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...
Having slipped down to sixth place following an appalling showing at Cardiff that ranked among the worst in recent memory, West Ham needed a November to remember if they were going to stay in the automatic promotion hunt.
Alan Pardew spoke about the need for consistency, despite himself seeming prone to changing his mind. Sometimes you wondered how a starting line-up ever made it onto the dressing room wall. Poor Hayden Mullins. The season was only three months old and he’d already played eight positions. At this rate he’d be putting goalie gloves on his Christmas list!
Nonetheless, after the collapse at Cardiff, the gaffer was entirely justified in making changes. He needed a result against QPR. The pressure was growing. There was an unease around Upton Park at the prospect of staying another year in a division where every week was a dogfight.
When QPR notched an undeserved 74th-minute equaliser (cancelling out a Marlon Harewood penalty), there was a sense of injustice around the ground. For once, we’d been dominant. Marlon could have had double figures after his spot-kick success. Unfortunately, he was having one of those games where his shooting boots had been replaced with scatterguns.
But Harewood was never one to shy away from the spotlight. The powerful striker wasn’t going to run away from adversity - he was going to run through it. So, when Bobby Zamora dummied a cross in the 84th minute which left his strike partner with sight of goal, there was only one thought in his mind. Violence. Sweet, sweet violence. Harewood’s strike arrowed into the top corner. He had two goals. West Ham had three points. And Alan Pardew had one night of respite from the pressure.
Sadly, it didn’t last long.
When the final whistle blew at Upton Park a week later, the Irons’ boss couldn’t believe his luck. Brighton had burst into the Boleyn in balaclavas and stolen a win. We battered the Seagulls for 89 minutes. We had 17 shots, but only three on target. It’s hard to do justice to how bad our finishing was. Chance after chance came our way and somehow we hacked, scooped and scythed them into the stands. Then, as so often happens in this cruellest of games, Brighton scored from their one and only effort on goal.
One fixture you don’t want on the back of such misfortune is a trip to Millwall. If Lady Luck wasn’t on your side, she was likely to strap up a pair of Dr. Martens and kick you square in the plums.
Which is exactly what happened.
The signs weren’t good before the game. Perhaps scarred by the previous season’s 4-1 hammering at The New Den, Pardew prepared his team as if we were playing the Brazil side of 1970. Millwall were a fairly decent outfit, but no one was going to confuse Danny Dichio and Barry Hayles for Zico and Pelé. For 60 minutes the football was terrible. The ball was an innocent bystander as the mutual dislike from the terraces was personified by those on the pitch. Tackles were firm. Elbows were high. Headers were contested like careers depended on it. Every now and again a pass would find its target before the chaos resumed. The was Division One’s version of a Royal Rumble as bodies collided all over the pitch.
The merest hints of association football on show came from the hosts. We were lucky to go into the break on level terms. The hope from the away contingent was that in the second period we’d show the ambition to match our industry.
After 63 minutes Harewood exploded into life. Turning his marker, he stormed into the penalty area and was hacked down by Darren Ward. The referee marched forward and produced a second yellow card… to the West Ham striker!
There have been worse refereeing decisions against West Ham than the one Peter Walton made on 21 November 2004. But few that provoked this amount of anger. Harewood was clearly fouled. And it was a clear penalty. Claiming otherwise is like the Titanic refusing to acknowledge that the iceberg was victorious.
Yet we were down to ten men, and within ten minutes we were down on the scoresheet, too. A deep cross headed in by Dichio sent us home pointless in almost every sense.
The mood among the travelling faithful was one of anger. There were shouts for Pardew’s head after our third loss in four games. We were now eight points adrift of automatic promotion and clinging onto the final Play-Off spot thanks to goal difference alone.
Next up was Watford at home. It felt like a must-win game for the gaffer. Anything other than three points and Trevor Brooking might be taking training again on Tuesday.
It was now or never for the Alan Pardew era.
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.
