Blast from the past
45 years ago, Liverpool were on their way to Bob Paisley’s first league title, Southampton were to go on to win their only FA Cup trophy and West Ham United were in the midst of a season that would see them finish in 18th place in the First Division. As the Hammers hosted Manchester United on the 25th October 1975, Art Garfunkel was number one with ‘I Only Have Eyes For You’ and Jaws was making waves in the US before a Boxing Day release in the UK.
The game at the Boleyn Ground was to be marred by violent scenes as fighting in the South Bank during the second half left 102 people injured – 38 people were arrested, with the violence reportedly involving 400 fans. The official attendance was recorded as 38,528 but many more are thought to have made their way into the stadium. The escalating trouble led to a 20-minute break in play and Hammers General Manager Ron Greenwood coming onto the pitch.
As for the match action, the Hammers were given an interval lead after goalkeeper Mervyn Day’s long drop-kick caught out the Manchester United centre-backs with Alan Taylor racing through to nod past the onrushing Alex Stepney and into the net.
The Red Devils equalised after half-time when Steve Coppell’s free-kick was headed on by Stewart Houston and future Hammers manager Lou Macari rose to flick the ball beyond Day. Incidentally, Macari was partnered up front that day by another player who would go on to have a West Ham connection, 1980 FA Cup winner Stuart Pearson.
West Ham found a winner when the late Graham Paddon (who ended the season as runner-up to Trevor Brooking for Hammer of the Year) drove in a low cross which evaded Taylor but not Bobby Gould who converted a low shot back across Stepney to claim maximum points for the Irons. Both Hammers goalscorers from this match are pictured above with the FA Cup just five months earlier. The goals from this game and a brief interview with matchwinner Gould can be viewed in my video below.
The victory kept West Ham in third place in the First Division going into November but it was Man Utd who would end the 1975/76 campaign in that position. The Hammers would drop all the way down to 18th in the table by the end of the season and finish only six points clear of relegation, with no wins at all from the last 16 league matches.
West Ham United: Mervyn Day, John McDowell, Tommy Taylor, Keith Coleman, Frank Lampard, Pat Holland, Trevor Brooking, Graham Paddon, Keith Robson, Bobby Gould, Alan Taylor.
Manchester United: Alex Stepney, Jimmy Nicholl, Brian Greenhoff, Martin Buchan, Stewart Houston, Steve Coppell, Gerry Daly (David McCreery), Tommy Jackson, Sammy McIlroy, Stuart Pearson, Lou Macari.
Club Connections
Manchester United coach Michael Carrick faces his first club. A largely impressive list of players join him in representing West Ham United and Manchester United over the years. These include:
Goalkeepers: Roy Carroll, Les Sealey.
Defenders: Rio Ferdinand, Noel Cantwell, Fred Milnes, Jonathan Spector, Patrice Evra.
Midfielders: James McCrae, Bill McCartney, Paul Ince, Ralph Milne, Luke Chadwick, Ravel Morrison.
Strikers: Billy Grassam, Javier Hernandez, Stuart Pearson, Teddy Sheringham, Ted MacDougall, Charlie Mackie, David Bellion, Carlos Tevez.
In addition, Lou Macari played for Manchester United and managed West Ham. Dave Sexton and Frank O’Farrell both played for the Hammers before going on to manage the Red Devils.
Today’s focus is on the only man to have managed both Manchester United and West Ham United. David Moyes was born in Glasgow on 25th April 1963 and started his career with the youth team at Icelandic club IBV in 1978. A centre-half, he began his professional career at Celtic and won the Scottish Premier Division in 1981/82. He also represented Scotland at youth level, captaining the Under-18s. Moyes signed for Cambridge in 1983 before joining Bristol City in 1985. He moved to Shrewsbury in 1987 before returning to Scotland in 1990 to play for Dunfermline. He also appeared for Hamilton Academical before ending his playing career back in England with Preston, winning what is now the League Two title in 1995/96.
Moyes became manager of Preston in January 1998, leading the club to survival in the third tier in his first half-season. He reached the Play-Offs in his first full season as a manager before steering the Deepdale club to the Second Division title in 2000 and promotion to the second tier. He took Preston to the First Division Play-Offs in 2000/01 before leaving for Premier League Everton in March 2002. He managed the Toffees between 2002 and 2013, steering them clear of relegation danger in his first months in charge and to the qualification stages of the Champions League in 2005. The club also reached the FA Cup Final in 2009. He was also named LMA Manager of the Year in 2003, 2005 and 2009.
