Firstly, I’d like to take this opportunity to wish all West Ham Till I Die readers a very Happy New Year!
Blast from the past
In today’s preview, we travel back to 11th April 1990; Margaret Thatcher was in her final months as Prime Minister, Madonna’s ‘Vogue’ topped the charts, John Travolta and Kirstie Alley were in UK cinemas in Look Who’s Talking and, at a time of Poll Tax Riots and the Strangeways Prison Riots, West Ham United ran riot as Bournemouth, competing at the opposite end of the Second Division, visited east London.
Billy Bonds’ Hammers ran out 4-1 winners in this Wednesday night encounter in front of 20,202 spectators at the Boleyn Ground. Jimmy Quinn’s strike was deflected in for an own goal by ex-Tottenham defender Paul Miller before Ian Bishop (pictured below) struck a beauty into the top corner from distance against his old club after 23 minutes. David Coleman, who had celebrated his 23rd birthday just three days previously, pulled one back before half-time for Harry Redknapp’s Bournemouth, lifting the ball over Ludek Miklosko after Luther Blissett had outmuscled Colin Foster. Coleman tragically died in 1997.
In the second half, Quinn won a penalty which was dispatched with the usual aplomb by Julian Dicks, who would be voted Hammer of the Year a month later (the first of four occasions that he would win the prestigious prize). Dicks would also finish as top scorer with 14 goals from 52 matches. Northern Ireland striker Quinn was again involved for the fourth goal, heading Stuart Slater’s cross back across goal for ‘Mad Dog’ Martin Allen to nod home from close range. My video below shows the goals from this game.
The Hammers would end the 1989/90 campaign in seventh place in the Second Division, two points adrift of the play-offs despite finishing as the division’s joint highest scorers with 80 goals, while Bournemouth would finish 22nd out of 24 teams and were relegated. Leeds won the Second Division, Liverpool won the First Division title and Manchester United won the FA Cup.
West Ham United: Ludek Miklosko, George Parris (Steve Potts), Tony Gale, Colin Foster, Julian Dicks, Kevin Keen, Ian Bishop, Martin Allen, Stuart Slater, Jimmy Quinn, Trevor Morley (Frank McAvennie).
Club Connections
A decent number of players have turned out for both West Ham United and Bournemouth. Ex-Bournemouth loanee Jack Wilshere is now at West Ham. Ex-Bournemouth midfielder Paul Mitchell, who made one league appearance for the Hammers in 1994, is back with the Cherries as a correspondent for Opta Sports. Jermain Defoe and Hammers Academy product Junior Stanislas are currently on Bournemouth’s books, although Defoe is currently on loan at Rangers. Other players to have appeared for both clubs include:
Goalkeepers: David James and Stephen Henderson.
Defenders: Everald La Ronde, Bill Kitchener, Rio Ferdinand, Phil Brignull, Reg Parker, Keith Rowland, Elliott Ward, Bobby Howe and Horace Glover.
Midfielders: Keith Miller, Carl Fletcher, Ian Bishop, Trevor Hartley, Bobby Barnes, Tommy Southren, Jimmy Neighbour, Emmanuel Omoyinmi, Tony Scott, Anthony Edgar, Scott Mean, Matty Holmes, Dale Gordon, Jack Collison and Patsy Holland.
Strikers: Nicky Morgan, John Arnott, Mark Watson, Zavon Hines, Steve Jones and Ted MacDougall.
Harry Redknapp played for and managed both clubs. Former Hammers player John Bond went on to manage Bournemouth, while Jimmy Quinn played for both clubs and also managed the Cherries.
Today’s preview focuses on a goalkeeper who experienced limited playing time at West Ham United and had a spell on loan with Bournemouth while with the Hammers. Marek Stech was born on 28th January 1990 in Prague and began his career as a trainee with Sparta Prague before moving to West Ham United at the age of 16 in August 2006. After a loan spell with Wycombe, Stech signed for League Two club Bournemouth on an emergency loan on 11th December 2009 due to last for seven days after the Cherries received special dispensation from the Football League. The following day, Stech made his debut for Bournemouth but let in five goals as they lost 5-0 away to Morecambe. Stech’s loan with Bournemouth lasted only one match, and he returned to West Ham.
