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West Ham United Football Club are based in Upton Park, Newham, East London and have played their home matches at the 35,647 capacity Boleyn Ground stadium since 1904.
The club was originally founded as Thames Ironworks F.C. in 1895 and later reformed, in 1900, as their current incarnation. They initially competed in the Southern League and Western League before joining the full Football League in 1919 and enjoyed their first top flight season in 1923. The club have never fallen outside the top two divisions. They have won the FA Cup three times: in 1964, 1975 and 1980, and also captured the now defunct Cup Winners Cup in 1965 and the Intertoto Cup in 1999. They also won the first War Cup in 1940. Their best finish in the top flight was a third place finish in 1986. The club also holds the distinction for being the only team in the history of the Premiership to breach the 40 point boundary and still be relegated (in 2003).[1]
Two seasons later, the club won promotion to the Premier League for the 2005/06 season through the playoff system in the Coca Cola Championship. That season they finished in 9th place in the league table. In addition, the club also progressed through to the FA Cup Final for the first time in twenty-six years where they lost on penalties to Liverpool after a 3-3 draw.
They are currently in the English Premier League, although they narrowly avoided relegation in the 2006/2007 campaign, finishing 15th. The club's current manager is Alan Curbishley who was appointed on 13 December 2006. West Ham's escape from relegation has seen them linked with a number of top targets in the 'silly season' including Argentinian super-star Juan Roman Riquelme, Icelandic forward Eidur Gudjohnsen and Africa's hottest new prospect Muitab bonga.
The earliest generally accepted incarnation of West Ham United was founded in 1895 as the Thames Ironworks works team by foreman Dave Taylor and owner Arnold Hills. The club, Thames Ironworks F.C.[2] were the first ever winners of the West Ham Charity Cup in 1895 contested by clubs in the locality, then won the London League in 1897. They turned professional in 1898 upon entering the Southern League Second Division, and were promoted to the First division at the first attempt.
The team initially played in full dark blue kits, followed the following season by sky blue shirts and white shorts combination worn through 1897 to 1899. In 1899 they acquired their now traditional home kit combination of claret shirts and sky blue sleeves in a wager involving Aston Villa F.C. players.
The following summer in June 1900, Thames Ironworks F.C. was dissolved[2], then immediately reformed on 5 July 1900 as West Ham United F.C. with Syd King[2] as their manager and future manager Charlie Paynter as his assistant. Because of the original "works team" roots, they are still known as 'the Irons' or 'the Hammers' amongst fans and the media.[2]
After being made groundless in 1901 the team became transient, playing their home games on a number of local teams grounds. However, in 1904 the team moved to its current home of Upton Park in the guise of the Boleyn Ground stadium.
In 1919, still under King's leadership, West Ham gained entrance to the Football League Second Division and were promoted to Division One in 1923, making the FA Cup final at the same time. The team enjoyed mixed success in Division 1 but retained their status for 10 years and reached an FA Cup semi final in 1927, 4 years later.
In 1932 the club was relegated to Division Two and long term custodian Sydney King was sacked after serving the club in the role of Manager for 32 years, and as a player from 1899 to 1903. He was replaced with his assistant manager Charlie Paynter who himself had been with West Ham in a number of roles since 1897 and who went on to serve the team in this role until 1950 for a total of 480 games.
The club spent most of the next 30 years in this division, first under Paynter and then later under the leadership of former player Ted Fenton. Fenton succeeded in getting the club once again promoted to the top level of English football in 1958 and in helping develop both the initial batch of future West Ham stars and West Ham's approach to the game.
Ron Greenwood was appointed as Fenton's successor in 1961 and he soon led the club to two major trophies, winning the FA Cup in 1964 and the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1965. During the 1966 World Cup, an important part of the England national football team was composed of West Ham players, including the captain, Bobby Moore, Martin Peters (who scored in the final), and Geoff Hurst, who scored the only ever hat-trick to-date in a World Cup final. After a difficult start to the 1974-75 season, Greenwood moved "upstairs" to become General Manager and was replaced by his assistant John Lyall, who led them on to win the FA Cup in his first season.
