A Moment in Time - When West Ham won the Cup - 1980

The season was 1979-1980.  West Ham were sitting in Division Two (now known as The Championship).  They were relegated there in 1978.  Finishing 5^th in 1979, they were desperate to return to the top flight.

But this edition of A Moment in Time is not about their league performance that season, although it is relevant, as West Ham didn’t make promotion that season either.  But they did reach the FA Cup Final.

Cups had always had a special place in Hammers fans hearts.  They won the FA Cup in 1964 and European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1965 with three members of the England 1966 World Cup winning squad, Martin Peters, Geoff Hurst and Bobby Moore.  Then in 1975, they won the FA Cup again, and also reached the final of the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1976, but lost to Anderlecht.

West Ham’s two FA Cup triumphs had been a 3-2 win over Preston, after coming back from 1-2 down, Ronnie Boyce scoring the winner in the 90^th minute.  In 1975 they were up against Division Two side, Fulham, who contained Bobby Moore and Alan Mullery.  West Ham won 2-0 with Alan Taylor scoring both goals.

West Ham were managed by John Lyall. 

Lyall had been youth team coach from 1967 and moved up to the top job when he replaced Ron Greenwood in 1974.

After relegation from Division One, Lyall attempted to rebuild the side, spending £565,000 on Phil Parkes (QPR), a world record for a goalkeeper, and £430,000 on Ray Stewart (Dundee United), a British record for a teenager.

Squad

Goalkeeper

Phil Parkes (age 29) – Spent two years at Walsall, before he moved to QPR where he made his name.  Joined West Ham at the start of the 1979-80 season, when he became the most expensive goalkeeper in the world.

Defenders

Ray Stewart (age 20) – Began his career at Dundee United in 1976.  West Ham paid a record fee for a teenager when he joined at the start of the 1979-80 season.

Frank Lampard (age 31) – Joined West Ham as an apprentice in 1967.  Made over 500 appearances for The Hammers.  His son’s a footballer too.

Billy Bonds (age 33) – Club captain, joined West Ham in 1967 after a couple of years at Charlton.  Made over 650 appearances for the club.

Alvin Martin (age 21) – Joined as an apprentice in 1976, and made over 450 appearances before joining Leyton Orient in 1996.

Paul Brush (age 22) – Came through West Ham’s academy in 1977, and remained till 1985.

Midfield

Paul Allen (age 17) – Made his debut for the club in 1979.  Moved to Spurs in 1985 and played in two FA Cup Finals for them.  Cousin of both Clive and Bradley Allen.

Geoff Pike (age 23) – Joined the club in 1975 from Thurrock.  Made almost 300 appearances up to 1987.

Alan Devonshire (age 24) – Joined West Ham in 1976 from Southall.  Remained with the club up to 1990, when he’d made over 350 appearances.

Jimmy Neighbour  (age 29) – Began his career at Tottenham in 1966 and moved to Norwich in 1976.  Joined West Ham in 1979.

Trevor Brooking (age 31) – Joined as an apprentice in 1967.  A legend at the club, made over 525 appearances up to 1984.  Also gained 47 caps for England.

Pat Holland (age 29) – Joined West Ham as an apprentice in 1969.  A ‘one-club-man’, he made almost 250 appearances up to 1981.

Strikers

David Cross (age 29) – Began his career with Rochdale in 1969, before spending a couple of seasons at Norwich, Coventry and West Brom each.  Moved to West Ham in 1977.

Stuart Pearson (age 31) – Began his career with Hull City in 1968, before moving to Manchester United in 1974.  Won an FA Cup winners medal in 1977, before moving to West Ham in 1979.

