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Firstly, I’d like to take this opportunity to wish all West Ham Till I Die readers a very Merry Christmas!
Blast from the past
Today’s blast from the past features a 3-1 victory at Upton Park against this weekend’s opponents, Brighton. It arrived just over 110 years ago, on 5th November 1910 in front of 14,000 spectators. H.H. Asquith was Prime Minister and Henry Dunant, the Swiss co-founder of the Red Cross, had died six days earlier.
Legendary Hammers goal-getter Danny Shea (pictured) was on the scoresheet the day before his 23rd birthday; Shea would end the 1910/11 season as the Irons’ top scorer with 28 goals in 39 games. Irons goalkeeper George Kitchen, a penalty-taker and scorer of six goals in his 205 appearances for West Ham, was also on the scoresheet – it turned out to be his final goal for the club. 19-year-old centre-forward Bill Kennedy, a new signing from Northfleet United, scored on his debut to round off the win for the hosts – it was his first of ten goals in 23 appearances for West Ham United.
Grays-born Kennedy saw action in the First World War serving the London Scottish Regiment at Loos as part of an offensive on the Hohenzollern Redoubt and was killed in action in France on 13th October 1915; his brother, John, was also killed during the conflict. Both are commemorated at the Loos Memorial.
Syd King’s Hammers ended the 1910/11 season in fifth place in the Southern League First Division; Brighton were to finish third. Swindon won the Southern League First Division, Manchester United won the league title and Bradford won the FA Cup.
West Ham United: George Kitchen, Bill Lavery, Bob Fairman, Bob Whiteman, Frank Piercy, Tommy Randall, Herbert Ashton, Danny Shea, Bill Kennedy, Fred Blackburn, Tommy Caldwell.
Club Connections
Players who have appeared for both clubs include:
Goalkeeper: Harry Medhurst.
Defenders: Len Young, Dennis Burnett, Mauricio Taricco, Tommy McAteer, Matthew Upson, Keith McPherson, William Kelly and Wayne Bridge.
Midfielders: Sebastien Carole, Bertie Lutton, John Payne, George Parris and Tony Stokes.
Strikers: Greg Campbell, Bertie Lyon, Brian Dear, Tommy Dixon, Sam Jennings, Sam Small, Bobby Zamora, Dave Sexton, Sam Baldock, Mike Small and Paul Kitson.
In addition, ex-Hammers Archie Macaulay, Liam Brady and Chris Hughton have managed Brighton. Alan Curbishley played for both clubs and managed the Hammers.
This week’s focus though is on a player who spent an injury-ravaged spell with the Seagulls before later enjoying a brief loan period with the Hammers. Justin Fashanu was born in Hackney on 19th February 1961 – his father was a Nigerian barrister and his mother a Guyanese nurse. When his parents split up, he and his younger brother John were sent to a Barnardo’s care home. When Justin was six, he and John were fostered by Alf and Betty Jackson and brought up in Shropham, Norfolk. Fashanu excelled at boxing as a youth, and was rumoured at one time to be pursuing a professional boxing career instead of his footballing career.
Fashanu’s professional career began with Norwich and he made his league debut aged 17 in January 1979. He had two loan spells with Adelaide City and scored the BBC’s Goal of the Season for the Canaries in 1979/80. Fashanu, a strapping centre-forward who was intelligent and articulate, signed for Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest in August 1981, becoming the first black player to be transferred for £1m. He was loaned to Southampton in August 1982 and was sold to Notts County in December of that year. Fashanu also scored five goals in eleven appearances for England Under-21s, including one in a 5-4 aggregate European Championship Final win over West Germany in 1982.
The 24-year-old Fashanu moved to Second Division Brighton in the summer of 1985 for £115,000. He had not endeared himself to the Brighton faithful during his previous meetings with the Seagulls – he had broken the nose of Brighton defender Andy Rollings when Norwich won 4-2 at the Goldstone in October 1979. Rollings went on to swing a punch at Fashanu, earning a red card in the process. Fashanu was also involved in incidents during a game in August 1984, when Brighton beat Notts County 2-1, which resulted in Albion’s central defenders Eric Young and Jeff Clarke both being hospitalised. Brighton boss Chris Cattlin invited Fashanu to stay at his house for four nights before signing him in order to judge his character.