Lyall then guided West Ham to another European Cup Winners' Cup final in 1976, though the team lost the match 4-2 to Anderlecht. Greenwood's new role within the club lasted less than three years as he was appointed to manage England in the wake of Don Revie's resignation in 1977.
In 1978, the club were again relegated to Division Two but the board stuck by their manager and Lyall was able lead West Ham to another FA Cup win in 1980. No team since has won the trophy from outside the top division. They were promoted to Division One in 1981, having spent only 3 years in the lower league, although they were relegated after 8 seasons in 1989 This relegation resulted in John Lyall's sacking, in spite of the fact that this stay in Division One saw West Ham achieve their highest ever placing in the top division, finishing 3rd in 1986.
Very briefly, they were led by Lou Macari, though he resigned after less than a single season and former player Billy Bonds was the next West Ham manager in charge. In his first full season, 1990-91, West Ham again secured promotion to Division One. The following season, 1991-92, they were relegated, to the newly christened Division One (formerly Division 2), missing out on the inaugural Premier league season. West Ham again only spent one year in Division One, before finishing 2nd and gaining promotion to the Premier League in May 1993.
After a more stable season in the Premier League, Bonds acrimoniously and controversially quit, and was replaced by Harry Redknapp in August 1994. Redknapp was active in the transfer market, and gained a reputation as a "wheeler-dealer" especially with foreign players being more available following the Bosman ruling. He led West Ham to 5th place in 1998/99 but they missed out on automatic qualification for the UEFA Cup (despite seasons prior to and since where 5th was good enough), but did indeed qualify for that competition as winners of the Intertoto Cup. Despite consolidating the league placings for a handful of seasons, a disagreement with the board of directors during the close of the 2000-01 season, found Redknapp replaced with Glenn Roeder, promoted from Youth team coach.
In Roeder's first season the team finished 7th (an improvement on Redknapp's last finish of 15th.), but there were worrying signs as West Ham lost 7-1 to Blackburn and 5-0 and 5-1 to Everton and Chelsea respectively. The subsequent season started poorly and eventually resulted in relegation. Following ill-health and poor results, Roeder was sacked in August 2004 after only 7 games in charge in Division 1. Trevor Brooking (who served as manager during Glenn's ill health the previous season) stepped in as interim manager before being replaced with Alan Pardew in October 2004, headhunted from promotion rivals Reading. Pardew led the team to a playoff final, though they were beaten by Crystal Palace. The club stayed in Division One for another season, when they again reached the playoff final, but this time won and gained re-entry to the Premiership.
On their return to the Premiership, West Ham finished in a solid 9th place, restoring pride to many West Ham supporters. The highlight of the 2005-06 season, however, was reaching the FA Cup final, and taking overwhelming favourites Liverpool F.C. to a penalty shootout where they lost, but gained entry to the UEFA Cup as Liverpool had qualified for the Champions League through league position.
The team started the 2006-2007 campaign brightly, but slipped down the table due to off the field distractions. West Ham were knocked out from UEFA Cup by Italian Serie A side Palermo (0-1 and 0-3) and saw themselves dragged into the relegation zone.
Eventually an Icelandic consortium, led by Eggert Magnússon, bought the club on 26 November 2006, and following a poor run of form leaving the club in 17th position (despite the signing of talented players like Javier Mascherano and Carlos Tévez) they sacked Pardew, replacing him with former West Ham player Alan Curbishley, who had recently ended a 15-year spell in charge of Charlton. Ironically, Pardew was appointed Charlton manager the following month!
The signing of Mascherano and Tevez was investigated by the Premier League, who were concerned that details regarding the transfers had been omitted from official records. Also, whether or not the influence of MSI (led by Kia Joorabchian) breached Premier League rules regarding third party ownership of players (rules U.18 and B.13[3]) came into question. On April 27, 2007, West Ham were handed a record £5.5 million fine by the Premier League. The club did, however, avoid a points deduction. Liverpool's signing of Mascherano was investigated and he was cleared to play after a 2 week delay. The popular media touted the idea that Tevez's registration may have been terminated by the FA.[4]
Following on from this event, West Ham defeated relegation rivals Wigan Athletic 3-0 at the JJB Stadium and in doing so drew equal to them on points. Before the game Paul Jewell dropped hints to the popular press regarding comments made by third party Premiership officials suggesting they wanted West Ham to be defeated. In the wake of the defeat Wigan chairman Dave Whelan came out to the media with regards to pursuing a court case against either West Ham or the Premier League; "If we can sue West Ham or the Premier League, I am sure that will happen."[5] Subsequently other relegation threatened sides have similarly begun consultation with lawyers.
