Blast from the past
The final day of the 1976/77 campaign – Liverpool were wrapping up Bob Paisley’s second league title, Manchester United were set to claim their fourth FA Cup trophy and West Ham United were at the end of a relegation battle in the First Division. As the Hammers hosted Manchester United on the 16th May 1977, Rod Stewart was number one with his double A-side ‘I Don’t Want To Talk About It/First Cut Is The Deepest’ and Rocky had just won Best Picture at the Oscars.
In front of 29,904, the Hammers went into this Monday evening encounter having won only two of their previous 13 matches but knowing a win would mean survival in Division One. A disastrous start saw the Irons 1-0 down after just thirty seconds, winger Gordon Hill putting the visitors ahead. West Ham levelled on the half-hour through Frank Lampard and Geoff Pike saw his penalty fly over the bar before the interval.
Pike atoned for the miss by putting West Ham ahead seven minutes into the second half and East End nerves were eased when Bryan ‘Pop’ Robson (pictured above) extended the lead on the hour. In typical West Ham style though, nerves did not stay eased for long as future Hammer Stuart Pearson cut the deficit for the Red Devils five minutes later. Robson had the final word though, bagging his brace and sealing the Irons’ survival for another season with a goal fifteen minutes from time.
John Lyall’s words after the game echo through time to the end of what has proved to be a difficult 2017/18 campaign for West Ham United – “Adversity does you no harm if you learn from it”. Let’s hope that the Hammers hierarchy learn from their mistakes this season, for the benefit of everyone involved with the football club.
The victory saw Lyall’s West Ham end the season two points clear of the drop, recording a 17th-place finish. Tommy Docherty’s Manchester United would end the 1976/77 campaign in sixth position and would beat champions Liverpool in the FA Cup Final five days later. Two-goal hero of the day Robson ended the season with 14 goals from 32 games in all competitions. Trevor Brooking would be voted Hammer of the Year, with Alan Devonshire runner-up.
West Ham United: Mervyn Day, Billy Bonds, Mick McGiven, Tommy Taylor, Frank Lampard, Geoff Pike, Trevor Brooking, Alan Devonshire, John Radford, Bryan ‘Pop’ Robson, Alan Taylor.
Manchester United: Paddy Roche, Jimmy Nicholl, Martin Buchan, Brian Greenhoff (David McCreery), Arthur Albiston, Sammy McIlroy, Steve Coppell, Gordon Hill, Jimmy Greenhoff, Stuart Pearson, Lou Macari.
Club Connections
Michael Carrick makes his final visit to his first club as a player, while Patrice Evra, David Moyes and Chicharito welcome their former club. A largely impressive list of players join the quartet in representing West Ham United and Manchester United over the years. These include:
Goalkeepers: Roy Carroll, Les Sealey.
Defenders: Noel Cantwell, Fred Milnes, Jonathan Spector.
Midfielders: James McCrae, Bill McCartney, Paul Ince, Ralph Milne, Luke Chadwick, Ravel Morrison.
Strikers: Charlie Mackie, Billy Grassam, Stuart Pearson, Teddy Sheringham, Ted MacDougall, 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 though is on one of the best defenders of the modern era – Rio Ferdinand was born in King’s College Hospital, Denmark Hill on 7th November 1978. He joined the West Ham United Academy in 1992 having been scouted by Frank Lampard Senior and made his first team debut on 5th May 1996 as a 17-year-old, coming on for Tony Cottee in the 68th minute of the final day 1-1 home draw with Sheffield Wednesday. Ferdinand’s first appearance for the club coincided with legendary centre-back Alvin Martin’s final outing in claret and blue – it was hoped that this was a symbolic changing of the guard, a passing of the baton with Rio seen as the long-term successor to ‘Stretch’. Further substitute appearances arrived in the early stages of 1996/97 at both Arsenal on the opening day and Sunderland a month later before a League Cup appearance from the bench in a 1-0 win over Barnet, with the winning goal in that game scored by Slaven Bilic.
