Blast from the past
23rd March 1957 – Harold Macmillan was Prime Minister, Tab Hunter was number one with ‘Young Love’ and Tyrone Power was starring in Seven Waves Away. West Ham United met Stoke City at the Victoria Ground for a Second Division encounter on the day Sir Patrick Abercrombie, a town planner best known for the post-World War Two re-planning of London, died.
Ted Fenton’s Hammers were to emerge victorious with a 1-0 victory at the home of the Potters in front of 19,794 with the winning goal coming courtesy of Geordie left-winger Malcolm Musgrove (pictured). Musgrove had scored a double on the same ground almost exactly two years previously. The 23-year-old ended the season with 10 goals from 44 appearances. Inside-left John Dick, absent for this game at Stoke, finished the campaign as the Irons’ top goalscorer with 13 goals in 41 matches.
West Ham would finish the 1956/57 Division Two season in eighth place, while Frank Taylor’s Stoke would end the campaign in fifth position. Leicester and Nottingham Forest would win promotion, Manchester United won the First Division title and Aston Villa won the FA Cup.
West Ham United: Ernie Gregory, John Bond, Malcolm Allison, Noel Cantwell, Andy Malcolm, John Smith, Mike Grice, Mick Newman, Billy Dare, Eddie Lewis, Malcolm Musgrove.
Club Connections
Marko Arnautovic returns to the club he left in the summer, while Glen Johnson welcomes the club with whom he started his career. A reasonable number of players have also worn the shirts of both Stoke City and West Ham United. These include:
Goalkeepers: Tony Parks, Steve Banks, Lawrie Leslie, Pat McMahon, Bob Dixon.
Defenders: Clive Clarke, Abdoulaye Faye, Danny Collins, Billy Cope, Matthew Upson.
Midfielders: Luke Chadwick, Matthew Etherington, Paul Allen, Kevin Keen, Victor Moses.
Strikers: Lee Chapman, Jack Farrell, Sir Geoff Hurst, John Carew, Wilf Phillips, Henri Camara, Nicky Morgan.
Lou Macari has also managed both clubs, with two spells in charge of the Potters.
Today’s focus though is on a centre-forward who played top-flight football with Stoke and West Ham – he is also the great-uncle of actor and Hammers fan Ray Winstone. Frank Richardson was born in Barking on the 29th January 1897. He began his career at Barking Town before moving to Plymouth in the Third Division South in 1921. He signed for First Division Stoke in March 1923, scoring once in eight games as the Potters were relegated at the end of the 1922/23 season. He scored twice in six Second Division appearances with Stoke before making a top-flight return with newly-promoted West Ham United.
Richardson (pictured), who had scored three goals in 14 appearances in total for Stoke, joined the Hammers in their first-ever top-flight campaign in October 1923. He made his debut in a 2-0 home win over Chelsea on 27th October 1923 and scored his first goal in claret and blue the following week in a 4-1 win over Birmingham at Upton Park. His second and final goal for the club came in front of 40,000 at Aston Villa, in a 1-1 draw on Christmas Day 1923. His last appearance for the Hammers was in a 1-0 FA Cup second round replay defeat at Leeds on 6th February 1924.
Having scored two goals in 11 appearances for West Ham United, Richardson decided to return to the Third Division South and signed for Swindon. He impressed during his two years at the Robins before signing for Reading, with whom he won the Third Division South title in 1926. His time at Elm Park saw him reach the FA Cup semi-finals. He left Reading in the summer of 1930 to return to Swindon and he had a short spell at Mansfield before retiring in 1931. Frank Richardson passed away at the age of 90 on 19th May 1987.
Referee
This Saturday’s referee is 49-year-old Graham Scott. The Oxfordshire-based official will be taking charge of only his second Premier League match involving the Hammers, his other appointment being our 3-1 win at Southampton in February this year.
Scott was, however, the man in the middle for our 2-1 League Cup victory over Cheltenham in August 2013 and is pictured above sending off Callum McNaughton in the defender’s only Hammers appearance as the club were knocked out of the same competition by Aldershot in August 2011.
Possible line-ups
Stoke, who have failed to keep a clean sheet in their last seven games, will be without Bruno Martins Indi, Kurt Zouma, Stephen Ireland and Jese, while former Hammer Glen Johnson is very doubtful. Saido Berahino is yet to score for Stoke since signing in January – his run without a goal stretches back to 27th February 2016, when he scored for West Brom in a 3-2 win over Crystal Palace.
For West Ham United, Sam Byram, Jose Fonte and Edimilson Fernandes are on the injured list, while Winston Reid is suspended. Cheikhou Kouyate may be fit enough to return. The Hammers are winless in their last eight league meetings against Stoke.
Possible Stoke City XI: Butland; Cameron, Shawcross, Wimmer, Pieters; Shaqiri, Allen, Fletcher, Sobhi; Crouch, Diouf.
Possible West Ham United XI: Adrian; Zabaleta, Collins, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Masuaku; Noble, Obiang, Lanzini; Antonio, Arnautovic.
Enjoy the game – Come On You Irons!