Third Round

First opponents for West Ham were Division One side, West Brom, who were losing Semi-Finalists in 1978 and finished 3^rd in Division One in 1979.  But 1979-80 wasn’t quite proving to be the season Baggies fans had hoped and they were 6^th from bottom.  They were on a run of 1 win in their last 8 and had just been beaten 0-4 at Ipswich.  That sort of form was ripe for an upset, and so it proved.  West Ham were lying 8^th in the Second Division, having just beaten Leyton Orient, 4-0.  Former Man Utd striker, Stuart Pearson, gave the Hammers a first half lead but then Cyrille Regis grabbed an equaliser and the tie needed a replay.  Three days later, the two met at Upton Park and after a goalless first half, Geoff Pike turned in Brooking’s cross for the opening goal.  West Brom pressed for an equaliser but then West Ham hit them on the break as a great run from Alan Devonshire, all the way from box-to-box, saw him cross for Brooking to fire it in.  Tony Brown headed in a late consolation goal, but West Ham had pulled off a shock result.

5^th January 1980, The Hawthorns, 20,572

West Brom   (0)   1   (Regis)

West Ham   (1)   1   (Pearson)

WEST BROM: Godden; Batson, Robertson, Wile, Statham; Brown A, Trewick, Owen; Deehan, Regis, Barnes

WEST HAM: Parkes; Stewart, Bonds, Martin, Lampard; Neighbour, Allen, Pike, Brooking; Pearson, Devonshire

Replay

8^th January 1980, Upton Park, 30,689

West Ham   (0)   2   (Pike, Brooking)

West Brom   (0)   1   (Brown T)

WEST HAM: Parkes; Stewart, Brush, Martin, Lampard; Neighbour, Allen, Pike, Brooking; Pearson, Devonshire

WEST BROM: Godden; Batson, Robertson, Wile, Statham; Neighbour, Allen, Pike, Brooking; Pearson, Devonshire

The 3^rd Round, saw two of the giant-killing results of cup history as non-league, Harlow Town, beat Leicester City, including Gary Lineker and Alan Smith, after  a replay.  Leicester would go onto win Division Two that year.  Then, Halifax (Div 4) beat Manchester City (Div 1) against a City side which included two of the most expensive players in English football at the time, Michael Robinson and Steve Daley.  City had spent big, but not wisely, that season and that result spelt the end for manager, Malcolm Allison.  Chelsea (Div 2) were beaten at home by Wigan (Div 4).  Holders, Arsenal were taken to a replay by Division Two, Cardiff City, before winning at Highbury.

Fourth Round

Next up for The Hammers, was Leyton Orient, who were in the bottom half of Division Two.  Orient were captained by former Hammer, Tommy Taylor, and also included Billy Jennings, both of whom were in the team which won the cup in 1975.  West Ham had beaten Orient, 4-0 in the League, just before the Third Round where both sides went through after replays, with Orient only just getting past non-league Altrincham.  West Ham Billy Bonds conceded a penalty in the first half and Tommy Taylor stepped up to take it.  He beat Parkes and Orient took the lead.  West Ham were level when Nigel Gray headed past his own goalkeeper, and then Ray Stewart converted a penalty to give the visitors the lead at the break.  John Chiedozie then levelled late in the game, before Stewart grabbed his 2^nd of the game inside the final 10 minutes, and West Ham were through.

26^th January 1980, Brisbane Road, 21,521

Leyton Orient   (1)   2   (Taylor pen, Chiedozie)

West Ham   (2)   3   (Gray og, Stewart 2 (1 a pen))

LEYTON ORIENT: Rafter; Fisher, Taylor, Gray, Roffey; Hughton, Moores, Coates; Chiedozie, Jennings, Margerrison

WEST HAM: Parkes; Brush, Bonds, Martin, Lampard; Neighbour, Allen, Stewart, Pike; Pearson, Devonshire

Harlow Town’s dream cup run came to an end when they went down 3-4 to near neighbours, Watford.  Swindon Town took Tottenham to a replay before losing at White Hart Lane, and a similar fate was suffered by Cambridge United against Aston Villa.

Fifth Round

Another Division Two opponent was next up for West Ham.  Swansea City were the visitors to Upton Park as West Ham were at last drawn at home in the cup this season.  Swansea, including ex-Liverpool players, John Toshack and Ian Callaghan, had seen off First Division Crystal Palace and Reading, who were then in the Third Division.  The game looked to be heading for a replay when 5 minutes from the end, Paul Allen and David Cross scored within 60 seconds of each other, and The Hammers marched on.

