Blast from the past
7th September 1966 – the day actor Toby Jones was born, The Beatles were number one with ‘Yellow Submarine/Eleanor Rigby’ and Kirk Douglas was in UK cinemas in Cast A Giant Shadow as West Ham United emerged victorious from a First Division encounter against Manchester City with an emphatic 4-1 win.
The Hammers went into the game without a win from their first five league games and sitting fourth from bottom in the First Division table, despite welcoming back three freshly-crowned World Cup winners in Bobby Moore, Martin Peters and Geoff Hurst. All three played in this game at Manchester City, with the Irons finally getting their first win of the campaign, and in some style. Hurst bagged a brace at Maine Road in front of 31,989 and further goals from Ronnie Boyce and Johnny Sissons ensured maximum points went back with the Hammers to East London. Hurst would go on to be the club’s top scorer in 1966/67, with an incredible 41 goals from 49 appearances – he would be voted Hammer of the Year at the end of the season, with captain Moore runner-up.
West Ham would recover sufficiently from their difficult start to be in the top seven just after Christmas but fell away to finish 1966/67 in 16th place while City ended up 15th in Division One. The Hammers scored 80 league goals in 42 matches that season, but conceded 84. Manchester United won the league title and Tottenham won the FA Cup.
West Ham United: Jim Standen, Dennis Burnett, Ken Brown, Bobby Moore, John Charles, Ronnie Boyce, Martin Peters, Peter Brabrook, Johnny Byrne, Geoff Hurst, Johnny Sissons.
Club Connections
Pablo Zabaleta returns to the home of his former club for the first time since joining West Ham from Manchester City in the summer. Stuart Pearce played for both clubs and has managed Manchester City – he returns to the Etihad Stadium as an assistant coach with West Ham. England goalkeeper Joe Hart is currently on loan with the Hammers from City and is consequently ineligible to play in this game. A large group of players join them in having turned out for West Ham United and Manchester City. Divided by playing position, they include:
Goalkeepers – Perry Suckling.
Defenders – Tal Ben Haim, Tyrone Mears, Wayne Bridge.
Midfielders – Marc-Vivien Foe, Kevin Horlock, Patrick Leonard, James Cumming, Mark Ward, Eyal Berkovic, Steve Lomas, Frank Lampard Junior, John Payne, Michael Hughes, Ian Bishop, Trevor Sinclair.
Strikers – Bill Davidson, Carlos Tevez, Craig Bellamy, Phil Woosnam, Justin Fashanu, Trevor Morley, Paulo Wanchope, Clive Allen, Lionel Watson, David Cross, George Webb.
Malcolm Allison and John Bond were West Ham players who went on to manage City.
Today’s focus though falls on a player who, like Hart, has represented England, West Ham and Man City – David James. Born in Welwyn Garden City on 1st August 1970, James grew up as a Luton supporter. He signed for Watford though and, after helping the Hornets win the FA Youth Cup, made his full debut in August 1990 at the age of 20. He earned 10 caps for England Under-21s before moving to Liverpool in the summer of 1992. He won the League Cup in 1995 and received an FA Cup runners-up medal the following year before making his England debut under Glenn Hoddle in a friendly against Mexico on 29th March 1997. He signed for Aston Villa in the summer of 1999 and was once again on the losing side in an FA Cup Final, this time in 2000, the last Final to be played at the old Wembley.
James signed for Glenn Roeder’s West Ham United in July 2001 for £3.5m but a serious knee injury picked up in a collision with Martin Keown whilst playing for England against the Netherlands at White Hart Lane would keep him out until late autumn. The 31-year-old finally made his Hammers debut in a 1-0 home defeat to Tottenham on 24th November 2001 – he went on to keep ten clean sheets in 29 appearances in his first season, a campaign which saw no other Premier League team win more matches at home than the Hammers. The club finished seventh but were to nosedive the following season, culminating in relegation. James was an ever-present in 2002/03, keeping nine clean sheets in 42 appearances during a season in which he became England’s first-choice goalkeeper, replacing David Seaman.
