West Ham are in their first European final for 47 years. Back in 1976 I was a 16-year-old on a rainy night at Upton Park watching the Irons beat Eintracht Frankfurt 3-1 to reach the European Cup Winners’ Cup final. For the winning goal Trevor Brooking threw a dummy that sent a defender halfway down the Barking Road.
We lost the final 4-2 to Anderlecht, but it didn’t matter too much. I saw West Ham win the FA Cup at Wembley in 1975 and again in 1980. The Hammers reached the League Cup final in 1981. Surely finals would come round every few years? But then came the 43 years of hurt since we last won a trophy.
Every supporter believes their team has a monopoly of misery. But like Roy Batty in Blade Runner, I’ve seen things you wouldn’t believe. West Ham had their best-ever finish of third in 1986 but didn’t get into Europe because of the post-Heysel ban. We were relegated but returned to the big time, later boosted by Harry Redknapp’s Minder-esque transfer dealings and some maverick genius from Paolo Di Canio. We finished fifth under Harry in 1999, but still no trophies.
Under Glenn Roeder the Irons managed to not win at home until late January and achieved the considerable feat of going down with a record 42 points in 2003. The club ended up selling most of the England side in Ferdinand, Lampard, Cole, Carrick, Johnson and Defoe.
New gaffer Alan Pardew achieved promotion and then reached the 2006 FA Cup final. This was the moment our trophy drought was to end with the lads 3-2 up after 90 minutes. That was until Lionel Scaloni (whatever happened to him?) hoofed a clearance towards the Liverpool midfield and one Steven Gerrard, who dispatched a hypersonic missile into Shaka Hislop’s net. We lost the greatest final of modern times on penalties.
We signed Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano, but forgot they were owned by a third party. The club was brought by Icelandic millionaire Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson, aided by biscuit baron chairman Eggert Magnusson. Gudmundsson then lost his dosh in the 2008 credit crunch. West Ham were saved by David Sullivan and David Gold, who appointed Avram Grant. At Wigan we went 2-0 up and lost 3-2 to confirm relegation, rounded off by a plane overhead carrying a banner reading, “Avram Grant: Millwall Legend”.
Big Sam was the necessary shock medicine. He won the 2012 playoff final and established the Hammers in the Premier League, but struggled to win over the fans. Slaven Bilic was the right manager to celebrate the final season at the Boleyn Ground. Dimitri Payet was brilliant but the club still dropped to seventh on the final day.
The move to the London Stadium brought a new level of misery to fans who missed Upton Park. Payet became homesick. We made the Europa League but somehow found a Romanian bogey side, losing in successive seasons to Astra Giurgiu. Bilic’s side struggled on the wide-open spaces surrounded by green plastic and Slaven went.
During David Moyes’s first spell a home defeat by Burnley was interrupted by pitch invaders and fans trying to storm the boardroom. Mark Noble had to act as an impromptu bouncer, carrying one invader off the pitch.
The reign of Manuel Pellegrini ended after he signed our worst-ever keeper in Roberto and the crocked Jack Wilshere. Back came Moyes. Lockdown arrived. And then something changed. Playing behind closed doors West Ham finished sixth. Moyes did his dad dance when Manuel Lanzini scored at Spurs, Declan Rice was a colossus, Jarrod Bowen was on fire.
In the Europa League in 2021-22 an epic win against Sevilla proved the London Stadium could be a cauldron of noise, though we lost the semi-final to Eintracht Frankfurt in a very West Ham way, conceding in the first minute of the home leg and having Aaron Cresswell sent off early in the away leg. Still, the Irons finished seventh and were back in Europe.
It went back to being flaky this season. Moyes spent £160m but a relegation struggle ensued. West Ham beat Forest 4-0 one week and lost 4-0 at Brighton the next, accompanied by chants of “You don’t know what you’re doing”. But West Ham continued to win in Europe. We played Viborg, Silkeborg and possibly Björn Borg. The board stuck with Moyes, who won the must-win league games. After a tense defensive action at AZ Alkmaar, Pablo Fornals broke away like Lionel Messi to score a last-minute winner and spark scenes of delirium among the away fans.
When I last saw West Ham win a trophy in 1980 I arrived at Wembley against Arsenal three days before my final exams at uni and without a ticket. A fellow fan got his kid in under the turnstile and passed me his son’s unused ticket for a fiver. This time a pal has come up with a more legitimate ticket for Prague.
For those of us who have travelled from 1976 to 2023, it’s been a long journey. Is it possible Rice can become the first Hammers captain since Bobby Moore and Billy Bonds to lift a trophy? Or are the Irons going to make me wait another 43 years? Just this once let’s hope fortune is not always hiding.
Pete May is author of Goodbye to Boleyn (Biteback) and blogs on West Ham at hammersintheheart.blogspot.com
