West Ham Online

"Apologies if this has been mentioned before but is anyone watching this series from Robert Banks on YouTube? The latest episode is the start of season 84/85 (My first season following West Ham) where John Lyall almost left to join QPR that summer. Great clips, great music and full of interesting historical Information about West Ham during the Lyall era. Highly recommended. It deserves far more views than it currently gets."

"I know you would enjoy it Sold. Its so well put together with the clips, articles and the soundtracks of that time. Definitely recommend going back and watching the previous season’s. I can’t imagine how much time and research it must take to put all that together. That’s why I think it deserves more views. Sadly the majority of football fans don’t give a fuck about anything pre Premier League. The Big Match Revisited on ITV4 every Saturday Morning is another thing I would recommend."

Just watched the 6 episodes of the 85-86 series... have to say his videos are a damn sight better than his books... excellently put together and loving the newspaper articles and news stories... made me laugh the bit with Frankies surname being unpronounceable when he first came.. spot on that I hardly knew anyone that could pronounce his name when he first joined. Really enjoyed and brought back some great memories on and off the pitch... will have a look at his other stuff.

We paid a lot of money for that time (700k) for Robson but he was always injury prone. Yeah losing Devonshire not long after Brooking had retired left a big whole in our midfield.

"Yes, I remember all that‚Ķ.I was at Stewart Robson‚Äôs debut at Coventry where he set up all three of Cottee‚Äôs goals (think they played district schoolboy football together?), thought he was going to be that missing bit of extra class but hey-ho‚Ķ.also witnessed Devonshire‚Äôs injury against that cսnt club Wigan, he was unplayable that season as well (think we plummeted down the table after that injury)‚Ķ.the tackle was dirty lower league job as well‚Ķ."

"Side, yeah we had a lot of injuries particularly in defence. Billy Bonds missed the whole of the 85/86 and was pretty much in semi retirement and then he returned at the age of 41 the following season due to the injuries. Lyall did sign Gary Strodder and Tommy McQueen later on in the season to try and bolster the defence but neither were a success. He also signed Stewart Robson & Liam Brady during that period. Devonshire had that awful injury at the beginning of 1984 and missed 18 months. He came back for the 85/86 season and played well but by his own admission he was never the same after his injury."

"Side, yeah we had a lot of injuries particularly in defence. Billy Bonds missed the whole of the 85/86 and was pretty much in semi retirement and then he returned at the age of 41 the following season due to the injuries. Lyall did sign Gary Strodder and Tommy McQueen later on in the season to try and bolster the defence but neither were a success. He also signed Stewart Robson & Liam Brady during that period. Devonshire had that awful injury at the beginning of 1984 and missed 18 months. He came back for the 85/86 season and played well but by his own admission he was never the same after his injury."

"Swindon, didn’t we have a bit of a mare with injuries to the defence the next season with Bonds coming back in a bit part and Alvin & Tonka getting injured with us having to rely on Strodder & Hilton? I also think Devonshire missed a good few and he was very much a balancing factor to Wardie? I just remember thinking ‘typical West Ham’ and the kit was shit too….. :-)"

It was the summer of 1984 that Lyall almost went to QPR. He thought the club would just let him go but they demanded 150k compensation for the final year of his contract so he stayed. He then signed a new 5 year contract just after. If Goddard had never got injured I doubt we would have had the season we had. We went from a team fighting relegation in 84/85 to finishing 3rd in 85/86 and then back to fighting relegation and ultimately being relegated in the following 3 years. It was a freak season where we had hardly any injuries and 5 or 6 of the team playing above themselves to the point that they couldn’t replicate it in the years after.

"Swindon, yeah agreed. So fortunate with injuries considering less than a year later Dev, Gale, Stewart, Martin were all struggling long term. Would have been interesting if Goddard had never got injured with Frank playing in the hole (as he was an expert at!!). It might have worked but then again that would have limited Dickens appearances. He should have stayed, can't believe that he was pretty much out of the game at 27. Some people said that John put his feet under the table a bit after QPR wanted him but the board turned it down in 82/983 ish but 85/86 certainly didn't suggest that. I know it's been done to death but the board really blew it in 88/89. John moving upstairs taking either Bonzo or Alvin under his wing as a future manager would have been the way forward. Not sure Billy would have been the right choice. He did ok eventually but he was a family man and liked to get home when he was playing so imo wasn't totally suited to what is generally a 24 hour job."

