West Ham United

The club was founded in 1895 as the works side Thames Ironworks F.C. by Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Co. Ltd company chairman Arnold Hills and foreman Dave Taylor. "The Irons" joined the London League in 1896 winning it in the 1897-98 season. They turned professional upon entering the Southern League Second Division in 1898, which they won at the first attempt. When the club became a limited company in 1900 the club name was changed to West Ham United F.C..

The club moved to the Memorial Ground in Plaistow in 1900 and then to a pitch in the Upton Park area, originally named The Castle for the 1905-06 season. The original gates to the ground, with the original Hammers crest (now painted in claret and blue, can be seen in Grange Road, London, E13. They joined the Football League in 1919 and were first promoted to the top division in 1923. They have won the FA Cup three times: in 1963-64, 1974-75 and 1979-80. In 2002-2003, after a poor campaign in which it took them nearly six months to win their first home match, they were relegated from the Premiership. The following season they reached the play-off final but were defeated by Crystal Palace. At the end of the 2004-05 season, which saw huge pressure placed on manager Alan Pardew by the team's supporters, West Ham managed to finish sixth in the Championship, securing a play-off place for the second successive season. After a 2-2 draw at Upton Park, West Ham went on to beat Ipswich (who had finished 3rd, 12 points ahead of West Ham) 2-0 at their homeground of Portman Road, thereby qualifying for the playoff final. The Hammers went on to win the promotion final 1-0 over Preston North End to secure a return to the Premiership.
West Ham United first established themselves in 1964, when manager Ron Greenwood guided the club to their first major trophy in the shape of an FA Cup final victory over Preston North End. Their captain, Bobby Moore, would skipper the England team to World Cup success in 1966, while striker Geoff Hurst scored a hat-trick in the final against West Germany. (The other goal in the 4-2 victory was scored by Martin Peters, also a Hammer). The success of 1964 was repeated a year later, this time with a European Cup Winners Cup triumph over 1860 Munich at Wembley. Greenwood guided West Ham to another FA Cup success in 1975, this time against Fulham, before being promoted to the position of general manager - a role which he occupied for two years before beginning a five-year reign as England manager.

Ron Greenwood was succeeded as team manager by John Lyall, who guided West Ham to another Cup Winners Cup final in his first season in charge (1975-76). But this time West Ham were on the losing side, and were relegated to the Second Division soon afterwards. In 1980, while still a Second Division side, Lyall inspired West Ham to an FA Cup victory over Arsenal - a feat which no side outside the top division has achieved since. It is also West Ham's most recent major trophy. In 1981, West Ham finished runners-up in the League Cup. Between 1982 and 1985 West Ham achieved three consecutive top ten finishes. Lyall helped them achieve their highest league finish of third in 1986, but was sacked three years later as they suffered relegation to the Second Division.

Lyall was replaced by Lou Macari for the 1989-90 season, but Macari resigned after just one season as manager to concentrate on clearing his name in connection with financial irregularities at his previous club Swindon Town. The next manager to occupy the hot seat at West Ham was Billy Bonds, whose first season at the helm (1990-91) ended with runners-up spot in the Second Division and a place back in the top division. But West Ham struggled throughout the 1991-92 season and were relegated in bottom place, missing the first season of the new Premier League.

West Ham regained their top flight status at the first attempt, finishing Division One runners-up in 1992-93 and securing promotion to the Premiership. They survived relegation by a comfortable margin in 1993-94, but Bonds walked out on the club the following summer to be succeeded by Harry Redknapp.
One of Harry Redknapp's first actions as West Ham manager was to re-sign striker Tony Cottee from Everton. He also signed Liverpool's Don Hutchison and Julian Dicks, as well as re-signing striker Iain Dowie from Southampton. West Ham avoided relegation again in 1994-95 and played their part in the final-day drama of the season, holding Manchester United to a 1-1 draw at Upton Park and denying them a third successive Premiership title. West Ham progressed to 10th place in 1995-96. That summer Redknapp made two of the least productive signings in the club's history - Romanian striker Florin Răducioiu and Portuguese winger Paulo Futre. Răducioiu left after six months at the club and returned to Romania after falling out with the manager, while Futre played just one first-team game before being beaten by a long-term knee injury and announcing his retirement. But Redknapp's remaining players pulled together and achieved Premiership survival, bolstered by the £3.3million acquisition of 21-year-old striker John Hartson from Arsenal in March. But let's not forget he would then go on to sign Paulo Di Cano in Jan 1999 and despite his well chronicled difficulties, he became a firm favourite and scored the goal of the season in 2000.

