Blast from the past
Today’s focus sees us travel back nearly 36 years, to the 3rd September 1983 – UB40 were number one with ‘Red Red Wine’, Blue Thunder topped the UK box office and, two days later, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe made its debut on British television. Meanwhile, West Ham United secured a 2-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur in front of 38,042 at White Hart Lane.
The Hammers went into this match with a 100% record from their opening two matches of 1983/84 having beaten Birmingham 4-0 on the opening day at the Boleyn Ground before winning 1-0 at Everton. Top of the fledgling First Division table, the Irons made it three wins from three games with Steve Whitton opening the scoring, flashing in a shot on the turn after Alvin Martin had nodded down an Alan Devonshire corner from the left. It was Whitton’s first goal for the club after joining from Coventry – he would score eight goals in 46 appearances for the club before moving to Birmingham in 1986.
27-year-old centre-forward Dave Swindlehurst (pictured above) bagged the second after a flowing move involving Geoff Pike and Ray Stewart ended in Tony Cottee holding off Gary Stevens before digging out a cross which Swindlehurst fired home low beyond Ray Clemence. Both left-backs on display in this game represented both clubs in their careers – 24-year-old Chris Hughton went on to play for West Ham, while 25-year-old Steve Walford had started his career at Tottenham. The goals from this game can be viewed in my video below.
The Hammers remained top of the league until mid-October, winning six of their opening eight matches. The Irons held a top four place until the end of March 1984 but only one win from the final 12 games resulted in a ninth-placed finish. Tottenham finished one place and one point above the Hammers in eighth position and also won the UEFA Cup. Cottee would end the season as the club’s top scorer with 19 goals from 47 appearances and was voted runner-up to Trevor Brooking as Hammer of the Year. Liverpool won the league and Everton won the FA Cup.
Tottenham Hotspur: Ray Clemence, Danny Thomas, Graham Roberts, Gary Stevens, Chris Hughton, Glenn Hoddle (Paul Miller), Gary Mabbutt, Steve Perryman, Tony Galvin, Garth Crooks, Mark Falco.
West Ham United: Phil Parkes, Ray Stewart, Alvin Martin, Billy Bonds, Steve Walford, Steve Whitton, Geoff Pike, Trevor Brooking, Alan Devonshire, Tony Cottee, Dave Swindlehurst.
Club Connections
A large group of players have turned out for Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United. Divided here by position, they include:
Goalkeepers: Bill Kaine, Charlie Ambler, Tony Parks, Fred Griffiths.
Defenders: Calum Davenport, Paul Konchesky, Mark Bowen, Mauricio Tarrico, Steve Walford, Chris Hughton, Percy Mapley, Fred Milnes, Mitchell Thomas, Neil Ruddock.
Midfielders: Paul Allen, Scott Parker, Michael Carrick, Jimmy Neighbour, Matthew Etherington, Ilie Dumitrescu, Mark Robson, David Bentley, Charlie Whitchurch, Chris Carrick, Martin Peters, John Smith, John Moncur.
Strikers: Mido, Frederic Kanoute, Almer Hall, Bobby Zamora, Peter Kyle, Sergei Rebrov, Kenny McKay, George Foreman, Dave Dunmore, Teddy Sheringham, Les Bennett, Jermain Defoe, Bill Joyce, Robbie Keane, Fred Massey, Jimmy Reid, Clive Allen, Les Ferdinand, Jimmy Greaves, Harry Bradshaw.
Jack Tresadern played for West Ham and managed Tottenham, while Trevor Hartley also played for the Hammers and managed Spurs on a caretaker basis. Alan Pardew played for Tottenham and managed the Hammers, while Harry Redknapp played for the Hammers and managed both clubs.
Today’s focus is on a current Hammer who started his career at Tottenham Hotspur. Ryan Fredericks was born in Hammersmith on 10th October 1992. He came through Tottenham’s Academy and was named on the bench for the senior side’s 3-1 FA Cup fourth round replay victory over Leeds at Elland Road in February 2010. Injury would keep him out for almost a year but he would make a senior debut for Tottenham under Harry Redknapp in their goalless draw with Hearts in the UEFA Europa League Play-Offs in August 2011, before featuring twice in the Group Stage. He played nine minutes of a 0-0 draw at PAOK Salonika and the full match away to Rubin Kazan which ended in a 1-0 defeat. Fredericks also made one appearance for England Under-19s but found his path blocked by Nathaniel Clyne and Andre Wisdom at Under-21 level. He is eligible to represent Guyana.
