Long-time West Ham United correspondent for the Evening Standard, Ken Dyer, reflects on a memorable couple of weeks for the Club
Long-time West Ham United correspondent for the Evening Standard, Ken Dyer, reflects on a memorable couple of weeks for the Club…
I have a lot of West Ham friends, and obviously they have been talking to each other after the events of the last week. Coming on top of the win against Spurs and the way the result came about against Everton, they all agreed that it doesn’t get better than that!
I suppose it does get better than that if we are able to go on and beat Manchester United on Sunday, but to come back from that position just shows you how much spirit and character there is in that team.
When you have that, the players must be thinking that whatever the circumstances, they can go out and win this game.
Slaven is very proactive in what he does, in the way he changes things if necessary. He doesn’t take too long, he gives things plenty of time, as he did against Everton when he brought Andy Carroll on at half time.
Quite rightly, Pochettino and Ranieri have had the spotlight this year, and Slaven has gone a bit under the radar, which has probably helped. That won’t happen for much longer if we continue as we are.
I have a lot of West Ham friends, and obviously they have been talking to each other after the events of the last week. Coming on top of the win against Spurs and the way the result came about against Everton, they all agreed that it doesn’t get better than that!
I suppose it does get better than that if we are able to go on and beat Manchester United on Sunday, but to come back from that position just shows you how much spirit and character there is in that team.
When you have that, the players must be thinking that whatever the circumstances, they can go out and win this game.
Slaven is very proactive in what he does, in the way he changes things if necessary. He doesn’t take too long, he gives things plenty of time, as he did against Everton when he brought Andy Carroll on at half time.
Quite rightly, Pochettino and Ranieri have had the spotlight this year, and Slaven has gone a bit under the radar, which has probably helped. That won’t happen for much longer if we continue as we are.
Now we have a trip to Old Trafford with 9,000 West Ham fans and that harks back to memories of Di Canio and Barthez. That was one of those wow moments, what happened there? It was a fabulous game and Old Trafford has special memories too with the year we stayed up.
The Barthez-Di Canio moment was great showbiz, two big characters facing each other and obviously Di Canio came out on top.
We also beat Manchester United in the semi-final of 1964, which is a game I remember well. I had been to all the home games that year in the cup run and I couldn’t get to the semi-final but I tuned in to the crackly radio.
I remember that it didn’t stop raining, and when you see footage of the pitch now, those kind of surfaces don’t exist any more.
Ronnie Boyce came up with two goals, which was fairly rare for him as he supplied the midfield engine room of the team. Then he popped up in the final and got the winner there as well. It was a great day.
What the Cup does is throw up unlikely heroes, and I don’t mind who scores on Sunday as long as we do it!
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of West Ham United
The Barthez-Di Canio moment was great showbiz, two big characters facing each other and obviously Di Canio came out on top.
We also beat Manchester United in the semi-final of 1964, which is a game I remember well. I had been to all the home games that year in the cup run and I couldn’t get to the semi-final but I tuned in to the crackly radio.
I remember that it didn’t stop raining, and when you see footage of the pitch now, those kind of surfaces don’t exist any more.
Ronnie Boyce came up with two goals, which was fairly rare for him as he supplied the midfield engine room of the team. Then he popped up in the final and got the winner there as well. It was a great day.
What the Cup does is throw up unlikely heroes, and I don’t mind who scores on Sunday as long as we do it!
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of West Ham United