Ferdinand joined Bournemouth on loan in November 1996 and Sir Alex Ferguson, who had Ferdinand watched during his two months with the Cherries, said he was “graceful, balanced, first touch like a centre-forward”. Having collected valuable first-team experience to go alongside his obvious natural talent, Ferdinand returned to Upton Park and made his first Hammers start in a disastrous 1-0 FA Cup third round replay defeat at the hands of Wrexham. With the Hammers also knocked out of the League Cup the previous month by another lower league side in Stockport and entrenched in a fierce battle for survival, Ferdinand had to grow up quickly. Coming on as a half-time substitute in midfield, he notched his first West Ham goal in a 2-1 defeat at Blackburn the following week, controlling a loose ball in the box expertly with his right foot before firing beyond Tim Flowers with his left. Ferdinand would miss only two of the remaining fourteen matches in 1996/97 (with the Hammers failing to win either of those he missed), with the young defender playing a crucial role alongside the likes of Bilic, Julian Dicks and new signings Paul Kitson, John Hartson and Steve Lomas in ensuring the Hammers successfully staved off the threat of relegation. My video below shows both of Rio’s goals in claret and blue.
After rounding off the 1996/97 campaign with a 2-0 defeat at the home of champions Manchester United, Ferdinand became a transfer target of Old Trafford boss Ferguson. Writing in his autobiography, Fergie states “Martin [Edwards, former Manchester United chairman] called the West Ham chairman, Terry Brown, who said: ‘Give us a million plus David Beckham.’ In other words: he’s not for sale”. Ferdinand made 35 Premier League appearances in 1997/98 as the Hammers improved and finished eighth and, at the age of 19, was voted Hammer of the Year by the club’s supporters – he remains, to this day, the youngest-ever recipient of the prestigious award. Having handed Ferdinand his full international debut against Cameroon in November 1997, Glenn Hoddle named Rio alongside cousin Les in his World Cup squad for France ’98, although the young centre-half did not receive any game time at the tournament.
Ferdinand played a key role in securing West Ham’s highest-ever Premier League finish of fifth in 1998/99 and subsequently experienced European football with the Hammers the following season, playing every match in the successful Intertoto Cup campaign and appearing in three of the club’s four UEFA Cup fixtures. He played 47 games in total in 1999/2000, which was to prove his final full campaign in east London, but was left out of Kevin Keegan’s England squad for Euro 2000. His last game for the club was to be against his next employers, as West Ham went to Elland Road in November 2000 and beat big spenders Leeds 1-0 – Ferdinand was outstanding as Nigel Winterburn’s sole strike for the club won the match and, by the end of the following week, Rio was heading north for a fee of £18m, a transfer record between two British clubs at the time. It was also a world record fee for a defender. Rio had made 158 appearances for West Ham United in all competitions, scoring two goals. Chairman Terry Brown and manager Harry Redknapp claimed that, due to the uncertainty regarding the transfer system at the time, there was a possibility that no club would be in a position to be offered that type of money again. Nearly 18 years on, the current world record fee stands at £198m…
The transfer heralded the beginning of the end for West Ham United’s modern-day Golden Generation – six months later, Redknapp had left and Ferdinand’s team-mate from youth team to first team, Frank Lampard Junior, was quick to follow. Within two further years, Joe Cole and Glen Johnson had departed, with Michael Carrick and Jermain Defoe also consigned to Upton Park history by the end of summer 2004. This collection of players have earned a total of 388 England caps, winning the Champions League, Europa League, Premier League, FA Cup and League Cup between them along the way. The proceeds from Ferdinand’s sale were spent on Christian Dailly, Rigobert Song, Titi Camara, Ragnvald Soma and Svetoslav Todorov – only one of those players (Dailly) made more than 25 league appearances for West Ham. The West Stand was coined by some fans as ‘The Rio Stand’ with many believing that some of the funds generated from Ferdinand’s transfer had helped complete a side of the ground which stood for just 15 years before it was knocked down.
As Leeds struggled financially, Ferdinand left the Elland Road club just under two years after signing for them, moving on to Manchester United for a fee of £29.1m – manager Sir Alex Ferguson’s long-standing interest had not waned. Ferdinand scored his first goal for the Red Devils on 14th December 2005 in a 4-0 home win over Wigan. His second goal for the club came just twelve days later in a 3-0 win over West Brom at Old Trafford. His last-minute winner over rivals Liverpool in January 2006 came in front of a delighted Stretford End and he repeated the feat against the same opposition in a 2-0 win at Old Trafford nine months later.
