West
Ham United FC were formed
in 1895 and were first
elected to Division 2 in the
year 1919. They have spent
most of their
history in Division 2 but
fortunately only they have
only resided there in
six of the past 37 years.
However, the league title still
hasn't found its
way to Upton Park and the
Hammers' silverware has
come from cup
competitions.
Manager Ron
Greenwood took them to their
first success,
with a 1964 FA Cup final
win over Preston North End
which was followed by
the European Cup Winners
Cup a year later. John Lyall
took over as manager
in 1974 and within one
year had taken West Ham Utd
to another Cup triumph,
with a 2-0 victory over
Fulham FC in 1975. 5 years
later came West Ham's
last cup success, a 1-0
victory over Arsenal at
Wembley when the Hammers
were a second division
club.
Recent
years have seen West Ham
United struggle although
they made their best ever
challenge for the league title
in during the 1986
season, finishing 3rd.
1998/99 was another
progressive season when they
finished 5th after much
wheeling and dealing by
manager Harry Redknapp.
However, when Redknapp
left the club in 2001, things
took a turn for the
worse and the club were
relegated at the end of
2002/03.
However,
under Alan Pardew the
Hammers eventually won
promotion back to the
Barclays Premiership through
the play-offs at the
second attempt, beating
Preston 1-0 in the final in May
2005 at the
Millennium Stadium in
Cardiff . They reached the FA
Cup Final a year later,
only losing to Liverpool
after a penalty shoot-out.
However, the 2006/07
season saw plenty of
changes at Upton Park as new
owners from Iceland
arrived and a poor start to
the campaign cost Pardew his
job with Alan
Curbishley arriving in his
place. Curbishley holds the
reigns at the Boleyn
stadium, and with his talent
who knows what is possible
for West Ham during
the coming season.