West Ham escaped relegation by winning seven of their last nine games and on the last day of the season beat Manchester United 1-0 while Wigan Athletic beat Sheffield United 2-1. Another achievement from this season is that West Ham are the first team in 30 years to do the double over Manchester United and Arsenal in the same season.
The original club crest was a crossed pair of rivet hammers; tools commonly used in the iron and shipbuilding industry. A castle was later (circa 1903/4) added to the crest and represents a prominent local building, Green Street House, which was known as "Boleyn Castle" through an association with Anne Boleyn. The manor was reportedly one of the sites at which Henry VIII courted his second queen, though in truth there is no factual evidence other than the tradition of rumour.[6]
The castle may have also been added as a result of the contribution made to the club by players of Old Castle Swifts, or even the adoption (in 1904) of Boleyn Castle FC[7] as their reserve side when they took over their grounds on the site.
The crest was redesigned and updated by London design agency Springett Associates in the late 1990s, featuring a wider yellow castle with fewer cruciform "windows" along with the peaked roofs being removed the tops of the towers that had previously made it appear more akin to Disneyland Sleeping Beauty's Castle than a functioning fortress. The designer also altered shape of the hammer heads, border and other small changes in order to give a more substantial feel to the iconography.
When the club redesigned the facade of the stadium (construction finished 2001/02) the 'castle' from the later badge was incorporated into the structure at the main entrance to the ground. A pair of towers are now prominent features of the grounds appearance, both bearing the clubs modern insignia (which is also located in the foyer, and other strategic locations).
The original colours of the team were dark blue, due to Thames Iron Works chairman Arnold Hills being a former student of Oxford University. However the team used a variety of kits including the claret and sky blue house colours of Thames Iron Works, as well as sky blue or white uniforms.[8][9]
The Irons permanently adopted claret and blue for home colours in the summer of 1899. Thames Ironworks right-half Charlie Dove received the kit from his father William Dove, who was a professional sprinter of national repute, as well as being involved with the coaching at Thames Ironworks. Bill Dove had been at a fair in Birmingham, close to Villa Park, the home ground of Aston Villa and was challenged to a race against four Villa players, who wagered money that one of them would win.
Bill Dove defeated them and, when they were unable to pay the bet, one of the Villa players who was responsible for washing the team's kit offered a complete side's 'uniforms' to Dove in payment. The Aston Villa player subsequently reported to his club that the kit was 'missing'.
Thames Ironworks, and later West Ham United, retained the claret yoke/blue sleeves design, but also continued to use their previously favoured colours for their away kits, and indeed, in recent years the club have committed to a dark blue-white-sky blue rotation for the away colours.
On 2 March 2007, West Ham announced their new kit supplier will be UMBRO for the next 3 seasons.[10]
The team's supporters are well known for their rendition of the chorus of their team's anthem, I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles introduced to the club by former manager Charlie Paynter in the late twenties. At the time a Pears soap commercial featuring the curly haired child in the Millais "Bubbles" painting who resembled a player Billy J. "Bubbles" Murray in a local schoolboy team of Park School for whom the headmaster Cornelius Beal coined singing the tune "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles" with amended lyrics.
Beal was a friend of Paynter, whilst Murray was a West Ham trialist and played football at schoolboy level with a number of West Ham players such as Jim Barrett. Through this contrivance of association the clubs fans took it upon themselves to begin singing the popular music hall tune before home games, sometimes reinforced by the presence of a house band requested to play the refrain by Charlie Paynter.[11]
There is a slight change to the lyrics sung by the Upton Park faithful. The second line's "nearly reach the sky" is changed to "they reach the sky", "Then like my dreams" is also changed to "And like my dreams". In addition the fans begin a chant of "United, United!" to cap it off.
