Continuing our look back at West Ham United’s presence at previous FIFA World Cups, we feature the 1986 tournament in Mexico, where Alvin Martin and Frank McAvennie were both, all too fleetingly, in action...
After finishing the 1985/86 season in a record-high third place in the First Division, several members of the West Ham United squad had justifiable claims to be on the plane to the World Cup finals in Mexico later that summer.
But Tony Cottee would have to wait until after the 1986 FIFA World Cup finals in Mexico to earn his first cap, Alan Devonshire’s England career was over, while the call would never come for Tony Gale, Mark Ward or Alan Dickens.
So it was that only two Hammers would feature – centre-back Alvin Martin for England and striker Frank McAvennie for Scotland – among the 528 players named by the 24 competing nations. For the record, future West Ham players Jimmy Quinn (Northern Ireland), Paulo Futre (Portugal) were also among them.
Martin was 27 and in the prime of his career. Given his debut by Ron Greenwood in a 0-1 friendly defeat by Brazil in May 1981, the defender had missed the 1982 World Cup finals, was regularly in 1983, but then fell out of favour under Greenwood's successor Bobby Robson, who instead picked the likes of Ipswich Town’s Terry Butcher, Norwich City’s David Watson and Queens Park Rangers’ Terry Fenwick.
Martin, along with Butcher and Fenwick, were the centre-backs selected by Robson to go to Mexico, though, and the Hammer started a 1-0 win over Canada in Vancouver in England’s final warm-up match before the World Cup.
Butcher and Fenwick started England’s three group-stage matches – a 0-1 defeat by Portugal, a goalless draw with Morocco and a face-saving 3-0 win over Poland – as Robson’s under-fire Three Lions not so much roared but whimpered into the round of 16.
Fenwick’s two bookings against Portugal and Poland meant he was suspended for the meeting with Paraguay at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City, and Martin came in to partner Butcher at the heart of the defence.
Gary Lineker, whose hat-trick had seen off Poland, scored twice more, either side of Peter Beardsley’s goal, and England cruised through to a set-up a quarter-final matchup with Diego Maradona’s Argentina.
“I thoroughly enjoyed playing against Paraguay,” revealed Martin. “The atmosphere was contagious and against tricky opponents we took the game by the scruff of the neck. Personally, I was pleased with my own performance. I knew what I wanted to do and I did it.
“Terry Butcher and myself knew that we had completed a good job. There was camaraderie between us and we felt the partnership was right. We had beaten Paraguay 3-0 and looked good doing it, too.
“Bobby Robson was pleased with us all and in the next few days I was convinced that I’d be in the team for the quarter-final. The manager had praised the back-four, in particular, and I was absolutely sure I was going to keep my place. All my interviews with the press were about how I hoped to deal with Maradona.
“The team meeting was on the night before the game and Robson opened by saying: ‘The team is going to be the same.’ I relaxed in my seat - but the next few words delivered from the manager’s mouth shattered me. He continued: ‘...except for one change. I’m going to bring Terry Fenwick back for Alvin Martin.’ I felt totally stunned.
“Speechless, I glanced around the room and a couple of the lads just looked at me and shrugged. The fact that my fellow professionals couldn’t believe it made me feel worse.
“Looking back, I think Bobby Robson made a mistake dropping me, although we’ll never know,” insisted Alvin, who sat helplessly on the sidelines as Maradona ended England’s campaign with his ‘Hand of God’ and a sensational solo second in a 2-1 win on their way to lifting the World Cup.
“The handball tended to overshadow everything else about the game but deep down we knew they were better on the day and they were worthy winners of the tournament, too.”
Martin would play just once more for England, in a 1-0 friendly defeat in Sweden in September 1986.
Meanwhile, McAvennie’s tournament had ended after just two 30-minute substitute appearances for Alex Ferguson in Group E defeats by Denmark (0-1) and West Germany (1-2).
“I don’t know why Fergie didn’t give me more of a chance” said the forward, who had scored 28 goals for West Ham in his first season in east London. “I didn’t have a bust-up with him or anything like that, but he knew that I had the hump after only being substitute for the first two matches, so he left me out of the third one [against Uruguay] completely. Charlie Nicholas [of Arsenal] and myself should’ve been the main strikers but he picked the likes of Paul Sturrock and Steve Archibald instead.
“It didn’t make sense to most people and, after the season I’d had with West Ham, I was very disappointed. Even though he later called me a ‘maniac’ in his book, I’m privileged that Fergie took me to a World Cup. It’s an experience that the likes of George Best and Ryan Giggs never had…”
McAvennie, whose goal in the qualifying play-off against Australia had helped Scotland reach Mexico, would also feature just once more for his country, in a 2-2 friendly draw in Saudi Arabia in February 1988.
For both Hammers, the 1986 World Cup was their only experience of a major finals, and one which left them with mixed emotions - pride and confusion chief among them.
