West Ham United's 100 Greatest Moments: Part Three (80-71)

Back in 2004, readers of KUMB.com voted for their greatest West Ham moments.

With several years having passed since - during which we've witnessed a number of memorable occasions, matches and goals - we decided to revisit the list - for a second time (the first being in 2011) - in order to include some more recent events.

Due to the vast size, we'll be breaking our countdown down into ten parts; here follows part three - that's entries 80 to 71. Please note the number in brackets represents the entry's previous position in our list.







On New Years Day 1972 a formidable Manchester United side - including legendary stars such as Dennis Law, Georgie Best and Bobby Charlton - arrived in east London having lost just two of their last 23 fixtures.

Despite the depth of talent facing them, West Ham, inspired by an emerging midfield force of Billy Bonds and Trevor Brooking taught the Red Devils a footballing lesson in front of a 42,000 crowd at the Boleyn Ground, sending them back up the M1 on the wrong end of a 3-0 stuffing.

Second half goals from Clyde Best and Geoff Hurst, via the penalty spot, secured the points for Ron Greenwood's side. But it was Bryan 'Pop' Robson's audacious back-heel - which opened the scoring five minutes ahead of half-time - for which this game is most fondly remembered.




There can't be too many professional outfield players who fail to score a single goal in their entire career. Yet Steve Potts, West Ham's Connecticut-born central defender who had been with the club since the early 1980s, was on his way to becoming one of the few before he finally broke his duck after five years in the first team.

Hull City were the opponents on a chilly October afternoon in 1990 and the Tigers went into the game in good form, having been unbeaten in their previous seven fixtures.

However they were swept aside by Billy Bonds' rampant West Ham, who ran out 7-1 winners - the second of which was a speculative Potts' punt that was hopelessly fumbled by Hull's goalkeeper. The 5'7"-tall defender, who went on to make 399 first team appearances for West Ham never scored again.




It had been another torrid season spent at the wrong end of the table for West Ham, but when Chelsea visited the Boleyn Ground on 2 May 1988, John Lyall's side knew that a win would be enough to guarantee Division One survival.

Our west London rivals were in freefall having won just one of their last 25 games and went into the match one place below West Ham in 17th: not so much a six-pointer, as a season decider.

Hammers fans need not have worried however as a brace from Leroy Rosenior and goals from Paul Hilton and Tony Cottee earned the Irons a comfortable 4-1 win - while two-goal hero Rosenior also earned the first red card of his career having being dismissed for strangling Blues defender (and former West Ham assistant manager) Steve Clarke following an altercation.

West Ham therefore retained their Division One status whilst Chelsea went on to draw their final game of the season and lose the ensuing play-off against Middlesbrough; a defeat that saw the Blues relegated from the top flight.




As the 1996/97 season entered February, the Irons were in deep trouble at the wrong end of the FA Carling Premiership. Harry Redknapp realised that without the necessary firepower his team were destined for the drop - and so he made an impassioned plea to West Ham's board to release necessary funds.

Chairman Terry Brown and his fellow directors agreed and provided the manager with a healthy £6million. This warchest allowed Redknapp to bring in two strikers - John Hartson from Arsenal and Paul Kitson from Newcastle.

Despite failing to score on their (joint) debut - a 1-0 defeat at Derby - Hartson and Kitson both scored in the next match, an incredible 4-3 win over Tottenham played in gale force conditions. Between them, the pair went on to hit a combined 13 goals fron 25 appearances and save the club from relegation.




Twelve years after Stuart Slater's stunning effort against Sunderland - a goal in which the ball stayed airborne from the moment it left Phil Parkes' boot to hitting the back of Sunderland's net - - Trevor Sinclair performed a similar feat in a 2001 Boxing Day clash against Derby.

With Glenn Roeder's West Ham already two goals to the good through efforts from Sebastien Schemmel and Paolo Di Canio - and by now, bristling with confidence - Di Canio lifted a corner towards Joe Cole on the cusp of County's penalty box. Cole brought the ball under control before firing a deft chip towards the back post.

Sinclair, on the backfoot, adjusted his feet before firing an unstoppable scissor kick into Mart Poom's far corner to make it three-nothing. A teenage Jermain Defoe's 90th minute goal made the final score 4-0 to West Ham; a cracking Christmas treat for all watching Hammers.




