Blast from the past
Today’s blast from the past involves a trip back to 28th March 1910 when West Ham United enjoyed a 4-2 Southern League First Division victory over Crystal Palace in front of 20,000. Edward VII had fallen very ill in Paris with bronchitis and was in the last six weeks of his life and reign, Bela Bartok’s ‘String Quartet No.1’ had premiered in Budapest nine days earlier and, ten days before the game, the first cinematic version of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein had been released in the United States by Edison Studios, becoming one of the first ever horror films.
This Easter Monday match was West Ham’s third of four games in five days – they had beaten Palace 3-1 at home in the reverse fixture on Good Friday, lost 2-1 at home to Millwall on Easter Saturday and went on to win 1-0 at Southend on Tuesday 29th March. I wonder how Jose Mourinho would cope with such a schedule! Legendary Hammers goal-getter Danny Shea was on the scoresheet at the Crystal Palace Stadium (the pre-Wembley home of the FA Cup Final), as was outside-right Herbert ‘Tiddler’ Ashton. Shea would end the 1909/10 season as the Irons’ top scorer with 31 goals in 43 games and Ashton would make 336 appearances for the Hammers but it was a lesser-known light who stole the show against our south London neighbours.
23-year-old Albert Scanes (pictured) made his debut during this game and outshone both Shea and Ashton on the day. Born in Stepney on 19th December 1886 and signed from Barking as an understudy to West Ham’s first ever England international George Webb, whose business commitments often prevented him from appearing for the Hammers, Scanes bagged a brace on his debut to help the Hammers to this 4-2 victory over the Glaziers. He would play only three games for West Ham, scoring three goals, with his other strike coming in a 1-0 home victory over Northampton twelve days later. He would move on to Croydon Common in 1911 and was a wood machinist in later life. He passed away in 1972 at the age of 85.
Syd King’s Hammers would finish ninth in the Southern League First Division in 1909/10, while the Glaziers would end the campaign in seventh place, one point and two places above the Irons. Brighton were promoted from the division to the Football League as champions. Aston Villa won the league title and Newcastle won the FA Cup.
West Ham United: George Kitchen, Fred Shreeve, Bob Fairman, Robert Whiteman, Fred Massey, Tommy Randall, Herbert Ashton, Danny Shea, Albert Scanes, Fred Blackburn, Thomas Caldwell.
Club Connections
Jose Fonte returns to Selhurst Park, while West Ham United Academy product and 2012 Hammer of the Year runner-up James Tomkins could feature for Crystal Palace. A large group of players have turned out for the Hammers and the Eagles. Divided here by position, they include:
Goalkeepers: Perry Suckling, Steve Mautone, Vincent Blore.
Defenders: Eddie Presland, Kenny Brown, Malcolm Pyke, Alf Noakes, Bill Roberts, Neil Ruddock, Paul Brush, Danny Gabbidon, Chris Powell, Alan Stephenson, Tony Gale, Matthew Upson, Darren Powell.
Midfielders: Jimmy Wood, Anton Otulakowski, Hayden Mullins, Derek Jackman, Carl Fletcher, Harry Gunning, Jobi McAnuff, Fred Norris, Trevor Dawkins, Kyel Reid, Ray Houghton, Michael Hughes.
Strikers: Joe Johnson, Ron Williams, Ian Wright, Andy Smillie, Jeroen Boere, Johnny Cartwright, Johnny Byrne, Peter Simpson, Clive Allen, Dave Swindlehurst, Paul Kitson, Ron Brett, Dave Sexton, Marouane Chamakh, George Petchey, Freddie Sears.
Malcolm Allison and Jack Tresadern played for the Hammers and managed the Eagles, while Iain Dowie played for both clubs and also managed Palace. Alan Pardew played for the Eagles and managed both clubs. Sam Allardyce has also managed both clubs.
Today’s focus though is on a current Nigeria international winger. Victor Moses was born in Lagos, Nigeria on 12th December 1990, the son of a Christian pastor. When Victor was just 11 years old in 2002 and playing in the street with a football bound together with sticky tape, his parents Austin and Josephine were attacked in their home and murdered. Religious riots between the Muslim majority and Christian minority divided Nigeria and Moses’ father, who had his own church, was a target. The orphaned Victor was hidden by his uncle for a week after the murder before he was flown to England for his own safety to seek asylum.
