Reluctant left-back Steve Walford played an important role in the Hammers side which finished third in Division One 30 years ago
Boys of '86 star Steve Walford recalls to Ian 'Moose' Abrahams his role in West Ham United's finest-ever league season, when he was deployed in an unaccustomed new role...
There are many players with links to both the Hammers and the Gunners, but only one who won an FA Cup with Arsenal and was then part of the Boys of ’86 – Steve Walford.
Steve’s career began in north London and he’s one of a select group of players to have played for both Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal.
“I started at White Hart Lane before Terry Neill took me to Arsenal, which was my local team when I was growing up,” he began. “I was bought up in that area and found myself working with players I used to watch on the terraces. I thought, ‘Wow, I’m with Pat Rice, Sammy Nelson and Peter Simpson’, players I had been cheering them on from the terraces as a kid. It was strange but great going there, from supporting the team to playing for them.”
At that time, Steve was living every kid’s dream, and then in 1979 he won the FA Cup with the Gunners With Arsenal 2-0 up and seven minutes remaining, Walford came on as substitute for David Price. Six minutes later and with the game level at 2-2, before Alan Sunderland netted a dramatic winner.
Sunderland set off to celebrate and Steve gave chase, but famously he never caught up with the match-winner: “I used to be quick but he must have turned on the after-burners!”
I asked if it made him laugh whenever he sees the goal and him chasing after Sunderland.
“No I hide my face, I don’t look at it, as it’s a bit cringe worthy really, I have got to admit. In the end I gave up, I couldn’t catch him, no chance.”
Walford moved from Highbury to Norwich City and then on to West Ham, so how did the move to the Boleyn Ground come about?
“My family settled well in Norwich, but then one day my daughter came home and said ‘I want to go out on my bike, in a strong Norwich accent and I thought ‘I can’t have my kids talking like that!’.
“My contract had run out at Norwich and I signed another contract for a year. About a week later I got a call from the club, saying West Ham had made an offer for me and they’d accepted it and that was it, I wanted to come to West Ham. I wanted to come home but I wanted to come to West Ham, who were the first club I went training with after school, when John Lyall had been the youth-team coach.
“It had been the first professional club I had trained at and I’d liked it there. It was the travelling that made me stop going there, and Tottenham wanted me to train with them which was 20 minutes up the road. When I heard West Ham wanted me, they were a lot bigger club than Norwich, and I knew it was an upward move for me."
There are many players with links to both the Hammers and the Gunners, but only one who won an FA Cup with Arsenal and was then part of the Boys of ’86 – Steve Walford.
Steve’s career began in north London and he’s one of a select group of players to have played for both Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal.
“I started at White Hart Lane before Terry Neill took me to Arsenal, which was my local team when I was growing up,” he began. “I was bought up in that area and found myself working with players I used to watch on the terraces. I thought, ‘Wow, I’m with Pat Rice, Sammy Nelson and Peter Simpson’, players I had been cheering them on from the terraces as a kid. It was strange but great going there, from supporting the team to playing for them.”
At that time, Steve was living every kid’s dream, and then in 1979 he won the FA Cup with the Gunners With Arsenal 2-0 up and seven minutes remaining, Walford came on as substitute for David Price. Six minutes later and with the game level at 2-2, before Alan Sunderland netted a dramatic winner.
Sunderland set off to celebrate and Steve gave chase, but famously he never caught up with the match-winner: “I used to be quick but he must have turned on the after-burners!”
I asked if it made him laugh whenever he sees the goal and him chasing after Sunderland.
“No I hide my face, I don’t look at it, as it’s a bit cringe worthy really, I have got to admit. In the end I gave up, I couldn’t catch him, no chance.”
Walford moved from Highbury to Norwich City and then on to West Ham, so how did the move to the Boleyn Ground come about?
“My family settled well in Norwich, but then one day my daughter came home and said ‘I want to go out on my bike, in a strong Norwich accent and I thought ‘I can’t have my kids talking like that!’.
