Blast from the past
3rd April 1982 – the Falklands War began the day before as Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands, The Goombay Dance Band were number one with ‘Seven Tears’ and Mel Gibson was in UK cinemas in Mad Max 2 as West Ham United emerged victorious from a First Division encounter against Manchester City with a 1-0 win.
Former West Ham right-back John Bond welcomed his old club as manager of Manchester City. John Lyall’s Hammers were coming towards the end of their first season back in the top flight following promotion the previous campaign. Paul Goddard (pictured above) bagged the only goal of the game at Maine Road in front of 30,875, his 13th of 17 goals from 46 appearances in 1981/82.
West Ham would finish 1981/82 in ninth place in Division One, while City ended up level on points in tenth. Liverpool won the league title and Tottenham won the FA Cup. David Cross would be the club’s top scorer in 1981/82, with 19 goals from 45 appearances – he would join Manchester City later in 1982. Alvin Martin was voted Hammer of the Year at the end of the season, with Trevor Brooking runner-up.
Manchester City: Joe Corrigan, Ray Ranson, Tommy Caton, Nicky Reid, Bobby McDonald, John Ryan, Paul Power, Asa Hartford, Gary Jackson, Age Hareide, Kevin Reeves.
West Ham United: Phil Parkes, Ray Stewart, Alvin Martin, Neil Orr, Frank Lampard, Francois Van der Elst, Paul Allen, Trevor Brooking, Alan Devonshire, David Cross, Paul Goddard.
Club Connections
Pablo Zabaleta returns to the home of his former club. A large group of players join him in having represented West Ham United and Manchester City. Divided by playing position, they include:
Goalkeepers – Perry Suckling, Joe Hart, David James.
Defenders – Tal Ben Haim, Tyrone Mears, Wayne Bridge.
Midfielders – Patrick Leonard, Samir Nasri, Marc-Vivien Foe, Kevin Horlock, James Cumming, Mark Ward, Eyal Berkovic, Steve Lomas, Frank Lampard Junior, John Payne, Michael Hughes, Ian Bishop, Trevor Sinclair.
Strikers – Bill Davidson, Carlos Tevez, Craig Bellamy, Phil Woosnam, Justin Fashanu, Paulo Wanchope, Clive Allen, Lionel Watson, David Cross, George Webb.
Stuart Pearce played for both clubs, has managed Manchester City and been an assistant coach with West Ham. Malcolm Allison and John Bond were West Ham players who went on to manage City. Manuel Pellegrini has managed both clubs.
Today’s focus though falls on a striker who joined West Ham United from Manchester City. Trevor Morley was born in Nottingham on 20th March 1961 and was rejected by Derby before beginning his career as a non-league player with Corby Town and Nuneaton Borough (where he won a Southern League championship medal in 1982) while also running a fruit and veg market stall. His manager at Nuneaton, Graham Carr (father of comedian Alan Carr), took Morley with him to Fourth Division Northampton for £20,000 in the summer of 1985. He won the Fourth Division title with the Cobblers in 1986/87.
Morley was signed by manager Mel Machin for Manchester City in January 1988 as part of an exchange deal that saw Tony Adcock move to the County Ground, the deal valuing the 26-year-old Morley at £235,000. He made his City debut on 23rd January 1988 in a 2-0 home defeat to Aston Villa and went on to score 18 league goals for the Maine Road club, including the equaliser at Bradford on the last day of the 1988/89 season that clinched promotion to the First Division, a point ahead of Crystal Palace. On 23rd September 1989 he put the Sky Blues 2-0 ahead in the famous 5-1 derby win over Manchester United in the First Division but, when Machin was sacked by chairman Peter Swales, his replacement Howard Kendall saw no place in his side for Morley. He played his last game for the Sky Blues in a 1-0 home win over Norwich on Boxing Day 1989 – the winning goal was scored by Morley’s future Hammers strike partner Clive Allen. Morley scored 21 goals in 82 appearances for Manchester City.
Morley joined Lou Macari’s West Ham United in December 1989 in a deal that saw Ian Bishop also move to Upton Park, with Mark Ward signing for Manchester City in part-exchange. Morley, now 28, was valued at £450,000 in the deal. He made his debut, along with Bishop, in a 1-0 defeat at Leicester on 30th December 1989 and scored his first goal for the Hammers on 20th January 1990 in a 2-1 home defeat to Hull. Morley was West Ham’s top scorer with 17 goals from 48 appearances in all competitions in the 1990/91 season as the Irons, now under the management of Billy Bonds, were promoted to the First Division. The striker was stabbed by his wife in March 1991, missing just over a month of football including the FA Cup quarter-final win over Everton.
