Once celebrations subsided from complete bedlam to manic joy after Millennium Stadium last May, there was one Division One home game that City fans savoured – West Ham United.
After almost 20 years of, comparatively speaking, slum football in slum surroundings (how could we ever forget Scarborough, Rochdale, Hartlepool, Exeter and, yes, Swansea City), playing West Ham was always the game that captured our imaginations, it somehow underlined City’s return to big time football.
Other than last month’s Carling Cup match, the last time the clubs met at Ninian Park was well over 22 years ago. To start the build up to this weekend’s much anticipated clash, www.CardiffCity.com looks back at events surrounding that previous fixture which was no ordinary game.
The last time Cardiff met West Ham at Ninian Park was Wednesday May 6th, 1981. It was the final game of the season in (the old) Division Two clash but that was about as much as the two clubs had in common at the time.
It was so long ago that Bucks Fizz’ Eurovision epic (???) “Making Your Mind Up” was No. 1 in the charts and some people in Wales thought that “Allbright was a wonderful bitter!” … well it was to us kids anyway as it cost 40p a pint and it was either that or cans of Skona!
West Ham were just completing their third season back at this level after relegation but safe in the knowledge that they were already on the way back. Despite their status at the time, they were regarded as one of the best teams in the country due to considerable achievements and a clutch of ‘household name’ players.
Almost 1 year to the day before the meeting, underdogs West Ham won the F.A. Cup at Wembley as Trevor Brooking’s “diving” header beat Arsenal at Wembley whilst a Second Division side. A month before the fixture with City, they were back at Wembley, this time to compete in the League Cup Final only losing 2-1 to Liverpool, then regarded at the best team in Europe, after a replay. F.A.Cup success took West Ham into Europe (at a time when only 3 English sides qualified) and they did well again, surviving to the quarter-finals little more than 6 weeks before coming to Cardiff.
They were, quite simply, way too good for Division One. Promotion was as near a formality as it could be. The league season was 42 games, not 46 as now, and a win was worth just 2 points but The Hammers became Champions by a gigantic margin of 13 points with a goal difference of +50.
For Cardiff City, it was an altogether different story. City finished 18th in 76/77 after surviving on the last day of the season drawing 1-1 with Carlisle to send the Cumbrians down instead, 19th in 77/78 again surviving at the end of the season, a flatteringly high 9th in 78/79 despite collecting just 42 points and that was thanks to beaten unbeaten in their last 11 matches before dropping back to 15th in 79/80. 1980/1981 was further decline, with few highs, culminating in the West Ham game being final match of the season with the Bluebirds needing a result to survive the drop to Division Two.
There were few highlights. In cups, we were out early to lowly Oxford in the FA Cup, Swindon in the league cup and Worcester City in the Welsh Cup[. The league was little better, all mediocrity with just a few highs including winning at Wrexham before national Match of the Day cameras, the home Jacks draw that entered folklore with City coming from 3-1 behind in injury time to equalise with John Buchanan’s 40 yard top corner screamer and a win at Chelsea (which sounds brilliant now but Chelsea were pants at the time too, finishing only 4 points above relegation themselves).
Nobody hammered City but we weren’t winning or scoring often enough and became relegation candidates after going three months to late-February 1981 without victory then relegation certainties after losing at home within 10 days to immediate relegation rivals Preston and Bristol City.
However as was then the "norm", City got results when it mattered and with the odds against them, they suddenly found the fight getting a superb Easter 0-0 draw at Division One bound Swansea followed by a win at Grimsby and draw at Ninian with Derby (the latter sides both finishing within 5 points of promotion). Further cheer came as Bristol Rovers and Bristol City got relegated in the final two places (how good was that?). It left a straight fight for the final relegation berth between Cardiff City and Preston North End.
City’s draw with Derby took place on the last official weekend of the season but as was customary in those days, there were backlogged fixtures. Primarily due to West Ham’s cup successes, we had re-arranged to play them on the following Wednesday, May 6th 1981 and it was critical.
Bluebirds streamed out of Ninian Park after the Derby clash to the bittersweet news. Many were choked and full of envy as John Toshack’s Swansea City had won 3-1 at Preston incredibly sending the Jacks into the First Division.
It seemed lost on us at the time but that result also did Cardiff a massive favour as it meant that providing we did not lose to West Ham in our final game four days later, we would survive for another season in Division Two (unless Preston won by 6 goals at Derby the same night!).
And so 10,835 turned up at Ninian Park to see City pull off another miracle escape. West Ham fielded the likes of Phil Parkes, Frank Lampard (senior!), Billy Bonds, Alvin Martin, Alan Devonshire, Stuart Pearson and Lord Trevor of Brooking. Cardiff’s side that warm, summer evening from 1 to 11 were Ron Healey, Linden Jones, Colin Sullivan, Steve Grapes, Keith Pontin, Phil "Joe" Dwyer, John Lewis, Peter Kitchen, Gary Stevens, Billy Ronson and Tarki Macallef. Rod Thomas came on as sub. Ah memories!
I can’t remember much of the match but that’s because I don’t think there was really much to remember. We needed a 0-0, that’s what we played for, that’s what we got. On any time, it would have been classified as a bore draw as Cardiff never looked like winning or losing, West Ham never looked like or wanting to win that badly. It was highly tense though especially as we learned that Preston were winning (and went on to win) 1-0 at Derby giving fraught nerves and heart murmurs around Ninian Park. City survived and ground out the result they needed.
City and Preston ended the season with identical records. Played 42, Won 12, Drew 12, Lost 18 for 36 points. We survived though because City’s scored 42 conceded 60 was slightly better than Preston’s scored 41 conceded 62.
West Ham enjoyed good times since that night, Cardiff endured them. The Hammers thrived reasonably well in Division One and then the Premiership. Their fans moaned about bad results and lower tables finishes in the Premiership but what would we have given for that???
Cardiff City survived in the First Division just one more year. No investment had to tell eventually and our luck ran out and we were finally relegated into the lower divisions and who do you think did it?
Only Lennie Lawrence whose Luton side, already promoted to Division One, showed more appetite than West Ham to win 3-2 in the final game of that season in another backlogged midweek fixture, ex-City forward Steve White featuring amongst the scorers. They came straight back up the following season but Division One life lasted just a further two years as City fell again in 1984/1985 - this time ironically relegated by Sam Hammam's Wimbledon and City stayed in the bottom two divisions until now.
Twenty two years later, the teams meet again. West Ham very much remain the bigger club but Cardiff are slowly but surely catching up and, on the pitch, the gap is even closer to the extent that there’s really not much to choose between the sides at present even though most pundits would give West Ham the edge.
City however have nothing at all to fear and won’t be lacking for support in what promises to be a blood and thunder Sky tv live clash. Lennie and his players certainly have every chance to avenge last month’s Carling Cup defeat when City (missing several cup-tied/injured/rested players) collapsed 3-2 after a convincing 2-0 half-time lead.
Here’s hoping they do.
Another look back from a West Ham point of view.