West Ham Colts 1959

Probably the oldest West Ham programme I own is this one from the 1958/9 season, this was the Quarter final replay against Aston Villa which they won 3-2.

 

In the Semi-final they beat Arsenal 2-1 on aggregate after drawing the home leg 1-1 they won the away leg 1-0.
The FA Youth cup final saw them take on Blackburn, again they drew the home leg 1-1 but they narrowly lost 1-0 in the second leg to a disputed goal in extra time.

The line up is interesting as Bobby Moore and Geoff Hurst went on to become England internationals and achieve world fame in 1966.
Eddie Bovington, Jack Burkett and Tony Scott had long careers at Upton Park and Harry Cripps went on to become a legend at Millwall after failing to play a league game for West Ham.

The squad had a very successful season as well as making this final they won the Southern junior floodit cup with a 1-0 win over Chelsea, and also beat an England youth XI by 8-1.