Continuing our series commemorating the 50th-anniversary of the Club’s FA Cup final victory over Fulham, we catch-up with two-time winner FRANK LAMPARD SENIOR, who set the Hammers on the road to Wembley with his third-round strike against Saturday’s visitors, Southampton...
It may not have been the dramatic, diving-header that secured a spectacular semi-final victory at Elland Road in 1980.
And unlike his extraordinary, extra-time winner over Everton, it may not have spawned a terrace song, either.
Indeed, not many Hammers fans would have been ‘Dreaming of a Frank Lampard’ as they headed to Southampton on 4 January 1975
But it was the long-serving full-back, who got our FA Cup campaign up and running with the opening goal in a third-round ding-dong at The Dell.
“We always played nice football but were never going to win the league,” concedes the Club legend, who sits in second-spot in our all-time appearance charts with 670 appearances across his 18 seasons. “The only chance to put ourselves on the map each season was to try and win a trophy. Lifting the FA Cup as players would be the equivalent of winning the title and, as far as our fans were concerned, West Ham United was their life.
“Driving to the Boleyn Ground on matchdays, I’d watch them walking from Rathbone Market to Upton Park and then see them stopping off - win, lose or draw - for a few beers on their way home, too.
“FA Cup weekends were very special and, each January, we’d go into the third-round thinking: ‘Let’s get to Wembley for the supporters.’ That was the dream but it was easier said than done and we’d suffered a few shocks down the years.”
Again, there was potential to run aground on the south coast against the recently-relegated Saints.
On 26 minutes, however, Frank put the wind into East End sails with a vicious 20-yard free-kick that ‘keeper Eric Martin failed to hold and West Ham were on their way.
Brave Bobby Gould doubled the lead with a diving header before retiring with a broken-leg at the interval and, although Mick Channon pulled one back with a second-half penalty, the visitors held on for a 2-1 win.
“Always rely on the old boys to score the goals,” laughs Frank recalling a huge turnaround in Hammers fortunes following a dismal start to 1974/75 that saw them win just once in their first eight matches. “Nothing’s worse than being down there at the bottom because it becomes very touch and go but John Lyall then took over as manager from Ron Greenwood. He bought three new players and we started to do well, climbing up to fifth-place by Christmas - we never, ever got that high!
“Ron had been a good manager while John - his younger understudy - had already worked with us. A local boy and former Academy player, John had never been scared to give us his thoughts and, upon taking over, he brought different ideas with him.
“First-team management suited John down to the ground and - putting an arm around his players - he was like a dad to us.”
Certainly, Lyall had pulled off a masterstroke with the autumn signings of hitherto unknown trio - Billy Jennings, Keith Robson and Alan Taylor.
“Those three gave us all a big lift and helped turn our season around,” acknowledges the twice-capped England international. “Nobody had heard of them but they bedded-in really well. Billy could score goals, while ‘Robbo’ quickly showed us what a character he was - both on and off the pitch (!) - and ‘Sparrow’ was so fast.”
Having sent the Saints marching out, Lyall’s lads then drew third-tier Swindon Town at the Boleyn Ground in the fourth-round.
“We were odds-on but it didn’t work out like that,” sighs Frank recalling a hard-fought 1-1 draw. “West Ham supporters were staunch, knowledgeable punters, who’d work hard all week before spending their wages to come along and watch us. They always wanted whole-hearted, honest performances and could get restless.
“Once, the ball rolled out of play along the old Chicken Run touchline and, with the fans so close to the pitch, no-one wanted our throw-in. Left-back, I was closest and looked across to the dug-out where John shouted: ‘C’mon Frank, someone’s got to take it!’”
A tricky trip to Wiltshire on a freezing Tuesday night in late-January was the last thing West Ham wanted and things got yet tougher when the Robins took an interval lead.
“It was difficult going to the County Ground, where Swindon had nothing to lose and we all thought: ‘Here we go again,’” admits Frank, who then saw Trevor Brooking and Pat Holland net second-half goals to clinch a 2-1 victory. “In the end, we showed great character to win.”
After seeing-off Queens Park Rangers (2-1) at Upton Park, West Ham then faced a daunting dash to a boggy Highbury, where Taylor famously wallowed in the mud, scoring twice upon his first-ever FA Cup start for the Hammers following his £40,000 move from Rochdale.
