That Was The Decade That Was - The Start of the Noughties

The first game of the decade and a new century?

A 2-2 draw away to Newcastle. The team read:

Hislop – Potts, Stimac, Ferdinand, Minto – Cole, Foe, Lampard, Carrick, Sinclair – Keller.

How wonderful would it have been had we retained four of that team? No prizes for guessing which four! Lampard scored our first goal of the decade and Stimac the second as we fought back from two goals down to draw the game. This was a Newcastle team featuring both Shearer and Ferguson up front and Speed, Solano and Lee is midfield. A point well won under ‘Arry’s stewardship! No Di Canio of course – come on, Newcastle, just after the New Year celebrations, cold January day – what chance?

11th January 2000 West Ham 1 Aston Villa 3

Remarkable because this was a League Cup game played after we had already knocked Villa out of the Cup. The trouble was, of course, that ‘Arry sent on Manny Omoyinmi as a substitute in the original game, even though he was cup tied. And we all knew, from the moment a replay was ordered, that we would do the decent thing and crash out of the cup! Of all the cock ups we have been involved in over the years, this was the second biggest – beaten into second place only by the signing of Tevez! I remember listening to the commentary on the radio for the original game and yelling “He’s cup tied, he’s bloody cup tied” as Manny was about to be sent on. I knew, why in God’s name didn’t ‘Arry? And what about the kid himself?
For the record, the Hammers on duty that day were: Hislop, Potts (Ruddock 91), Ferdinand, Stimac, Minto, Lomas, Foe, Lampard, Cole, Sinclair (Keller 116), Di Canio.

Who scored our goal? Have a guess. Frank Lampard!

12th February 2000 West Ham 5 Bradford City 4

They don’t come much freakier than that! Well apart from being five goals to the good against Burnley before hanging on desperately to a 5-3 victory! Things never change at West Ham do they? Sinclair, Di Canio, Cole, Lampard and Moncur were all on the scoresheet that day. Bywater made his debut as a teenager, coming on for the injured Hislop, and did not make the most auspicious of starts. A 2-4 deficit in the second half was turned around in remarkable fashion with Lampard crashing home the winner. Yes, Frank Lampard again guys; you know Fat Frank, the one you love to hate! The Hammers on show that day were as follows: Hislop (Bywater 2), Charles (Kitson 57), Ferdinand, Stimac, Minto, Lomas, Moncur, Lampard, Cole, Di Canio, Sinclair.

April Fools Day 2000 – Man Utd 7 West Ham 1

In the rogues’ gallery that day were: Forrest – Potts, Foe, Ferdinand, Minto, Lomas, Lampard, Moncur, Sinclair – Kanoute, Wanchope

Wanchope scored and Di Canio again failed to make it past Watford Gap! A “hip injury” this time apparently! ‘Arry had said before the game that the Mancs were not playing as well as in the previous season and Scholes rammed his ill advised words down his throat with a hat-trick, his first in club colours – and all this after Wanchope had given us the lead in the 11th minute. It is never a good idea to upset the big boys so early on in a game is it? Poor Forrest must have been having nightmares, he had been in the Ipswich goal five years earlier when they shipped 9! Intriguingly, despite the hammering, Redknapp elected to stick with his original starting eleven throughout. What did that say to the guys on the subs bench? Well, apart from Cole, who ‘Arry was no doubt protecting, you couldn’t expect a lot from Feuer, Keller, Charles or McCann could you?

April 22nd, 2000 West Ham 5 Coventry 0

Margas scored! Di Canio bagged two, Kanoute netted and Carrick also got on the score sheet.

For the record, we finished that first season of the new decade and century in 9th place with 55 points. Redknapp was still our manager, Ferdinand, Cole, Lampard and Carrick were the future of West Ham and England and Di Canio and Kanoute looked a bit tasty up front. Add in Sinclair who was to go to the next World Cup and things looked rather promising. But then things started to go wrong!