Guest Post by Nigel Kahn
As we left the seventies behind 10 year old Nigel was now well and truly hooked with West Ham as we entered in my opinion the best period in the club’s history.
Three trips to Wembley, promotion, legends galore and we nearly won the league, but as if to reinforce what the West Ham way was really about it ends with despair despondency and relegation.
The 11 players listed below are the 11 that for me made the 80’s the best time to watch West Ham. I’ll remind you of the two rules, I had to see them play live, which considering I hardly missed a home game all decade & saw every player that put on the shirt, and they can’t appear in another decades team.
A re-cap on my team of the seventies 1.Mervyn Day 2.John McDowell. 3.Frank Lampard Senior. 4.Tommy Taylor. 5.Kevin Lock. 6.Pat Holland. 7.Billy Bonds. 8.Pop Robson. 9.Alan Taylor. 10.Sir Trevor Brooking 11. Billy Lansdowne. The full article can be found HERE
1. Phil Parkes The man that inspired me to play in goal, I wanted to be Phil Parkes in the playground pulling off save after save,I didn’t manage it but still we can all dream. So good that while many came to be his understudy none could replace him through the decade, from Single handedly keeping us in the cup in the 1st game we played in the tournament in 1980 v WBA, through to the 85/86 season then onto his injury hit seasons towards the end of the 80’s but still called back when his replacements couldn’t live up to the standards he set. In my opinion THE greatest West Ham Goalkeeper.
2. Ray Stewart. Another record signing at the end of the 70’s, Britains most costliest teenager at the time, and if shoot magazine was to be believed, loved his cornflakes. Deadly from the penalty spot as proved by his 81 out of 86 record. Missed only 1 at the Boleyn which if my memory serves me right was against Tblisi. He could score from open play as well and 2 stick out for me, 1 v Orient in 4th round FA cup tie (my 1st away game) and another, one New Years Eve v spurs at the Boleyn. Another player that Injury blighted their stay at the end of the decade which perhaps points to how we ended up being relegated in 89
3. George Parris. Effort is the best word to describe his playing style, not blessed with skill but boy did his heart and stamina make up for it. Chicken George made his debut V Liverpool in the last game of the 85/86 season, a game noted as being Frank Lampard’s final game. The next season he broke into the team and became a fan favourite with his no nonsense no skill brand of football in the team that made us believe it could happen.
4. Tony Gale. Underrated as a player for me, signed from Fulham where he had replaced Bobby Moore, to replace Billy Bonds. What a challenge, and one which to me he ably succeeded in doing. Great free kick taker, none so special than the league cup game v Liverpool in 1988 that lit up Johnny Lyalls last disastrous season as manager. The funniest man in football, lights up every stage show he hosts. Served the club for a decade only to be told he was being released on his testimonial day, left for Blackburn where he won a league title and managed to get the Rovers team to sing bubbles while they celebrated their title at Anfield.
5. Alvin Martin. So good for us he don’t need a last name, 1 of only 2 players to get 2 testimonials from the club. My 1st memory of him is when he kicked Billy Bonds in the head V Preston early 1980. A few others are him chasing David O’leary round Highbury to thump him, punching Brian Stein of Luton and his slip into I think Cantona v Man Utd which he got sent off for. A great Captain and leader of the club who played it seems forever.
6. Alan Devonshire. The mark of how good he really was, is that he is the one player nearly always chosen by Ex Hammers of that time as the best they had ever played with. I used to stand by the players entrance sometimes and he nearly always turned up as if he worked on a building site, wearing a black Donkey Jacket as they were called back then. I can still see him laying on the left hand edge of the area in front of the South Bank as I looked on from the North Bank, his knee totally busted,not moving after a challenge by a Wigan player in 84. To come back nearly 2 years later and star in the 85/86 season was miraculous. Left us for Watford where he made 1 last appearance at the Boleyn receiving a heroes reception. His view on how football should be played are enlightening and in my opinion it’s a disgrace he hasn’t managed higher.
7. Mark Ward. Kevin Moran, those of a certain age will know what I mean by mentioning him with Wardy. Fantastic winger with a great shot on him, but aside from introducing the Man united hardman to the chicken run wall, I remember him for the most obvious dive in the final minutes of the last home game of the 85/86 season v Ipswich to win a penalty which secured victory to keep alive our chances of winning the title. Without that dive I doubt I’d stood on the pitch that night with the thousands others singing, “were gonna win the league” and actually believe it. Diving is cheating, but that is one I gladly turn a blind eye to.
8. Frank Mcavennie. That night against QPR, his home debut, started for me standing on the forecourt wondering what the hell is a giant yellow telephone doing here, turns out the club was launching clubcall, where for an extortionate cost you could pick up a phone and here a recorded message of that days West Ham news. What wonderment of technology. Alvin Martin and new signing Mark Ward were on hand to launch it and I bagged a couple of autographs before taking my seat in block A of the west stand that day. I can still see the new blonde haired unknown recruit coming in from the right to score early on in front of the North Bank, and so the legend was born. The move later to Celtic was disappointing but who can deny a player joining his heros but they just led to the home coming in 89, too little to late perhaps but hearing the news from a policeman as I entered Carrow Rd for an ill fated Cup Replay that he has re signed prompted chants “we have our frankie back”. As befits a hero his departure is legendary, just as West Ham deem him no longer good enough he gets a final 45 minutes in a meaningless game. West upper, block E this time I witness one of his best games for us as he bagged a hat trick against a good forest team and the dream is over. If I could only choose 1 player from West Ham’s roll call to put up as a legend then he would get my vote.
9. David Cross. Another player that crosses over from the 70’s into the 80’s, he is in this team as it was the 80’s for me he did his best work. The Goal v Tottenham in the league Cup, 4 v Grimsby, 3 v Castilla, 4 again v spurs at the Lane, in the promotion team of 81, game after game, goal after goal, possibly the best time of his career. I loved David Cross.
10. Tony Cottee. I’ve always wondered that if Jim Gallagher’s header hadn’t hit the underside of the bar and came out, but instead gone straight in, would TC have achieved all that he did. The talent says Yes but it was such a moment in the history of West Ham to see the 17 yr old West Ham fan not 2 years off the terraces live out the dream we all dream. The Scissor kick goal he scored against Forest in 85 is possibly the greatest goal I’ve seen at the Boleyn, an equal of Paolo’s in my eyes. The combination of him and Mcavennie heralded a golden season never to be equaled.
11. Geoff Pike. The most underrated of this team and perhaps it’s the misty eyes of youth that he gets in but I just couldn’t leave out another hero of the 80s cup winning team. Has there been a finer headed goal than his in the cup 5th round replay V Man united at Old Trafford. Also had a shot like a cannonball that exploded off his foot, I’m sure Brooking says he allowed him to the luxury of being the gifted player he was at the end of his career by the fact Pike did his running.
The eighties was for me the greatest period in the clubs History, and perhaps personifies the fabled West Ham Way. Promises so much, delivered at times, but in the end fades and dies. The decade ended not just in relegation but the end of West ham United as a club that always looked after their own. The sacking of Lyall and appointment of Macari signalled 89 years of history being swept away and West Ham United would never be the same again. We rolled into the 90s in turmoil, fans in revolution, Hero’s returning to run the club, only to leave too soon.
I look back at what happened in that ten year period, 3 visits to Wembley before I reached 12, nearly winning the league, I and many others grew up believing that was how it was. Oh the folly of youth.