The recent news that West Ham would have won last year’s Premier League title had only goals from English players counted was quite eye opening for me.
Our reputation of developing some of the best players this country has ever seen has faded in recent years, paving the way for the modern game and it’s ruthless financial ruler. It could be said that money talks more than football these days, which we all know has had a detrimental affect on our nation’s footballing prospects.
But while we all take wild guesses at who our next England protégé is going to be as they rise up the West Ham Academy ranks, it seems the answer has been staring us straight in the face all along.
We’re not quite the England national side’s feeder club any more and, who knows, we may one day regain that wonderful privilege. But the sheer fact that it’s still our English players who are making a positive impact on the pitch that highlights just how important that is to our club and how it’s etched in to our vains.
Of course we have had our foreign ‘legends’ in recent years. Paolo Di Canio and Carlos Tevez are the obvious ones that spring to mind, of course. But for every Di Canio and Tevez we’ve had a Scott Parker and Mark Noble. A Carlton Cole and Robert Green. An Andy Carroll and Kevin Nolan. A Frank Lampard and Rio Ferdinand.
I recently discovered an original programme from the 1965 European Cup Winners’ Cup final at Wembley, which I can only assume was given to my Dad as a gift many years ago. Inside that very programme is a column written by Sun Sports Columnist Peter Lorenzo, who praised the Hammers’ core of English talent and the success it was bringing them.
An excerpt reads:
“Such is the romance of Soccer. [Brian] Dear’s arrival also meant that West Ham, the team that came to Wembley last year with eight home-grown players, can now now add a ninth to their impressive list.”
Although we can no longer boast of such a home-grown presence in the first-team, we should remain proud that the likes of Mark Noble, James Tomkins, Joe Cole and even Jack Collison, despite being Welsh, are still playing in claret & blue and making a positive impact on our achievements. After all, Mark Noble is just one first-team appearance away from reaching 250 in all competitions, which is quite remarkable for a 26-year-old.
The club’s ever lasting philosophy of nurturing home-grown talent and buying English players is one that I feel will be an important part of our step to the next level. We are only a few years away from moving in to a world-class footballing arena in the Olympic Stadium and that could catapult us in to the upper-echelons of the Premier League, competing for European competitions and, fingers crossed, the league title.
Back in 1965 it was our home-grown English core that had even the neutrals purring over our style of football and our potential. Lorenzo also writes in that programme:
“I wonder whether this means the Hammers will take over from Manchester United as Football League champions next season. The resolve they have shown for individual matches might now be extended and spread over the whole season. When that happens – and it might be sooner than a lot of people think – the Manchester Uniteds, Leeds’, Chelseas and Spurs’ of this football world had better watch out.”
We were the talk of the town back then. The envy of other clubs. The pièce de résistance of English football. Just without the domestic dominance that other clubs achieved.
Last seasons’s achievements by our English contingent has highlighted one thing – there is still an element of the ‘West Ham Way’ in Sam Allardyce’s West Ham team. The style of football may not be the same but, the nucleus of what the club has always believed in still lives strong in the heart of the club.
And now as we enter a new and exciting era in the club’s history, I feel it is this philosophy that will take us back to the future some what. David Gold, David Sullivan and Sam Allardyce seem reluctant to sell the club’s soul to the continental talent that is on offer and believe that English talent, whether it be home-grown or bought from some where else, is still an important factor in our desperate search for stability and success.
Next season we can hopefully look foreword to seeing more of Andy Carroll who, on his day, can be a deadly striker for both club and country. If the likes of Robert Hall, Dan Potts, Ravel Morrison and Jordan Spence are also given the opportunity to show the Premier League what they’re made of then it will almost be like going back to the good old days in 1965.
The following year we went on to win the World Cup. It’s a far cry but, history could be on the verge of repeating itself in some way. We will not win the World Cup next year (we may not even qualify!), but there is a possibility that we’ll be represented just as we were in 1966. I’m not suggesting James Tomkins will lift the World Cup as England captain next summer, nor do I believe that Andy Carroll will score a hat-trick against Germany in the final. But, if you look deeper in to it, there are several similarities to be made between now and then.
We’re going back to the future. And it’s very exciting.