Andre Villas-Boas did not give Fredericks any game time in 2012/13, opting to loan him to Brentford instead. Fredericks turned 20 while with the League One side and made his Football League debut for the Griffin Park club, playing three minutes of a goalless draw at Bury in August 2012. Fredericks was finally handed a start back at Tottenham by Villas-Boas in a Europa League Group Stage match against Anzhi Makhachkala in December 2013, but it would prove to be the Portuguese manager’s penultimate match in charge of Spurs and Fredericks’ fourth and final appearance for the club – he won a penalty in the 4-1 victory at White Hart Lane. Tim Sherwood loaned Fredericks to Millwall and the right-back scored his first senior goal on his debut for the Lions in a 1-0 win over Ipswich at The Den.
New Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino sent Fredericks on a season-long loan to Middlesbrough for the 2014/15 campaign. Pochettino allowed Fredericks to leave the club permanently in the summer of 2015, with the 22-year-old signing for Steve Cotterill’s Bristol City. He made five appearances for his new club before requesting a move for personal reasons. He returned to London just 26 days after signing for Bristol City, joining fellow Championship side Fulham – he made 114 goalless appearances for Fulham, registering 15 assists and 29 yellow cards.
Fredericks signed for Manuel Pellegrini’s West Ham on a free transfer in June of last year. He made his Hammers debut in a 4-0 defeat at Liverpool on 12th August 2018. Now 26, he has made 15 appearances to date for West Ham, scoring one goal in the 8-0 League Cup third round win over Macclesfield on 26th September 2018. He has been booked five times, collecting a yellow card every three games on average.
Referee
The referee on Saturday will be Anthony Taylor – his most recent Irons appointment was for our 4-2 FA Cup fourth round defeat at Wimbledon in January. He also refereed our 3-2 home win over Crystal Palace in December and our 4-0 opening-day defeat at Liverpool. The Hammers were only allocated the 40-year-old once last season, for our 1-0 home win over Chelsea in December 2017. In 2016/17, Taylor took charge of our 2-0 defeat at Everton in October 2016 and our 2-1 opening-day defeat at Chelsea in August 2016, awarding the home side a penalty and later controversially failing to issue a second yellow card to Diego Costa for an awful lunge at Adrian – Costa remained on the pitch to score the 89th-minute winner. He also refereed our 1-0 defeat at Leicester on New Year’s Eve 2016 and our 1-0 win over Tottenham in May 2017. Taylor officiated the Irons on five occasions in 2015/16 as he took charge of our 4-1 defeat at Tottenham, as well as our home win over Newcastle which came just three games after he had controversially sent off Adrian against Leicester. He was also the man in the middle for our FA Cup third round win over Wolves and our 3-2 win at Everton in March 2016.
Controversy and incident are never far away when the Cheshire-based official is the referee for a West Ham United match. Taylor was in charge when the Hammers took on Liverpool at Upton Park in April 2014, awarding a controversial and ultimately match-winning penalty to the Reds. There was also controversy surrounding Guy Demel’s equaliser for West Ham in that game. Taylor is also the referee who had not one, but two red cards rescinded from the same game after he had sent off Carlton Cole and Darron Gibson in the Hammers’ 2-1 home defeat to Everton in December 2012. He sent off the home side’s Kevin Mirallas against the Hammers at Goodison Park in March 2016 and awarded the Toffees a penalty which Romelu Lukaku saw saved by Adrian.
Possible line-ups
West Ham are bidding to become the first side to score and claim points at Tottenham’s new stadium. Serge Aurier, Moussa Sissoko, Erik Lamela and Harry Kane are out for the hosts while Harry Winks is a major doubt.
West Ham United will be without Winston Reid, Andriy Yarmolenko and Andy Carroll while Aaron Cresswell, Manuel Lanzini and Samir Nasri are doubts. Carlos Sanchez could make the bench and Chicharito could be available. There is, as yet, no news regarding Robert Snodgrass’ pending suspension. Pedro Obiang and Lucas Perez could earn starts after impressing from the bench last weekend. The Hammers have won only once in their last 16 Premier League games away to Tottenham, drawing six and losing nine.
Possible Tottenham Hotspur XI: Lloris; Trippier, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Rose; Wanyama, Alli, Eriksen; Lucas Moura, Llorente, Son.
Possible West Ham United XI: Fabianski; Fredericks, Balbuena, Ogbonna, Masuaku; Rice, Noble, Obiang; Antonio, Perez, Anderson.
Enjoy the game – Up The Hammers!