Moses, who was coached by former Chelsea and Arsenal defender Colin Pates while at school in Croydon, was offered a place in Crystal Palace’s Academy and scored 50 goals in one season for the Under-14s. He made his first team debut at the age of 16 on 6th November 2007 in a 1-1 draw with Cardiff. His first goal for the club arrived on 12th March 2008 in a 1-1 draw with West Brom. Moses made 16 appearances as the Eagles reached the Championship play-offs and signed a new contract with Neil Warnock’s men at the end of the season.
The winger scored twice in 32 matches in 2008/09 but Palace plummeted to finish in 15th position. Moses went on a run of scoring six goals in eight matches in the first half of 2009/10 and, as Palace went into administration in January 2010, the 20-year-old Moses was sold to Premier League Wigan for £2.5m. He had scored 11 goals for Crystal Palace in 69 appearances.
Moses spent two and a half years at Wigan before signing for Chelsea in August 2012. He made a loan move to Liverpool the next summer, spending the 2013/14 season at Anfield before another season-long loan move to Stoke materialised for 2014/15.
A third season-long loan took him to Slaven Bilic’s West Ham United on 1st September 2015 but not before the 24-year-old Moses had signed a four-year contract with Chelsea, his parent club. He made his debut in a 2-0 home win over Newcastle on 14th September 2015 and scored his first goal for the Hammers in his next match five days later, the opener in our terrific 2-1 triumph at Manchester City.
An injury sustained at Old Trafford in early December, coupled with the emergence of Michail Antonio as a force in his stead, curtailed Moses’ progress but he did score his second goal for the Irons in our 5-1 FA Cup fifth round win at Blackburn on 21st February 2016. His final appearance for the club was as a substitute on the final day of last season in the 2-1 defeat at Stoke. Having scored twice in 26 matches for West Ham United, Moses returned to Chelsea.
Moses, now 26, was a revelation for Antonio Conte’s title-winning Blues last season in the right wing-back position. He has also scored nine goals in 27 appearances for Nigeria since making his debut in 2012, having appeared for England at youth levels.
Referee
The referee on Saturday will be Bobby Madley. The Yorkshire-based official will take charge of a West Ham game for the eighth time in the Premier League, having also refereed our 2-1 victory at Manchester City in September 2015 and our 2-0 home win over Liverpool in January 2016. Madley’s most controversial appointment with the Irons saw him award Chelsea a last-minute penalty at Stamford Bridge in March 2016 which saw the Blues salvage a 2-2 draw – replays showed that Michail Antonio’s foul on Reuben Loftus-Cheek had occurred outside the penalty area.
The 32-year-old refereed four Hammers matches last season, those being the 1-0 home wins against Sunderland in October and Burnley in December, as well as the 3-2 defeat at Bournemouth in March, when he awarded the home side two penalties which were both missed, and the final day 2-1 win at Burnley. Madley was also the man in the middle on a previous occasion when the Hammers travelled to Burnley – Matt Taylor and Jack Collison converted one spot-kick each in a 2-0 League Cup fourth round win at Turf Moor in October 2013, while Keith Treacy was sent off for the hosts for his involvement in the second penalty incident.
Possible line-ups
Crystal Palace will be without injured midfielder Chung-Yong Lee, as well as strikers Connor Wickham and Christian Benteke. Roy Hodgson also has a doubt over James McArthur, who faces a late fitness test.
Slaven Bilic has seen a number of players put themselves into contention for a starting spot after Wednesday night’s win over Tottenham. James Collins, Michail Antonio and Diafra Sakho could all be unavailable. West Ham will be aiming for their fourth consecutive win at Selhurst Park.
Possible Crystal Palace XI: Speroni; Ward, Dann, Sakho, van Aanholt; Sako, Milivojevic, Cabaye, Schlupp; Townsend, Zaha.
Possible West Ham United XI: Hart; Fonte, Reid, Ogbonna; Zabaleta, Noble, Kouyate, Cresswell; Lanzini, Chicharito, Ayew.
Enjoy the game – Up The Hammers!