Blast from the past
In today’s preview, we travel back to 23rd November 1935, a time when Stanley Baldwin was Prime Minister and George V celebrated his Silver Jubilee. West Ham United and Hull City competed in the Second Division, albeit at opposite ends of the table.
The Hammers ran out 4-1 winners in front of 21,114 spectators at the Boleyn Ground that day, with Jimmy Ruffell bagging a brace and Laurence Doyle Conwell and Dave Mangnall notching a goal apiece for the hosts.
Ruffell (pictured) remains a legendary figure in West Ham United’s history. Born in Doncaster, he played for the club for 16 years from 1921 to 1937, making 548 appearances in all competitions and scoring 166 goals. He held the record for the most senior appearances, until it was broken 36 years later by the great Bobby Moore in 1973, and was also capped six times by England. Ruffell is currently sixth in the list of highest number of appearances for the Hammers, only behind such luminaries as Billy Bonds, Frank Lampard, Trevor Brooking, Moore and Alvin Martin. Ruffell, an outside-left, is also joint-third in the all-time top goalscorers chart for West Ham, level with John Dick and behind Vic Watson and Sir Geoff Hurst.
Conwell, on the other hand, made just eight appearances for the Hammers, with his solitary strike coming in this 1935 taming of the Tigers. Mangnall lasted slightly longer, playing for the club between March 1935 and April 1936, but was a scoring sensation, netting 30 goals in 37 appearances in all competitions before departing for Millwall.
The video below shows a short clip of the West Ham squad in pre-season training for this 1935/36 season. The Hammers would end the campaign in 4th place in the Second Division, while Hull would finish bottom and were relegated.
West Ham United: Herman Conway, Alf Chalkley, Joe Cockroft, Ted Fenton, Albert Walker, Jim Barrett Senior, John Foreman, Laurence Doyle Conwell, Dave Mangnall, Len Goulden, Jimmy Ruffell.
Club Connections
A small collection of players have turned out for both West Ham United and Hull City. Mark Noble and Ricardo Vaz Te both had loan spells with Hull earlier in their careers while Mohamed Diame joined the Tigers from the Hammers last summer. Dennis Burnett, Alan Taylor, Cliff Hubbard, Roy Carroll, Nolberto Solano, Tony Weldon, Stephen Bywater, Richard Garcia, Robbie Stockdale and Abdoulaye Faye have also appeared for both clubs, while Iain Dowie played for the Hammers and managed the Tigers.
In a memorable FA Cup week for the Hammers though, today’s focus is on a star of West Ham’s successful 1980 side who began his career at Hull. Stuart Pearson was born in Cottingham, East Riding of Yorkshire on 21st June 1949. He joined the Tigers as an amateur, combining his apprenticeship with the local telephone company. He signed professional forms in 1968, playing with and eventually succeeding the club’s all-time top scorer Chris Chilton. His skill, strength, determination and clinical finishing gradually endeared him to Tigers fans and he went on to score 44 goals in 129 appearances for the club. Pearson joined newly-relegated Manchester United for £200,000 in 1974 where his 17 goals helped them to an immediate return to the top flight. He went on to play in successive FA Cup Finals in 1976 and 1977, scoring the opener in the latter Final as United beat Liverpool 2-1 and celebrating with his trademark raised right fist. He won 15 caps for England while at Old Trafford, scoring five goals for his country.
Pearson, nicknamed ‘Pancho’, moved south and signed for Second Division West Ham in August 1979. He scored five league goals in his first season in claret and blue and grabbed two in the run to the FA Cup Final, the opener in a 1-1 third round draw at West Brom and the equaliser in the 1-1 semi-final draw with Everton at Villa Park. Pearson also famously fired in the shot from which Trevor Brooking stooped to conquer in defeating Arsenal 1-0 in the Final. The great ITV commentator Brian Moore initially thought it was Pearson who had scored the goal, as the video below shows. Pearson struggled with injury for the next two seasons and was forced to retire in 1982 having scored 10 goals for the Hammers in 50 appearances in all competitions. He did play at a lower level in South Africa and the North American Soccer League.
Pearson, now 65, spent time coaching at Stockport, Northwich Victoria, West Brom and Bradford between 1985 and 1994. He has also done punditry work for Manchester United’s television channel.
Referee
Sunday’s referee will be Martin Atkinson; 2014/15 is Atkinson’s tenth as a Premier League referee. Since West Ham United achieved promotion back to the top flight in 2012 Atkinson has refereed eight of our league matches, officiating in four wins for the Hammers, one draw and three defeats. Atkinson was the man in the middle for the reverse fixture as the Irons drew 2-2 at Hull earlier this season, as well as for our home victories over Manchester City and Leicester.
Possible line-ups
Winston Reid has returned to light training for West Ham United ahead of the visit of Hull. Alex Song could return to Premier League action after playing for an hour in the midweek FA Cup victory over Everton.
Hull City are without a host of key players for their trip to east London. Strikers Abel Hernandez and Nikica Jelavic were added to the injury list this week and join Scottish left-back Andy Robertson, right-back Liam Rosenior and midfielder Robert Snodgrass in the Tigers’ treatment room. Ex-Hammer Mo Diame has spent the last six weeks wearing a knee brace with no date set for his return; manager Steve Bruce said last week that he fears Diame could be out for the rest of the season. On the positive side for Hull, Sone Aluko and Gaston Ramirez could return from recent lay-offs. Tom Ince could be handed a free role with Robbie Brady coming in on the left side to compensate for Hull’s lack of striking options. Alternatively, Guy Demel’s half-brother and ex-Hammers target Yannick Sagbo could start up front.
Possible West Ham United XI: Adrian; Jenkinson, Collins, Tomkins, Cresswell; Song, Noble, Nolan; Downing; Carroll, Valencia.
Possible Hull City XI: McGregor; Chester, Dawson, Davies, Figueroa; Elmohamady, Livermore, Huddlestone, Brady; Ince; Aluko.
Enjoy the game – Come On You Irons!