The Predictor League for Sheffield United is open. Enter your team HERE. Deadline is 4pm on Monday.
Blast from the past
1st May 1937: the final day of the 1936/37 season and the day actress Una Stubbs was born. The month also saw the Hindenburg disaster, George VI’s coronation, the opening of the Golden Gate Bridge and Neville Chamberlain becoming Prime Minister following Stanley Baldwin’s retirement. Meanwhile, West Ham United beat Sheffield United 1-0 in front of 10,068 at Upton Park, making it nine games without defeat at the end of the season.
Left-half Joe Cockroft was in the Hammers’ starting line-up that day – he later played for Sheffield United, becoming the oldest First Division debutant when he made his Blades debut 11 years later at the age of 37 in November 1948. 17-year-old Norman Corbett made his West Ham debut at right-half in this match – a long-throw expert who was born in Falkirk, he would go on to make 174 appearances for the club (306 if wartime matches are included).
The Hammers’ matchwinner in this game had ironically been born in Sheffield – 22-year-old outside-left Jackie Morton (pictured below) had really come into form in 1936/37 and this was his 14th and final goal of a campaign which had seen him make 41 appearances. This was the highest Morton was to score in a single season during his eight-year stay in east London. Morton made his England debut in a 5-4 win against Czechoslovakia at White Hart Lane exactly seven months later, on 1st December 1937. In doing so, he became the 11th West Ham United player to represent England, playing outside-left with Hammers team-mate Len Goulden playing inside-left – Morton marked what would be his only England appearance by scoring after 20 minutes.
The speedy Yorkshireman, standing at 5’9 and weighing in at 10st 4lbs, was described as a “frail-looking winger, fast and possessing a multitude of tricks and a good shot” – he went on to score 57 goals in 275 appearances for West Ham United. The outbreak of the Second World War effectively ended his footballing career – he was 24 when he played his last game in claret and blue in March 1939. He served in the Royal Air Force and worked as a bookmaker in London’s East End after the war. Jackie Morton died on 8th March 1986 in Milton Keynes, aged 71.
Charlie Paynter’s Hammers would end the 1936/37 Second Division season in sixth position, while Teddy Davison’s Sheffield United would finish seventh. The aforementioned Goulden topped the Hammers’ scoring charts that season, with 15 goals from 44 matches. Leicester topped the Second Division, Manchester City won the First Division title and Sunderland won the FA Cup.
West Ham United: Jack Weare, Charlie Bicknell, Charlie Walker, Norman Corbett, Dick Walker, Joe Cockroft, Stan Foxall, Tommy Green, Sam Small, Len Goulden, Jackie Morton.
Club Connections
West Ham United and Sheffield United have shared a number of personnel over the years. A run-through of those who have represented both clubs includes:
Goalkeepers: Ted Hufton, Tom McAlister, Bill Biggar, Richard Wright and Mervyn Day.
Defenders: Jon Harley, Matthew Kilgallon, David Unsworth, Jimmy Holmes, Wayne Quinn, Simon Webster and Fred Milnes.
Midfielders: Franz Carr, Kyel Reid, George Ratcliffe, Joe Cockroft, Herbert Winterhalder, Ravel Morrison, Lou Raisbeck, Don Hutchison and Jim Simmons.
Strikers: Billy Barnes, Henri Camara, David Kelly, Brian Deane, Peter Kyle and Dick Leafe.
Martin Peters played for West Ham and Sheffield United; he also managed the Blades.
This week’s focus though is on a player who represented Sheffield United and later played for Thames Ironworks. Kenny McKay was born in Wishaw, Lanarkshire in 1876 – he started his footballing career with Hamilton Academical before moving south of the border to sign for Sheffield United. McKay was a member of the Blades side which won the 1897/98 First Division title; this was to be his one and only season at the club. McKay moved to Tottenham in a surprise transfer and scored on his debut against Thames Ironworks on 3rd September 1898.