On a chilly November day in 1970, West Ham were entertaining Wolves in a Division One fixture. With the game barely minutes old a Bobby Moore headed clearance - described elsewhere as 'thunderous' - caught Welsh referee Gerrard Lewis squarely on the side of the noggin, knocking the unfortunate official out cold.

As the game continued around him, Moore noticed that Lewis was struggling to respond and immediately ran to the referee before calmly picking up his whistle and blowing it to bring the game to a halt, allowing medical assistants from both clubs to attend to the stricken Lewis. Having deployed the smelling salts, Moore checked with Lewis to see how we was before handing the official's whistle back to him, upon which the game continued.

The two sides went on to play out an entertaining 3-3 draw; referee Lewis - whose unfortunate accident was chuckled at by millions on Match of the Day that night - continued to officiate at the highest level for many years after - however it was for the Moore incident that he remained mostly remembered.




West Ham fans are a fairly forgiving bunch. Only twice before in recent history had their collective dissatisfaction with the club's board led to notable public displays of unrest - firstly during the ill-fated Bond Scheme in the early 1990s and in the latter years of Terry Brown's reign as Chairman, a decade or so later.

The 2016 move to Stratford had however stirred something within the fanbase and when the promised increased investment in the playing squad failed to materialise - a boardroom decision that resulted in the club being involved in a relegation scrap - the fans decided enough was enough.

Although the board has successfully managed to see off a threatened march, the pent-up anger and frustration remained and it all boiled over during this 3-0 home defeat against Burnley.

As the visitors scored their third goal, hundreds of fans rushed the directors' box while one supporter emulated the Bond Scheme protests by picking up the corner flag and planting it in the centre circle. It was a potent reminder to the club's owners that the fanbase still wouldn't be taken for fools.




Not for the last time in this list we turn our attention to international matters.

In June 1984 an under-pressure England, fresh from a surprise 2-1 defeat in Switzerland travelled to Hungary for a World Cup qualifier in a tight group also also involving Romania and minnows Norway - who England were famously humbled by in their next outing. However on this occasion the Three Lions secured a 3-1 victory - a win best remembered for this remarkable second half strike by West Ham's Trevor Brooking.

The midfielder had given England an encouraging lead after 16 minutes when he finished from a similar position to his goal in the FA Cup Final against Arsenal a year earlier, but Ron Greenwood's side were pegged back just before the break. On the hour mark a slick move on the left flank saw the ball find Brooking, poised just outside the penalty box.

The Hammers' midfielder struck the ball instantly, firing into the top left stanchion where the ball remained for all to see. It remains an iconic moment; a wonderful example of the almost telepathic communication Brooking shared with Kevin Keegan - and also his most famous international goal.




When West Ham faced Wolves at the Boleyn on 6th March 1993 it was little more than a week since West Ham's favourite son had passed away, from cancer, at the age of just 51.

The previous weekend had seen a minute's silence observed across the country and none more impeccably than at Roker Park, where West Ham played out a half-hearted 0-0 draw with Sunderland. But it was the following weekend that gave the club and its supporters the first chance to join together in grief at Moore's passing in Upton Park, where he spent his best years as a player.

Both Green Street and the Boleyn Ground itself were awash with wreaths, memorials, replica kits and all sorts of other items of memorabilia depicting the great man left by football fans from around the world. It truly was a sight to behold.

The match itself was preceded by Moore's fellow World Cup-winning Hammers Martin Peters and Geoff Hurst laying a huge wreath, depicting Bobby's famous number 6, on the centre circle. Goals from Trevor Morley (who wore a number 12 shirt instead of 6), Julian Dicks and Matty Holmes secured a fitting result to mark the great man's departure.




Hammers fans were given a late Christmas present in 1989 when Lou Macari - whose own short tenure as manager was to end prematurely just six weeks later - signed Trevor Morley and Ian Bishop from Manchester City in exchange for Mark Ward. Both proved to be worthwhile investments in the ensuing years, although an incident in March 1991 saw them make the back pages for all the wrong reasons.

West Ham announced that Morley had been bizarrely stabbed by his wife in a domestic incident; almost immediately rumours surfaced suggesting Mrs Morley had knifed her husband having found him in an compromising position with team mate Bishop.

Although both players immediately denied the rumours, this urban myth continues to be repeated to this day. Morley - who readily admits that the idle gossip 'killed me for a while' - believes his estranged wife was responsible for the rumours surfacing having discovered that he was 'playing away from home' - with a member of the opposite sex.


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