Blast from the past
Boxing Day 1958 – Conway Twitty was number one with ‘It’s Only Make Believe’ but West Ham United completed a very real Christmas double in securing a 4-1 victory over Tottenham Hotspur in front of 43,817 at White Hart Lane.
West Ham, newly-promoted to the First Division, had beaten Tottenham 2-1 the day before in a Christmas Day encounter at Upton Park, with John Dick and Vic Keeble scoring for the hosts. The hectic festive schedule saw the Hammers heading to North London on Boxing Day for the return fixture, with 17-year-old inside-forward Andy Smillie making his league debut in claret and blue. Smillie would go on to score five goals in 26 appearances for West Ham, before going on to play for Crystal Palace, Scunthorpe, Southend and Gillingham.
It was the visitors who took control again, the Irons finding themselves 3-0 up as Dick (pictured) struck his second in two days and John Bond also got on the scoresheet. Tottenham left-back Ron Henry then put the ball past his own goalkeeper to extend the Hammers’ lead before Alfie Stokes got one back for the hosts. Not to be outdone by Dick, centre-forward Keeble also made it two goals in two days to secure an emphatic 4-1 win and ensure maximum points went back to the East End.
The Hammers would record their highest league position yet, ending the 1958/59 season in sixth position, while Tottenham would finish 18th, six points clear of relegation.
Tottenham Hotspur: John Hollowbread, Peter Baker, Maurice Norman, Ron Henry, Jim Iley, Danny Blanchflower, Cliff Jones, Tommy Harmer, Alfie Stokes, Johnny Brooks, Bobby Smith.
West Ham United: Ernie Gregory, John Bond, Ken Brown, Noel Cantwell, Andy Malcolm, Mike Grice, Andy Smillie, John Smith, Vic Keeble, John Dick, Malcolm Musgrove.
Club Connections
A large group of players have turned out for Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United. Divided here by position, they include:
Goalkeepers: Bill Kaine, Tony Parks, Fred Griffiths.
Defenders: Calum Davenport, Paul Konchesky, Mark Bowen, Mauricio Tarrico, Steve Walford, Simon Webster, Chris Hughton, Mitchell Thomas, Neil Ruddock.
Midfielders: Paul Allen, Scott Parker, Jimmy Neighbour, Matthew Etherington, Mark Robson, David Bentley, Ilie Dumitrescu, Martin Peters, John Smith, Michael Carrick, John Moncur.
Strikers: Mido, Frederic Kanoute, Sergei Rebrov, Dave Dunmore, Teddy Sheringham, Jermain Defoe, Bill Joyce, Robbie Keane, Fred Massey, Bobby Zamora, Les Ferdinand, Jimmy Greaves.
Both Jack Tresadern and Harry Redknapp played for the Hammers and managed Spurs.
This week’s focus though is on a prolific goalscorer who broke records with Tottenham Hotspur in 1986/87 before playing a key role in West Ham United’s promotion to the Premier League in 1992/93. Clive Allen was born in the East End of London on 20th May 1961. Starting his career at QPR, Allen signed for Arsenal in 1980 in the aftermath of the Gunners’ FA Cup Final defeat to West Ham but never played a competitive game for the club before joining Crystal Palace in a swap deal with Kenny Sansom later that same summer. He returned to QPR in 1981 (a video showing Allen scoring a stunning first as part of a brace for the Hoops at Upton Park in a 2-2 draw in March 1984 can be viewed below, along with some Brooking brilliance) before signing for Peter Shreeves’ Tottenham in a £700,000 deal in August 1984.
The 23-year-old was following in father Les’ footsteps – Les Allen had been a regular in Tottenham’s 1960/61 double-winning team. Son Clive was to experience a mixed start to his White Hart Lane career though, scoring 21 goals in 35 appearances in his first two seasons but enduring a succession of injuries. He bagged a brace on his debut in a 4-1 win at Everton while his first goals at the Lane came in the form of another double in a 5-0 victory against former club QPR in September 1984. Another two-goal haul followed in a 4-0 triumph over Stoke in October and Spurs would be top of the First Division at Christmas – they would go on to finish third in 1984/85, their best league placing in over a decade, with Allen contributing eight goals from 15 appearances. 1985/86 would see Allen score 13 goals in 20 matches as injuries again limited his appearances, with five of these goals arriving in the final three matches of the season.
