Blast from the past
Stamford Bridge, 28th September 2002 – West Ham United’s last victory at the home of Chelsea. Atomic Kitten were number one with ‘The Tide Is High’ and Mel Gibson topped the UK box office in Signs as the Hammers arrived in west London rooted to the bottom of the Premier League having picked up just two points from their opening six league games. The Blues, meanwhile, went into the match unbeaten from their first seven league games of the season. The Irons had recorded one draw and three defeats from their previous four games – the exact same record the current side visit Stamford Bridge with from their last four matches.
The beleaguered Hammers were dealt a blow after just four minutes when striker Frederic Kanoute suffered a groin injury and had to be replaced by Jermain Defoe – Kanoute would not play again until Boxing Day, his absence playing a big part in the Hammers’ struggles in 2002/03. Despite this setback, the Hammers impressed in the opening 20 minutes in front of 38,929 before an irresponsible and unnecessary scissor challenge by Tomas Repka saw Claudio Ranieri’s Chelsea win a free-kick wide on the left and the Czech defender go into the book. Bolo Zenden’s delivery seemed innocuous enough until referee Mike Dean adjudged former Blues left-back Scott Minto to have held back Robert Huth and a penalty was awarded. Chelsea skipper Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink made no mistake, sending David James the wrong way from the spot with 21 minutes played.
Glenn Roeder’s Hammers equalised five minutes before half-time. Paolo Di Canio’s corner was knocked on by Trevor Sinclair into the path of Steve Lomas, the Ulsterman’s shot was parried by Carlo Cudicini but Defoe reacted quickest to turn the ball into the net.
The second half saw Di Canio take centre stage – three minutes into the second half, the Italian picked the ball up wide on the right from Sebastian Schemmel’s throw-in, cut inside, flicked the ball up with his right foot before hammering an unstoppable left-foot volley beyond the despairing dive of his countryman Cudicini. Chelsea’s equaliser arrived on 74 minutes, future Hammers manager Gianfranco Zola coming off the bench to curl a trademark free-kick into the corner of James’ goal after, this time, a clear foul by Minto.
It was Di Canio who had the last word though, with six minutes remaining – James’ long free-kick was poorly defended by the Blues backline and the ball broke for Di Canio at a tight angle to the left of Cudicini’s goal, the Hammers captain finding the tiniest of gaps at the near post to restore the Irons’ lead and claim West Ham’s first win of the season. My video below contains all the goals from this London derby, as well as interviews with manager Roeder and midfielder Lomas.
The Hammers, of course, went on to be relegated in 18th place that season while Chelsea ended up in fourth. Joe Cole was voted Hammer of the Year, with Defoe runner-up. Defoe was also the Irons’ top scorer that season with 11 goals in 42 appearances. Manchester United won the league and Arsenal won the FA Cup.
Chelsea: Carlo Cudicini, Mario Melchiot, Robert Huth, William Gallas, Bolo Zenden (Gianfranco Zola), Jesper Gronkjaer, Jody Morris, Frank Lampard, Mario Stanic, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Eidur Gudjohnsen.
West Ham United: David James, Sebastian Schemmel, Tomas Repka, Gary Breen, Scott Minto, Trevor Sinclair, Steve Lomas, Michael Carrick, Joe Cole, Frederic Kanoute (Jermain Defoe), Paolo Di Canio (Edouard Cisse).
Club Connections
A decent number of players have represented both West Ham United and Chelsea. Ex-Hammer Frank Lampard Junior is currently in the manager’s hotseat at Stamford Bridge while Victor Moses spent the 2015/16 season on loan with the Hammers and is still a Chelsea player, albeit currently on loan at Fenerbahce in Turkey. Others to have worn the colours of both clubs include:
Goalkeepers: Craig Forrest and Harry Medhurst.
Defenders: Tal Ben Haim, Scott Minto, Wayne Bridge, Ian Pearce, Joe Kirkup, Glen Johnson and Jon Harley.
Midfielders: Bill Jackson, Andy Malcolm, Joe Cole, Syd Bishop, Peter Brabrook, Alan Dickens, George Horn, Eric Parsons, Robert Bush, Scott Parker, Yossi Benayoun, Jim Frost and John Sissons.
Strikers: David Speedie, Len Goulden, Billy Bridgeman, Demba Ba, Clive Allen, George Hilsdon, Carlton Cole, Billy Brown, Jimmy Greaves, Pop Robson, Billy Williams, Ron Tindall and Bob Deacon.
Bobby Gould played for West Ham and went on to be assistant and caretaker manager of Chelsea. Ron Greenwood and Gianfranco Zola played for Chelsea and managed West Ham, while Sir Geoff Hurst and Dave Sexton both played for the Hammers and managed the Blues. Avram Grant has managed both clubs.
Today’s focus though is on a player who moved to Upton Park from Stamford Bridge and whose name is indelibly imprinted in English football’s record books. Joe Payne was born in Brimington Common, near Chesterfield, on 17th January 1914 and worked as a Derbyshire coalminer as a teenager. He was spotted playing as a centre-forward for Bolsover Colliery and was signed by Luton in 1934. He played mostly for their reserve team as a half-back and also spent time on loan at Biggleswade Town.