The goalkeeper made his Hammers debut under Avram Grant aged 20 on 24th August 2010 in a 1-0 League Cup second round win over Oxford at Upton Park – he went on to play in the 2-1 third round win at Sunderland and the 3-1 fourth round win over Stoke at the Boleyn on 27th October 2010. This third appearance was also his last for the club as Robert Green replaced him for the quarter-final win over Manchester United in a snowy east London. Stech has the distinction of a 100% winning record in a West Ham shirt.
Loan spells at Yeovil and Leyton Orient followed before he signed for Yeovil permanently in 2012. He won promotion to the Championship via the League One play-offs in 2013 and earned his first (and currently only) senior cap for the Czech Republic a year later, shortly before he returned to his homeland by signing for Sparta Prague. He signed for League Two Luton in 2017 and was named in the PFA League Two Team of the Year at the end of his first season, which culminated in promotion. Now 29, Stech is still at Luton, who are now in the Championship.
Referee
Tomorrow’s referee is 51-year-old Graham Scott. The Oxfordshire-based official will be taking charge of only his ninth Premier League match involving West Ham United – the Hammers have won five of the previous eight league matches he has officiated. His first Premier League appointment with the Irons was our 3-1 win at Southampton in February 2017. He also took charge of the Hammers for our 3-0 win at Stoke under David Moyes in December 2017 – Scott’s decision to award Manuel Lanzini a first-half penalty saw the Argentine retrospectively banned for two matches. He also refereed our 2-0 home win over Watford in February 2018, our 3-1 home win over Everton in Moyes’ last match of his first spell in charge of the Hammers and our 3-1 defeat at Arsenal in August 2018.
Scott was the man in the middle for both our matches against Cardiff last season. The match at London Stadium saw him award a penalty to the visitors which Lukasz Fabianski saved as the Hammers went on to win 3-1. He also officiated our 2-0 defeat in the Welsh capital in March 2019. He was most recently in charge of our 2-1 defeat at Manchester United last April, awarding the home side two penalties. Scott was also in charge for our 2-1 League Cup victory over Cheltenham in August 2013 and sent off Callum McNaughton in the defender’s only Hammers appearance as the club were knocked out of the same competition by Aldershot in August 2011.
Possible line-ups
The Hammers are without Jack Wilshere and Andriy Yarmolenko for the first match of David Moyes’ second spell as manager, while David Martin is a doubt. Aaron Cresswell could return from a one-match ban. Each of West Ham’s last four home league matches have ended in defeat, their worst run since January 2006 (also four defeats in a row). The Irons haven’t lost five successive home league contests since April 1931. West Ham have lost seven Premier League matches on New Year’s Day, second only to the highest total of ten defeats recorded by Everton.
Bournemouth are set to be without the injured Adam Smith, Jack Stacey, Nathan Ake, Lloyd Kelly, Charlie Daniels, David Brooks and Arnaut Danjuma, while club captain Simon Francis and Josh King are doubts. King has five in his last six against the Hammers, while fellow striker Callum Wilson has scored seven goals in seven Premier League matches for Bournemouth against West Ham. Neither player has scored more Premier League goals against a single opponent than they have versus West Ham. Six of Bournemouth’s last seven opening league matches in a calendar year have ended level, with the other ending in defeat; the Cherries’ last such win was a 2-0 success against Wycombe in 2012.
Possible West Ham United XI: Fabianski; Fredericks, Diop, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Masuaku; Antonio, Rice, Noble, Anderson; Haller.
Possible Bournemouth XI: Ramsdale; Steve Cook, Mepham, Simpson, Rico; Harry Wilson, Billing, Gosling, Fraser; Solanke, Callum Wilson.
Enjoy the game – Come On You Irons!