Blast from the past
West Ham United hosted Newcastle United on 26th September 1925, the same day that golfer Walter Hagen won the eighth PGA Championship at Olympia Fields, Illinois and the Italian submarine Sebastiano Veniero was sunk by collision and lost off Sicily, with 54 dead.
The Hammers, meanwhile, bagged maximum points with a 1-0 First Division victory over the Magpies in front of 24,722 at Upton Park. Legendary centre-forward Vic Watson (pictured below) scored the winning goal and would go on to be the Irons’ top scorer in 1925/26, with 20 goals from 39 games.
Syd King’s Hammers, who had topped the table in mid-September, went on to finish in 18th place in the 1925/26 Division One season, two points clear of relegation, while Newcastle ended up 10th. Huddersfield won the league title and Bolton won the FA Cup, beating the relegated Manchester City in the Final.
West Ham United: Ted Hufton, Tommy Hodgson, Billy Henderson, George Carter, Jim Barrett, Albert Cadwell, Tommy Yews, Stan Earle, Vic Watson, Billy Moore, Jimmy Ruffell.
Newcastle United: Willie Wilson, Alf Maitland, Frank Hudspeth, Tom Curry, Charlie Spencer, Willie Gibson, Tom Urwin, Bob Clark, Jimmy Loughlin, Tom McDonald, Tom Mitchell.
Club Connections
West Ham United and Newcastle United have shared a multitude of personnel over the years. Mohamed Diame could play for the visitors against his old club, while Andy Carroll welcomes his former employers. A brief run-through of others who have represented both clubs is best served by dividing them by playing position.
Goalkeepers: Shaka Hislop, Pavel Srnicek and Ike Tate.
Defenders: Stuart Pearce, Tommy Bamlett, Abdoulaye Faye, Wayne Quinn, Dave Gardner, Dickie Pudan and James Jackson.
Midfielders: Kevin Nolan, Scott Parker, Lee Bowyer, Rob Lee, Nolberto Solano, Kieron Dyer and Franz Carr.
Strikers: James Loughlin, Paul Goddard, Les Ferdinand, John Dowsey, Bryan ‘Pop’ Robson, Justin Fashanu, Demba Ba, Marlon Harewood, David Kelly, Keith Robson, Vic Keeble, Craig Bellamy and Paul Kitson.
Chris Hughton also played for the Hammers and managed the Magpies while Sam Allardyce and Alan Pardew have managed both clubs. Glenn Roeder also played for Newcastle and managed both clubs.
Today’s focus though is on a goalkeeper who won international recognition at Newcastle before joining the Hammers. Matt Kingsley was born in Edgworth, Lancashire, on 30th September 1874 and started his footballing career with local village club Turton before moving to Darwen. The 23-year-old Kingsley joined newly-promoted Newcastle in 1898, making his debut in the Magpies’ first ever First Division fixture against Wolves on 3rd September 1898 and spending the next six years in the North East, establishing himself as one of the finest goalkeepers in the top flight.
In 1901, Kingsley became Newcastle’s first ever England international. Playing on home turf at St James’ Park, Kingsley kept a clean sheet in a 6-0 win over Wales but it would be his only cap for his country. The 1901/02 season was a particular highlight for both Kingsley and the Magpies, as they recorded their then-highest league finish of third in the First Division, as well as reaching the quarter-finals of the FA Cup. Kingsley conceded only 34 goals in 34 league games that season but lost his place to Jimmy Lawrence midway through the 1903/04 campaign.
After 189 appearances for Newcastle, the 29-year-old Kingsley (pictured) moved to Syd King’s West Ham United in 1904, where he spent a single season with the Hammers in the Southern League First Division. He made his debut in the inaugural match at Upton Park, a 3-0 win over Millwall on 1st September 1904, becoming the Irons’ first goalkeeper at the Boleyn Ground and the first to keep a clean sheet at the famous old stadium. Stocky, and short for a goalkeeper at 5’9, Kingsley was noted for his fisted clearances so as to avoid being bundled into the back of the net by opposition forwards. Kingsley also had a habit of continually swinging his arms to and fro as he observed the action in front of him. A feisty character, Kingsley made 30 appearances in 1904/05, keeping nine clean sheets as the Hammers finished 11th.
Kingsley was involved in an unsavoury incident with former West Ham forward Bertie Lyon while playing for the Hammers against Brighton at the Goldstone Ground on 25th March 1905 – Kingsley, who had joined the Irons in the summer Lyon left, was seen to run at Lyon and kick him to the ground, which caused a crowd invasion and a near riot took place. The fracas led to Kingsley being sent off and having to be escorted from the playing field by police, while Lyon was carried from the field; Brighton won the match 3-1. Kingsley only played two more matches for West Ham after the incident, with his final appearance coming in a 2-2 draw at Bristol Rovers on 8th April 1905. He was handed an FA ban for the incident at Brighton shortly after and left the Hammers in the summer of 1905 for a brief spell with Queens Park Rangers.
Kingsley later played for Barrow and Rochdale. After his retirement from the game in 1907, Kingsley returned to the Blackburn area and began working as a nightwatchman for the Manchester textile firm Calico Printers’ Association. Kingsley was enlisted as a quarryman during World War One and later joined the Royal Engineers as a sapper in 1917. The 1939 census listed Kingsley’s occupation as ‘general labourer’. Matt Kingsley died in Leigh, Lancashire, on 27th March 1960, aged 85.
Referee
The referee on Saturday will be Christopher Kavanagh. The Manchester-born official has refereed the Hammers on five previous occasions, most recently for our 2-2 home draw with Brighton, a game in which he failed to punish Lewis Dunk for an elbow on Andy Carroll. He had previously been in charge for our 1-1 draw at Huddersfield in November and our 1-0 home defeat to Wolves in September.
Kavanagh was the man in the middle for our 2-0 win at Leicester in May and also issued Arthur Masuaku with a red card for spitting in January’s FA Cup fourth round defeat at Wigan. He has been the man in the middle for 16 Premier League matches so far in 2018/19, issuing 52 yellow cards in those games and one red, and awarding three penalties.
Possible line-ups
For West Ham United, Winston Reid, Carlos Sanchez, Jack Wilshere and Andriy Yarmolenko are on the injury list. There are doubts over Fabian Balbuena, Aaron Cresswell, Arthur Masuaku, Ben Johnson and Marko Arnautovic.
Newcastle United are likely to have Rob Elliot, Ciaran Clark and Jonjo Shelvey sidelined. Newcastle have lost only three of their last 11 league games away to West Ham.
Possible West Ham United XI: Fabianski; Fredericks, Diop, Ogbonna, Zabaleta; Rice, Noble, Snodgrass; Antonio, Arnautovic, Anderson.
Possible Newcastle XI: Dubravka; Schar, Lejeune, Lascelles; Yedlin, Hayden, Longstaff, Almiron, Ritchie; Perez, Rondon.
Enjoy the game – Up The Hammers!
P.S. If you’re attending tomorrow’s game, don’t forget to be in your seat by 5.15pm to see the great Billy Bonds receive the long-overdue accolade of having a stand named in his honour – the East Stand at London Stadium. Congratulations Bonzo, thoroughly deserved…