Sid Lambert takes us back 20 years to the 2004/05 season, when Alan Pardew’s Hammers secured a rollercoaster return to the Premier League...
Seeing star players leave West Ham has been a common theme throughout my lifetime. I remember the tears in my eyes during the summer of 1988 as I tore down the poster of Everton-bound Tony Cottee from my bedroom wall. A year later, my face contorted as Paul Ince completed his controversial move to Manchester United.
The economic reality of a club like ours has been that at some point bigger teams with bigger budgets will try and tempt your prize assets elsewhere. As painful as it is, you grow to accept it.
Unless, that is, they move to Spurs.
In August 2004 the headline on BBC Sport drove a dagger through my Claret and Blue heart: ‘Carrick nears Spurs move’.
Oh no. Not again.
It was only a year earlier, after our nonsensical relegation to the Championship, that we’d been asset-stripped by various London rivals. The sight of Joe Cole in a Chelsea shirt was bad enough. But when Frédéric Kanouté and Jermain Defoe packed their bags for north London, it was heartbreaking.
Anyone. Anyone but them.
According to the newspapers, whose relationship with the truth was often distant, Carrick had no shortage of suitors. And it was no surprise. He’d spent a season strolling around the chaos of the second tier and he needed to showcase his talents at the top level. Arsenal, Portsmouth, Crystal Palace and Everton were reportedly in the hunt for his signature. All of which would have been preferable to Tottenham.
We got our first glimpse of life without our playmaker in a Carling Cup tie at home to Southend. The Shrimpers were 64 places below us in the Football League, but we huffed and puffed our way to a thoroughly unimpressive 2-0 win. Marlon Harewood ‘s two goals and a debut for a 17-year-old Mark Noble were two of the few positives on a night when a smallish crowd of 16,000 voiced their discontent at the Board for selling off the club’s silver.
There were murmurs of dissatisfaction with one of our recent arrivals from Tottenham too. Sergei Rebrov, a man with the physical presence of a flea, endured another torrid evening. It felt like Spurs had nicked our Ferrari (Carrick) and given us a Nissan Micra in part-exchange.
The Ukrainian was dropped for the visit of Burnley to Upton Park as we resumed league business with a nervy win over the previously unbeaten Clarets. The winner came from Adam Nowland, who’d had a fairly dire time since his move from Wimbledon in January. Nowland was a puzzle. The more he played, the less I understood. I thought we were getting a midfield man who might unlock defences. But when our main tactic was hoofing up to big Marlon and Teddy Sheringham, there was little use for lockpicker. We needed a battering ram instead.
The main problem was around where to play him. In a midfield two alongside Nigel Reo-Coker, he seemed to be overrun. And when played further forward in a midfield three, the game passed him by. So, what was his best position? I had a sneaking suspicion it was on the bench. And evidently Alan Pardew agreed. This would end up being Nowland’s final home game for the club. At least he signed off in style.
So, we travelled to Coventry City in late August just one point off top spot – despite a fairly Jekyll and Hyde season so far. There were moments in games where we could play like Brazil’s 1970 side, then others where our players looked like they’d done their pre-match warm-up in a Toby Carvery. It was baffling. A trip to Highfield Road would be an acid test for our title credentials.
A test that we failed in spectacular style.
Despite early Sky Blues pressure, we actually took the lead. Harewood, doing a passable impression of Thierry Henry, danced around three defenders and set up Sheringham for the sort of tap-in that had kept his bank account topped up in goal bonuses for 20 years. It was a brilliant individual moment that belied our team performance. We were terrible. And it was no surprise when Coventry equalised just two minutes later.
The West Ham gaffer needed a reaction from his half-time team talk. If Alex Ferguson had his famous hairdryer for when Manchester United dipped below their normal standards, Alan Pardew would have been justified in using a flamethrower.
Sadly, our hopes of three points went up in smoke amidst a forgettable second-half showing. Coventry’s Andy Morrell volleyed a winner and condemned us to our second defeat in six league games.
These are the moments, bouncing back from a depressing defeat, when managers earn their money. Or, in Pards’ case, spend it.
“That is not the sort of performance I expect from a West Ham team,” he fumed afterwards. “All I can say is that we’ll have two new faces in when we play Sheffield United in two weeks’ time.”
Evidently, that Carrick cash burning a hole in his pocket wouldn’t be there long. But could he spend it wisely?
Sid has a new book out: ‘Highs, Lows and Di Canios: The Fans’ Guide to West Ham United in the 90s’. Visit www.thewesthamway.com, or head into the official West Ham store for a rollercoaster ride through one of the most turbulent decades in Claret & Blue history.
*The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views opinions of West Ham United.
