Blast from the past
2nd October 1993 – Saturday morning children’s TV programme Live & Kicking was broadcast for the first time, with Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince at number one with ‘Boom! Shake The Room’ and The Fugitive in UK cinemas, West Ham United met Chelsea for the first time in the Premier League at the Boleyn Ground in front of 18,917.
The match marked first league starts at Upton Park for new signings David Burrows, Mike Marsh and Lee Chapman – Burrows and Marsh had been involved in the part-exchange switch which saw Julian Dicks head to Anfield. The trio had all played their parts in a 5-1 home win over Chesterfield in the League Cup but this was their first Premier League appearance at their new home.
The Blues came into the game on a seven-match unbeaten run under new player-manager Glenn Hoddle but the Hammers took great delight in ensuring it came to a shuddering halt. The Irons went close when Burrows sent a fierce shot whistling wide before the deadlock was broken in the 43rd minute – Matty Holmes found Trevor Morley who controlled, swivelled and fired beyond Dimitri Kharin from 25 yards. Morley would go on to be the club’s top scorer in 1993/94 with 16 goals from 49 matches.
Chelsea skipper Dennis Wise was sent off just a minute after the goal for a two-footed tackle on Burrows but the Hammers failed to finish off the ten men in the second half. Indeed it was the Blues who came closest to scoring, Hoddle, Neil Shipperley and Eddie Newton all testing Ludo Miklosko. The winning goal, and an interview with West Ham manager Billy Bonds, can be viewed in my video below.
The Hammers would go on to finish 13th in 1993/94 while Chelsea would finish 14th and reach the FA Cup Final, losing to Manchester United, who also won the league title. Morley was named Hammer of the Year, with Steve Potts runner-up.
West Ham United: Ludek Miklosko, Tim Breacker, Steve Potts, Tony Gale, David Burrows, Mike Marsh (Martin Allen), Peter Butler, Ian Bishop, Matty Holmes, Trevor Morley, Lee Chapman.
Chelsea: Dimitri Kharin, Steve Clarke (Gareth Hall), Frank Sinclair, Jakob Kjeldberg, Mal Donaghy, Dennis Wise, Eddie Newton, Glenn Hoddle, Andy Dow (John Spencer), Gavin Peacock, Neil Shipperley.
Club Connections
A decent number of players have represented both West Ham United and Chelsea. Victor Moses spent the 2015/16 season on loan with the Hammers and is now proving a key player for Antonio Conte’s Blues. Others to have worn the colours of both clubs include:
Goalkeepers: Craig Forrest and Harry Medhurst.
Defenders: Tal Ben Haim, Scott Minto, Wayne Bridge, Ian Pearce, Joe Kirkup, Glen Johnson and Jon Harley.
Midfielders: Bill Jackson, Frank Lampard Junior, Andy Malcolm, Syd Bishop, Peter Brabrook, Alan Dickens, George Horn, Eric Parsons, Robert Bush, Scott Parker, Yossi Benayoun, Joe Cole, Jim Frost and John Sissons.
Strikers: David Speedie, Len Goulden, Billy Bridgeman, Demba Ba, Joe Payne, Clive Allen, George Hilsdon, Carlton Cole, Billy Brown, Jimmy Greaves, Pop Robson, Billy Williams, Ron Tindall and Bob Deacon.
Ron Greenwood and Gianfranco Zola played for Chelsea and managed West Ham, while Sir Geoff Hurst and Dave Sexton both played for the Hammers and managed the Blues. Avram Grant has managed both clubs.
Today’s focus is on a former West Ham United striker who went on to be assistant and caretaker manager of Chelsea. Bobby Gould was born on the 12th June 1946 in Coventry and began his career with his hometown club before moving to Arsenal for £90,000 in February 1968. He joined Wolves in June 1970 but moved to Black Country rivals West Brom just 15 months later. He signed for Bristol City in December 1972 before his move to east London.
Gould joined Ron Greenwood’s West Ham United in November 1973 for £80,000 with the Hammers badly struggling in the bottom three of the First Division. He made his debut against one of his former clubs, Arsenal, on 24th November 1973 in a 3-1 defeat at the Boleyn Ground. Gould scored his first Hammers goal in a 3-1 defeat at Birmingham on 15th December 1973 and notched another in a 4-2 win at Chelsea on Boxing Day 1973. His first goal at Upton Park arrived on New Year’s Day 1974 in another 4-2 win, this time over Norwich. Gould’s last goal of 1973/74 came at Manchester City in a 2-1 defeat on 20th April.
