manchester United. It arrived on the 2nd February 1929, a 3-2 win at Old Trafford in front of 12,020 spectators. George V was on the throne, Stanley Baldwin was Prime Minister and George Jacob’s First String Quartet had recently been premiered in London.
The Hammers’ goals that day came from 27-year-old inside-forward Viv Gibbins (pictured), 28-year-old outside-left Jimmy Ruffell and 31-year-old legendary centre-forward Vic Watson. Manchester United’s goals were scored by Scottish centre-forward Tommy Reid, making his debut after signing from Liverpool, and inside-left Harry Rowley.
Having been top of the Football League in early September, Syd King’s Irons fell away to finish 1928/29 in 17th place, four places and eight points above relegation. Manchester United finished 12th. Watson was the club’s top scorer that season with 30 goals from 39 matches. Sheffield Wednesday won the First Division title and Bolton won the FA Cup – the Hammers scored the exact same number of goals as the league champions (86) but conceded 34 more than the Owls (96).
Manchester United: Alf Steward, Bill Dale, Jack Silcock, Lal Hilditch, Charlie Spencer, Jack Wilson, Joe Spence, Jimmy Hanson, Tommy Reid, Harry Rowley, Harry Thomas.
West Ham United: Ted Hufton, Tommy Hodgson, Alfred Earl, Jimmy Collins, Charlie Cox, Albert Cadwell, Tommy Yews, Stan Earle, Vic Watson, Viv Gibbins, Jimmy Ruffell.
Club Connections
Michael Carrick welcomes his first professional club to Old Trafford, while Chicharito is likely to make his West Ham debut at the home of his former club. A largely impressive list of players join the pair 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, Fred Milnes, Jonathan Spector, Rio Ferdinand.
Midfielders: James McCrae, Bill McCartney, Paul Ince, Ralph Milne, Luke Chadwick, Ravel Morrison.
Strikers: Charlie Mackie, Billy Grassam, Stuart Pearson, Teddy Sheringham, David Bellion, Carlos Tevez.
In addition, Dave Sexton and Frank O’Farrell both played for the Hammers before going on to manage the Red Devils, while Lou Macari played for the Old Trafford club before managing the Irons.
Today’s focus is on a Scottish international who signed for West Ham United from Manchester United. Ted MacDougall was born on the 8th January 1947 in Inverness but moved to Widnes when he was 12. He worked as a trainee compositor on a local newspaper and joined Liverpool as a trainee in 1964; manager Bill Shankly offered him a professional contract on his 19th birthday. He couldn’t find a way past Tony Hateley, Roger Hunt and Ian St John though and only made one UEFA Cup substitute appearance before joining Fourth Division York in 1967 where he would link up for the first time with strike partner Phil Boyer. MacDougall moved on to Bournemouth two years later – on 20th November 1971 MacDougall netted nine goals in Bournemouth’s 11-0 victory over Margate in the first round of the FA Cup. ‘SuperMac’, as he became known to the Bournemouth fans, scored five in the first half – at which point the Margate boss jokingly asked Bond to substitute their tormentor – and another four after the interval. This is still the largest-ever individual haul of goals by any player in the proper rounds of the FA Cup. Coventry, Crystal Palace, West Ham and Wolves were all chasing the striker over the summer of 1972 but MacDougall stayed and pledged his loyalty to Bournemouth.
In September 1972 however, manager John Bond accepted a Third Division record fee of £200,000 from Manchester United for MacDougall’s services. The Red Devils were struggling to replace their manager Matt Busby, who had initially passed control over to Wilf McGuinness, but then returned before handing over to former Hammer Frank O’Farrell, the man who actually signed MacDougall. United were facing similar problems on the pitch, trying to replace players such as Bobby Charlton and Denis Law. MacDougall scored on his debut at Old Trafford against Birmingham but, within weeks of his arrival, O’Farrell had left the club to be replaced by Tommy Docherty. Before the season was over, MacDougall had left for West Ham United. In his brief time at Old Trafford, MacDougall scored five goals in 18 games.
The 26-year-old MacDougall made his debut for West Ham on 10th March 1973 in a 0-0 draw at Sheffield United. He scored his first goal for the Hammers on his home debut a week later, in a 2-1 win over Manchester City. He followed that up with another goal the following weekend in a 3-1 win at Crystal Palace and his double at Newcastle in a 2-1 win in early April moved the Hammers into the First Division’s top five and made it four goals from his first six matches in claret and blue.