The best season of Allen’s career coincided with the appointment of David Pleat at the start of the 1986/87 campaign. Allen was played as a lone striker in front of a five-man midfield containing the creative talents of Glenn Hoddle, Chris Waddle and Ossie Ardiles. After his excellent end to the previous season, Allen continued where he left off by bagging an opening-day hat-trick in a 3-0 home win against Aston Villa. Two further hat-tricks followed in a 3-0 home win over Norwich and a 5-0 victory against the Hammers in the League Cup. Allen also hit eight doubles as Spurs chased domestic honours in all three competitions. They were denied in the League Cup at the semi-final stage by North London rivals Arsenal but Allen’s record in the competition that season was staggering – 12 goals from nine matches, scoring at least once in each game. Tottenham did reach Wembley in the FA Cup that season, Allen scoring with a header after two minutes in the Final, but Coventry went on to claim the trophy with a 3-2 win after extra-time.
Tottenham ended the season empty-handed but Allen had enjoyed a phenomenal campaign, scoring an astonishing 49 goals in all competitions bypassing another striker who played for both Tottenham and West Ham, Jimmy Greaves, as the all-time top scorer for Spurs in a single season. No player associated with any top-flight club has managed to match or exceed Allen’s total of goals in all competitions since then, although his top-flight league goals tally was surpassed by Newcastle’s Andy Cole in 1993/94 and a year later by Blackburn’s Alan Shearer. As a result of such goalscoring exploits, Allen was named as both the PFA and Football Writers’ Association Player of the Year for 1986/87. In March 1988, having scored 112 goals in 156 appearances for Tottenham, Allen signed for French club Bordeaux in a £1m move.
Allen, who had by now won his five England caps, returned across the Channel in August 1989, joining Manchester City before signing for Chelsea in December 1991. West Ham United manager Billy Bonds swooped to sign Allen for £250,000 in March 1992 and he ironically made his Hammers debut against the club he had just departed, scoring in a 2-1 defeat at Stamford Bridge on 4th April 1992 (video below). In moving to Upton Park, Clive teamed up with his cousin Martin, having also appeared alongside another of his cousins, former Hammer Paul, in the Tottenham team.
Allen could not prevent the Irons from being relegated that season but played a significant part in the promotion campaign of 1992/93, particularly pre-Christmas. He notched the winning goals in the 1-0 opening-day victory at Barnsley and the 2-1 home triumph over Watford before bagging a brace in a 5-1 win at Bristol City. Another winner came in an ultimately crucial 1-0 win at Portsmouth in late September and he struck again in a 4-0 win at Bristol Rovers. Allen scored six goals in the next four home matches – single strikes in a 2-0 win over Notts County and a 5-3 triumph over Oxford before bagging braces in a 2-0 Anglo-Italian Cup win against Reggiana and the 3-1 defeat of Birmingham. His scoring streak continued with a goal in each of the next three matches too, the 5-2 loss at Tranmere, 1-0 win at Cosenza and 2-0 home win against Southend in mid-December.
This was to be Allen’s last league goal until May – although he scored in a 2-0 FA Cup triumph at West Brom in early January 1993, Allen suffered a calf injury that would keep him out for four months. Promotion rivals Portsmouth hit top form as the Hammers’ own promotion push began to falter before Allen returned for the final two games to have a crucial say in the race for the Premier League. He made his return to action from the bench at Swindon and scored in a 3-1 win before tapping in the second goal in the 2-0 final-day triumph over Cambridge at a packed Upton Park. In those days, goals scored was the deciding factor if two teams were level on points – West Ham and Portsmouth ended the 1992/93 season level on 88 points but Allen’s late strike meant the Hammers had scored 81 goals compared to Pompey’s 80. A video of this final day win, including Allen’s goal and a post-match interview with the striker, can be viewed below – I was a ten-year-old up in the East Stand with my Dad that day and it remains one of my fondest Boleyn Ground memories.
