I doubt there are any Hammers football fans on this site that saw a lad named Joe Payne play for West Ham. Well he did play 10 games for the Hammers, just after the war in 1946. He scored 6 goals in those ten games and he finished his playing career at Upton Park. Prior to the war he played for Luton Town where he made 72 appearances and scored 83 goals. Ten of those goals came in one game, on Easter Monday in 1936 against Bristol Rovers in a game Luton won 12-0. Joe Payne’s ten goal haul is still a goal scoring record for the football league.
There is an amazing story linked to those ten goals. Joe had never played as a striker before – he had only played wing half or in defence. Luton had played the same opposition just days before – on Good Friday and the game ended in a 2-2 draw. Going into the Monday reverse fixture, Luton were missing all three of their strikers, so decided to move Joe Payne up front. He had not played in the first team for 6 months! Joe not only broke the all time scoring record, but he did it at his first attempt at playing as a striker! Of course the war was to interrupt his playing career and either side of the war years he played 36 times for Chelsea, scoring 21 goals. In 1937 he played for England and scored 2 goals in an 8-0 win against Finland.
Joe died back in 1975 aged 61. Today is the 100th anniversary of his birth. To score ten goals in any match is a wonderful achievement and still not matched in the Football League. Whilst his term with us was short, I think it apt to remember a player who did play for the Claret and Blue, albeit briefly, and who still holds the Football League scoring record to this day. He scored one goal in each of his first five games for the Hammers, including two matches against Luton, and his last game was in a 1-1 draw against Bradford Park Avenue.