Blast from the past
West Ham United met West Bromwich Albion in the fourth round of the FA Cup at the Boleyn Ground in front of 37,222 on the 28th January 1933 – Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany two days later and writer of The Forsyte Saga (and winner of the 1932 Nobel Prize for Literature) John Galsworthy died the day after that.
West Ham had reached this fourth round tie following a 2-0 victory at amateur side Corinthian, the London club which inspired Real Madrid’s white strip; West Brom had beaten Liverpool 2-0. The newly-relegated second-tier Hammers emerged victorious against their top-flight opponents courtesy of a 2-0 win; the Irons’ goals in this fourth round match came courtesy of 35-year-old legendary centre-forward Vic Watson and 24-year-old Geordie inside-left Arthur Wilson.
The Hammers progressed to the fifth round, where they beat Third Division South side Brighton 1-0 in a replay at Upton Park after a 2-2 draw on the South Coast. Watson, a scorer against the Baggies in the fourth round, is pictured above as the West Ham players took brine baths in Southend as part of their preparation for the fifth round tie against the Seagulls. First Division Birmingham were trounced 4-0 in the quarter-finals in east London to set up a Molineux semi-final against top flight Everton – the Irons’ cup run was brought to an end as the Merseysiders triumphed 2-1. The Toffees would go on to win the 1933 FA Cup, defeating Manchester City 3-0 in the Final at Wembley.
West Ham United: George Watson, Alf Chalkley, Albert Walker, Jimmy Collins, Jim Barrett, Albert Cadwell, Tommy Yews, Wally Pollard, Vic Watson, Arthur Wilson, Jackie Morton.
Aside from this fourth round victory in 1933, West Ham’s remaining FA Cup record against West Brom is as follows:
1913 – West Brom 1-1 West Ham (1st round)
1913 – West Ham 2-2 West Brom (1st round Replay)
1913 – West Brom 0-3 West Ham (1st round 2nd Replay)
1953 – West Ham 1-4 West Brom (4th round)
1980 – West Brom 1-1 West Ham (3rd round)
1980 – West Ham 2-1 West Brom (3rd round Replay)
1993 – West Brom 0-2 West Ham (3rd round)
2015 – West Brom 4-0 West Ham (5th round)
Club Connections
Grady Diangana is currently on loan at West Brom from West Ham. Former Hammers defender and manager Super Slaven Bilic returns to his old club. The Irons and the Baggies have shared a decent number of players over the years. These include:
Defenders: Danny Gabbidon, Peter McManus, David Burrows, Steve Walford, Gary Strodder, Tyrone Mears, Harry Kinsell.
Midfielders: Peter Butler, Alan Dickens, Franz Carr, Freddie Fenton, Morgan Amalfitano, Nigel Quashie.
Strikers: Geoff Hurst, Tudor Martin, David Speedie, Frank Nouble, John Hartson, Chippy Simmons, Vince Haynes, Tommy Green, David Cross.
Alan Pardew has managed both clubs. Archie Macauley played for West Ham and managed West Brom, while Sam Allardyce played for the Baggies and managed the Hammers. Bobby Gould played for both clubs and also spent a period as manager at The Hawthorns.
This week’s focus though is on a player who played for West Ham and had a loan spell at West Brom. Jeroen Boere was born in Arnhem on 18th November 1967. He started his career with Excelsior in 1985 before moving to De Graafschap two years later. An old-fashioned centre-forward in the target man mould, Boere moved to VVV-Venlo in 1988 but returned to De Graafschap in a loan deal – he scored an impressive 28 goals in 56 appearances during his two spells with De Graafschap. Boere was on the move again in 1990, signing for Roda JC but he returned to VVV-Venlo later that same year. He joined Go Ahead Eagles in 1991 before moving to England two years later.
The 25-year-old Boere joined Billy Bonds’ newly-promoted West Ham United for a fee of £250,000 in September 1993, hot on the heels of the arrivals of David Burrows, Mike Marsh and Lee Chapman. He suffered an ignominious debut on 25th September 1993, receiving a red card for an elbow on Kevin Scott in a 2-0 defeat at Newcastle shortly after entering the fray as a substitute. Boere scored his first goal for the Hammers in a 2-0 League Cup second round second leg win at Chesterfield on 5th October 1993. He made only three further appearances in claret and blue in 1993/94 and spent the final weeks of the campaign on loan at Portsmouth.