Moyes moved to Manchester United in the summer of 2013, replacing Sir Alex Ferguson as manager at Old Trafford. He won the Community Shield but the Red Devils were ninth after 15 games, although they did top their Champions League group. The club were knocked out of the FA Cup by fellow Premier League side Swansea in the third round and Moyes’ hopes of a League Cup Final were dashed in a penalty shoot-out defeat to Sunderland in the semi-finals. The club’s Champions League run was also ended by Bayern Munich at the quarter-final stage. Moyes was sacked by Manchester United on 22nd April 2014, two days after a 2-0 defeat at his former club Everton had left the club in seventh position and made Champions League qualification impossible with four matches of the season still remaining. He had been in charge at Old Trafford for ten months, the third-shortest managerial stint in the club’s history and the shortest in 82 years. His sacking came despite calls from several former Manchester United players, such as Denis Law and David Beckham, for Moyes to be given more time at the club.
Moyes’ next job was in Spain’s La Liga, taking over at Real Sociedad in November 2014. He led the club to a 12th-placed finish but was dismissed in November 2015. He was named as Sunderland’s new manager in the summer of 2016, replacing former West Ham boss Sam Allardyce, but the club was relegated the following May and Moyes resigned.
Following the departure of Super Slaven Bilic in November 2017, Moyes was appointed manager of West Ham United on a contract until the end of the season. His first match in charge was a 2-0 defeat at Watford on 19th November 2017, with his first win coming against Chelsea, who were defeated 1-0 at London Stadium on 9th December. Despite battling relegation, Moyes made a handsome profit for the club in the winter transfer window of 2018 – he brought in Joao Mario on loan and Jordan Hugill on a permanent deal for a reported combined £10m, but made £34.5m for the club by selling Jose Fonte (£5m), Andre Ayew (£20.5m) and Diafra Sakho (£9m). Patrice Evra later joined on a free transfer. Moyes secured the club’s survival with two matches remaining – and a 13th-placed finish – but was not offered a new contract in May 2018.
Manuel Pellegrini was brought into the club but when results took a downturn, Moyes returned to West Ham for a second spell as manager in late December 2019. His first match saw a 4-0 win for the Hammers over Bournemouth on New Years Day 2020. The Covid-19 pandemic saw the season suspended for three months but Moyes’ boys performed well after the restart, beating Chelsea, Norwich and Watford and drawing with Newcastle, Man Utd and Aston Villa to secure survival and a 16th-placed finish. Moyes had enjoyed particular success with the form of Michail Antonio, having a similar impact on the winger-turned-striker as he had with Marko Arnautovic in his first spell in east London. His signings of Tomas Soucek and Jarrod Bowen had also proved to have a positive effect on the side.
Moyes, now 57, is currently in charge of a West Ham United side sitting in fifth position in the Premier League at the time of writing after an impressive start to the 2020/21 campaign. The Hammers have lost only one of their last eight league games – these matches have included a stirring comeback from 3-0 down at Tottenham and comfortable victories over Wolves and Leicester. Moyes’ contract expires at the end of the season – it has to be hoped that a well-deserved extension is agreed as soon as possible.
Referee
The referee on Saturday will be Andre Marriner; the 49-year-old failed to send off Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero for an elbow on Winston Reid in August 2016, with the Hammers trailing 2-1 with 14 minutes remaining. In pre-VAR times, the Argentine had to be retrospectively charged with violent conduct and was suspended for three matches, a decision which did nothing to benefit West Ham. Marriner did, however, show leniency that day towards the visitors by failing to issue Arthur Masuaku with a second yellow card on more than one occasion.
Since we achieved promotion back to the top flight in 2012, the Birmingham-based official has been far from a good omen for West Ham – he has refereed 20 of our league matches, officiating in only three wins for the Hammers, six draws and 11 defeats. He officiated the Irons for our 2-0 defeat at Wolves last December, our 2-1 defeat at Crystal Palace on Boxing Day and for our 1-1 home draw with Everton in January. His most recent match in charge of the Hammers was for our 3-0 League Cup second round win over Charlton in September.
Possible line-ups
David Moyes is without Andriy Yarmolenko. The Hammers have won only three of their past 23 league meetings against the Red Devils, losing 14 and drawing six.
Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is without Phil Jones, while Luke Shaw and Marcus Rashford are doubts. Manchester United have only failed to score in four of their past 21 trips to West Ham.
Possible West Ham United XI: Fabianski; Coufal, Balbuena, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Masuaku; Bowen, Soucek, Rice, Fornals; Antonio.
Possible Manchester United XI: De Gea; Wan-Bissaka, Maguire, Lindelof, Telles; McTominay, Fred; Mata, Fernandes, Rashford; Martial.
Enjoy the game – Up The Hammers!