Continuing our series commemorating the 50th-anniversary of the Club’s FA Cup triumph over Fulham, former Hammers and Cottagers defender KEVIN LOCK recalls our wonderful Wembley win back in May 1975...
From perching over the Players’ Tunnel at the Boleyn Ground to sitting in the seats at London Stadium, supporting West Ham United has been a labour of love for Kevin Lock across some six decades now.
But, as well as following the Club for those 60-plus years, he has also achieved something thousands upon thousands of Hammers fans can only ever dream about.
For the four-times capped England U23 international made 165 appearances down West Ham way and he lifted the FA Cup, too.
“It’s mad that I’ve gone full-circle back to where it all started!” he exclaims, reflecting on a lifetime’s Claret and Blue commitment. “West Ham United will always be my team and it’s great that I can now share that passion with my grandson, Jack, who’s equally bonkers about the Club. We’ve been going to games from the moment he could sing ‘Bubbles’.
“As a kid, on matchdays, I’d queue on the Green Street forecourt from eleven o’clock and sprint through the turnstiles to get stood next to the tunnel watching the players running out.
“When I was eight, our teacher had asked what we’d do when we grew up? ‘I’m playing for West Ham United,’ I replied. That was my dream. I only ever wanted to be a footballer.
“Up until the age of 13, I was reasonably bright but once I’d started training with the Club on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, education fell by the wayside. Football took over.
“Leaving school at 15 with no qualifications, I’d no fallback and, if I hadn’t made it as a player, who knows what would’ve happened? Looking back, I didn’t realise how lucky I was to achieve so much with my local club.”
After making his debut at Sheffield United (0-3) in February 1972, Lock enjoyed more first-team opportunities before 1973/74 became a challenging campaign for both player and Club. A serious groin injury forced Kevin out of action, while the Hammers only avoided relegation by a solitary point.
With West Ham then winning only one of their opening eight matches of 1974/75, the captures of Billy Jennings, Keith Robson and Alan Taylor proved the telling catalyst for an upturn in fortunes.
“We needed an injection of new faces and got three players, who’d served their time in the lower leagues or reserves,” recalls Kev. “They didn’t have to be big money signings, they just needed to give us lift. Sometimes that’s all it takes.”
Indeed, with on-fire West Ham stringing together an impressive run of results that sent them roaring into fifth at Christmas, they then embarked upon an unforgettable FA Cup ride that took them all the way to Wembley.
After winning at Southampton (2-1), the Hammers then overcame Swindon Town (2-1) in a fourth-round replay, having drawn at the Boleyn Ground (1-1).
“We needed a bit of luck in those early matches,” contends Lock, who then experienced a surreal Saturday as John Lyall’s troops met Queens Park Rangers in the last 16.
“My wife went into labour on the morning of the game, so I dropped her off at Orsett Hospital on my way to Upton Park,” he reveals. “This was the FA Cup fifth round and no way was I going to miss it. ‘I’ll see you tonight,’ I said, bundling her out the car!
“I wasn’t concerned about losing my starting place, but I was worried about missing that cup tie. It was a given that you always gave your best whenever you possibly could and I wanted to play against QPR. All the personal stuff had to be put to one side. We were professional footballers. We played football. It’s what we did. My missus understood that, too.
“Following our 2-1 victory over Rangers, I immediately phoned the hospital. Still, there was no news but by the time I reached Orsett – my first daughter Carly had been born.
“After winning that London derby, we started thinking: ‘Maybe we’ve got a chance here?’ But then we were drawn away at Arsenal who’d already beaten us there in the league (0-3), in late October.”
Rain cascading from the Highbury heavens, on a quagmire of a pitch, it certainly was not a Saturday afternoon to be wearing the changed strip of all-white that would test the patience of the laundry ladies.
Mud-splattered Alan Taylor – a bargain bucket £40,000 signing from Rochdale – took just a quarter-hour to open the scoring on his first-ever FA Cup start for John Lyall’s underdogs.
And after the visitors survived a gigantic Gunners penalty appeal when ‘keeper Mervyn Day collided with [future Hammer] John Radford in the atrocious conditions, Taylor sealed a memorable 2-0 victory just after the interval.
“All pitches were the same back then,” observes Kev. “With today’s Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology, though, I can’t imagine any referee simply waving play on after Merv’s challenge?
