Bitter Ferguson mocks 'the West Ham way'

  • by Staff Writer
  • Tuesday, 21st October 2014

Former Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson has provided a not-too-subtle dig at the club that twice denied his club the league title.

Ferguson, who saw the championship wrestled away from his team's grasp at the Boleyn Ground in both 1992 and 1995 - the former, a defeat after which he described "West Ham's effort" as "obscene" - has mocked West Ham's traditions in an updated version of his autobiography.

"I hope that before I die someone can explain the 'West Ham way'", he wrote. "What is it? They last won a trophy in 1980, the FA Cup. I never played against any West Ham team that played football I was afraid of. They were always surviving, or lucky as hell against us."

The 72-year-old - who retired from management two years ago having achieved unprecedented success in the domestic game - also backed current manager Sam Allardyce's position at West Ham, stressing that merely keeping the club in the Premier League given the limited resources available has been an achievement.

"There is this pre-conception with West Ham fans that Big Sam is a survivalist who tells teams to boot the ball up the pitch," he states. "The truth is that he stayed up with a team of very average players. That’s management. He drew the best from them."


Lucky as Hell? Taggart's defeats to West Ham United

22 Apr 1992: West Ham Utd 1-0 Man Utd (Brown)

28 Jan 2001: Man Utd 0-1 West Ham Utd (Di Canio)

8 Dec 2001: Man Utd 0-1 West Ham Utd (Defoe)

17 Dec 2006: West Ham Utd 1-0 Man Utd (Reo-Coker)

13 May 2007: Man Utd 0-1 West Ham Utd (Tevez)

29 Dec 2007: West Ham Utd 2-1 Man Utd (A Ferdinand, Upson)

30 Nov 2010: West Ham Utd 4-0 Man Utd (Spector 2, C Cole 2)

* Something to say about this story? Please visit the KUMB Forum to leave a comment.



More News