Blast from the past
Today’s blast from the past features a 1-0 victory at the AMEX Stadium against tonight’s opponents, Brighton. It arrived almost seven years ago, on the 24th October 2011 in front of 20,686 spectators. Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi had been killed four days previously, ‘We Found Love’ by Rihanna featuring Calvin Harris was number one and Paranormal Activity 3 topped the UK box office.
29-year-old skipper Kevin Nolan (pictured) scored the only goal of the game as the Hammers ran out 1-0 winners, dispossessing Liam Bridcutt in the 17th minute before firing a curling strike from 25 yards beyond his former Newcastle team-mate Steve Harper in the Brighton goal. It was Nolan’s fourth goal in 14 games since making his debut in August 2011; he went on to score 13 goals in 46 matches in 2011/12 and bagged 31 goals in 157 appearances in his Hammers career. My video below shows Nolan’s goal from this game.
Sam Allardyce’s Hammers ended the 2011/12 season third in the Championship but were promoted to the Premier League via the Play-Offs; Carlton Cole finished the season as the club’s top scorer with 15 goals in 43 matches. Gus Poyet’s Brighton were to finish tenth. Reading topped the Championship, Manchester City won the Premier League title and Chelsea won the FA Cup.
Brighton and Hove Albion: Steve Harper, Lewis Dunk, Gonzalo Jara, Gordon Greer, Marcos Painter, Liam Bridcutt, Matt Sparrow (Will Buckley), Gary Dicker (Ryan Harley), Craig Noone, Craig Mackail-Smith, Ashley Barnes (Will Hoskins).
West Ham United: Manuel Almunia, Joey O’Brien, Abdoulaye Faye, Winston Reid, George McCartney, Mark Noble, Papa Bouba Diop (Freddie Sears), Julien Faubert (Sam Baldock), Kevin Nolan, Jack Collison, John Carew (Frederic Piquionne).
Club Connections
Brighton manager Chris Hughton welcomes his former club to the AMEX Stadium. Other players who have appeared for both clubs include:
Goalkeeper: Harry Medhurst.
Defenders: Len Young, Dennis Burnett, Mauricio Taricco, Matthew Upson, Keith McPherson, William Kelly and Wayne Bridge.
Midfielders: Sebastien Carole, Bertie Lutton, John Payne, George Parris and Tony Stokes.
Strikers: Brian Dear, Paul Kitson, Tommy Dixon, Justin Fashanu, Sam Baldock, Greg Campbell, Sam Jennings, Sam Small, Herbert Lyon, Bobby Zamora, Dave Sexton and Mike Small.
In addition, Alan Curbishley played for both clubs and managed West Ham. Ex-Hammers Archie Macaulay and Liam Brady have managed Brighton.
This week’s focus though is on a player who spent a season with the Hammers before joining the Seagulls. Tommy McAteer was born in the miners’ houses at Smithstone Row near Croy in North Lanarkshire, Scotland on 30th March 1876. Sport played an important part in the lives of the people of Croy and Smithstone and their football teams, Smithstone Albion and Smithstone Hibernian, were regularly at the top of any football competition in which they competed. Tommy McAteer played junior football with Kilsyth Wanderers and Smithstone Hibernian before turning professional with First Division Bolton in 1898. He played for the Wanderers for four seasons, experiencing both relegation and promotion, before moving to London with West Ham United.
A big, strong and hard-working centre-half who was also a free-kick specialist, the 26-year-old McAteer (pictured) was one of eight debutants under Syd King in a 1-1 home draw with Reading on 6th September 1902, the opening day of the Southern League First Division season. He made 13 appearances in 1902/03 – eleven of these appearances came before Christmas 1902, with the last of these pre-Christmas matches being a 6-0 defeat in the reverse fixture to McAteer’s debut, at Reading. After four months out of the side, McAteer made his return in the unfamiliar position of outside-right but fortune continued to hide as the Irons were again beaten 6-0, this time at Southampton. McAteer’s 13th and final appearance for West Ham United was a 4-0 defeat at Luton on 18th April 1903. The Hammers would end McAteer’s sole season in east London in tenth position – he was described by contemporaries as “a big strapping fellow who brought a big reputation from Burnden Park but it never materialised at the Memorial Grounds”.