The hard-working striker bagged a hat-trick in a 6-0 League Cup second round replay win over Tranmere at the Boleyn on 18th September 1974 and followed that with a brace in a 6-2 home win over Leicester three days later. Strikes in successive away games at Coventry and Everton in October secured 1-1 draws before he fired the fifth and final goal against former club Wolves in a 5-2 home win on 16th November 1974. Two more goals followed before Christmas, one in a 2-1 home win over Leeds and another in a 1-1 draw at Chelsea. Gould got the Hammers’ ultimately triumphant FA Cup campaign off to a flyer by scoring in the 2-1 win at Southampton in the third round but would be ruled out for seven weeks, although he did score in his comeback game at Wolves in a 3-1 defeat. Another goal on the road came a month later at Sheffield United in a 3-2 loss but nine games without a goal at the end of the season cost Gould his place in the FA Cup Final team which defeated Fulham 2-0 – Gould was an unused substitute. His day in the Wembley sun was yet to come…
Gould, who used to conduct the Boleyn Ground crowd during renditions of ’I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles’, put that disappointment behind him and scored at Stoke on the opening day of 1975/76 in a 2-1 win. Injury struck again and he would be out of the side for two months – his hard work building back to fitness paid dividends when he bagged the winner in a 2-1 triumph over Manchester United at Upton Park on 25th October 1975, his final goal in claret and blue. Gould played his final match as a Hammer in a 2-1 defeat at Derby on 15th November 1975 – he had joined the club when they were in the bottom two of the First Division and he left almost two years later with the club enjoying FA Cup holder status and sitting fifth in the top flight. Gould had played a significant part in lifting team spirit during his time at the club and departed having scored 19 goals in 62 appearances.
Five of Gould’s 19 West Ham goals can be viewed in my video below – his first strike for the club at Birmingham, the fifth in the 5-2 win over former club Wolves, the FA Cup third round header at Southampton, his goal at Sheffield United and his winner against Manchester United.
Gould returned to Wolves in December 1975 for £30,000. He moved on to Bristol Rovers in October 1977 and had spells with Norwegian club Aalesunds and back in England with Hereford before hanging up his boots. He became Geoff Hurst’s assistant at Chelsea in 1979 and took caretaker control when Hurst was sacked by the then Division Two Blues in April 1981. Gould took charge of two matches before leaving the club, a 3-0 defeat at Swansea and a 2-0 home loss to Notts County, who finished runners-up to West Ham.
Gould had two spells as boss at former club Bristol Rovers with a period in charge back where it all began at Coventry sandwiched in between. He became manager of Wimbledon in 1987 and led them to an unlikely FA Cup fairytale when they won the trophy in 1988, defeating Liverpool in the Final and making up for Gould’s non-appearance back in 1975. He went on to manage another former club, West Brom, before returning to Coventry in 1992 to lead them into the Premier League era. International management followed with a four-year spell in charge of Wales from 1995 to 1999. He returned to club management with Cardiff in 2000.
Gould’s final full-time managerial post came in February 2003 when he took over at Division Two strugglers Cheltenham Town. Gould has since had brief spells with Peterborough and Weymouth. Now 71, he is a regular on TalkSport Radio and occasionally appears on BBC Radio 5Live’s Fighting Talk. His elder son Jonathan was a goalkeeper at Coventry, Bradford, Celtic and Preston (amongst other clubs), while younger son Richard is Chief Executive of Surrey County Cricket Club. Bobby’s grandson Matt is a goalkeeper for Stourbridge in the Northern Premier League Premier Division.
Referee
The referee on Saturday will be Anthony Taylor – the Hammers were allocated the 39-year-old on five occasions in 2015/16 as he took charge of our defeat at Tottenham, as well as our home win over Newcastle which came just three games after he had controversially sent off Adrian against Leicester. He was also the man in the middle for our FA Cup third round win over Wolves and our 3-2 win at Everton in March 2016. Last season, Taylor took charge of our 2-0 defeat at Everton in October and our 2-1 defeat at Chelsea in August, awarding the home side a penalty and later controversially failing to issue a second yellow card to Diego Costa for an awful lunge at Adrian – Costa remained on the pitch to score the 89th-minute winner. He also refereed our 1-0 defeat at Leicester on New Year’s Eve and, most recently, our 1-0 win over Tottenham in May.
Indeed, controversy and incident are never far away when the Cheshire-based official is the referee for a West Ham United match. Taylor is the referee who had not one, but two red cards rescinded from the same game after he had sent off Carlton Cole and Darron Gibson in the Hammers’ 2-1 home defeat to Everton in December 2012. He sent off the home side’s Kevin Mirallas against the Hammers at Goodison Park in March 2016 and awarded the Toffees a penalty which Romelu Lukaku saw saved by Adrian.
Possible line-ups
West Ham United are without the injured Jose Fonte and Andy Carroll, while Sam Byram, Winston Reid and Chicharito are doubts. James Collins, Cheikhou Kouyate and Michail Antonio are being assessed.
Chelsea manager Antonio Conte will be without David Luiz.
Looking ahead to our next match against Arsenal, Alexis Sanchez is one yellow card away from missing our match with the Gunners on Wednesday – Arsenal face Southampton at St Mary’s on Sunday.
Possible West Ham United XI: Hart; Zabaleta, Rice, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Masuaku; Arnautovic, Obiang, Noble, Lanzini; Sakho.
Possible Chelsea XI: Courtois; Christensen, Azpilicueta, Rudiger; Moses, Kante, Bakayoko, Fabregas, Alonso; Morata, Hazard.
Enjoy the game – Up The Hammers!