“My contract had run out at Norwich and I signed another contract for a year. About a week later I got a call from the club, saying West Ham had made an offer for me and they’d accepted it and that was it, I wanted to come to West Ham. I wanted to come home but I wanted to come to West Ham, who were the first club I went training with after school, when John Lyall had been the youth-team coach.
“It had been the first professional club I had trained at and I’d liked it there. It was the travelling that made me stop going there, and Tottenham wanted me to train with them which was 20 minutes up the road. When I heard West Ham wanted me, they were a lot bigger club than Norwich, and I knew it was an upward move for me."
When John Lyall bought me he told me he wanted to play at left-back. I had played a few games there, but didn't really like it!
Next year marks 30 years since the end of the season West Ham finished third in the top flight, 1985/86, and Steve played most of that season in the Hammers defence in a back line of Ray Stewart, Alvin Martin, Tony Gale and him in a new position at left-back.
“When John Lyall bought me he told me he wanted to play at left-back. I had played a few games there, but didn't really like it. I think we started that season by losing away at Birmingham City, it was an early kick off and we lost 1-0, then we went on an unbeaten run for about 20-odd games which I think is still a record for West Ham in the top division."
Steve lost his place in the team in March to George Parris and I asked how that came about.
“I was ill and missed the FA Cup fourth round second replay up at Ipswich, Georgie Parris replaced me in the team and I never got back in. I couldn't get him out of the team because he did that well.”
Of course, that season was dominated by the goals of Tony Cottee and Frank McAvennie, but Steve knew nothing about the latter when the season started!
“Up at Birmingham at the start of the season, Frank played in midfield, behind Sarge (Paul Goddard) and TC. Sarge came off injured, Dicko (Alan Dickens) came on and Frank went up front and the rest, as they say, is history. At the start, Frank was playing as an attacking midfielder, now you'd never have believed that would you."
After leaving West Ham and eventually retiring from playing Steve went into coaching and is currently working under Martin O'Neill with the Republic of Ireland.
As part of a team that included O'Neill and John Robertson, Steve won trophies with Celtic in Scotland and in England with Leicester, while also enjoying successful spells with Wycombe Wanderers, Norwich and Aston Villa.
As a West Ham player, though, he will always be remembered as one of our historic Boys of ’86.
This interview originally appeared in the Official Programme for the visit of Arsenal in December 2014.
The Boys of '86 will be back at the Boleyn Ground for the visit of Newcastle United on Monday 14 September. For more information, click here.
“When John Lyall bought me he told me he wanted to play at left-back. I had played a few games there, but didn't really like it. I think we started that season by losing away at Birmingham City, it was an early kick off and we lost 1-0, then we went on an unbeaten run for about 20-odd games which I think is still a record for West Ham in the top division."
Steve lost his place in the team in March to George Parris and I asked how that came about.
“I was ill and missed the FA Cup fourth round second replay up at Ipswich, Georgie Parris replaced me in the team and I never got back in. I couldn't get him out of the team because he did that well.”
Of course, that season was dominated by the goals of Tony Cottee and Frank McAvennie, but Steve knew nothing about the latter when the season started!
“Up at Birmingham at the start of the season, Frank played in midfield, behind Sarge (Paul Goddard) and TC. Sarge came off injured, Dicko (Alan Dickens) came on and Frank went up front and the rest, as they say, is history. At the start, Frank was playing as an attacking midfielder, now you'd never have believed that would you."
After leaving West Ham and eventually retiring from playing Steve went into coaching and is currently working under Martin O'Neill with the Republic of Ireland.
As part of a team that included O'Neill and John Robertson, Steve won trophies with Celtic in Scotland and in England with Leicester, while also enjoying successful spells with Wycombe Wanderers, Norwich and Aston Villa.
As a West Ham player, though, he will always be remembered as one of our historic Boys of ’86.
This interview originally appeared in the Official Programme for the visit of Arsenal in December 2014.
The Boys of '86 will be back at the Boleyn Ground for the visit of Newcastle United on Monday 14 September. For more information, click here.