West Ham Football Club

Published: December 4, 2019
Author: Joe Kizlauskas
Last Updated: June 16, 2020

West Ham United Football Club was founded as Thames Ironworks in 1895, before changing to their current name in 1900. The club currently competes in the Premier League and play at the London Stadium (formerly the Olympic Stadium), which was the host of the 2012 London Olympic Games and holds an all-seated capacity of 60,000 supporters. Nicknamed ‘The Hammers’, West Ham previously played their home matches at the Boleyn Ground prior to their move to Stratford in 2016.

West Ham joined the Football League in 1919 and since becoming members of the organisation have never dropped below the second tier of English football. However, they have spent their fair share of time playing in both the First Division/Premier League and Second Division/Championship throughout their history. The Hammers have never been crowned champions of England, with their highest placing being a third-place finish back in the 1985/86 season, though they have been promoted from the Second Division/Championship on seven separate occasions, winning the league twice in 1958 and 1981.

West Ham Football Honours

That has seen the east London club gain a reputation for being more of a cup outfit and they proudly have three FA Cup wins to their name. The club won all three of these trophies within a 15-year period, with the first coming in 1964 with a team that featured soon-to-be World Cup heroes Bobby Moore and Geoff Hurst. Further successes followed in 1975 and 1980, where Billy Bonds and Trevor Brooking were the stars of the team, while they have also twice finished as runners-up in the FA Cup Final, most recently in 2006 where they were minutes away from a fourth win in the competition before Steven Gerrard’s thunderbolt equaliser. West Ham has also twice finished as runners-up in the League Cup.

A series of peaks and troughs have seemed to follow West Ham wherever they go, with there being no greater peak for them in the First Division than their third-place finish in 1985/86. The team of Alvin Martin, Tony Cottee and Frank McAvennie are still celebrated to this day at West Ham, with it still being the team’s best-ever run in the top flight. Since the 2005/06 season, the Hammers have spent just one season outside of the Premier League, having immediately won promotion via the Play-Offs in their one season back in the Championship in 2011/12 and have spent just four seasons out of the Premier League since its creation in 1992

West Ham Football Predictions