Before the days of the Premier League, the playing field was a lot flatter than it is today. It was common for promoted teams to finish in the top six and indeed Nottingham Forest had won the First Division title a year after scraping promotion in third place with 52 points.
Reason to be optimistic then, as Lyall’s Hammers cruised to the second division title with a record 66 points. Such was the confidence that Lyall saw no reason to radically improve the squad, adding just reserve goalkeeper Tom McAlister from Bristol Rovers. The confidence appeared well-placed. After a disappointing 1-1 draw at Upton Park, West Ham travelled to White Hart Lane and destroyed FA Cup Winners Tottenham 4-0 with David Cross scoring all four.
A 2-0 win followed against Sunderland at Roker Park, and under the new system of three points for a win, West Ham found themselves top of the league on seven points from three games. Paul Goddard was proving himself to be a top striker; two against Stoke and a hat-trick in a 4-2 win over Southampton and the Hammers began to dream of glory.
Crucially, the Hammers had not lost a league game since Boxing Day 1980, a run that continued with a 1-1 draw against Liverpool and progress in the League Cup at Derby County’s expense. The run finally came to an end on 17 October when Tom McAlister deputised for the injured Parkes at Villa Park.
The 3-2 defeat was soured further as the referee awarded a penalty then changed his mind on the advice of his linesman. A nervy 3-2 win over Middlesbrough at Upton Park was followed by a magnificent 5-2 win over Coventry interrupted by floodlight failure.
The team picked itself most weeks: Parkes, Stewart, Lampard, Bonds, Martin, Devonshire, Neighbour, Goddard, Cross, Pike. The squad was, however, fairly thin and as the winter approached, it was apparent that reinforcements would be needed.
Especially as three matches were needed to settle the League Cup tie with West Bromwich Albion which the Baggies eventually won in a second replay at Upton Park. The winter of 1981-82 lives long in the memory of anyone who went to football, or indeed had to go to school or work, as one of the worst on record.
West Ham did not play a game between their 2-1 home defeat to Arsenal on 5 December 1981 and a 2-1 win over Everton in the FA Cup third Round on 2 January 1982. League form suffered; whether because of the enforced break or the damage caused to the pitches, it has long been tradition in any event that West Ham ‘come down with the Christmas decorations’.
In an effort to prevent such a slide, Lyall swooped to buy the mercurial Belgian Francois van der Elst who had been playing for New York Cosmos. Van der Elst had almost single-handedly destroyed West Ham in the Cup-Winners’ Cup final of 1976, and Hammers fans were excited to have him on board.
Somewhat less glamorously, Neil Orr was signed from Morton as defensive midfield back-up. But neither could halt the inevitable slide. A 3-0 defeat at Anfield was perhaps expected but then defeat to Brighton at The Goldstone Ground and FA Cup exit at Watford set the tone for the rest of the season.
There were brief highlights, such as a 3-1 win over West Bromwich Albion after which Baggies boss Ronnie Allen described Billy Bonds as a ‘Gorilla’ and a 4-3 win over Leeds United, who would be relegated along with Middlesbrough and Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Indeed defeat on the last day at Molineux saw an exhausted squad crawl over the line in ninth place, and marked the end of the road for David Cross after 224 appearances and 97 goals, John Lyall’s final exhausting task of the season was to attend a tribunal to fix his fee for a transfer to Manchester City.
Cross wanted a move back home as he was due to marry and he admitted later he felt guilty as he watched Lyall trudge dejected back to his Jaguar. But Lyall was already thinking about his replacement and how to bring through exciting youth prospects Alan Dickens and Tony Cottee.
West Ham had more than held their own in their first season back with the big boys. It was time to move forward once more.
My YouTube series ‘The John Lyall Years’ follows the fortunes of the club during John Lyall’s tenure, merging match footage with interviews, newspaper cuttings, news items, music, TV, and cinema from the time. It is a must for anyone who remembers those heady days, or those who are curious to learn. 1981-82 is covered in Episodes 33-36 – see @westhamhistory
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