Blast from the past
7th November 1959 – the first section of the M1 motorway had just been opened, Cliff Richard and The Shadows were number one with ‘Travellin’ Light’, Sweet Beat was in UK cinemas and West Ham United emerged victorious from a First Division encounter against Manchester City with a 4-1 win in front of 25,500.
The Hammers’ goals came courtesy of a penalty from Irish left-back Noel Cantwell, centre-forward Harry Obeney (pictured) and outside-left Malcolm Musgrove, supplemented by an own goal by City centre-half John McTavish. Visiting inside-forward Joe Hayes scored City’s consolation. Musgrove would end the season as the Irons’ top scorer with 20 goals from 48 games and would also be voted Hammer of the Year.
Obeney, who turned 80 last month, was originally a half-back but was converted to centre-forward around this time and came into the game fresh from scoring four in a 6-1 Southern Floodlit Cup win against Reading in his previous match. Obeney would score 16 goals in 31 appearances for the Hammers before joining Millwall in 1961. He later played for Colchester, Dover, Romford and Aveley – Romford awarded him a testimonial which was played against West Ham in October 1970.
Ted Fenton’s Hammers, who went second in the league with this win before topping the Football League with victory at Arsenal the week after, went on to finish in 14th place in the 1959/60 Division One season while Les McDowall’s City ended up two places and one point below in 16th. Burnley won the league title and Wolves won the FA Cup.
West Ham United: Noel Dwyer, Joe Kirkup, Ken Brown, Noel Cantwell, Andy Malcolm, John Smith, Mike Grice, Phil Woosnam, Harry Obeney, John Dick, Malcolm Musgrove.
Manchester City: Bert Trautmann, Bill Leivers, John McTavish, Cliff Sear, David Shawcross, Roy Cheetham, Clive Colbridge, Joe Hayes, Andy Kerr, George Hannah, Colin Barlow.
Club Connections
Pablo Zabaleta welcomes his former club. Stuart Pearce played for both clubs and has managed Manchester City – he is now 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, David James.
Defenders – Tal Ben Haim, 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 has a small space in the history of both clubs – Tyrone Mears. Born in Stockport on 18th February 1983, Mears came through the ranks at Manchester City and signed trainee forms in August 2001. The right-back only made one appearance for City, replacing current Hammers assistant manager Stuart Pearce as an 84th-minute substitute in a 3-0 home win over Nottingham Forest on 30th March 2002. On Manchester City’s promotion to the Premier League at the end of the 2001/02 season, Mears’ first-team opportunities became limited and he was sold to Preston for £200,000.
After four years at Deepdale, and after Preston rejected two offers from Charlton, Mears signed for West Ham United in July 2006 for an initial £1m fee. After the departure of loanee Lionel Scaloni, Hammers boss Alan Pardew signed three right-backs in the same summer – Mears, Jonathan Spector and John Paintsil. It was Mears who got the nod for the opening day of the 2006/07 campaign, starting in the 3-1 home win over Charlton on 19th August 2006. It was to prove his first and last taste of victory in a Hammers shirt. Mears appeared as a substitute in the 2-1 defeat at Liverpool the following week before returning to the starting line-up in the 1-1 home draw with Aston Villa on 10th September – his acrobatic goalline clearance from a Stiliyan Petrov lob helped earn the Irons a point. This athletic overhead clearance can be seen in my video below.
Mears started the next two matches, both at home – a 1-0 defeat to Palermo in the UEFA Cup first round first leg and a 2-0 defeat to Glenn Roeder’s Newcastle. It was to prove his final outing for three months until his final game for the club, a substitute appearance in a 1-0 home defeat to former club Manchester City on 30th December 2006.
After completing the signing of Lucas Neill, new manager Alan Curbishley allowed Mears to join Derby on loan in January 2007, a move that was made permanent the following summer. Mears had made six appearances in total for West Ham. After scoring for Derby against West Ham in April 2008 (a match the Hammers won 2-1 at Upton Park), he spent the 2008/09 season on loan at Marseille. Mears won an international cap for Jamaica in February 2009 but it was later revealed that Mears’ father, through whom he thought he qualified to represent Jamaica, was actually from Sierra Leone. After discovering his ineligibility to play for Jamaica, Mears petitioned FIFA to have the cap rescinded and have his ongoing eligibility to play for England reaffirmed.
Mears joined Burnley in a permanent move in the summer of 2009 and spent two seasons at Turf Moor before joining local rivals Bolton in July 2011. Mears signed for Seattle Sounders shortly after Christmas 2014 and has also played for Atlanta United. Now 35, Mears currently plays for Adrian Heath’s Minnesota United in the Western Conference of Major League Soccer.
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 in 2015/16 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. Two of his three Hammers matches last season saw our best two goals of the season – Dimitri Payet’s stunning solo effort in the 1-1 home draw with Middlesbrough in October 2016 and Andy Carroll’s scintillating scissor kick in the 3-0 home win over Crystal Palace in January 2017. He was the referee for our 4-0 and 4-1 home defeats to Liverpool in the last two seasons, and our 3-0 defeat at Newcastle in August. His most recent Hammers appointment was our 1-1 home draw with Crystal Palace in January.
Possible line-ups
West Ham United have loanee Joe Hart unavailable as Premier League rules mean he is ineligible to face his parent club. Spanish stopper Adrian comes in to face the newly-crowned champions. Sam Byram, Winston Reid, James Collins, Pedro Obiang and Michail Antonio are on the injury list. The Hammers have lost their two previous matches against Manchester City at London Stadium by an aggregate score of 9-0. David Moyes’ Irons have won just twice in their last 11 league fixtures, drawing four and losing five.
Manchester City will be without John Stones and Sergio Aguero. Pep Guardiola has Fernandinho available again after suspension. David Silva has scored four and assisted two goals in his six away matches against West Ham for City in all competitions, scoring in both matches at London Stadium.
Possible West Ham United XI: Adrian; Zabaleta, Rice, Ogbonna; Cresswell, Masuaku; Fernandes, Kouyate, Noble, Mario; Arnautovic.
Possible Manchester City XI: Ederson; Walker, Otamendi, Laporte, Delph; Fernandinho, David Silva; Sterling, De Bruyne, Sane; Jesus.
Enjoy the game – Up The Hammers!
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