Blast from the past
41 years ago, Liverpool were on their way to Bob Paisley’s first league title, Southampton were to go on to win their only FA Cup trophy and West Ham United were in the midst of a season that would see them finish in 18th place in the First Division. As the Hammers hosted Manchester United on the 25th October 1975, Art Garfunkel was number one with ‘I Only Have Eyes For You’ and Jaws was making waves in the US before a Boxing Day release in the UK. The game at the Boleyn Ground was to be marred by violent scenes as fighting in the South Bank during the second half left 102 people injured – 38 people were arrested, with the violence reportedly involving 400 fans. The official attendance was recorded as 38,528 but many more are thought to have made their way into the stadium. The escalating trouble, which led to a 20-minute break in play and Ron Greenwood coming onto the pitch, can be seen in the short video below.
As for the match action, the Hammers were given an interval lead after goalkeeper Mervyn Day’s long drop-kick caught out the Manchester United centre-backs with Alan Taylor racing through to nod past the onrushing Alex Stepney and into the net.
The Red Devils equalised after half-time when Steve Coppell’s free-kick was headed on by Stewart Houston and future Hammers manager Lou Macari rose to flick the ball beyond Day. Incidentally, Macari was partnered up front that day by another player who would go on to have a West Ham connection, 1980 FA Cup winner Stuart Pearson.
West Ham found a winner when the late Graham Paddon (who ended the season as runner-up to Trevor Brooking for Hammer of the Year) drove in a low cross which evaded Taylor but not Bobby Gould who converted a low shot back across Stepney to claim maximum points for the Irons. Both Hammers goalscorers from this match are pictured above with the FA Cup just five months earlier.
The victory kept West Ham in third place in the First Division going into November but it was Man Utd who would end the 1975/76 campaign in that position. The Hammers would drop all the way down to 18th in the table by the end of the season and finish only six points clear of relegation, with no wins at all from the last 16 league matches.
West Ham United: Mervyn Day, John McDowell, Tommy Taylor, Keith Coleman, Frank Lampard, Pat Holland, Trevor Brooking, Graham Paddon, Keith Robson, Bobby Gould, Alan Taylor.
Manchester United: Alex Stepney, Jimmy Nicholl, Brian Greenhoff, Martin Buchan, Stewart Houston, Steve Coppell, Gerry Daly (David McCreery), Tommy Jackson, Sammy McIlroy, Stuart Pearson, Lou Macari.
The goals from this game and a brief interview with matchwinner Gould can be viewed at 56:54 of the video below.
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.
In addition, Dave Sexton and Frank O’Farrell both played for the Hammers before going on to manage the Red Devils. Lou Macari played for Man Utd before managing West Ham.
With a nod to the final season at the Boleyn Ground, this season’s match previews for home games have focused on one of the more high-profile names to have played for both clubs. Today’s focus is on an Argentinian international forward who left an indelible mark on West Ham United before joining Manchester United. Carlos Tevez was born on the 5th February 1984 in Buenos Aires and begain his career with Boca Juniors before moving to Corinthians of Brazil. Tevez signed for West Ham United, along with international team-mate Javier Mascherano, in a stunning transfer deadline day move in August 2006, reportedly (at the time) on permanent deals for undisclosed fees.
Tevez made his Hammers debut as a substitute in a 1-1 home draw with Aston Villa on 10th September 2006 amidst huge excitement among the claret and blue faithful at the Boleyn Ground. His first start came just four days later, in the 1-0 home defeat to Palermo in the UEFA Cup first round first leg. Two months later, with the Hammers exhibiting poor form in the Premier League and having been knocked out of the League Cup at lowly Chesterfield, Tevez left the Boleyn Ground early after being substituted and throwing a tantrum during a league match against Sheffield United; as punishment, his teammates decided that Tevez had to donate half of a week’s wages to charity and train in a Brazil jersey. Tevez refused to wear the shirt but did donate the money.
Despite showing tigerish grit and a highly commendable work ethic, Tevez had to wait six months for his first goal in claret and blue. It came in a London derby against Tottenham, curling a free-kick over the Spurs wall, beyond the despairing dive of England goalkeeper Paul Robinson and into the net via the underside of the crossbar. The Pocket-sized Pitbull from La Pampa, as the BBC’s Steve Wilson once described him, celebrated by memorably jumping into the crowd in the West Lower and was mobbed by his adoring fans. This strike put the Hammers 2-0 up but they would go on to lose 4-3. The match marked a turnaround in the club’s fortunes though, as well as for Tevez personally who went on to score three goals in three games – further strikes included the equaliser from the penalty spot at Blackburn with the Irons going on to win 2-1 and the game-clinching second in the 2-0 home win over Middlesbrough.
