To take a break for a moment from the relentless, unpredictable and unforgiving rat-race that is this season’s Championship. I want to take a little stroll down memory lane to my favourite season as an Irons fan.
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It’s a bit of an odd choice seeing as it was a season in which we struggled till the last and had to put up with an astonishing amount both on and off the pitch but the season to which I refer is 06/07.
I look back on my time as a Hammers fan and I really cannot recall a season more packed with drama, controversy and unpredictability.
The key points that made that campaign so unforgettable were of course Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano arriving on transfer deadline day; the world cup Argentine superstars turning up on Green Street and signing for the club has to go down as one of the biggest shocks in the history of English football. Their arrival had West Ham fans dreaming of a top 4 finish what was about the ensue was all about finishing fourth from bottom.
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The next ingredient for this powder keg of a season simply had to be the takeover of the club by the Icelandic consortium fronted by Eggert Magnusson; the new regime came bowling into East London with talk of Champions League football…within weeks of their arrival they gave then manager Alan Pardew his marching orders… replacing him with Alan Curbishley; who’s first game in charge was only Man United at home which of course we went on to win 1-0.
The next component is rather painfully one of the most incredible games the Premier League has ever witnessed…Sunday March 4th 2007 with West Ham bottom of the league local rivals Tottenham rolled into East London. The relegation battle was put on the back burner for a moment and the focus was simply to get one over on the lilywhites…what ensued was a rollercoaster of a game that fans of both clubs will never forget as West Ham threw away a lead on two separate occasions to lose the game 4-3.
However it was this horrendous defeat that sparked a great run of form and coincidentally with Carlos Tevez suddenly popping up with goals West Ham’s relegations rivals began to get suspicious…an investigation was launched by the FA and West Ham were fined £5.5 million for being found guilty of ‘third party ownership’; yet crucially no points deduction the likes of Sheffield United, Wigan, Charlton and Fulham were all pushing for.
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With the press all seemingly jumping on the band wagon that West Ham should have been docked points we headed to Old Trafford on the final day of the season as seemingly the most hated club in the land: everyone believed the only way ‘justice’ could prevail is if the ‘cheating’ Hammers went down…we all know what happened next. We only went and beat Man United on their own turf with the loveable rogue that was Carlos Tevez notching the winner, thus staying up at the expense of Sheffield United.
It was simply a season that had everything and though it didn’t end with anything more tangible than staying up it was a hell of a ride.
My most memorable season was the 85-86 season, the year I arrived from NZ and along with my mate Jaffa we got to go and see West Ham play, the closest we’d previously got was to see Trevor Brooking on a tour in NZ curling them in from the corners. John Lyall with McAvennie, Cottee, Martin, Dev, Ward, Stewart etc were a great team. We had 3 games in 8 days at the end of the season, 3 wins would have made us champions. Never had it so good! Great season, the dog will have it’s day again, I just hope it’s soon.
I’m in agreement with Martin, great season, so close..
My most memorable WHU season was when Shipperly scored for Palace in the playoffs.
If only big Sam was in goal that day!