16^th February 1980, Upton Park, 30,497

West Ham   (0)   2   (Allen, Cross)

Swansea   (0)   0

WEST HAM: Parkes; Stewart, Brush, Martin, Lampard; Neighbour, Pike, Brooking, Devonshire; Cross, Pearson (Allen)

SWANSEA: Letheran; Robinson,

There were no real surprises, other than Watford (Division 2) went to Wolves (Div 1) and beat them easily, 3-0.  Liverpool, Everton and Ipswich all went through without too much trouble, but Arsenal and Aston Villa both needed replays to progress.

Sixth Round

After two Second Division opponents, West Ham were back to Division One for their Quarter-Final challenge.  Aston Villa were 5^th in Division One, and on a run of just 1 defeat in their last 8 in the League.  They were confident of seeing off another opponent from Division Two, having already knocked out Bristol Rovers and Cambridge United and then in the Fifth Round they put out Third Division Blackburn Rovers in a replay.  Villa had gone out at the Third Round stage for the previous two seasons and hadn’t reached the Semis since 1960.

A typically combative cup tie was goalless right up to the final minutes.  The tension was palpable when Villa defender Ken McNaught was adjudged to have handled the ball and West Ham were awarded a penalty.  Whilst some of his teammates couldn’t watch, Ray Stewart coolly stepped up and slotted it home, for a dramatic win.

8^th March 1980, Upton Park, 36,393

West Ham   (0)   1   (Stewart pen)

Aston Villa   (0)   0

WEST HAM: Parkes; Stewart, Brush, Martin, Lampard; Allen, Pike, Brooking, Devonshire; Cross, Pearson

ASTON VILLA: Rimmer; Linton, Ormsby, McNaught, Gibson; Bremner, Mortimer, Cowans, Bullivant; Donovan, Little

All four matches were separated by just 1 goal, as Arsenal won 2-1 at Watford, Everton beat Ipswich, 2-1 and Liverpool beat Tottenham, thanks to a great goal from Terry McDermott

Semi-Final

With three First Division sides in the draw, West Ham were going to have a tough tie whoever they met.  Although, Everton were 4^th from bottom and represented possibly an easier task than either Liverpool or Arsenal, who were both in the top 4.  Everton had put out lower league opposition in Aldershot, Wigan and Wrexham, scoring 12 goals.  Then they beat Ipswich in an exciting Sixth Round tie.  West Ham’s form since the Sixth Round was awful as they’d picked up just 3pts from 7 matches.

The first game at Villa Park, was quite open, as both sides created good chances.  The game was a feisty affair with two ex-Man Utd players getting the goals.  Brian Kidd converted a hotly disputed penalty for Everton, and then Stuart Pearson equalised for West Ham.  Kidd was later sent-off, for the 2^nd time in the Cup that season.  Paul Allen had a goal ruled out for offside and so the tie went to a replay.

The replay was the following Wednesday, at Elland Road.  This game was no less competitive or dramatic.  The game was goalless for 90 minutes, but early in extra time Alan Devonshire scored a fine goal to give West Ham the lead.  With 7 minutes to go and Everton equalised through Bob Latchford.  The game looked to be heading for another replay before West Ham threw men forward and Frank Lampard found himself in the right place to head an unlikely winner.  His goal celebration involving dancing round the corner flag was the stuff of legend.