Three days after a goal in a 4-1 win at Villa Park, Ferdinand scored his first goal in Europe for Manchester United in October 2007 in a 4-2 win away to Dynamo Kiev in the Champions League group stages – the Red Devils would go on to win the competition with victory over Avram Grant’s Chelsea in Moscow the following May. Ferdinand also scored in a 6-0 win over Newcastle in January 2008 and appeared in goal against Portsmouth in an FA Cup quarter-final when Edwin van der Sar was injured and Tomasz Kuszczak was sent off. Ferdinand’s final goal for Manchester United was the winner at Old Trafford in a 2-1 victory over Swansea on 12th May 2013 – the final goal of the Sir Alex Ferguson era.
After leaving the Hammers in 2000, Ferdinand went on to be named in the Premier League PFA Team of the Year six times by his fellow professionals, won six Premier League titles, three League Cups, six Community Shields, one Champions League and one FIFA Club World Cup. In September 2003, however, he missed a drugs test and was banned from competitive football for eight months from January until September 2004, causing him to miss half a Premier League season, Manchester United’s FA Cup triumph, and Euro 2004. He still won 81 caps for England though, scoring three goals, and captained his country on numerous occasions.
After twelve years, 455 appearances and eight goals with the Red Devils, he left Old Trafford for QPR in 2014, spending one year at Loftus Road before hanging up his boots in the summer of 2015. Now 39, Ferdinand was recently refused a professional boxing licence. Former Manchester United and England team-mate Paul Scholes said of Ferdinand:
“He was such a pleasure to play with and play in front of. To play in front of him, he made your job so easy. He was a great player, without a doubt the best centre-half I ever played with. I would say for a time as well he was the best centre-half in the world.”
Referee
The referee on Thursday will be Jonathan Moss. The Yorkshire-based official has sent off a player in six of his last eleven appointments involving the Hammers – the 4-3 defeat to Bournemouth in August 2015 saw Carl Jenkinson sent off, while the 2-1 win over Chelsea last October saw Nemanja Matic dismissed (then-Blues manager Jose Mourinho was also sent to the stands). Moss issued a red card to Jordan Ayew of Aston Villa in February with the Hammers going on to win 2-0 while, going further back, Burnley’s Michael Duff was also sent off by Moss in our 1-0 home win over the Clarets in May 2015.
Moss also issued a red card to Cheikhou Kouyate in the 5-1 FA Cup fifth round win at Blackburn in February, although this was later rescinded. Arguably the 47-year-old’s most controversial Hammers appointment was the 2-2 draw at Leicester in April 2016 when he sent off Jamie Vardy and awarded two penalties, the second arriving deep into stoppage time as the Foxes rescued a precious point. He refereed our 1-1 draw at Old Trafford in November 2016. Moss’ most recent matches in charge of the Hammers were December’s goalless draw with Arsenal at London Stadium, our 4-1 win at Huddersfield in January and our 3-0 home win over Southampton in March.
Possible line-ups
David Moyes has Joe Hart available but is without Sam Byram, James Collins, Winston Reid, Michail Antonio and Chicharito. Top scorer Marko Arnautovic is available despite picking up a knock in the win at Leicester. The Austrian has scored ten league goals this season – Bobby Zamora was the last West Ham player to score 11 goals in a single Premier League season back in 2006/07.
Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho is without Marouane Fellaini and Romelu Lukaku, both so often influential against the Hammers. Phil Jones and Alexis Sanchez are both available. Manchester United have only failed to score in two of their past 18 trips to West Ham. Anthony Martial has scored six goals in six games against the Irons. The Red Devils are without a win in their final away game of a Premier League season since 2011/12, when they beat Sunderland – they’ve drawn four and lost once since then, with the defeat coming at West Ham two years ago today in the final match at the Boleyn.
Possible West Ham United XI: Adrian; Zabaleta, Rice, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Masuaku; Kouyate, Mario, Noble; Lanzini, Arnautovic.
Possible Manchester United XI: De Gea; Darmian, Jones, Smalling, Young; Herrera, Matic; Sanchez, Pogba, Martial; Rashford.
Enjoy the game – Come On You Irons!