“No-one had us down to win that quarter-final,” contends the 76-year-old. “Arsenal had all the big names and faces - it was one of the highlights of my career and a massive confidence builder to go there and beat them 2-0.”
Following a semi-final stalemate against Ipswich Town (0-0) at Villa Park, Taylor memorably netted another double in the Stamford Bridge replay (2-1) to set up a Wembley date with Fulham.
“We’d always wanted to win things and now had our shoulders back. Nobody had expected either of us to reach the FA Cup final and, although we were both the poor relations of London football, it was still a derby,” observes Frank, who was now destined to face a good friend and a formidable former team-mate, with whom he had made over 200 outings in Claret & Blue. “Playing against Bobby Moore? You couldn’t have written that script, could you? As his room-mate on away trips, I’d learned so much from him both on-and-off the pitch.
“Everyone reckoned Bobby wasn’t quick as a player but his footballing brain more than made up for that,” insists Frank pointing towards his forehead. “Everything he needed to play the game was up there. Bobby was absolutely outstanding as a person, too. Sure, he liked a bit of ‘social’ but - equally - he was also a great professional.
“Undisturbed, we’d go to the Baker’s Arms at Leyton for a drink - imagine turning up at the pub today with a FIFA World Cup winning England captain! Sometimes, we’d head into town, albeit Bobby mixed in posher circles up there so I just kept quiet!
“We didn’t talk to each other in the lead-up to Wembley - it didn’t feel right - but knew we’d catch-up afterwards, whatever the score. It’d be strange seeing Bobby wearing a Fulham shirt but just like everyone else out there, we knew he’d be trying his hardest to win by using that clever brain to sweep-up everything coming his way. I warned Billy Jennings and Sparrow: ‘Don’t get too close to ‘Mooro’ on Saturday because he’ll nick the ball off you.’
“Sadly, my Dad had been killed in a road accident, when I was aged five or six and - as a kid - I’d been raised by my Auntie Ethel in East Ham and my Nan and Grandad in Canning Town. Everyone around me grew up supporting West Ham, all my mates were Hammers mad - they still are - and so many people were after me for a ticket!
“Life really changed in the build-up to Wembley - everyone was all over the final and we were fully in the public eye.
“Not one bit cosmopolitan, we were a good side. Eleven Englishmen and - apart from Sparrow and Graham Paddon - we were made up of local lads from the East End and Essex. Our fans identified with that and absolutely loved it.
“As a full-back, I enjoyed getting forward and joining our attacks but at Wembley I knew we had to stay organised, keep things tight and take our time. Our ‘keeper, Mervyn Day, was 19-years-old and most of the other lads were still only in their early-20s. I told myself: ‘We’re not giving anything away here.’
“Billy Bonds (aged 28), Trevor (26) and myself (26) had all been around for a bit longer and, while Fulham’s kids had the experience of Mooro and Alan Mullery to help them, we had to make sure that we talked our boys over the line.
“It was similar in 1980 against Arsenal (1-0), when we were on the back foot and had to guide the likes of Paul Allen (17), Ray Stewart (20) and Alvin Martin (21) through what was the second winning FA Cup final for all three of us.”
Lampard, Bonds and Brooking remain the only Hammers to have won the trophy twice.
“Thankfully, back in 1975, Alan Taylor was on that scoring run - a breath of fresh air, he reminded me of Harry Redknapp with his out-and-out pace down the wings. Sparrow’s sheer speed stretched teams and, yet again, he scored those two really important goals in our 2-0 win over Fulham. He’d cost us £40,000 - that’s nowhere near a week’s wages these days!
“The trophy parade on the Sunday was brilliant, too, and those scenes were absolutely unbelievable. We’d always thought we could do something one day and I really felt it for those punters that morning. They were so happy to see us bringing a trophy home,” concludes Frank, whose life-long appreciation of the East End’s community spirit endures to this day via his ownership of the classically restored Nightingale on the Green in Wanstead. “Football’s changed but it’s still good to welcome West Ham fans to the pub for a pint and a chat because they were truly great days.
“Once you’ve won the FA Cup no-one can ever take that away from you and I’m very fortunate to have experienced it twice - there aren’t too many players from my era who can say they’ve got two FA Cup winners’ medals.”