The 1975 FA Cup version - which contains the original lyrics, and features vocals from the teams then current players - is always played before home games, with the home crowd joining in and carrying the song on after the music stops at the verse line "Fortune's always hiding". The song was originally released as a single by the 1975 Cup Final squad and has been covered on occasion by such as the Cockney Rejects.
Like other teams (such as Liverpool F.C.'s adoption of "Ferry Cross the Mersey" and "You'll Never Walk Alone") the team also have a history of adopting or adapting popular songs of the day to fit particular events, themes, players or personas. These have included serious renditions of theatre and movie classics such as "The Bells are Ringing", along with more pun laden or humorous efforts such as chanting D.I.Canio to the tune of Ottawans D.I.S.C.O. for former player Paolo Di Canio or singing That's Zamora to the tune of Dean Martins 1953 classic That's Amore in honour of Bobby Zamora.
On the fans' darker side, they gained national attention after giving a torrid time to David Beckham in the first league game of 1998-8 the season after the England midfielder was sent off for a petulant foul on Diego Simeone[12]. Fans, organised by a hardcore, hung an effigy of the player outside a local pub and boo'd the players every touch of the ball during the game.[13]
They have also displayed a particular zeal when it comes to abusing former players particularly those who are perceived to have abandoned the club, or performed some disservice. Famously Paul Ince ("Judas, Judas"[14]), Frank Lampard("Fat Lumpolard"[15]) and Jermain Defoe ("You're just a small Paul Ince"[16]) have bore the brunt of verbal assaults and a guaranteed hostile reception at Upton Park.
During the 1970s and 1980s (the main era for organised football-related violence) the hostilities continued as "firms" associated with the clubs continued to fight. West Ham gained some notoriety for the amount of hooliganism in their fan base; and for being supported by the most feared and dangerous firms alongside those for Chelsea and Millwall. The Inter City Firm was an infamous West Ham-aligned gang. As that firm's name suggests ("Inter City" being nationalised rail travel, the preferred method of travelling to away games) the firms' violent activities were not confined to local derbies - the hooligans were content to cause trouble at any game, though nearby teams bore the brunt of their venom.
During the 1990s, and to the present day, sophisticated surveillance and policing coupled with club supported promotions and community action has reduced the level of violence, though the intense rivalry and association with Millwall remains. The 2005 film Green Street depicts an American student who becomes involved with a fictional firm associated with West Ham, with an emphasis on the rivalry with Millwall. The two teams and their Chairmans moved to distance the clubs from the movie, refusing to allow the use of club badges or names and/or likeness (though it is obvious who it is meant to depict).
West Ham have strong rivalries with several other clubs. Most of these are with other London clubs, especially with their neighbours Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal and also with Chelsea, which sublimates the age-old East versus West London rivalry.
The strongest and oldest rivalry is with Millwall. The two sides are local rivals, both formed originally around works sides Thames Iron Works and Millwall Iron Works shipbuilding companies. They were both rivals for the same contracts, and the same men in the same locality. The early history of both clubs are intertwined, with West Ham initially coming out on top in a number of meetings between the two teams eventually resulting in West Ham bring promoted at the expense of Millwall. Millwall later turned down joining the fledgling Football League only to see West Ham go on to the top division and an FA Cup final. Later in the 1920s the rivalry was supposedly spiced up during strike action made by East End (perceived to be West Ham fans) that Isle Of Dogs based companies (i.e. Millwall fans) refused to support breeding ill will between the two camps.
The fans and club alike are known as "The Hammers" by the media, partly because of the club's origins as Thames Ironworks company football team (see club crest) and also (incorrectly) due to the clubs name. However, they are also known as "The Irons" by their own supporters (again, from the club's origins at the Thames Ironworks). They are also known as "The Cockney Boys" from their history of being a cockney team.
The first ever FA Cup final to be held at the old Wembley stadium, in 1923, featured West Ham United vs Bolton Wanderers. This was also known as the White Horse Final. This is because so many people turned up to the game, estimates 240,000, that they spilled out on to the pitch. The pitch had to be cleared prior to kick-off, by Billie, a giant white horse (actually grey) being ridden by P.C. George Scorey.