"Zico, I still have that 85/86 review VHS tape that the club did. The first goals/highlights they could show were from the game at home to West Brom on November 30th so yeah quite a bit of the season missed due to the TV strike. I don’t think we lost it because until April we were never really in it and as I mentioned earlier it was Everton who really blew it. Lyall said in his programme notes for the 1st game of the following season that there was money to spend but he didn’t want to buy unless he got players in that were better than he already had. He was probably too loyal at times. I think it was a freak season more than anything. We had hardly any injuries and the likes of Walford, Parris, Gale, Orr, Pike & Dickens all played above themselves while it was the last hurrah for the likes of Parkes & Devonshire in terms of their peak."

"Typical West Ham luck that year with the TV strike. I think McAvennie had scored a good few begore the club started their video so half of Frank's goals can never be seen again! I don't think we lost it at the end, more the start as if I remember correctly we lost three of our first four, plus Liverpool went on an insane run of 10 wins from their last 11 games with one draw or something like that. People say that if we had Dicks and Ince we would have won it, but I think Walford, Parris, Orr and Pike all played their part. Just a shame we didn't build on it. Not sure if John was happy with what he had or the funds weren't there but you have to build wen you are on the up, not on the way down."

Dont be daft Trunds... keep her sweet with a few episodes of Love Island and gives me a good excuse to get out down the boozer with MATES... gotta play the game

we had hardly any injuries that year so it was a bit of a freak year in some respects. I think we only used 15 players in the whole season which is incredible.

"Isn't it about time you put your foot down and told the missus what you'd like to watch, Sold0?"

"No not seen it Swindon... might have a butchers tonight as missus on nights ... I got the old VHS video somewhere of the season... IIRC this is where there was industrial action so only half the goals was ever recorded? Yeah you might have been right re the FA cup... proper pain in the arse... fucking snow drifts galore luckily enough Ipswich wasn't a too bad place to get to... we always seemed to have 2 or 3 games in hand on the top bods... imagine the moaning modern day managers would spout playing 12 games in 5 weeks with the modern day squads... we hardly changed our team 50+ apps - Cottee, Dickens, Gale, Alvin, Frankie, Parkes, Wardie 40+ apps - Dev, Orr, Stewart 30+ apps - Walford, Parris"

"Sold, have you watched any of this series yet? It’s superb. As far as the FA Cup goes you could say it didn’t help but as mentioned previously we weren’t really in contention for the League title until April so is not as though there was anything to prioritise at the time."

Normally a big advocate of giving the FA cup a go but looking back it certainly done in our league campaign... that and the weather... From 19th Jan to 14th March we played ONE league game and 6 FA Cup games (I went to 5 of them) including THREE replays (2 v Ipswich and 1 v Man U). From 31st March - 5th May (5 weeks) we played 12 (TWELVE) league games... gave it a proper go winning 9 of them... one of those seasons that I seemed to be working a lot of Saturday's so the midweek games suited me... well apart from the Chelsea one where we got locked out so had to listen to it in a fish and chip shop in Upminster... probably scuppered our chances that game as well...

"Manuel, yeah it was on the same night we beat Ipswich in our last home game."

"I never knew, or don't remember, Everton fucked up at Oxford like that."

Yeah a lot of people forget we had so many games in hand. We weren’t really considered title contenders until the final weeks of the season. We didn’t break into the top 3 until April. For most of the season we were behind Man Utd & Chelsea before they dropped off and we won nearly all our games in hand. It was actually Everton that were in pole position but blew it with 3 games to go by losing at relegation threatened Oxford Utd. Had they won that they would have won the League. Lineker missed a few chances that night. It’s an excellent series though. Highly recommended.

"The 6 part 85-86 season is a must watch, is brilliant. Kaiser - I certainly don't remember everything from 36 years ago, a few of the 1-0's against City and Cov I had forgot about and forget that we had so many games in hand all the time. And couldn't recall Neil Orr's strike from outside the box. Wonder what happened to him? McAvennie was probably a better footballer than he's credited for, some great link up play and flicks, etc."

Brilliant watch. And the music from each year quality

I must watch this l remember being at the Forest game and Jonny Metgod scoring that screamer but haven't seen it since. Remember being kept in after the game and a very subdued atmosphere.

"Brilliant dedication to produce a watchable potted summary Love watching them, even though I know exactly what happened"

"claypole, Method’s goal was voted goal of the season but looking back at it now Parkes would have been criticised for it on today’s standards. I thought he should have done better for the Ipswich goal in the same season/video."