Blast from the past
Today’s blast from the past features a pre-war Second Division victory at the home of this weekend’s opponents, Manchester United. It arrived just over 81 years ago, on the 16th November 1935, a 3-2 win at Old Trafford in front of 24,440 spectators.
In a preview which focuses heavily on managers, it’s worth noting that West Ham were under the management of Charlie Paynter – the second manager in the club’s history. Paynter first became involved with the club in 1897 and worked his way up from reserve-team trainer in 1902 to first-team trainer under King in 1911. Paynter remained West Ham manager for 18 years, from 1932 until 1950 when he was made an ‘ambassador-at-large’ and replaced as first-team manager by Ted Fenton.
The Hammers’ goals that day came from 21-year-old wing-half Fenton himself (pictured), 22-year-old winger John Foreman and forward Peter Simpson. It was Simpson’s first goal for the club in his third appearance and came just three days after his 31st birthday. Both Manchester United goals were scored by inside-left Henry Rowley. For United, centre-forward Ben Morton made his only appearance for the club after moving from Stourbridge six months previously and winger Reg Chester made the last of his 13 appearances for the club before moving to Huddersfield the following month.
The Irons finished 1935/36 in fourth place, just two points off promotion. The Hammers had looked likely title winners and were top of the Second Division table from 21st March until 13th April – only one win from the final five games, which included a crucial home defeat to eventual runners-up and promotion-winners Charlton, denied the Hammers a First Division return. They would have to wait 22 years before fulfilling the dream. Manchester United finished as eventual title winners. No side in the division scored more goals away from home than West Ham that season. The club’s top scorer was David Mangnall with 24 goals from 27 matches. Sunderland won the First Division title and Arsenal won the FA Cup.
Manchester United: Jack Hall, Billy Porter, Jack Griffiths, Bill McKay, George Vose, Jimmy Brown, Reg Chester, John Wassall, Ben Morton, George Mutch, Henry Rowley.
West Ham United: Herman Conway, Alf Chalkley, Albert Walker, Ted Fenton, Jim Barrett, Joe Cockroft, John Foreman, Lawrence Conwell, Peter Simpson, Len Goulden, Jimmy Ruffell.
Club Connections
A largely impressive list of players have turned out for both West Ham United and Manchester United over the years. These include:
Goalkeepers: Roy Carroll, Les Sealey.
Defenders: Noel Cantwell, Jonathan Spector, Rio Ferdinand.
Midfielders: Paul Ince, Ralph Milne, Luke Chadwick, Michael Carrick, Ravel Morrison.
Strikers: Billy Grassam, Stuart Pearson, Teddy Sheringham, David Bellion, Carlos Tevez.
In addition, Dave Sexton and Frank O’Farrell both played for the Hammers before going on to manage the Red Devils.
Today’s focus is on a Scottish international who managed West Ham United after spending the majority of his playing career with Manchester United. Lou Macari was born on the 7th June 1949 in Edinburgh and begain his career with Celtic before moving to Tommy Docherty’s Manchester United for £200,000 in January 1973. The 23-year-old Macari made his Red Devils debut in a 2-2 draw with West Ham at Old Trafford on 20th January 1973 – one of eight Scots in the Manchester United starting line-up, he scored a point-saving goal after strikes from ‘Pop’ Robson and Clyde Best looked to have got the better of Bobby Charlton’s strike. Macari, who started his United career as a forward, bagged five goals in 16 appearances in his first half-season in Manchester, helping to steer the club clear of relegation danger into 18th position.
Relegation was not to be avoided for long though and Manchester United, winners of the European Cup just six seasons previously, went down to the Second Division in 21st place at the end of the 1973/74 campaign. Macari, who was short in stature at 5’6, could only muster six goals in 38 matches during Docherty’s first full season in charge but was still, alongside midfielder Sammy McIlroy, United’s top goalscorer.
Manchester United’s first season as a second tier side since 1937/38 saw Macari excel – he had to wait until the 25th September for his first goal of the campaign, in a 3-0 win over Bolton, but he went on to score 18 goals in 47 appearances in 1974/75. This again placed him joint top of the scoring charts at Old Trafford, this time alongside future Hammer Stuart Pearson, as the Red Devils won an immediate return back to the top flight as champions.
Macari was top scorer in all competitions in 1975/76 as Manchester United settled comfortably to life back in the top tier, finishing third in the league and reaching the FA Cup Final, which they lost 1-0 to Southampton. He scored 15 goals in 45 games, although Pearson outscored him in the league with 13. Macari did win the FA Cup the following season however, seeing his shot deflect off team-mate Jimmy Greenhoff as United beat Liverpool 2-1 in the Final, ultimately denying the Merseysiders a Treble. The Scot scored 14 goals in 53 appearances in 1976/77 but was outscored by Pearson and Gordon Hill.