McKay (pictured) signed for Thames Ironworks in their final season before reforming as West Ham United. Francis Payne, the club secretary, had been given the task of finding players for the club’s first season in the top division of the Southern League; according to one report Arnold Hills gave Payne £1,000 to find the best players available. With this money he brought McKay, Tom Bradshaw and Bill Joyce from Tottenham. McKay made his Irons debut in a 1-0 Southern League defeat at Reading on 16th September 1899 and scored his first goals for the club two days later, bagging a brace on his home debut in a 4-0 win over Chatham at the Memorial Grounds.
An inside-right, McKay enjoyed a particularly impressive run of five goals in seven FA Cup games – one in a 6-0 thrashing of Royal Engineers, another in a 4-0 win at Grays, two in a 7-0 win at Dartford on 28th October and another in a 2-0 home win over New Brompton as the Irons won through to the competition’s fifth qualifying round. McKay also scored in a 3-1 Southern League defeat at Southampton on 16th December 1899 before tragedy struck the club – the aforementioned Bradshaw, McKay’s Irons team-mate and former Tottenham colleague, died of consumption on Christmas Day 1899.
McKay scored in a 2-1 home defeat to QPR five days after Christmas and was also on the scoresheet twice in successive games in mid-January as the Irons ushered in the 20th century, in a 1-1 draw at Bristol Rovers and 3-0 win at Sheppey United. McKay scored his last goal at the Memorial Grounds in a 4-2 home win over Sheppey, with his final goal for the club coming in his next match away at Millwall, the winning goal in a 1-0 triumph. Thames Ironworks finished in 14th place and would be required to play a Test Match against Fulham to maintain their senior divisional standing; ironically, the game would be played at White Hart Lane, McKay’s former stomping ground, and it would be his last appearance for the Hammers. The Irons recorded a 5-1 victory on 30th April 1900 to preserve the club’s Southern League First Division status. Just over a month later, the club was reformed as West Ham United.
After scoring 13 goals in 36 appearances, McKay returned to Scotland, playing a single season with Wishaw United. He moved to Fulham in 1901, helping the Cottagers to win the Second Division of the Southern League in 1902 and 1903. His date of death is unknown.
Referee
Monday’s referee will be Wiltshire-based Simon Hooper, who will take on only his sixth Hammers appointment. He first refereed West Ham in the 1-0 Championship home win over Coventry in January 2012 and he was also in charge of our 3-0 League Cup third round win over Bolton at London Stadium in September 2017. His first Premier League appointment involving the Hammers was our 2-0 defeat at Bournemouth in January 2019. Hooper has officiated in two West Ham games this season, for our 5-1 League Cup third round win over Hull at London Stadium in September and, most recently, for our 2-2 draw with Brighton in December.
Hooper has refereed 16 matches so far in 2020/21 – seven in the Premier League, five in the Championship, two in the FA Cup and two in the League Cup. He has issued 40 yellow cards and no reds in those games. Hooper has also awarded four penalties this season, one of which was converted by Andriy Yarmolenko in our aforementioned League Cup victory against Hull.
Possible line-ups
For West Ham United, Darren Randolph, Angelo Ogbonna, Arthur Masuaku and Andriy Yarmolenko are all out. Issa Diop should be available but Fabian Balbuena and Michail Antonio are doubts. The Hammers have won just one of their last eight home meetings with Sheffield United in all competitions. The Irons haven’t lost consecutive league games at London Stadium since December 2019, before David Moyes’ return. Moyes has won all six of his previous home matches against Sheffield United as a manager.
Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder is without Jack O’Connell, Jack Robinson and Sander Berge, while George Baldock and Enda Stevens are doubts. Sheffield United have won three of their past six league and cup games, alternating between victory and defeat. However, the Blades have only won one of their last 12 away games against West Ham in all competitions (excluding penalty shoot-outs).
Possible West Ham United XI: Fabianski; Coufal, Dawson, Diop, Cresswell; Rice, Soucek; Bowen, Lingard, Benrahma; Antonio.
Possible Sheffield United XI: Ramsdale; Basham, Egan, Ampadu; Bogle, Fleck, Lundstram, Norwood, Lowe; Burke, McGoldrick.
Enjoy the game – Come On You Irons!