Boere joined West Brom on loan in the early stages of the 1994/95 campaign, with Harry Redknapp now in the manager’s hotseat at Upton Park – he made five goalless appearances for the Baggies during his loan spell at The Hawthorns.. He returned to east London in November 1994 with the Irons entrenched in a relegation battle; he scored his first league goal for the club in his first Premier League start, in a 2-1 defeat at QPR on 4th December 1994. Boere followed this up with a brace of headers the following weekend in a 2-2 draw at Leeds, salvaging a point from Elland Road after the Hammers had been two goals down. Forging a promising strike partnership with Tony Cottee, Boere scored with another header against Tottenham at the Boleyn on 14th January 1995 but the Irons would lose 2-1 to a Spurs side inspired by goalscorers Jurgen Klinsmann and future Hammer Teddy Sheringham. Boere’s strike against Tottenham’s Ian Walker did, however, deny the goalkeeper a chance to break a consecutive clean sheets record held by Ray Clemence.
With the return from injury of Don Hutchison, Boere found his first team opportunities again restricted, although he did score in a 3-0 home win over Wimbledon on 13th April 1995 and bagged a vital late equaliser in a 1-1 draw at Ipswich four days later, which would transpire to be his final goal for the club. He made his final appearance in claret and blue as a substitute in a 1-1 home draw with Tottenham on 30th August 1995 before joining Crystal Palace the following month as part of the deal which brought Iain Dowie back to Upton Park for a second spell. Boere had scored seven goals in 29 appearances for West Ham United – all of these goals can be viewed in my video below.
After six months with the Eagles, Boere moved to Southend in March 1996 and spent two years at Roots Hall before moving to Japan to play for Saitama-based Omiya Ardija. In May 1999, after dinner with his wife at a restaurant in Tokyo, he was stabbed in his left eye and arm by two unknown men; his attacker was reported to be an Israeli criminal who was later found shot through the head in a Bangkok river. Boere lost his eye in the incident, forcing his retirement from football at the age of 31.
After his retirement, Boere owned The Half Moon pub in Epping High Street from 1999 until 2004. He moved to Spain in September 2004 to work as a real estate agent. Jeroen Boere tragically died at the age of just 39, on 16th August 2007. Reports regarding the circumstances of Boere’s death are conflicting; some outlets reported that the Dutchman died in a car crash, possibly on Ibiza, while other media reported that he was found dead at his home in Marbella. The Ilford Recorder stated that Boere had committed suicide. Boere left his wife and child, as well as two sons from a previous marriage.
Referee
The referee on Saturday will be Stuart Attwell. The Birmingham-based official will take charge of a West Ham game for the 11th time – he has sent off a Hammers striker in two of his other ten games officiating the Irons. He refereed our 1-0 victory at Wigan in March 2009 and our 3-1 win at Blackpool in February 2011. The 37-year-old sent off the Latics’ Lee Cattermole for a shocking challenge on Scott Parker, while the Hammers’ Carlton Cole also received his marching orders during the aforementioned win at Wigan. Even Latics boss Steve Bruce criticised the decision to dismiss the Irons striker. Attwell also issued a first-half red card to Andy Carroll in our 1-1 draw at Burnley in October 2017.
Attwell also awarded an infamous ‘phantom’ goal for Reading in a Championship match against Watford in September 2008. He was the youngest-ever Premier League referee but was demoted from the Select Group in 2012. He refereed the Hammers in August 2018 in our 2-1 home defeat to Bournemouth, when he awarded the Irons a penalty which was converted by Marko Arnautovic, and in our 3-1 League Cup home defeat to Tottenham in October 2018. Attwell awarded a dubious match-winning penalty to Manchester City at the Etihad last February and also refereed our 3-0 home win over Southampton last May. His Hammers appointments this season were our 2-2 draw at Bournemouth in September and, most recently, our 3-2 home defeat to Newcastle in November.
The VAR Official is David Coote.
Possible line-ups
For West Ham United, Lukasz Fabianski, Ryan Fredericks, Jack Wilshere, Andriy Yarmolenko and Felipe Anderson are on the sidelines, while Robert Snodgrass is a doubt.
Grady Diangana is not eligible to play against his parent club due to FA rules, and has a hamstring injury anyway. Matheus Pereira begins a three-match suspension this weekend. Super Slaven Bilic makes his return to London Stadium, where he is sure to get a good reception. His Baggies side are top of the Championship table but have only won two of their last nine games. West Brom sold their entire near-5,000 away ticket allocation in under 48 hours.
Possible West Ham United XI: Randolph; Diop, Balbuena, Ogbonna; Zabaleta, Rice, Sanchez, Masuaku; Fornals; Lanzini, Haller.
Possible West Bromwich Albion XI: Bond; Fitzwater, Hegazi, O’Shea, Townsend; Brunt, Barry, Harper, Edwards; Austin, Zohore.
Enjoy the game – Come On You Irons!