1977/78 saw former Hammer Dave Sexton take over the managerial reigns at Old Trafford and Macari began the season in style, scoring his first United hat-trick in a 4-1 win at Birmingham on 20th August 1977. The Scot, by now playing predominantly in midfield, went on to score 11 goals in 40 matches in all competitions as the club ended up in 10th position.
For the first full season since the promotion-winning campaign of 1974/75, Macari failed to reach double figures in 1978/79 – his six goals in 38 games helped Manchester United to improve their league placing by one place as they finished ninth and they were runners-up in the FA Cup, losing 3-2 to Arsenal. His nine goals the following season helped United to second place in the league in 1979/80, although Sexton’s side were accused of playing dull football.
Macari, by now 31, again scored nine goals in 1980/81 as Sexton’s side plummeted to an eighth-placed finish which cost the manager his job. West Brom boss Ron Atkinson took over and the club finished third in his first season in 1981/82 with Macari scoring the first goal of Big Ron’s reign in a 2-1 defeat at Coventry on 29th August 1981. With midfielders Bryan Robson and Remi Moses following Atkinson from The Hawthorns to Old Trafford, the Scot would be reduced to just 12 appearances, with his only other goal coming in a 1-0 win over West Ham on 27th January 1982. Macari would make only two league starts in 1982/83 but scored two goals, the first of which was the only goal of the game at Southampton in September 1982.
Macari endured a goalless 1983/84 season, with his only two starts coming in the UEFA Cup. He left Manchester United at the age of 35 after scoring 97 goals in 404 appearances in all competitions. He became manager of Swindon in the Fourth Division, insisting on a strict fitness regime. Teetotal Macari also instilled an alcohol ban and enjoyed a sensational five years at the County Ground, winning promotion to the Third Division in his second season in charge with an all-time league points record. Crowds quadrupled in size and Macari won a second successive promotion, this time to the Second Division via the play-offs. He left the club having finished in the play-off places for a spot in the First Division, a highly notable achievement given the club’s fourth-tier status when he had taken over.
After being strongly linked to Bournemouth manager and former Hammer Harry Redknapp, West Ham United appointed the 39-year-old Macari as John Lyall’s replacement in the summer of 1989 following relegation from the top flight – in appointing the Scot, the Hammers had made the decision to look outside the club for a manager for the first time as Macari became only the club’s sixth manager in 94 years. He would work with the club’s incumbent coaching staff, including Mick McGiven, Billy Bonds, Tony Carr and Ronnie Boyce – all bar Boyce had applied for the manager’s job and were interviewed. Peter Shreeves, the former Tottenham manager who was then assistant at Q.P.R., had also been interviewed.
Macari got off to an unfortunate start, seeing striker Frank McAvennie have his leg broken by Stoke’s Chris Kamara in the opening game of the season during a 1-1 draw at Stoke, Kevin Keen scoring the first goal of the Macari era in a game the Hammers led with five minutes to go. The new boss picked up his first win in his first home game, defeating Bradford 2-0 with a double from Stuart Slater – he also had to deal with the unsavoury nature of Paul Ince’s departure from the club.
Changing the training and dietary habits of the playing squad was met with disapproval from senior players who had idolised Lyall and struggled to adapt to the former manager not being around the club. A 5-0 win over Sunderland in October 1989 was as good as it got for Macari as youngsters Keen, Slater and Eamonn Dolan scored alongside a strike from Macari’s first signing Martin Allen. The club sat in tenth position in the Second Division at the end of 1989 and were struggling to gain any headway towards a sustained promotion challenge. The Hammers were knocked out of the FA Cup in the third round by Torquay and lost the first leg of the League Cup semi-final 6-0 at Oldham in a Valentine’s Day Massacre. The shock news that Macari was being investigated for betting irregularities from his Swindon days led to the Scot leaving West Ham United in February 1990. At just over seven months, he remains the club’s shortest-serving permanent manager – quite a contrast to the aforementioned Charlie Paynter, for example.