Harry Redknapp, West Ham United manager, 1993 - 2001.West Ham progressed further in 1997-98, finishing eighth in the Premiership and missing European qualification by just one place - they were in the hunt for a UEFA Cup place right up to the last day of the season. They progressed further in 1998-99, finishing fifth in the Premiership and thus becoming eligible to play in the Intertoto Cup; the thrilling victory over Metz in the two-legged final earned the Hammers a place in the UEFA Cup - ending an absence of almost 20 years from European competition.

A 10th place finish followed in 1999-2000, but West Ham's form slipped in 2000-01 after the (then) record English fee of £18million which saw brilliant central defender Rio Ferdinand move to Leeds United. A succession of bizarre signings followed, including notable failures such as Rigobert Song, Titi Camara, Ragnvald Soma, Hayden Foxe and Svetoslav Todorov. This saw West Ham finish 15th in the final table, their lowest-ever finish in the history of the Premiership, clocking up only 42 points, which West Ham were relegated with two seasons later under a different manager.

Redknapp requested that a warchest of £12m to get the club back into the top six, with a sizeable fee of his requested budget wanting to go towards bringing in Paris Saint-Germain left-winger Laurent Robert, a client of football agent, and close Harry Redknapp associate, Willie McKay.

Slanderous comments followed in direction of the West Ham board as Redknapp gave an interview in the unofficial West Ham fanzine Over Land and Sea, focusing his tirade on the lack of funding. The outburst caused so much friction which made his position as manager untenable, and Redknapp was sacked before the end of the season.

Several big names were linked with the vacant manager's job. Former West Ham player Alan Curbishley, who had rebuilt Charlton Athletic on and off the field since becoming their manager in 1991, instantly became favourite for the job but insisted he wasn't interested. Steve McClaren, who had been assistant manager of Manchester United in three successive title-winning seasons (including the 1999 treble campaign), was also linked with the job, but he was then appointed manager of Middlesbrough. So West Ham turned to highly respected youth team manager Glenn Roeder to fill the role. People doubted Roeder's suitability for the job, as his only managerial exploits had been short-lived and perceived to be unsuccessful with Gillingham (1992-93) and Watford (1993-96) a viewpoint not shared by Glenn himself who had dealt with difficulties both on the pitch and off it at both teams (soon to be repeated). West Ham had a slow start to the 2001-02 season, hampered by injuries to key players (new signing David James injured before he even made an appearance whilst on International duty, Frederic Kanoute, Michael Carrick and Paolo Di Canio nursing groin and knee problems) and the need for clearing out some of the dead wood from the previous term. The board made money available for strengthening the squad and Glenn acquired respected Czech International defender Tomáš Řepka from ACF Fiorentina, and Don Hutchison for his second term with the Hammers. However Glenn Roeder was soon under immense pressure from fans who were calling for him to be sacked, especially after witnessing back to back maulings at the hands of Everton (5-0) and Blackburn (7-1). He responded by turning the club's fortunes around and guiding them to a seventh-place finish in the final table, just one place short of European qualification - although there was a 12-point gap between West Ham and sixth-placed Chelsea. Had West Ham been more consistent over the season, then UEFA Cup or even Champions League qualification could have been achieved.

The summer of 2002-03 did not bode well for the season ahead. Despite a glaring need for squad reinforcements, the only positive transfer activity involved Irish international Gary Breen signing on a free transfer (he was to be later to be reviled as one of the poorest players ever to wear the West Ham shirt). Out the door went a number of experienced pro's such as Paul Kitson, a hatful of youth players and a number of fringe element. Another (now traditional) poor start plagued West Ham United through to 2002-03, and this time Roeder was unable to turn things round quickly enough. The loss of Kanoute for nearly 1/3rd of the season, and Di Canio at the exact same period resulted in the teenage Jermain Defoe leading the line on his own. The loss of form of key players such as Trevor Sinclair, 01/02 Hammer of the Year Sebastian Schemmel, Michael Carrick (still nursing a groin problem), plus the absence of a dependable left back, left midfielder or suitable reserves to call upon merely exacerbated a difficult situation. The Hammers failed to win a single home game until January and suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of Manchester United in the FA Cup. The much maligned Gary Breen was pointedly at fault for a number of errors, but his play was under no circumstances helped by the lack of any cohesive team. During the transfer window the club acquired Les Ferdinand and Rufus Brevett, and more importantly got Di Canio and Kanoute both back on the pitch and off the treatment table. The clubs form improved tremendously and began to claw their way up towards safety. In April Glenn collapsed in his office and was diagnosed with having a brain tumour. He was immediately given a leave of absence and 1980 FA Cup final hero Trevor Brooking took over for the final 3 games of the Premiership season, but despite an upturn in the teams form (winning 2 and drawing only 1) they were unable to overhaul Bolton Wanderers and finished 18th in the final table, 2pts short (West Ham drew early in the season and then lost against Bolton during the run in, a draw against Bolton in their second match would have been sufficient to see West Ham survive). Their 10-year spell in the Premiership was over.