If the Ghost of Christmas Past was to find its way to east London, it would have a lot to talk about with our players, owners, and manager. Charles Dickens created this haunting spectre to pay a Christmas Eve visit to a man making poor choices in his life – and we sure have a lot of men making poor choices in our football club; From the owner, to the manager, and even some of the players.
The idea of the Ghost is that reflecting on events in the past, and shedding light on how we arrived at such a bitter and negative juncture in our lives, could help us shape the future and remind us that change is always possible. At the time of writing, Julien Lopetegui is still the manager of West Ham United – and although he’s not a man haunted by his past, his present-day circumstances are something of a nightmare for all concerned.
Terrible results and an inability to defend have left him in a tenuous position – and left fans angry and depressed about the club’s current status. David Sullivan, who is directly responsible for bringing him into the club, also shoulders responsibility for our negative situation.
You’d hope that heading into the festive season could bring some much-needed joy into the club, but the memories of Christmases past do not make for cheery viewing for West Ham United fans. You might think we’ve got it bad now, but spare a thought for the Hammers who were alive for Boxing Day 1963.
Ron Greenwood’s West Ham lost 8-2 at home to Blackburn, in an epic festive loss which has yet to be matched – although the way things are going for the Hammers, if we try hard enough, this could be the year we do even worse.
This was a team that initially went 2-0 up and had Bobby Moore in the side, so our 2024 cohort might be in trouble. We’ve also had some poor, and suspicious, individual performances during the Christmas season.
Kevin Nolan had a remarkable ability to schedule red cards, guaranteeing himself a Christmas on the couch instead of the pitch. For an incredible five years in a row, he managed to get himself suspended in December, missing the bulk of the festive fixtures on four occasions.
For Christmas 2013 and New Years 2014, he outdid himself, getting sent off early in December against Liverpool and then again just three appearances later against Fulham on New Year’s Day for an off-the-ball kick at an opposition player – ensuring he put the ’holiday’ into ‘Christmas holiday.’
As an added highlight, during the 2013/14 season, West Ham had to cancel their Christmas party as ‘their Premier League performances are nothing to celebrate’. The team was so bad they had to cancel Christmas.
It’s not just Boxing Day that’s been full of bad memories for the Irons, New Year’s Day has also had some real low points. In 2007 I had the misfortune to buy a ticket which faced the pitch for our game away at Reading.
Being colossally hungover made the goals hard to stomach and once Reading had their fifth, we decided to leave. We didn’t even make it to the staircase before Reading knocked in a sixth to wrap up the result in their favour.
It wasn’t all coal in the stocking for Hammers fans, however – there has been the occasional present along the years. Under Pellegrini in 2018, we had a bright December with West Ham picking up a whopping 15 points – a record for Premier League points collected in one month.
During this December, we more than doubled our points total for the season so far – a great stat for December, but a terrible one for the three months prior. We also used to take to the field on Christmas Day up until 1958. Imagine having your Christmas ruined before even tucking into your turkey.
It wasn’t all doom and gloom for a claret and blue Christmas, however. Vic Watson, West Ham’s all-time leading scorer, was quite the Christmas cracker, scoring on Christmas Day in 1924, 1925, 1929, 1931 and 1933.
It’s not the brightest look into the history of our festive frowns, but the role of the Ghost of Christmas Past isn’t just to present a lowlights reel, it’s also a chance to learn from the past to influence the future.
Short of me breaking into the homes of David Sullivan, Karren Brady, and Julien Lopetegui at night to relentlessly rattle chains at them until they agree to find a starting XI combination that works while screaming ‘PLAY SUMMERVILLE’ in a ghost voice, it’s never too late to make a better choice this Christmas and finally give the Hammers the ‘present’ of decent festive football.
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