Indeed Tevez was to score seven goals in his final ten appearances of the season. A consolation in a 4-1 home defeat to Chelsea was followed by news that the club had been found guilty of acting improperly and withholding vital documentation over the duo’s ownership, dating back to the start of the season when Terence Brown had been the club chairman (preceding the Icelandic takeover). The club was fined £5.5m but avoided a points deduction. In a match at Wigan the next day, Tevez was superb as a large travelling claret and blue army roared the Hammers on to a crucial 3-0 win.
Tevez received the Hammers of the Year award and bagged a brace to celebrate in the next match against Bolton – the first a stunningly flighted and deadly-accurate free-kick beyond future Hammer Jussi Jaaskelainen (who was never at his best when facing free-kicks) before a tap-in after good work by Luis Boa Morte. Carlos’ crowning glory was to come at Old Trafford when his final strike for West Ham secured a 1-0 win that would finally pull off the Greatest Escape. He was to leave West Ham United having scored 7 goals in 29 appearances.
Following a complicated saga involving FIFA and the Court of Arbitration for Sport, MSI (who were run by Kia Joorabchian and owned Tevez’s registration) paid West Ham £2m to release the Argentine from his agreement with the club and allow him to join Manchester United. In 2009 West Ham were made to pay £20 million (£4 million a year over the next five seasons) as compensation in an out-of-court settlement to Sheffield United, who were relegated at the expense of West Ham – the Blades, however, were defeated on the final day by a penalty from ex-Hammer David Unsworth, a player Sheffield United themselves had released to Wigan midway through the 2006/07 season. Perhaps Messers Warnock and McCabe should have looked a little closer to home when apportioning blame…
Manchester United signed Tevez on a two-year loan and he made his debut for the Red Devils in a 1-1 draw with Portsmouth before scoring his first goal for the club in a 2-0 win over Chelsea at Old Trafford. Tevez won both the Premier League and Champions League in his first season at Manchester United, scoring the first penalty in the shoot-out win over Chelsea in the final of Europe’s premier club competition in Moscow. Tevez would win the FIFA World Club Cup in his second season with the Red Devils – with Man Utd fans keen to see him sign a permanent deal, Tevez instead opted to sign for city rivals Manchester City. He had scored 34 goals in 99 appearances for Manchester United in all competitions.
Tevez would spend four seasons with City before moving to Juventus in Italy. Now 32, Tevez is back where it all began, at Boca Juniors. He has also scored 13 goals in his 76-cap Argentina career and appeared at both the 2006 and 2010 World Cups.
Referee
Tuesday’s referee will be Mike Dean; 2015/16 is Dean’s 16th as a Premier League referee. Since West Ham United achieved promotion back to the top flight in 2012 Dean has refereed 16 of our league matches, officiating in eight wins for the Hammers, five draws and three defeats. Dean was the man in the middle for our 3-1 home losses to Southampton and Crystal Palace and our 1-0 home victory over Newcastle last season, as well as our 1-1 draw at Swansea. This season he has refereed our 2-2 home draw with Norwich in September, the 1-1 draw at Aston Villa on Boxing Day, our 1-0 win over Sunderland in February and, most recently, our 3-1 win over Watford last month.
Possible line-ups
Slaven Bilic’s only injury concern is goalkeeper Adrian. Super Slav must also decide whether to stick with Michail Antonio at right-back or restore James Tomkins or Sam Byram to the starting XI. Saturday’s 4-1 defeat by Swansea was the club’s worst home loss of the season and the first at Upton Park in the league since August. Only a win will return the Irons to the top six.
Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal is likely to be without Anthony Martial – Memphis Depay and Adnan Januzaj are competing to replace him. Marouane Fellaini, so often influential against the Hammers, is suspended. Wayne Rooney has scored 11 times in 15 Premier League appearances against West Ham, including a record seven goals at Upton Park by a visiting player; the England captain also made his international debut at the Boleyn Ground against Australia in 2003. Manchester United are unbeaten in the last 14 Premier League meetings and have only failed to score in two of their past 16 trips to Upton Park. They need two points from their final two matches to surpass their lowest ever Premier League tally of 64 points – more pressing for the Red Devils is the knowledge that, if they win their final two matches, they will secure a Champions League spot at the expense of fierce city rivals Manchester City.
Possible West Ham United XI: Randolph; Antonio, Reid, Ogbonna, Cresswell; Noble, Kouyate; Sakho, Payet, Lanzini; Carroll.
Possible Manchester United XI: De Gea; Valencia, Smalling, Blind, Rojo; Carrick, Mata, Rooney; Lingard, Rashford, Januzaj.
Enjoy the final Boleyn game – Up The Hammers and Farewell Boleyn…