Perhaps Macari’s greatest legacy at West Ham was his signings. His first, in August 1989, was midfielder Martin Allen who joined from Q.P.R. for £670,000 – the popular ‘Mad Dog’ went on to make 232 appearances, scoring 35 goals in just over six seasons with the Hammers. Centre-half Colin Foster was Macari’s most expensive signing at £750,000 from Nottingham Forest in September 1989 but he made 110 appearances for the club, scoring six goals and playing a particularly key role in the promotion campaign of 1990/91. In December 1989, Macari shipped out Mark Ward to Manchester City and brought in two players in part-exchange. Hard-working striker Trevor Morley was a consistent performer and one of West Ham’s most successful strikers of the 1990s, scoring 70 goals in 214 appearances spanning six seasons with the club. Also making the move south was Ian Bishop whose cultured class was a feature of the Hammers midfield for nine years – ‘Bish’ made 304 appearances, scoring 17 goals, and also captained the club. Macari’s parting gift to West Ham supporters was Czech goalkeeper Ludek Miklosko who never made an appearance under the Scot but was signed for just £260,000 from Banik Ostrava and went on to make 373 appearances for the club, becoming a huge crowd favourite and cementing his place in Hammers history as one of our best ever goalkeepers.
Macari went on to manage Birmingham, Celtic and Huddersfield, as well as enjoying two spells at Stoke. Now 67, he still lives in Stoke-on-Trent and works as a pundit for MUTV on several shows while also writing regular comment pieces for the Stoke-on-Trent newspaper The Sentinel. He has given several guest talks at Staffordshire University on Sports Journalism courses and owns the Lou Macari Chip Shop on Chester Road, near Old Trafford. He wrote his autobiography in October 2009 called Football, My Life and worked with Stoke-on-Trent council to set up The Macari Centre, a street retreat to house the homeless, which opened in February 2016.
Referee
The referee on Sunday will be Jonathan Moss. The Yorkshire-based official has sent off a player in six of his last seven appointments involving the Hammers – the 4-3 defeat to Bournemouth in August 2015 saw Carl Jenkinson sent off, while the 2-1 win over Chelsea last October saw Nemanja Matic dismissed (then-Blues manager Jose Mourinho was also sent to the stands). Moss issued a red card to Jordan Ayew of Aston Villa in February with the Hammers going on to win 2-0 while, going further back, Burnley’s Michael Duff was also sent off by Moss in our 1-0 home win over the Clarets in May 2015.
Moss also issued a red card to Cheikhou Kouyate in the 5-1 FA Cup fifth round win at Blackburn in February, although this was later rescinded. Arguably the 45-year-old’s most controversial Hammers appointment was the 2-2 draw at Leicester in April when he sent off Jamie Vardy and awarded two penalties, the second arriving deep into stoppage time as the Foxes rescued a precious point. Moss has refereed the Hammers once this season, in the 3-0 home defeat to Southampton in September.
Possible line-ups
Manchester United are set to be without centre-halves Chris Smalling and Eric Bailly but Wayne Rooney and Henrikh Mkhitaryan could start after impressing against Feyenoord. Anthony Martial has had three shots on target against West Ham (and Darren Randolph) and scored from all three of them.
West Ham United are again without vice-captain Winston Reid due to a one-match suspension for his red card at Tottenham last weekend – James Collins is likely to replace Reid. Sam Byram, Reece Oxford, Arthur Masuaku and Gokhan Tore remain on the injured list. Darren Randolph could start despite his error and poor positioning for the second goal at Tottenham last week – the Irish international has now conceded 15 goals in just seven league starts since joining the Hammers. First-choice stopper Adrian will most likely play in the League Cup quarter-final next Wednesday. Skipper Mark Noble should reclaim his place with Andre Ayew likely to drop out of the starting XI. Pedro Obiang should be available despite an ankle knock keeping him out of training earlier in the week. Andy Carroll is back in contention having resumed full training with the first team but a return to the squad for the league game may come too soon. The Hammers have picked up just a single point at Old Trafford in their last eight visits, stretching back to May 2007. Dimitri Payet has created a league-high 43 goalscoring chances this season in the Premier League, but only four of these chances have been converted by the Hammers.
Contrary to reports on other sites, the match is not being televised live in the UK.
With one eye on next Wednesday’s visit to Old Trafford for the League Cup quarter-final, Michail Antonio is one yellow card away from missing the match, while Paul Pogba, Marouane Fellaini and Wayne Rooney will also miss the game if they pick up a booking tomorrow.
Possible Manchester United XI: De Gea; Valencia, Jones, Blind, Shaw; Pogba, Herrera; Rashford, Mata, Lingard; Ibrahimovic.
Possible West Ham United XI: Randolph; Kouyate, Collins, Ogbonna; Antonio, Lanzini, Noble, Obiang, Cresswell; Payet; Sakho.
Enjoy the game – Up The Hammers!