The Seagulls supporters did in fact take to Fashanu – he was popular with the home crowd at the Goldstone Ground, even though they didn’t get to see the best of the striker during his time on the South Coast. Fashanu made his debut in a 2-2 draw with Grimsby at the Goldstone in August 1985. His Brighton career was only four games old when he was sent off for the third time in a year during the club’s 2-1 home win over Bradford but he scored in a 3-1 home win over Hull in November of that year. Fashanu scored two goals in 20 appearances for Brighton – he had arrived at the club with a longstanding injury to his left knee and suffered an injury after signing which nearly shattered his right knee. He left Brighton in 1987.
Fashanu battled to overcome the serious knee injuries that threatened his career – he paid for an unsuccessful operation on his knee in London, then another in Los Angeles which did work. He played for Los Angeles Heat in 1988 and also turned out for Edmonton Brickmen in Canada in 1989. He returned to England with First Division Manchester City in October 1989 but joined Lou Macari’s West Ham United on loan a month later. The 28-year-old Fashanu made his Hammers debut as a 76th-minute substitute in a 1-0 League Cup fourth round win over Wimbledon at the Boleyn Ground on 22nd November 1989. He was involved in the build-up for Martin Allen’s match-winning goal – the goal and an interview with Fashanu can be viewed in my video below.
Fashanu started the next two league games in the Second Division for the Irons – the first was a defeat at Blackburn in a game which saw the Hammers 4-0 down after just over half an hour, and 5-1 down early in the second half. West Ham would rally but ultimately lose the match 5-4. Fashanu’s final game for the club was less eventful, a goalless draw with Stoke at Upton Park on 2nd December 1989, in a match which saw a Julian Dicks penalty saved by visiting goalkeeper Peter Fox.
After failing to score in his three appearances for West Ham United, Fashanu played for Leyton Orient in 1990 before returning to Canada with Hamilton Steelers later that year. Fashanu came out as gay in October 1990 – brother John, and Justin’s own church, turned their backs on him. Three decades on, he remains the only male footballer to come out while playing professionally in the top tiers.
An eventful 1991 saw Fashanu come back to England to play for Southall, travel back to Canada to represent Toronto Blizzard, and also play for Leatherhead back in England before a short spell with Newcastle. Fashanu settled at Torquay in late 1991 and remained there until 1993, when he moved to Scotland to join Airdrie. He played for Trelleborg in Sweden before returning to Scotland with Hearts later in 1993. Fashanu returned to America, signing for Atlanta Ruckus in 1995, before ending his career in New Zealand with Miramar Rangers in 1997.
On the morning of 3rd May 1998, Justin Fashanu was found hanged in a deserted lock-up garage he had broken into in Shoreditch the night before. He was 37 years old. The inquest recorded a verdict of suicide. Fashanu was inducted into the National Football Museum Hall of Fame earlier this year.
Referee
Sunday’s referee will be Wiltshire-based Simon Hooper, who will take on only his fifth Hammers appointment. He first refereed West Ham in the 1-0 Championship home win over Coventry in January 2012 and he was also in charge of our 3-0 League Cup third round win over Bolton at London Stadium in September 2017. His only Premier League appointment involving the Hammers was our 2-0 defeat at Bournemouth in January 2019. Hooper most recently officiated in a West Ham game for our 5-1 League Cup third round win over Hull at London Stadium in September this year.
Hooper has refereed ten matches so far in 2020/21 – four in the Premier League, four in the Championship and two in the League Cup. He has issued 25 yellow cards and no reds in those games. Hooper has also awarded four penalties this season, one of which was converted by Andriy Yarmolenko in our aforementioned League Cup victory against Hull.
Possible line-ups
West Ham United are without the injured Arthur Masuaku, while Manuel Lanzini and Michail Antonio are doubts. West Ham have never beaten Brighton in the Premier League, drawing three and losing three of the six matches – the Hammers’ last triumph over the Seagulls was a 6-0 home Championship victory in April 2012. Jarrod Bowen has been substituted 13 times in the Premier League this season, more than any other player.
Brighton are without right-back Tariq Lamptey, winger Jose Izquierdo and centre-forward Florin Andone. Albion have scored eight Premier League goals at the London Stadium, their highest number of goals at an away ground. Leandro Trossard has hit the woodwork four times, more than any other player in the Premier League this season.
Possible West Ham United XI: Fabianski; Coufal, Balbuena, Ogbonna, Cresswell; Rice, Soucek; Bowen, Fornals, Benrahma; Haller.
Possible Brighton XI: Ryan; White, Webster, Dunk; Veltman, Bissouma, Lallana, March; Trossard; Connolly, Maupay.
Enjoy the game – Come On You Irons!
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