12^th April 1980, Villa Park, 47,685

West Ham   (0)   1   (Pearson)

Everton   (0)   1   (Kidd pen)

WEST HAM: Parkes; Stewart, Bonds, Martin, Brush; Allen, Holland, Brooking, Devonshire; Cross, Pearson (Pike)

EVERTON: Hodge; Gidman, Wright, Lyons, Bailey; King, Megson (Latchford), Hartford, Ross; Eastoe, Kidd

Semi-Final Replay

16^th April 1980, Elland Road, 40,720

Everton   (0)   1   (Latchford)

West Ham   (0)   2   (Devonshire, Lampard)

WEST HAM: Parkes; Stewart, Brush, Bonds, Lampard; Allen, Pike, Brooking, Devonshire; Cross, Pearson

EVERTON: Hodge; Gidman, Wright, Lyons, Bailey;

The other Semi-Final was another really tight match-upbetween Liverpool and Arsenal.  Liverpool, the reigning League Champions, and top of the league again that season, and Arsenal, the cup holders.  The first game, at Hillsborough ended 0-0.  The replay at Villa Park ended 1-1.  No penalty shootouts in those days, so a 2^nd Replay occurred at Villa Park, two weeks later, but that also ended level, 1-1, as Kenny Dalglish scored a dramatic equaliser in injury time.  Arsenal finally saw off Liverpool as Brian Talbot got the only goal of the game at Highfield Road, just 9 days before the final.

FA Cup Final

10^th May 1980

Wembley

West Ham were the 4^th club in 8 years, from outside the top division to reach the FA Cup Final.  Sunderland had beaten Leeds in 1973, Fulham had lost to West Ham in 1975 and Southampton had beaten Man Utd in 1976. 

Arsenal were appearing in their 3^rd consecutive final.  They lost to Ipswich in 1978, and beat Man Utd in a dramatic finish in 1979.

Arsenal were full of internationals, and mainly Irish ones.  Liam Brady, Frank Stapleton, David O’Leary and John Devine for Republic of Ireland.  Pat Jennings, Pat Rice and Sammy Nelson for Northern Ireland.  Not to mention, Willie Young (Scotland) and Graham Rix and Brian Talbot (England).  They had a deadly strike partnership in Stapleton and Alan Sunderland.

But West Ham had stars of their own.  Billy Bonds, Trevor Brooking and Frank Lampard were remaining from the 1975 Cup triumph.  Stuart Pearson had won the Cup with Man Utd in 1977.

The game was anything other than a classic (although Hammers fans would remember it forever), Arsenal were traditionally a defensive minded side.  12 minutes in and Alan Devonshire found some space down the left.  His cross fell to David Cross, whose shot hit Willie Young and bounced to Stuart Pearson, on the right of the 6-yard area.  Trevor Brooking, by now, had ghosted into the 6-yard box.  Pearson shot across the goal and Brooking got his head to it, and it went in.  A great start for the underdogs, and just what the game needed as Arsenal now had to make the running.

Arsenal had the better of the chances, but were unable to beat Phil Parkes in the West Ham goal.  As the game went on, it just had that look of not being Arsenal’s day, as West Ham were able to repel anything the Gunners threw at them.  With minutes to go, Paul Allen broke clear of the Arsenal defence and was one-on-one with Pat Jennings, but just as he reached the “D”, Willie Young cruelly tripped him from behind and the chance had gone.

Paul Allen, 17 years old, was the youngest player to have played in a cup final at that stage.  Young only received a yellow card, as the tackle from behind had not been outlawed then.  Mums everywhere immediately took the baby-faced Allen, to their hearts.

West Ham had beaten Arsenal, and they remain the last club from outside the top division, to have lifted the FA Cup.

10^th May 1980, Wembley Stadium, 100,000

West Ham   (1)   1   (Brooking)

Arsenal   (0)   0

WEST HAM: Parkes; Stewart, Bonds, Martin, Lampard; Allen, Pike, Brooking, Devonshire; Cross, Pearson

ARSENAL: Jennings; Rice, Young, O’Leary, Devine (Nelson); Price, Talbot, Brady, Rix; Sunderland, Stapleton

Despite the disappointment of not doing better in the League, West Ham also reached the Quarter-Finals of the League Cup, losing to eventual runners-up, Nottingham Forest, in a replay.

The following season, they won the Second Division by 13pts.  They reached the final of the League Cup and lost to Liverpool in a replay.  They also reached the Quarter-Finals of both the FA Cup and the Cup Winners Cup.

Is It Time to Give Referees a Voice?

