Blast from the past
April 1925: F. Scott Fitzgerald published The Great Gatsby and Chancellor of the Exchequer Winston Churchill announced Britain’s return to the gold standard. In between these two events, two goalscoring greats went head-to-head in east London.
Both clubs’ record goalscorers were on the scoresheet that day, the 18th April 1925, in front of 15,000 at the Boleyn Ground – West Ham’s Vic Watson and Everton’s Dixie Dean scoring a goal apiece. Billy Moore was also on target for the hosts, supplemented by a double from Stan Earle (pictured). The 4-1 victory helped the Hammers claim 13th position in the First Division of 1924/25, while the Blues would finish in 17th place. George Eastman made his debut for West Ham in this match – the centre-half only made two appearances for the club, with the other coming in the same fixture the following season.
West Ham United: Ted Hufton, George Horler, George Eastman, Albert Cadwell, Billy Henderson, Syd Bishop, Thomas Yews, Stan Earle, Vic Watson, Billy Moore, Jimmy Ruffell.
Everton: Alfred Harland, John McDonald, William Brown, David Reid, John O’Donnell, Neil McBain, Frank Parry, Wilfred Chadwick, Dixie Dean, Fred Kennedy, Alec Troup.
Club Connections
A small collection of players have turned out for the Hammers and the Toffees. They include Joe Blythe, Don Hutchison, David Burrows, Mark Ward, William Wildman, George Eccles, George Kitchen, Ray Atteveld, David Unsworth, Niclas Alexandersson, Danny Williamson, Richard Wright, Tony Cottee, Mike Newell, Ian Bishop, Lars Jacobsen, Lucas Neill and Slaven Bilic.
Today’s focus though falls on a player who played just 13 matches for West Ham before finishing his career with Everton – Thomas Hitzlsperger.
Hitzlsperger was born in Munich in 1982 but began his professional career with Aston Villa in the 2000/01 season, making his full international debut for Germany in a 2-0 friendly victory in Iran in September 2004. After 110 appearances for Villa, the central midfielder moved to VfB Stuttgart in 2005 on a Bosman free transfer. Hitzlsperger netted his first international goals in a 13-0 European Championship qualifying win in San Marino in September 2006, just a few months after appearing for Germany at the World Cup in his home country. The fluent English speaker was a central figure in Joachim Low’s squad at the 2008 European Championships, starting all three knockout fixtures as Germany finished as runners-up to Spain. After four and a half years back in his native Germany, and one Bundesliga title in 2006/07, he joined Italian side Lazio on a six-month contract in January 2010.
Hitzlsperger, nicknamed ‘Der Hammer’ due to his ferocious shooting ability with his left foot, became Avram Grant’s first signing at West Ham United in June 2010. He had to wait eight months for his first competitive start after being sidelined with a thigh injury in pre-season training but scored on his long-awaited debut, a trademark bullet of a strike from 25 yards in the 5-1 FA Cup fifth-round win over Eddie Howe’s Burnley at the Boleyn Ground in February 2011. Hitzlsperger’s right-wing corner also created the fourth goal, the inswinging cross headed home by Winston Reid (the highlights from Der Hammer’s debut can be viewed in the video below). A similarly thunderous strike led to his first league goal for the Hammers, smashing in a loose ball in the 3-0 home win over Stoke. He also slammed in a 20-yard equaliser in the 1-1 home draw against Blackburn. After 13 appearances for the Hammers and 3 goals, Hitzlsperger’s contract was terminated following the Hammers’ relegation to the Championship and he signed for VfL Wolfsburg in the summer of 2011.
After one season, he returned to England and joined Everton in mid-October 2012 on a short-term deal lasting until the end of the following January. He made his debut for the Toffees as an 86th-minute substitute in a 2–1 victory against Sunderland at Goodison Park in November 2012 and made his first start when the Blues took on Reading at the Madejski Stadium the following week. On 11th January 2013 he signed an extension to his contract, keeping him at the club until the end of the season, with his last appearance for the Blues being as a sub in the home fixture against Reading in March 2013. He made nine appearances for the Toffees, without scoring. In September 2013, aged 31 and following his release from Everton during the summer, Hitzlsperger announced his retirement from football citing the strain of “many transfers and some injuries”. He had won 52 caps for Germany, scoring six goals. In January 2014 Hitzlsperger, now 33, became the most high-profile footballer to date to come out as gay.
Referee
Saturday’s referee is Kevin Friend. The Leicester-based official has been involved in top-flight matches since 2009 and last took charge of the Hammers in our 3-1 win at Burnley last October. He was also the man in the middle for our 3-1 defeat at The Emirates in April 2014. He is probably more renowned for the soft penalty he gifted Hull City in our 1-0 defeat at The KC Stadium in September 2013 when Joey O’Brien was adjudged to have shoved Robbie Brady. Friend compounded the error by later denying the Irons a clear penalty when Jake Livermore handled in the area.
Possible line-ups
For West Ham United, Winston Reid could return but Guy Demel, James Tomkins, Andy Carroll and Diafra Sakho are all on the sidelines. Alex Song could come into the starting line-up in place of Kevin Nolan.
Everton winger Steven Pienaar faces a late fitness test, while Darron Gibson, Tony Hibbert, Leighton Baines and Bryan Oviedo look set to miss out.
Possible West Ham United XI: Adrian; Jenkinson, Collins, Burke, Cresswell; Kouyate, Noble, Song; Amalfitano, Downing; Valencia.
Possible Everton XI: Howard; Coleman, Stones, Jagielka, Garbutt; McCarthy, Besic; Lennon, Barkley, McGeady; Lukaku.
Enjoy the game – Come On You Irons!