Morley scored only five goals from 32 appearances in 1991/92 as the Hammers suffered an immediate relegation with the bustling, hard-working striker often out of favour. Following a summer loan spell with Norwegian club Brann Bergen (Morley’s wife hailed from Norway), Morley experienced a far more memorable season in 1992/93 as he was again top scorer with 22 goals from 49 appearances with West Ham gaining promotion, this time to the Premier League. This season also saw Morley’s only sending-off in a Hammers shirt, in the Anglo-Italian Cup at home against Reggiana in November for retaliating against rough treatment from Gianluca Francesconi. It is a measure of his resilience that he won his place back despite the arrivals, over time, of Iain Dowie and Mike Small in 1991, and Clive Allen in 1992. It seemed at one stage that Morley would be leaving to join Watford in a £100,000 deal but he stayed at Upton Park, reclaimed a regular first-team place and went on to make a mockery of that proposed fee. Indeed his partnership with former City team-mate Allen played a large part in the promotion campaign of 1992/93.
Morley again spent a summer loan spell with Brann and scored his first Premier League goal on 18th September 1993 in a 2-0 win at Blackburn. The Hammers would finish 13th in their first Premier League season with Morley again the top scorer, this time with 16 goals from 49 games, including the winner in a 1-0 home win over Chelsea, a brace in a 4-1 win at Tottenham and the opener in a 2-0 win at Arsenal (his final goal for the club on 30th April 1994). Morley, by now the club’s penalty-taker after the departure of Julian Dicks, also scored an equaliser to claim a point within seconds of coming on as a substitute in a 3-3 home draw with Norwich and scored in a 2-2 home draw with Manchester United. A target man who relished a physical battle, his unstinting efforts were recognised when he was voted as the 1993/94 Hammer of the Year by the club’s supporters.
1994/95 saw the arrivals of Tony Cottee and Don Hutchison as Harry Redknapp took over the managerial reigns, with Morley failing to score in 16 appearances – it was a big blow when he had to undergo a cartilage operation soon after the start of that season. His final appearance in claret and blue was on 14th May 1995 in the 1-1 home draw with Manchester United which denied the visitors the Premier League title. In total, Morley scored 70 goals in 214 appearances for West Ham United – strong and ever-willing to work hard for the team cause, his goals were scored from all angles and varying distances.
The 34-year-old Morley departed for Reading on a free transfer in the summer of 1995 where he spent three years before a brief spell playing for Sogndal in Norway. He later had a spell scouting for Arsenal in Norway and, in 2000, took on the manager’s role at Bergen Sparta of the Norwegian Fifth Division. Now 58, Morley currently lives in Norway, where he runs a shelter for addicts and works as a football pundit.
Trevor Morley played a particularly key role in my own history as a West Ham supporter. My Dad has been an ardent Hammer since the early 1960s but I had shown little interest in football until a chance moment in the summer of 1991, when I was eight years old. Gillingham is my local team and, whilst we were out driving one late afternoon, my Dad pulled up next to a car with huge logos on the side – this was in the days when footballers had their cars sponsored with their names often emblazoned across the vehicle (I remember giant goalkeeper Ludek Miklosko driving a tiny sponsored Skoda!). The car we pulled up next to contained Ian Bishop and Trevor Morley, who were lost on the way to Priestfield for a friendly against the Gills. My Dad gave them directions and, starstruck, I suggested we go to the game. Bishop and Morley also sent signed photographs to say thanks for the directions which took pride of place on my bedroom wall throughout my childhood! I seem to recall we lost that friendly heavily (possibly 4-1?) but, interest piqued, my first visit to the Boleyn Ground followed a matter of weeks later against Manchester City in September 1991. I’ve been a football addict and a dyed-in-the-wool Hammer ever since, despite an awful first season which saw us relegated in bottom place – things could only get better! Morley’s personal farewell to the Boleyn Ground, recorded for Norwegian TV, can be viewed below.
Referee
Tomorrow’s referee is 51-year-old Graham Scott. The Oxfordshire-based official will be taking charge of only his tenth Premier League match involving West Ham United – the Hammers have won six of the previous nine 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 also 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 is pictured above sending 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. He most recently refereed the Hammers in our 4-0 home win over Bournemouth last month.
Possible line-ups
Manchester City will be without the suspended Oleksandr Zinchenko and the injured Leroy Sane and Raheem Sterling, but Aymeric Laporte and Benjamin Mendy could return. The Citizens have won 11 of their 13 league games against West Ham at the Etihad Stadium, drawing one and losing one. City have lost six games already in the Premier League this season – they’ve never lost more than six in a league campaign under manager Pep Guardiola.
West Ham United have Jack Wilshere and Andriy Yarmolenko on the injury list but Felipe Anderson could return. New boy Jarrod Bowen could make his Hammers debut. West Ham have won just three of the last 25 Premier League meetings between the two clubs, drawing four and losing 18. The Hammers have lost 20 of their 23 Premier League matches away to a reigning champion, with their only victory coming against Manchester United in December 2001 under Glenn Roeder. Sebastien Haller scored three goals in his first three Premier League appearances but has scored only three more in the subsequent 21.
Possible Manchester City XI: Ederson; Walker, Laporte, Otamendi, Mendy; Gundogan, Rodri, De Bruyne; Mahrez, Aguero, Bernardo Silva.
Possible West Ham United XI: Fabianski; Fredericks, Diop, Ogbonna, Cresswell; Snodgrass, Rice, Soucek, Noble, Antonio; Bowen.
Enjoy the game – Come On You Irons!