MacDougall opened the 1973/74 season by scoring in the pre-season 1-1 Watney Cup draw against Bristol Rovers but went seven games without a goal before being sent off against Burnley for attacking Clarets midfielder Doug Collins in a 1-0 home defeat on 6th October 1973. Two days later he scored in a 2-2 League Cup second round draw with Liverpool at the Boleyn Ground. His final goal for the Hammers came in a 4-1 defeat at Leeds on 3rd November 1973 – despite scoring, Billy Bonds criticised MacDougall’s effort and a brawl ensued in the bath/shower room area of the dressing-room. Ron Greenwood had been aware of the incident and allowed it to continue. MacDougall played his final match for West Ham in a 1-0 defeat at Anfield on 1st December 1973. He had scored seven goals in 26 appearances during his nine months with the Hammers.
MacDougall departed east London for Norwich where he was re-united with Bond, his former boss at Bournemouth – MacDougall was rated at £140,000 in the £170,000 deal which brought Graham Paddon to Upton Park from Carrow Road. MacDougall won all seven of his Scotland caps during his time with the Canaries, scoring three international goals. He went on to play for Southampton, have a second spell at Bournemouth and also turned out for Blackpool where he was player-coach and assistant manager to Alan Ball in 1980. During his career he became the 15th post-war player to score 250 league goals.
MacDougall decided to concentrate on his sports shop on the south coast in Boscombe – Ted MacDougall Sports – which was opened by Geoff Hurst, with another branch opening later in Poole. He later became a licensee and was landlord of the Mill Arms pub in Dunbridge, Hampshire. He occasionally came out of retirement to play for Salisbury, Poole Town and Gosport Borough. In the summer of 1998 he re-joined Ball as reserve team coach at Portsmouth but was sacked along with Ball in December 1999. He then emigrated to Canada and lived in Vancouver where he became a successful property developer. In July 2013 the redeveloped South Stand at Bournemouth was named after him in recognition of his service at the club. Now 70, he lives in Atlanta in the United States and has been Youth Director of Coaching with the Atlanta Silverbacks.
Referee
The referee on Sunday will be Martin Atkinson who refereed our last win on an opening weekend of a Premier League season, at Arsenal on 9th August 2015. 2017/18 is Atkinson’s 13th as a Premier League referee. Since West Ham United achieved promotion back to the top flight in 2012 Atkinson has refereed 17 of our league matches, officiating in nine wins for the Hammers, two draws and six defeats.
Atkinson also refereed the Hammers’ FA Cup quarter-final at Old Trafford in March 2016, when he turned down appeals for a penalty after Marcos Rojo appeared to have tripped Dimitri Payet and failed to spot Bastian Schweinstieger’s block on Darren Randolph as Man Utd equalised late on. He refereed last September’s 4-2 home defeat to Watford and October’s 1-0 win at Crystal Palace, when he controversially sent off Aaron Cresswell for two very harsh yellow cards in quick succession. His Hammers appointments this calendar year were our 3-1 win at Middlesbrough in January and, most recently, our 3-0 defeat to Arsenal in April.
Possible line-ups
Manchester United are without Marcos Rojo (knee), Luke Shaw (ankle) and Ashley Young (thigh). Jesse Lingard is likely to be available after being withdrawn in the Super Cup against Real Madrid with muscular tightness. New signings Victor Lindelof, Nemanja Matic and Romelu Lukaku are set to make their Premier League bows for the Red Devils.
West Ham United are without Cheikhou Kouyate (knee), Sofiane Feghouli (thigh) and Manuel Lanzini (knee). Michail Antonio continued his recovery from a thigh injury by playing just over 70 minutes of last night’s 0-0 PL2 draw with Everton, while Andy Carroll will step up from training on his own to joining the first team squad next Wednesday as he continues his recovery from a groin injury. Diafra Sakho’s lack of match fitness could see him held back as he looks to return from a long-standing back injury. Aaron Cresswell (knock) and Marko Arnautovic (cramp) should both be available. Alongside Arnautovic, Joe Hart, Pablo Zabaleta and Chicharito are expected to make their first competitive appearances for West Ham. Winston Reid has played less than a half of football with the first team this pre-season so may not be risked. The Hammers have picked up just two points at Old Trafford in their last nine visits, stretching back to May 2007.
Possible Manchester United XI: De Gea; Valencia, Bailly, Lindelof, Darmian; Herrera, Matic; Mkhitaryan, Pogba, Rashford; Lukaku.
Possible West Ham United XI: Hart; Zabaleta, Fonte, Ogbonna, Cresswell; Noble, Obiang, Fernandes; Ayew, Arnautovic; Chicharito.
Enjoy the game – Come On You Irons!