West Ham recently became the first club to beat Arsenal at their new Emirates Stadium, an interesting piece of trivia as West Ham were also the last club to beat Arsenal at their old Highbury Stadium. In fact, during the Premiership Season 2006-2007 West Ham did the 'double' over Arsenal taking a maximum six points from the two games played, (i.e. P2 W2 D0 L0 F2 A0).
There is a "Champions" statue in Barking Road, opposite The Boleyn pub, commemorating West Ham's three sons who helped win the 1966 World Cup: Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters. Also included on the statue is Everton's Ray Wilson.
In the popular English television soap opera EastEnders, the locals are most frequently played as West Ham United fans; references to the club often appear. Both the club and the soap are set in East London. Four current and former members of the cast of Eastenders are known to be supporters of West Ham:
The character Dean Thomas, from the Harry Potter books, written by J.K Rowling, is a West Ham United fan. Every year Dean pins a poster of the club up over his bed in the dormitory, though Ron thinks he's mental for doing so because the players in the poster don't move. [5]
Bass player in Heavy Metal band Iron Maiden, Steve Harris, is a devout West Ham supporter and even has his bass guitar painted with the West Ham logo.
Actress Keira Knightly is a self-confessed West Ham fan, claiming she attended games as a child.
Hollywood actor Elijah Wood is also a celebrity supporter, after his role in the West Ham-based film Green Street. Parts of the film were shot during a West Ham United v. Gillingham match from 2004, but Gillingham were supposed to be Birmingham City in the scene.
West Ham are currently based at the Boleyn Ground, commonly known as Upton Park, in Newham, East London. The capacity of the Boleyn Ground is 35,567. This has been West Ham's ground since 1904. Prior to this, in their previous incarnation of Thames Ironworks F.C., they played at Hermit Road in Canning Town and briefly at Browning Road in East Ham, before moving to the Memorial Grounds in Plaistow in 1897. They retained the stadium during their transition to becoming West Ham United and were there for a further four seasons before moving to the Boleyn Ground in 1904.
Current chairman Eggert Magnússon made clear his ambition for West Ham United to move to the Olympic Stadium after the 2012 Olympics. However, the move to the Olympic Stadium was abandoned when it was revealed that the stadium would have a reduced capacity from the current Boleyn Ground, and would have to remain primarily an athletics venue. [17].
As the move is no longer possible, Magnússon is eager to find another venue, and insists West Ham will preferably move from the Boleyn Ground in the future. [18]
The club promotes the popular idea of West Ham being "The Academy of Football", with the monicker adorning the ground's new stadium façade. The comment predominantly refers to the club's youth development system that has seen a number of international players emerge through the ranks. [19] Most notably the club contributed three players to the World Cup winning England side of 1966 including club icon Bobby Moore, as well as Martin Peters and Geoff Hurst who between them scored all of England's goals in the eventual 4-2 victory. Other academy players that have gone on to play for England have included Trevor Brooking, Alvin Martin, Tony Cottee and Paul Ince. More recently, Rio Ferdinand, Joe Cole, Michael Carrick, Glen Johnson, and Frank Lampard have begun their careers at the club. Frustratingly, for the fans and managers alike,[20] the club has struggled to retain many of these players due to (predominantly) financial[21] reasons. <br/> <br/> <br/>
As of 24th May 2007 See also Official West Ham United Team Page[9]
West Ham United was owned by Terry Brown until 2006, when Eggert Magnusson and an associated consortium bought the club, sacked manager Alan Pardew, and employed ex-Charlton Athletic Manager Alan Curbishley. In a bizarre twist of fate, the two managers met each other in a relgation battle where the Hammers lost 4-0 to their South East London rivals. Terry Brown was criticised by some sections of the fans (including pressure group Whistle specifically formed for this purpose) due to a perception of financial and staff mis-management.
In the 2003 book The Official West Ham United Dream Team, 500 fans were quizzed for who would be in their all time Hammers Eleven. The voting was restricted to players from the modern era.
See also
West Ham were members of the Premier League from 1993-2003, but dropped into the First Division due to relegation. The club returned to the top flight in 2005. Their best-ever top flight finish is 3rd, in the 1985-1986 season. Notably, the club have never managed a positive goal difference at the end of a Premier League season.
See also West Ham United F.C. by season
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