After the weekend’s fixtures, and particularly the game on Sunday at The Britannia Stadium where Stoke beat Swansea, referees again came in for criticism for their performance.

Swansea manager, Gary Monk, was extremely severe in his condemnation of Michael Oliver’s officiating in the game.  Monk was incensed by Oliver’s decision to give Stoke a penalty after Victor Moses appeared to ‘go down a bit too easily’ in the area under challenge from Swansea defender Angel Rangel.  Rangel definitely made contact but it seemed far too soft to be able to force the 11st 8lbs striker to the ground.  Monk called Moses ‘a cheat’ and believed the decision was the sole reason Swansea lost the game.  The incident occurred in the 43^rd minute and given there were 6 minutes of injury time in both halves, there were a further 53 minutes of the game to go. 

BBC pundit, Danny Mills, accused Oliver of ‘cheating’.  He wasn’t silly enough to use the actual word, but he claimed Oliver had clearly given the penalty to ‘even things up from getting an earlier decision wrong when he gave Swansea a penalty’.  He argued that ‘refs won’t admit it, but we all know they give decisions to make up for earlier errors’.  He didn’t like the Swansea penalty decision, which was given against Ryan Shawcross for holding Bony at a corner, because if you’re going to give that then you’ll give about six or seven penalties each game.   Personally, it’s still remains a mystery how so many referees will stop the game every time players bump into each other anywhere else on the pitch, yet go surprisingly blind when there’s pulling and holding at set pieces.

Consider the offence Crystal Palace’s Damian Delaney was sent-off for, when he grabbed Remy after the striker had turned and got past him.  Delaney received a yellow card, his second and subsequently a red, yet one wonders if he’d made that challenge in the area at a corner he may have got away with it.

Press Conference

Anyway, this article is not to debate these decisions but to suggest referees are now so out in the cold when debates occur that this may be doing them more harm than good.

How about a referee’s press conference before a match where they can give their views on how they intend to officiate the game.  As far as we understand, refs often go into dressing rooms before the match to let the players know what’s expected of them.  Then after the game each referee has an opportunity to give their view on the game and why they made certain decisions.

At the moment every manager knows they can simply blame the referee for his team losing.  Monk, for example, conveniently ignored the fact Peter Crouch had his shirt pulled in the area stopping him heading a cross.  The incident was worthy of a penalty yet all officials missed it.  Monk also conveniently ignored the chances his players missed.

We seem to have settled into a position of accepting a manager cannot, or should not, criticise a player after the match.  Therefore, their only alternative to portioning blame is to single out the referee.  This cannot be good for the profession and must make it difficult for him and his family for the coming week.

Of course, we may well find the referees’ defence is simply “that’s the way I saw it” as many clever journalists point to having seen the incident several times from different angles and deduce the official did, in fact, get it wrong.  If you’ve read some of my stuff in the past you should find this a particular angst of mine in many sports as pundits can often wait until they’ve seen a replay before declaring the referee/umpire has got a decision wrong, despite the fact the pundit didn’t give us his decision before the replay.

If we are to accept no use of technology for checking decisions then we have to accept the ‘referee’s decision is final’, yet football, especially, seems to revel in the constant barracking of officials from players, managers and fans.  Maybe this is an example of the breakdown of respect for authority in this country as nearly every profession is criticised these days for being self-serving, inept and/or biased.

Personally, I don’t buy this “the referee changed the game” as there are 11 players on each side who can change a game.  If all 11 players are going to react to any decision with “there’s no way we can win now” then they really need to have a look at their attitude.  That’s the sort of reaction people watching have.  Most of us never made it as footballers due to our lack of desire to win no matter what, and so we have every right to believe those who have made it to the highest levels of their profession have an inner drive which spurs them to overcome anything put in front of them. 

It Takes a Second to Score a Goal

Now I fully appreciate going  a goal down gives your opponents the advantage of being able to close out the game, making it very difficult to break them down, but surely you have the belief a goal is not very far away.  We see late goals all the time in the Premier League, especially if you’re watching Liverpool at the moment, and often when the 4^th Official’s board goes up for time added on, there is a rejuvenated air around the ground that something could happen.  So you’re rarely out of a game if you’re only a goal down.  Which means to blame a large part of a match on a decision which didn’t go your way is just poor.

