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Blast from the past
In today’s featured match, we travel back to 15th March 1975, when The Bay City Rollers were number one with ‘Bye Bye Baby’, Led Zeppelin had just released ‘Physical Graffiti’ and The Towering Inferno was in UK cinemas. Eva Longoria and will.i.am were born on this day as West Ham United welcomed Burnley to east London. Hong Kong Phooey made its UK television debut two days later and, the following week, a large National Front rally was held in London in protest against European integration.
The Hammers went into the game on the back of a 2-0 FA Cup quarter-final win over Arsenal at Highbury the weekend before. They ran out 2-1 winners in front of 28,830 spectators at Upton Park courtesy of goals from future Burnley striker Alan Taylor (pictured below) and Keith Robson; Doug Collins was on the scoresheet for the visitors. The Irons did not win any of their following six matches, until they defeated Ipswich in an FA Cup semi-final replay nearly a month later.
John Lyall’s West Ham would go on to finish 13th in a 1974/75 campaign that saw them win the FA Cup with a 2-0 triumph over Fulham at Wembley. 19-year-old goalkeeper Mervyn Day would also win the PFA Young Player of the Year Award and finish runner-up to Billy Bonds in the Hammer of the Year voting for the second season in succession. Jimmy Adamson’s Clarets ended the season in tenth position; Derby won the league title.
West Ham United: Mervyn Day, John McDowell, Tommy Taylor, Kevin Lock, Frank Lampard, Graham Paddon, Billy Bonds (Bobby Gould), Trevor Brooking, Billy Jennings, Alan Taylor, Keith Robson.
Burnley: Alan Stevenson, Keith Newton, Colin Waldron, Jim Thomson, Doug Collins, Billy Ingham, Brian Flynn, Leighton James, Peter Noble, Ray Hankin, Paul Fletcher.
Club Connections
A small collection of players have turned out for the Hammers and the Clarets. They include:
Goalkeepers: Joe Hart, Frank Birchenough, Tommy Hampson and Herman Conway.
Defenders: David Unsworth, Tommy Dunn, Tyrone Mears, Joe Gallagher, Jack Tresadern, Jon Harley and Mitchell Thomas.
Midfielders: Junior Stanislas, Reg Attwell, Matt Taylor and Luke Chadwick.
Strikers: Alan Taylor, Sam Jennings, Walter Pollard, Ian Wright, Ian Moore and Zavon Hines.
John Bond played for the Hammers and managed the Clarets.
Today’s focus, though, falls on a player who spent two spells with Burnley either side of a stint at West Ham United. Bill Jenkinson was born in Chesterfield on 11th April 1874 and began his career with Belgian side Antwerp. Predominantly a centre-forward, he moved to Burnley in 1898 and spent three years at the club, helping them to a third-placed finish in the First Division in his first season. The Clarets could not repeat the success of their 1898/99 campaign and were relegated in 17th position the following season. Jenkinson, who featured at left-back on occasions, was a member of the squad which ended up third in the Second Division in 1900/01, missing out on an immediate return to the top flight by four points. He scored 11 goals in 33 appearances during his first spell with Burnley.
The 27-year-old Jenkinson (pictured) moved to West Ham United, then of the Southern League First Division, in 1901 and made his Hammers debut at inside-left in a 2-0 home defeat to Millwall on 26th October 1901. He was tried in three different positions in his first three games, all of which ended in defeat. He played centre-forward in his next match, a 3-0 defeat at Reading on 23rd November, and was moved to left-half for a 4-0 loss at Southampton two weeks later. He eventually settled down at inside-left as the Hammers finished the season by going unbeaten for the last 11 matches to secure a fourth-placed finish. Jenkinson scored his first goal for the Irons in a 2-1 win at Tottenham on 15th February 1902 and was also on the scoresheet in a 2-0 victory at Brentford on 3rd March 1902. Jenkinson’s last appearance for the Hammers came in a 1-1 draw with Portsmouth at the Memorial Grounds on 12th April 1902. At the end of the season, having scored two goals in 19 appearances for West Ham United, Jenkinson returned to league football with Burnley.
Jenkinson made 17 appearances for Second Division Burnley in his second spell, scoring once, to take his Clarets totals to 12 goals in 50 matches. He later played for Colne. Bill Jenkinson died between April and June of 1960, aged 85 or 86.
Referee
The referee tomorrow will be Christopher Kavanagh. The Manchester-born official has refereed the Hammers on ten previous occasions, most recently for our 3-0 defeat at Chelsea last month. He also refereed the Irons on our last two trips to Vicarage Road, one of which was a 4-1 win in May 2019, when he sent off the Hornets’ Jose Holebas and awarded the Irons a penalty, converted by Mark Noble after a foul on Michail Antonio. Prior to that, Kavanagh officiated our 2-0 defeat at Chelsea in April 2019 and our 2-0 home win over Newcastle the month before, a game in which he also awarded the Hammers a penalty for a foul on Chicharito which was again converted by Noble.
Kavanagh had previously been in charge for our 2-2 home draw with Brighton in January 2019, our 1-1 draw at Huddersfield in November 2018 and our 1-0 home defeat to Wolves in September 2018. He was the man in the middle for our 2-0 win at Leicester in May 2018 and also issued Arthur Masuaku with a red card for spitting in an FA Cup fourth round defeat at Wigan in January 2018.
Possible line-ups
West Ham United are without Fabian Balbuena and Arthur Masuaku, while Ryan Fredericks and Issa Diop are doubts. Lukasz Fabianski could be available.
Burnley have doubts over Bailey Peacock-Farrell, Jimmy Dunne and Charlie Taylor. Chris Wood has scored six goals in his six games against West Ham. The Clarets have scored just four goals in eight away league games so far this season
Possible West Ham United XI: Fabianski; Coufal, Dawson, Ogbonna, Cresswell; Soucek, Rice; Bowen, Fornals, Benrahma; Antonio.
Possible Burnley XI: Pope; Lowton, Tarkowski, Mee, Taylor; Gudmundsson, Westwood, Brownhill, McNeil; Wood, Barnes.
Enjoy the game – Up The Hammers!