“Our Highbury performance was the best of the entire cup run. Alan came from nowhere, scored twice and made all the headlines – coincidentally, he lodged at my Mum’s house when he first signed for the Club.
“Now, we really did start thinking: ‘Our name is on the cup.’ We went to the steakhouse in Green Street to hear the semi-final draw hoping we’d be paired with either Birmingham City or second-tier Fulham but ended up getting the best team left, Ipswich Town.
“That meant two really tough ties – the first one at Villa Park was an awful goalless draw, then in the replay at Stamford Bridge, Alan got another two goals in a snow blizzard, while Ipswich had a couple disallowed in our 2-1 win.
“Having just seen us reach the final, a big crowd was waiting for the team-coach at the Boleyn Ground. Coming out of the Players’ Car Park, without realising, I drove over a policeman’s boot and broke his foot! Chasing me along Green Steet, his colleagues stopped me on the hill outside Upton Park station. It’d obviously been a complete accident and they let me on my way.”
Now meeting Bobby Moore’s Fulham under Wembley’s famous Twin Towers, there was added poignancy for the then 21-year-old Lock, who had worshipped the Hammers legend from the Boleyn Ground terraces before finding himself up close and personal with England’s FIFA 1966 World Cup winning captain in West Ham’s rear-guard.
“Three seasons earlier, Ron Greenwood had told me I’d be starting our final away match of 1971/72 at Arsenal (1-2),” he continues, “Bobby was out injured but he was great in the run-up to my full-debut, filling me with encouragement. That was the man he was but wearing his No.6 shirt always weighed heavily on my shoulders. Despite what the newspapers wrote, I wasn’t ever going to be the ‘new’ Bobby Moore, the best player many of us have ever seen.
“It was always ridiculous to compare us. Sure, we were both local boys, both blond, both wore No.6 and both played in the same position but that’s where all comparisons ended.
“Immaculate in everything he did, I’d idolised Bobby as a kid and then as a team-mate. It was a privilege and an honour just to be on the same pitch as a truly unique footballer, who’s never been replaced.
“Bobby had joined Fulham a year earlier and it was surreal to be facing him at Wembley. If he hadn’t been playing against West Ham then, like the vast majority of people, I would’ve loved it if he’d won one last trophy.
“Alan Taylor may have scored both our goals in our 2-0 victory but for me, Bobby, aged 34, was the best player on the pitch that afternoon. He was so magnanimous in defeat, too.
“There’ll always be anxiety before any FA Cup final because nobody wants to lose such a massive game after working so hard to get to Wembley,” admits Lock, looking back on 3 May 1975. “Once you’re out there, though, you just concentrate on your job and forget there are 100,000 people inside the stadium, with millions watching worldwide on television, too.
“We heard a wall of sound but it definitely wasn’t as nerve-wracking as a difficult day in front of the old Chicken Run at Upton Park!
“As players, we’d been kept inside a bubble and missed all the build-up to Saturday. Every boy dreamed of playing in an FA Cup final because it was the trophy to win but – equally – as a Hammers fan, I would’ve loved to have been strolling down Wembley Way, taking in the atmosphere and standing on the terraces.
“The trophy parade through the East End on Sunday morning was ridiculous, too – we certainly hadn’t anticipated scenes like that. Absolute mayhem! We’d been in our bubble all week but could now see what winning the FA Cup meant to everyone.”
Ironically, three years later, Kevin joined Fulham, where he made some 230 outings across seven seasons before finishing his career under manager ‘Mooro’ at Southend United.
“I’d never wanted to leave West Ham but it wasn’t to be,” insists the Essex-based, 71-year-old, who has no immediate plans to retire from his present job as a court usher. “I enjoyed my time at Craven Cottage, though, and my old defensive team-mate Les Strong has already invited me to Fulham’s own 1975 finalists’ dinner later this season.”
Meanwhile, having savoured FA Cup glory as a Hammer, the London Stadium Season Ticket Holder now craves victory as a supporter.
“It doesn’t get any better than playing for the team you’ve supported since you were eight and winning the trophy at Wembley,” he concludes. “But these days, I’m living my love of West Ham United alongside Jack and I’d give anything to get the chance to experience victory as a fan outside that player’s bubble. Just one more FA Cup final, that’s all..!”