James remained with the club for the first half of the First Division campaign of 2003/04, seeing many of his team-mates depart in a fire sale and playing under three managers – Roeder, caretaker boss Trevor Brooking and Alan Pardew – as the Hammers adjusted to life in the second tier. ‘Jamo’ kept ten clean sheets in 31 games before returning to the Premier League with Manchester City in a £2m deal in January 2004. He had made 102 appearances for West Ham in all competitions, his final match being a 2-1 home defeat to Preston on 10th January 2004. James had retained his position as Sven-Goran Eriksson’s England number one but his return to the top flight all but secured his place as England’s goalkeeper at the upcoming Euro 2004 tournament in Portugal. My video below is a compilation of some of his saves in a West Ham shirt.
James made his Manchester City debut on 17th January 2004 in a 1-1 home draw with Blackburn and saved penalties against Wolves and Leicester that season. James said that exploring the field of sport psychology improved his skills as a goalkeeper, particularly saving penalties. On the last day of the 2004/05 season, James was playing for City who needed to beat Middlesbrough to qualify for the UEFA Cup at the opposition’s expense. With the score 1-1 with five minutes remaining, manager Stuart Pearce substituted midfielder Claudio Reyna for the substitute goalkeeper Nicky Weaver, with James moved to play up front for the remainder of the game. The unusual tactic almost worked when, in injury time, Middlesbrough defender Franck Queudrue conceded a penalty by handling a cross that was aimed at James. However, Robbie Fowler’s penalty was saved by Middlesbrough goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer – Middlesbrough, not City, qualified for the UEFA Cup.
James, who had separated from his wife, stated in the summer of 2006 that he needed to leave Manchester City to be closer to his children, who lived in London. He departed for Portsmouth for £1.2 million after making 100 appearances for City. While with Pompey, he broke the Premier League record for clean sheets and consecutive appearances. He stands fourth in the all-time Premier League appearances list with 572 games played – only Ryan Giggs, Gareth Barry and ex-Hammer Frank Lampard have played more. James moved to Bristol City in the summer of 2010 having captained Portsmouth in the FA Cup Final, James again picking up a runners-up medal after defeat at Wembley to Chelsea. The goalkeeper also played three of England’s four matches at the 2010 World Cup, having lost his place to Paul Robinson during qualification for the 2006 World Cup – former Hammer James replaced then-Hammers custodian Rob Green in the tournament held in South Africa after Green’s unfortunate error against the USA. James won 53 caps for his country.
The 42-year-old James was released by Bristol City in the summer of 2012 and signed for Bournemouth in September of that year. His final appearance for Bournemouth, and in English football, was against Walsall in a 3-1 defeat at the Bescot Stadium on 19th January 2013.
James went on to play in Iceland for IBV, teaming up with former team-mate Hermann Hreidarsson in order to gain coaching experience. James was also player-manager of Indian Super League side Kerala Blasters, owned by Sachin Tendulkar, in 2014, helping the side to runners-up position in the inaugural campaign of the ISL. James played 956 matches during his career and, now 47, he is a regular pundit on BT Sports.
Referee
Sunday’s referee will be Mike Dean; 2017/18 is Dean’s 18th as a Premier League referee. Since West Ham United achieved promotion back to the top flight in 2012 Dean has refereed 19 of our league matches, officiating in nine wins for the Hammers, five draws and five defeats.
Dean refereed our final match at the Boleyn when we famously triumphed 3-2 over Manchester United. His last Premier League game involving West Ham saw him send off Sofiane Feghouli just 15 minutes into our 2-0 defeat to the Red Devils in January, a decision which was later rescinded. Dean’s most recent Hammers appointment was the 3-2 win over Tottenham in the League Cup fourth round at Wembley in October.
Possible line-ups
Manchester City will be without the injured John Stones and Benjamin Mendy, but Leroy Sane could return from illness. Raheem Sterling has scored the winning goal in the 84th minute or later four times this season, including in each of City’s last three games.
West Ham United have Sam Byram, James Collins, Jose Fonte, Andy Carroll and Chicharito on the injury list. Joe Hart is ineligible against his parent club so Adrian will make his first league appearance of the season. Winston Reid is a major doubt. West Ham have won just three of the last 20 Premier League meetings between the two clubs, drawing four and losing 13.
Possible Manchester City XI: Ederson; Walker, Kompany, Otamendi, Delph; Fernandinho, Silva; Sterling, De Bruyne, Jesus; Aguero.
Possible West Ham United XI: Adrian; Zabaleta, Kouyate, Ogbonna, Cresswell; Antonio, Noble, Obiang, Lanzini, Masuaku; Ayew.
Enjoy the game – Come On You Irons!