The Battle Of Upton Park

The battle of Upton Park 25/10/1975  

Top of the table clash for the teams and for the fans, Man Utd had just been promoted back to the 1st Division after a season down in the 2nd. During their season in the 2nd Division the Manchester United fans had got a reputation for causing trouble, although hooliganism was becoming pretty common all round, the United fans were getting the most publicity.
By October 1975 both West Ham and Man Utd were having good seasons but both's fans had been making a name for themselves so it was inevitable something would kick off. 

The game itself ended 2-1 to the Hammers sending them top, but the press had other things to report on.

The 1975/76 was an odd season for West Ham, they hit the top spot several times and remained top 6 until mid February, but I guess this was the season where the old joke about West Ham "coming down with the Christmas lights" came about.

The European Cup Winners Cup was a distraction with 2 of the best performances ever coming against Den Haag and Eintracht Franfurt in the Quarter and Semi Final before the 4-2 defeat in the Final.
But the league form post Christmas was abysmal with just one win against QPR in January and a record of W 1, D 6, L 15, with only the early season form keeping us up.

Here's some newspaper cuttings of the day.

 

F.A Cup Final 1975

A collection of newspaper cuttings from the day of the 1975 F.A Cup Final between West Ham and Fulham.

West Ham won 2-0 with 2 goals from Alan Taylor.

West Ham Team

Fulham Team

Teams and TV schedule

Fulham Info

West Ham Info

 

Brian Moore getting ready for the 1975 Cup final. Shows how times have changed, as guests for the special Cup Final day TV shows included Gary Glitter, Freddie Starr and Alf Garnett.

Spending 30,000 pennies at the 1975 FA Cup Final

Something I put together 14 years ago

F.A Cup Semi Final 1975

FA Cup Semi Finals 1975

Both games ended in draws so replays were needed

West Ham V Ipswich at Villa Park 0-0
Replay at Stamford Bridge - West Ham 2-1

Fulham V Birmingham at Hillsborough 1-1
Replay at Maine Road - Fulham 1-0 (AET)

Didn't got to many games that season as I was still at school and didn't have much money.
Luckily my uncle was Kevin Lock's butcher and managed to blag some free tickets for this one ... what a night 😀

 

Grimsby Town

Grimsby Town 

Team photo from 1956, and a bubble gum card from 1957. 

Allenby Chilton was player manager, previously a Cup winner with Man Utd

He also served during WW2 and was injured during the D-Day landings in 1944

String Vests

String Vests, as worn by the Tottenham Hotspur football team.
Also suitable for climbing Everest and fighting in Korea 😀

Bobby Ferguson

Bobby Ferguson, West Ham keeper from 1967 to 1980, signed from Kilmarnock for a then World record fee for a keeper of £65,000

First choice for several years but later lost his place to Peter Grotier, Mervyn Day and Phil Parkes, did represent Scotland for 7 games.

I do remember he had a huge kick, and was able to reach the opposite penalty area. 

Here's an article on some of his injuries, famously carried off in the 1972 League Cup Semi Final replay to be replaced by Bobby Moore, also took a bad kick in the head against Leeds.

Super Scots

6 Super Scots

John Fallon (Celtic), Arthur Duncan (Partick, Hibs, Scotland), Ron McKinnon (Rangers, Scotland), Roy Barry (Dunfermline, Hibs, Coventry, Crystal Palace), Stan Rankin (Morton), Doug Smith (Dundee Utd).

McKinnon and Duncan were full internationals, as far as I know Roy Barry was the only one who played in England during his career.

Future Football

The future of Football as predicted in 1973

By 1988 there would only be 24 English teams playing in domed stadiums, most teams had folded or amalgamated, not sure how Arsenal and Tottenham fans would cope cheering on the Arsenal Hotspur?

A few things ring true though, massive salaries, saturation sponsorship and wall to wall TV coverage.

Luckily the rest hasn't happened "yet".

1960 FA Cup Final

The 1960 FA Cup Final

Wolves beat Blackburn 3-0 with 2 goals from Norman Deeley and a McGrath own goal. 

Defining moment was possibly when former Wigan chairman Dave Whelan was carried off with a broken leg late in the 1st half after a tackle with Deeley, Wolves were leading 1-0 at the time but in those days there were no substitutes.

Random fact Wolves legend Derek Dougan was playing for Blackburn that day.

 

West Ham V Liverpool 1978

Saturday April 29th 1978, One of my worst days in football 😢

West Ham needed to win against Liverpool to stay up. 

Train broke down on the way so had to wait for replacement bus service, so didn't get to the ground till 10 to 3, all the gates in the North bank and West side were all shut.

Went round the back to the East side and asked some bloke who turned out to be a Liverpool fan if anywhere was still open? he gave me some abuse and punched me in the face!!

I was a kid so I just walked off with a cut lip, tried everywhere else but still didn't get in.

We lost 2-0

 

Southend V Dagenham 1970

F.A Cup 2nd Round, 12th December 1970

Southend V Dagenham

Southend won 1-0 in front of a 10,900 crowd, thanks to a Billy Best goal.

 

 

Gate Receipts

F.A Cup Quarter Finals 1958 

Good crowds at that time, but the gate receipts are something else 😆

58,250 at the Hawthorns raising £8,050 (that's about 14p per person), Fulham 11p, Blackburn 15p and Bolton really expensive at 24p per person.