McAteer moved to Brighton for the 1903/04 season – he was appointed captain and played in every match but one during the campaign, making 33 appearances and scoring one goal for the Seagulls. McAteer’s Brighton beat the Hammers 3-2 on the south coast but his return trips to east London against his old side proved less fruitful as the Hammers triumphed 5-0 in the league and 4-0 in the FA Cup.
McAteer returned to Scotland in May 1904, signing for Dundee. He joined Carlisle in 1905, moved to Clyde on loan for the 1906/07 season before returning to captain Carlisle. He joined Clyde permanently in February 1908, where he was again named captain. McAteer’s Clyde beat both Rangers and Celtic en route to the 1910 Scottish Cup Final but lost in a second replay to his former club Dundee.
At the end of the 1909/10 season, the 34-year-old McAteer signed for Celtic. He scored a late goal, described as “a screamer”, in the 1911 Scottish Cup Final replay to clinch a 2-0 win over Hamilton and earn his first and only winners’ medal in professional football. His performances earned him a place in the Home Scots team that faced the Anglo-Scots in an international trial in March 1911, but no call-up to the senior squad ensued.
In 1912, McAteer briefly played for Wishaw Thistle before returning to league football on a part-time basis with Albion Rovers and Abercorn. Living back in Croy, he eventually had to leave football behind and went back to the pits. McAteer was apparently terrified of being underground and managed to get surface work. When the First World War broke out in August 1914, McAteer quickly enlisted into the Army and found himself soldiering with the 3rd Bn. Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders. He was badly wounded in 1915.
After the war, McAteer went back to surface work at the pits, living with his wife Mary, with whom he had several children. Tommy McAteer died in Kilsyth, Stirlingshire, on 20th September 1959, aged 83.
Referee
Friday’s referee is Kevin Friend. The Leicester-based official has been involved in top-flight matches since 2009 and took charge of the Hammers in our historic 3-0 victory at Liverpool in August 2015. He sent off Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho and West Ham’s Mark Noble in that match at Anfield, with the latter’s dismissal rescinded on appeal. Friend’s Hammers appointments last season were in September 2017 for our 2-0 home win over Huddersfield, our 1-0 League Cup quarter-final defeat at Arsenal in December and, most recently, our 1-1 draw at Chelsea in April.
Friend also refereed our 1-0 home win over Swansea in April 2017. He is also remembered for the soft penalty he gifted Hull in our 1-0 defeat at the KC Stadium in September 2013 when Joey O’Brien was adjudged to have shoved Robbie Brady. Friend compounded the error by later denying the Irons a clear penalty when Jake Livermore handled in the area. Don’t expect much from Friend in the way of handball decisions – he also denied the Hammers a penalty in a match at Everton when Aaron Cresswell’s cross was handled by Seamus Coleman.
Possible line-ups
Brighton are likely to be without attacking midfielder Pascal Gross, but midfielder Dale Stephens and striker Florin Andone should be available. Jose Izquierdo, who scored two of his five goals last season against the Hammers, is pushing for a first start of this season. Brighton won both meetings between the two sides last season. The Seagulls have lost just one of their last 16 league matches in October (won seven, drawn eight).
West Ham United are without Winston Reid, Carlos Sanchez, Jack Wilshere, Manuel Lanzini and Andy Carroll. Chicharito is back in full training after overcoming glandular fever but is unlikely to be risked in this match. Marko Arnautovic has been directly involved in 21 goals in his last 26 Premier League appearances, scoring 15 and setting up six.
Possible Brighton XI: Ryan; Montoya, Dunk, Duffy, Boog; Bissouma, Propper, Stephens; Knockaert, Izquierdo; Locadia.
Possible West Ham United XI: Fabianski; Zabaleta, Balbuena, Diop, Masuaku; Rice, Obiang, Noble; Yarmolenko, Arnautovic, Anderson.
Enjoy the game – Come On You Irons!
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