Allen started in each of the Hammers’ first six matches of 1993/94, scoring both goals in the 2-0 home win over Sheffield Wednesday – these strikes were West Ham’s first ever Premier League goals at the Boleyn Ground and the win was the Hammers’ first in the rebranded top flight (Allen’s second of the night, scored from an almost impossible angle against West Ham’s current goalkeeping coach Chris Woods, can be seen in the video below). Injury sidelined the predatory goal-getter again but he returned to play a brief part in February/March 1994. His final appearance for the Hammers came in a 0-0 FA Cup quarter-final draw with Luton at Upton Park on 14th March 1994 – after scoring 21 goals in 50 appearances in all competitions for the Hammers, Allen was on the move to Millwall for a fee of £75,000, although Tottenham manager Ossie Ardiles had shown interest in taking Allen back to White Hart Lane as cover for another former Spurs and Hammers striker, Teddy Sheringham.
Clive was the goalscoring king of the capital, having represented QPR, Arsenal (albeit only in friendlies), Crystal Palace, Tottenham, Chelsea, West Ham and Millwall. He brought his career to a close with Carlisle in 1995 before briefly turning out for the London Monarchs in 1997 as a placekicker in NFL Europe. Allen, now 54, has since worked as reserve-team coach at Tottenham and has also been caretaker manager of the Spurs first team for four matches.
Referee
The referee on Sunday will be Anthony Taylor – this will be the third time the Hammers have been allocated Taylor already this season after he took charge of our win over Newcastle just three games after he had controversially sent off Adrian against Leicester. The Cheshire-based official was the referee who had not one, but two red cards rescinded from the same game after he had sent off Carlton Cole and Darron Gibson in the Hammers’ 2-1 home defeat to Everton in December 2012. He was also in charge when awarding Liverpool a controversial, and ultimately match-winning penalty, against the Irons in April 2014. There was also controversy surrounding Guy Demel’s equaliser for West Ham in that game. Taylor officiated in three matches involving the Hammers last season, those being the 2-0 home win over QPR, the 2-0 away defeat to Manchester City and the 1-1 FA Cup third round tie at Everton. He also replaced the injured Chris Foy during the second half of the 3-0 defeat at Arsenal.
Possible line-ups
Tottenham Hotspur, who have only beaten West Ham once in their last five attempts in league and cup, will be without the suspended Erik Lamela after he picked up his fifth yellow card of the season at Arsenal. South Korean forward Son Heung-Min, the most expensive Asian player in history at £22m, could come into the side as the Argentine’s replacement. Nacer Chadli is likely to miss out through injury, although Mousa Dembele should be fit. Nabil Bentaleb suffered a knock while on international duty. Spurs have scored nine goals in their last three Premier League matches, having only managed 11 goals in their opening nine games.
West Ham United will be without Dimitri Payet and Enner Valencia for extended periods, while James Collins will serve the second game of a three-match suspension for his red card at Watford. Alex Song and Diafra Sakho are back in contention, while Pedro Obiang has also been back in training. Slaven Bilic must decide whether to pitch any returning players straight back into the first team or introduce them from the bench. The Hammers have won all three of their London derbies so far this season, in away games at Arsenal and Crystal Palace and at home against Chelsea.
Possible Tottenham Hotspur XI: Lloris; Walker, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Rose; Dembele, Dier; Eriksen, Alli, Son; Kane.
Possible West Ham United XI: Adrian; Jenkinson, Tomkins, Reid, Cresswell; Noble, Kouyate; Moses, Zarate, Lanzini; Sakho.
Enjoy the game – Up The Hammers!