It’s become too easy to blame the referee as he never has a right of reply.  He has become inanimate and therefore you are blaming the title rather than the man.  But if that man had a presence and was due to give his view after the managers’ maybe they wouldn’t be quite so quick to pass the buck.  Perhaps we would hear a referee question a manager’s tactics or suggest he look at his own players before criticising the performance of others.  It’s debatable whether that gets us further than where we are, and I feel many fans calling for the referee to “explain himself” are hoping for a bit of a bun fight where they can ‘grill’ the guy and hope he someone caves in and demands the authorities reverse his decision.  You could argue without having the referees point of view there is simply debate about what he was, or wasn’t thinking.  Whereas having the actual version allows people the opportunity to ridicule and rip apart his words.  In today’s social media world with a record of who said what, it is perfectly possible for a referee’s words to be used against him when he claims to have given a decision one way for one reason and then another way for a different one.

Influence

What we do have with all the talk following matches is an increasing lack of understanding of the official’s job.  So many pundits are ex-players and often they are as exasperated with a game as they were when they were playing.  For example, both Danny Mills and John Hartson accused Oliver of being “influenced into making a decision by the crowd”.  Now he wouldn’t be the first referee to have been affected by the vociferous support at The Britannia, yet whether this influenced him into making a decision he might not have made otherwise is not certain and only he will know.  The irony of both Mills and Hartson complaining of a referee being influenced by outside intervention is certainly not lost on this author.  Both were players always in the ear of the referee and the only reason they were doing that was to influence him to give things their way.  It goes on, no one should be under any illusion it doesn’t, as it goes on in every other sport.  To then accuse the referee to the extent you’re saying he’s soft, is crass.  He’s human and has one view of an incident which is often happening at a furious pace.

Umpire Strikes Back

One other factor around giving the referee more of a profile is they become more human and therefore easier to understand why and how they make certain decisions.  Some people may worry about referees becoming celebrities but they’re more recognised than they have ever been so this is probably inevitable.  But maybe it’s time for the “umpire strikes back” and perhaps we can get a fairer view of a match from managers than simply to blame one man.  If I had my way we would get rid of the post-match interview.  It delivers nothing other than an adrenalin-fuelled view of something you have just watched.  How often have you come away from a match fuming at what’s gone on, and then with the benefit of calming down and thinking things through you have been able to see things in a better light?  Better still, next morning you are certainly able to view things on a more even keel.  But the TV companies will not sanction this.  The move is for more immediate reaction throughout sport as athletes are interviewed almost as soon as they cross the finish line, and even tennis players are asked for their opinions when they have barely finished signing the balls.

In my view this change would alter the direction we have been going in with regards managers and pundits opinions and would certainly give referees more of an opportunity to back up their decisions.  You never know, some players and fans may get to understand the rules of the game better too.

Whatever else happens, you should never call an official a cheat unless you have very good reason and evidence to back it up.  These guys train for years and years and are under a tremendous amount of scrutiny each and every day.  This trickles down the leagues to grassroots level where every touchline ‘Shearer’ thinks they can question every decision made by “the man in black” purely on the basis he’s heard plenty of others doing it.

FA Won’t Allow

Despite the fact referees are harangued more than ever before, The FA appear unconcerned.  Their stance is to allow referees to give their reasons for decisions they’ve given could prejudice any appeal against dismissals.  Perhaps the concern is if a referee admits he may have got things slightly wrong this could result in clubs demanding cards are rescinded.  Which brings us back to ‘what does this add?’  Well it probably doesn’t add anything but neither does the post-match interview, other than TV companies praying for another Keegan/Atkinson/Dalglish moment.  Yesterday, Gary Monk gave the TV companies another moment for their festive ‘when managers lose it’ DVD.  I just feel a little sorry the referee isn’t able to put his side across and defend himself.