A long, long time ago
I can still remember how his football used to make me smile
And I knew if I had my chance
That I could make those people cheer
And maybe they’d be happy for a while
But February made me shiver
When the papers were delivered
Bad news on the doorstep
I couldn’t take one more step
I can’t remember if I cried
When I saw all the fans gathered outside
Something touched me deep inside
The day that Bobby died
February the 24th is a day West Ham fans should always remember. Not only is it a day that is sombre as we remember the life of possibly the greatest player not only to wear West Ham’s shirt but, also Englands finest player as well. It is also the day that John Lyall was born. West Ham’s greatest ever manager.
I never met Bobby Moore but I have heard the stories of many not only about his football but how he was when away from the game, socialising in the local pubs around the ground, not aloof but I’m told generally keeping his own company of friends. I can’t say I have ever heard anything bad in the way Moore conversed with fans outside of the club.
I did meet John Lyall, though. As a kid I was lucky enough to be a mascot and the only room I could get changed into my strip was Lyall’s office. Once changed I was told to wait there to be collected by a member of staff. That member of staff just happened to be John Lyall. He took me to meet the players in the changing room but only after a quick chat about me and how I thought the season had gone.
Well, in the past year we had won the FA Cup, been to the final of the League Cup, got to the Quarter Finals of the UEFA Cup Winners Cup and won promotion by a record amount of points, so my reply of, “best season ever I had seen” and considering I had only seen three seasons prior to the current one that was finishing that day, it was not an understatement.
Now looking back that season of 1980/81 is still in my top 3 of seasons, just I now have 44 seasons to look back on not 4.
John listened and even chuckled at my asking if he had indeed called Clive Thomas, the ref at Wembley in the League Cup final a “cheat” as he had been accused of by Thomas after the game. This was in regards to the controversial Alan Kennedy goal where Sammy Lee lay on the ground in an offside position. Lyall approached the ref to complain at the end of the game.
In answering my rather direct and from my Mum’s point of view, “Nigel, don’t be rude,” he said it was not something he likes to dwell on and let’s look forward to the game today.
If you had to choose one person and award them the title, Mr West Ham, then Lyall would be that person for many a fan.
Lyall was the manager when we had the season that all other great seasons are compared to – The Boys of 86 season as its commonly known, or as I like to call it, “The Good year”. Moyes’ team this season riding high in the league table are being compared very regularly by many a pundit to the efforts of 35 years ago and not wanting to diminish anything this current crop of stars are producing, there is one big reason why even if we are to finish 3rd this season why it will not compare to 86.
That reason is, we are not competing to win the league title this year. Manchester City seems to have that sewn up already wherein 86 it took Liverpool until their last game of the season in defeating Chelsea to put themselves 4 points clear of us with just our one game in hand left to play.
Some of the more enjoyable groups on Facebook are the football memory groups I belong to. One post last week that caught my eye was where a member of the group had tried in the least amount of steps to take link the most recent team of a club to the very first team that played for the said club. The best they had managed was with Chelsea in 11 steps.
He had Marcos Alonso to John Terry to Dennis Wise and so back to Chelsea’s first game in 1905. So naturally, I thought it would be good to see if A, I could do that with West Ham and B beat the 11 steps he had managed with Chelsea.
I have covered it in my current ‘View from the Shed” episode just below, where I also give my thoughts on this weeks Spurs victory
February the 24th is not only connected to two of the greatest Hammers ever, but it also happens to be the birthday of a West Ham great from the 70s, big Clyde Best, who played with Moore and also under Lyall when he was manager. My favourite story about him is his very first day at the club.
Like many people not local have done, he alighted the train at West Ham tube station, not Upton Park, and was very lost. Luckily for him, the passer-by he had asked where the ground was, knew of the Charles family who lived nearby. They of course were John and Clive. The passer-by took Clyde to the Charles family home and the brother’s mother took him in. From then on a lifetime friendship was made, specifically with Clive, and to the point that instead of going into the digs the club had arranged for him, he asked to stay with the Charles family in Canning Town.
His book ‘The Acid Test’ is a great read and opens the lid on what it was like to be a pioneering black player in the days when they were by far the minority on & off the pitch.
I know many of you enjoyed my first collection video so I have made a few more for the coming weeks.
This week I share some of my West Ham ticket collection including many unused tickets complete with both stubs. I hope you enjoy watching them as I have to make the video, next week I share my favourite Hammers books as well as the first Football books I kept from my youth.
Tis a great time to be a Hammer.