It is 58 years since West Ham United lifted their first and, so far, only major European trophy.
It was 19 May 1965, Wembley Stadium was the venue, the European Cup Winners’ Cup was the prize and West German Cup holders TSV 1860 Munich were the Hammers’ opponents.
Ron Greenwood’s side included Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters, but instead it was a 23-year-old outside right, Alan Sealey, who stole the show, scoring both goals in West Ham’s 2-0 victory.
After a goalless but entertaining opening hour, West Ham struck two hammer blows in quick succession. First, Ronnie Boyce nipped in to steal possession on the edge of the centre circle before strolling forward and sliding the ball to Sealey, who took a touch and rifled a shot into the top right-hand corner – before celebrating with a forward roll that has gone down in Hammers folklore.
Moments later, victory was completed by the No7 was in the right place at the right time again when Bobby Moore’s free-kick was knocked into his path by Martin Peters and the man nicknamed ‘Sammy’ swept home from no more than four yards.
Sadly, Sealey suffered a broken leg in a freak training ground accident just weeks later which effectively ended his career at the highest level. he would play just five more first-team games for the Hammers before departing for Plymouth Argyle in 1967. After spells with non-league Romford and Bedford Town, he retired in 1969.
West Ham’s European hero passed away in February 1996 at the age of 53, but his son Anthony says his famous father would be proud and excited to see the Club he led to glory back in another final.
Anthony has travelled to Prague to cheer on his beloved Hammers against ACF Fiorentina in the UEFA Europa Conference League showpiece on Wednesday evening, and spoke to whufc.com before his departure…
It’s amazing to have this opportunity and experience, especially with my Dad having played in a European final for West Ham and won it with his two goals. I’ve seen the goals and the highlights many times and they always make me proud.
With him not being alive any longer, it’s someone’s else chance to write their name into Hammers history. It’s nearly 60 years and about time we won another major trophy.
It’s just exciting to be travelling with friends and we’re going to really enjoy the trip to Prague.
I’m going with best friend Neil Adams, who has been going to West Ham with me since the age of 12 when my Dad was scouting for Harry Redknapp and got us tickets, and another friend called Paul, who travels home and away.
Dad would have loved it. He loved nothing more than going to a game. We didn’t actually get to go to many West Ham games together because he was scouting here, there and everywhere, so we didn’t go together as many times as we’d have liked. In fact, we probably saw more Manchester United games when my uncle Les was playing there than we did West Ham!
We used to watch that team with Eric Cantona in it. Dad didn’t talk a lot about football in terms of when he had played, but he used to compare ‘Budgie’ Byrne as the Cantona of his time, with his aura and his character. Both were the most talented players and a bit of a maverick.
He compared Bruce and Pallister to Brown and Moore and the fast attacking wingers, Brabrook, Sissons and himself to Sharpe and Giggs, which gave me an idea of what he and his team were like when he was playing in the ‘60s.
I was a bit too young to take it all in at the time, though, and I regret we never really asked enough about his career.
One thing I know is that he had amazing respect for manager Ron Greenwood as his philosophy was at the heart of everything West Ham achieved back then.
Bobby Moore was his hero and friend in every aspect of the things he did. He told me Bobby was class as a person and as a player. Dad had a huge level of respect for him and said ‘make sure you listen to him’ when he was on TV and Capital Gold radio when we were listening in the car.
Looking back at that final in 1965, Dad’s first goal was the trust and cleanest strike you could ever imagine. It must have been incredible to score a goal like that in front of 100,000 people at Wembley. He was such a clean striker of the ball. It was an absolute ping. He was then in the right place at the right time to score his second from about four yards out.
One of the things I enjoy is seeing him scoring a third goal by punching the ball in and it’s his fun character. In a massive game, to do that, it said a lot about him. He was very laid back, but maybe not the most confident, but that allowed him to shine because he didn’t over-think things too much.
Dad grew up 50 yards away from Upton Park and West Ham was his team, even though he started out at Leyton Orient. He went to school in Pretoria Road in Canning Town.
One thing about Dad was that he never really pushed it. He played in a first-team trial session at Orient by chance and they signed him there and then after he scored five goals. It was meant to be. He got into the first team at West Ham as a 20-year-old and was finding himself as an outside-right and was just finding his confidence and then it all went up the wall when it broke his leg.
It’s a ‘wow’ moment that he lived out his dream that night, though, and he will always, always be part of West Ham United’s history.