Payne only played six games for Luton between December 1934 and April 1936, all in midfield. However, an injury crisis saw him moved into the centre-forward position for the visit of Bristol Rovers to Kenilworth Road in the old Third Division South on 13th April 1936 – Payne scored ten goals in the match, which remains a Football League record, in a 12-0 win. He received a £2 win bonus in addition to his £4 weekly wage. His move to centre-forward was unsurprisingly made permanent for the following season, his 55 goals in 39 games were largely instrumental in Luton winning the Third Division South title in 1936/37. At the end of that season, in May 1937, Payne won his solitary cap for England, scoring twice in an 8-0 win over Finland in Helsinki.
The 24-year-old Payne joined Leslie Knighton’s First Division Chelsea in March 1938 for a large fee, reportedly around £5,000. He made his debut for the Blues in a 0-0 draw with Bolton at Stamford Bridge on 12th March 1938 (he is pictured above in this game) and scored his first goal for the club in a 2-0 home win over Everton two weeks later. Two more goals followed before the end of the season as Chelsea finished tenth. The Blues’ form dipped in 1938/39 as they dropped to 20th, avoiding relegation by one place and one point, although Payne did score 19 goals in 32 appearances – his final goal for the club came in a 1-1 draw with Bolton on 6th May 1939 and was his sixth goal in six games at the end of that season. The Second World War interrupted Payne’s career and, in September 1941, he was hospitalised with acute pneumonia. He was a Football League (South) Cup finalist at Wembley with Chelsea in 1944 and returned to win the competition the following year, in 1945. Payne did return to Chelsea after the war to play in five FA Cup ties in 1946, with his last appearance for the club coming in a 1-0 defeat at Aston Villa on 12th February 1946. He had scored 22 goals in 47 appearances for Chelsea.
Payne signed for Second Division West Ham United in December 1946 at the age of 32, but had his brief spell at the Boleyn beset with injury problems. He scored five goals in his first five matches as a Hammer – the first on his debut in a 4-2 win at Southampton on 7th December 1946. The other goals in this run came in a 2-1 win at Barnsley two weeks later; a 2-1 home win over former club Luton on Christmas Day; another in a 2-1 defeat in the reverse fixture at his old stomping ground, Kenilworth Road, on Boxing Day; and another in a 4-1 home win over Plymouth two days later. Payne’s final goal for the club came in a 5-0 win over hometown club Chesterfield at Upton Park on 18th January 1947; his last match for the Irons was in a 1-1 home draw with Bradford Park Avenue on 1st February 1947. Payne had scored six goals in 11 appearances for West Ham – he later ended his league days at Millwall but retired without making a first-team outing at The Den after suffering persistent ankle injuries, although he made a comeback with Southern League Worcester City in 1952.
Payne was also a good cricketer, playing for Bedfordshire in 1937, and an accomplished snooker player. He died in Luton on 22nd April 1975, aged 61. On 13th April 2006, to mark the 70th anniversary of his ten-goal record, a plaque was unveiled by Geoff Thompson, then chairman of the Football Association, on the wall of the Miner’s Arms public house in Manor Road, Brimington Common – the site is adjacent to the now-demolished house where he used to live, and overlooks a park where he played football. The unveiling was attended by two of Payne’s nephews. A lounge at Kenilworth Road is named in honour of Payne.
Referee
The referee on Saturday will be Jonathan Moss. The Yorkshire-based official has sent off a player in six of his last 14 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 in October 2015 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 2016 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 2016, although this was later rescinded. Arguably the 48-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. Moss’ matches in charge of the Hammers last season were our 1-0 home win over Arsenal in January and, most recently, our 4-3 home win over Huddersfield in March.
Possible line-ups
Chelsea manager Frank Lampard is without Antonio Rudiger, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Marco van Ginkel while Ross Barkley, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Tammy Abraham are doubts. Chelsea have lost three home Premier League London derbies over the past four seasons, as many as they had in the previous 11 campaigns. However, the Blues are unbeaten in 13 league meetings with the Hammers at Stamford Bridge since the featured 3-2 loss in September 2002, winning nine and drawing four.
West Ham are winless in four league away matches, losing two, since a 3-1 victory at Watford on 24th August. Manuel Pellegrini is without the suspended Issa Diop, as well as Lukasz Fabianski, Winston Reid, Jack Wilshere and Manuel Lanzini. The Hammers go into the game with one draw and three defeats from their last four – the exact same record as when they last claimed victory at Stamford Bridge.
Possible Chelsea XI: Kepa; Azpilicueta, Zouma, Tomori, Emerson; Kante, Jorginho, Kovacic; Willian, Abraham, Pulisic.
Possible West Ham United XI: Roberto; Fredericks, Rice, Ogbonna, Cresswell; Sanchez; Antonio, Noble, Snodgrass, Anderson; Haller.
Enjoy the game – Come On You Irons!