Since the Premier League’s inception in 1993 West Ham United have experienced mixed fortunes. The era has witnessed the club go through troubled times such as relegation, loss of managers and key players. Furthermore, the era has also witnessed great moments that the fans will always remember. This article will look at the top ten moments since the inception of the Premier League.
- 1. Promotion back to the Premier League 2005
After being relegated in 2003 from the Premier League, West Ham managed to beat Preston North End in Cardiff to clinch promotion back to Premier League. The team returned to the East End as Play-off winners and thousands of fans turned up to parade the streets to welcome home the newly promoted team.
- 2. Reaching the F.A Cup Final 2006
The club reached their first F.A Cup Final since 1980 thanks to a wonder goal from Marlon Harewood against Middlesbrough at Villa Park. West Ham played Liverpool in the final and narrowly lost the game on penalties. West Ham played their part in one of the greatest F.A Cup Finals since the turn of the new century.
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- 3. Denying Spurs Champions League football 2006
On the last game of the 2005-2006 season West Ham hosted Spurs at Upton Park. Spurs knew that a victory will secure them Champions League football for next season. Before the game, the Spurs team complained about food poisoning and wanted the game to be called off. Nevertheless, the game went ahead and West Ham won the game 2-1 denying their London rivals Champions League football for next season. To make the situation worse for Spurs, Arsenal ended up finishing fourth ahead of their North London rivals.
- 4. Carlos Tévez saves West Ham from relegation 2007
West Ham were heading towards relegation before Carlos Tévez decided to go on a one man crusade to rescue West Ham. Tévez went into the last game of the season having scored six vital goals in his previous nine games, which meant he had put West Ham’s survival hopes in their own hands. All they had to do was to beat the newly crowned champions Manchester United at Old Trafford. Tévez scored the only goal of the game and single handily kept West Ham in the Premier League.
- 5. Knocking out Manchester United in the F.A Cup 2001
A goal from Paolo Di Canio knocked Manchester United out of the F.A Cup as West Ham beat the odds at Old Trafford. Di Canio scored past protesting keeper Fabien Barthez who raised his hand and stopped looking in vain for the offside flag. The flag was not raised and Di Canio coolly slotted past the keeper to send West Ham through to the next round.
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- 6. Winning the Youth F.A Cup Final 1999
The West Ham youth team beat the Coventry City youth team 9-0 on aggregate to win the F.A Youth Cup for the third time. Having beat Coventry City 3-0 in the first leg, the youth team beat them again by thrashing them 6-0 in the second leg in front of 21,000 fans at Upton Park. The team had promising young footballers such as Joe Cole and Michael Carrick who have gone on to become quality footballers.
- 7. Di Canio’s wonder goal against Wimbledon 2000
Di Canio’s magnificent volley against the Dons was voted as the Goal of the Season by the BBC and is possibly the greatest goal in Premier League history. It was one those moments that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up. Trevor Sinclair sent a attempting cross from the right side to Di Canio, who gave second thought of taking any touch or controlling the aerial ball. Instead, the Italian leaped into the air and executed a technically perfect volley with his right foot into the far corner of the net.
- 8. Highest Premier League finish and winning the Intertoto Cup 1998-1999
During the 1998-1999 season West Ham United recorded their highest Premier League finish. They ended the season fifth in the league and won the Intertoto Cup to qualify for the UEFA Cup for the first time in nineteen years.
- 9. Stopping Manchester United winning the Premier League 1995
Ludek Miklosko was in excellent form to deny Manchester United their third consecutive title and saved West Ham from relegation. West Ham had taken the lead before the visitors equalised. Manchester United could not find the second goal they needed to secure the Premier League title, largely due to Miklosko being in excellent form. Denying Manchester United the title was that little bit greater because they had a certain Paul Ince in their team.
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- 10. Last team to beat Arsenal at Highbury and the first to beat them at the Emirates 2006-2007
Struggling West Ham collected the accolade of becoming the first visiting team to beat Arsenal at their new Emirates Stadium in 2007. They won the match 1-0 thanks to Bobby Zamora’s strike and a brilliant performance in goal by Robert Green. Furthermore, a year earlier West Ham was also the last team to beat Arsenal at their old Highbury Ground winning the game 3-2.
For goodness sake, we did NOT need to beat Man Utd in 2007 to stay up, only avoid defeat. It annoys me when other teams fans spout it, let alone blood WHU supporters!