“Dear Mr Syd King – The
tape on Saturday ticked out, West Ham 1 Fulham 0. We shout from the office window, “West Ham
won.” In reply the boys say “Tell us
about Syd King and West Ham.” So here
goes!”
East
Ham Echo April 27th 1923.
Talk to most West Ham fans and they will invariably talk of
Bobby Moore and Geoff Hurst and the West Ham team that “won” the World Cup in
1966. Few, if any, will mention Syd King
and yet he was the man who more than anybody shaped the football philosophy of
the club, the man who steered them to their early successes on the pitch, a man
who shared the same ideals of Clough and Taylor but over fifty years
earlier. A true West Ham legend.
As the title of this piece implies it’s impossible to talk
about Syd King without talking about West Ham, the two are inextricably
linked. In 1895 the workers of Thames
Ironworks and Shipbuilding Ltd, paid a half crown each to set up Thames
Ironworks FC to compete in the London league.
Initially strictly amateur in ethos, the club won the Charity Cup in
their first season and followed up by finishing second in the league and then
champions the following season. Their
subsequent entry into the Southern League did nothing to stem their success, as
they were division 2 champions in 1899 and were duly promoted to the first
division. Syd started his long journey
through football with Northfleet and had the ignominy of once scoring a hat
trick of own goals in a game against Swindon.
He transferred to New Brompton in 1897 and eventually moved to Thames
Ironworks in 1899. A tough
uncompromising full back he was highly sought after and the “Irons” had to fend
off stiff competition from Derby County for his signature. In his first season he was part of the Irons
FA Cup run that ended, after seven games, with defeat to arch rivals, Milwall
Athletic, who were formed from another East end company of docker’s who vied
with Thames Ironworks for business contracts.
Thames Ironworks were still strictly amateur and most
players were employed by the company, so in June 1900 they felt that their
status, while noble, was holding them back, and a decision was taken to wind up
the club and resign from the Southern league.
They were back just a few days later under a new guise, West Ham United.
Syd King was one of the players retained by the club and he
continued playing until 1903 when a recurring injury forced him into
retirement. Considered to have above
average intelligence he was promoted to club secretary in his final season and
the following season took over the role of Secretary/Manager. By the end of the 1903/04 season the club
were in financial turmoil. Poor
attendances had forced a major cull of the squad and the club had only the
finances to pay one player during the summer.
Syd was tasked with finding the club a new home, preferably one with a
railway station nearby. Acting on a tip
off he settled on Boleyn Castle field on Green St which was owned by the
Christian Brothers and, after initial objections from the Home Office, West Ham
moved into what was to become their spiritual home.
The early years of the 20th century would see
West Ham lose a lot of their home grown talent to rival clubs, (a situation
that would be eerily replicated in the early years of the 21st
century), players like Hilsdon, Barnes, Yenson, Bigden and Pudan would all go
on to distinguish themselves for other clubs, prompting the Association
Football 1905 edition to comment that;
“It is the proud boast of the West Ham club that they turn out more local
players than any other team in the south.
The district has been described as a hot-bed of football and, after a
season or so the finished player leaves, to better himself as most ambitious
young men will do.”
King would face a continuous battle to keep West Hams best
players, but through his shrewd dealings in the transfer market he built up a
reputation as an extremely capable negotiator.
In 1919 West Ham were elected to the 2nd division
of the Football League proper, and there followed a period of mixed fortunes in
the division continuing the trend of losing players to the bigger clubs.
One of the standout players of this period was local lad Syd
Puddefoot. A prolific goal scorer (107
goals in 194 games), he was a vital cog in the Hammers machine and there was
considerable outrage when King sold him to Falkirk for the British record fee
of £5,000. Promotion had been in sight
but without their talismanic centre forward the club slipped down to 4th
place.
The 1922-23 season started badly for the Hammers, winning
only 3 of their first 14 games, but with the new acquisitions purchased with
the money from the Puddefoot sale and another crop of talented youngsters, they
began to forge their way up the table.
By February, West Ham was involved in a four way tussle, with Leicester,
Notts County and Man Utd, for promotion to the top flight. They were also on an excellent FA Cup run and
after a mammoth 3 game epic with Southampton reached the Cup semi-final for the
first time. They faced formidable
opponents in the semi’s in a Derby County side who had not conceded a goal in
their own Cup run. 50,000 attended the
game at Stamford Bridge and, after a shaky start, the Hammers ran out eventual
5-2 winners, the Daily Mail reporting that;
“West Ham have never played finer football. It was intelligent. It was clever, and it was dashing. They were quick, they dribbled and swerved,
and passed and ran as if the ball was to them a thing of life and obedient to
their wishes.”
The Hammers took their Cup form on into the League, and
would win their next four games, scoring 15 goals and conceding just 3, before
the historic FA Cup final of 1923.
It is estimated that around 250,000 people turned up at the
brand new Empire Stadium at Wembley for the game that would go down in history
as the “White horse” final. Over 1,000
people were injured just trying to get into the stadium and the spectators soon
covered the entire pitch. The mounted
police led by Inspector G.A Story on his white steed slowly regained the
playing surface inch by inch, until the crowd were pushed back to the
touchlines. The pitch was, by now, all
but unplayable, but after considerable delays and interruptions (at half time
the players were unable to leave the field and crossed over and restarted the game
after a five minute break) an experienced Bolton Wanderers side claimed the Cup
with a 2-0 win. West Ham had every right
to feel aggrieved that the game went ahead, with the deplorable conditions
completely negating their quick passing game, and the effectiveness of their
wing play, but to the mystification of their supporters no protest was made. Syd King, interviewed after the game, simply
said; “I’m too disappointed to talk. I just want to forget it.”
West Ham quickly put the bitter disappointment of Wembley
behind them and secured promotion on the last day of the season (despite losing
1-0 to Notts County). Eight of the
Hammers that played in the 1923 Cup Final would get international call ups, and
with the team costing just £2,000 in transfer fees, offset by the £5,000
received for Puddefoot (who would himself go on to become an international) it
was another example of the financial nous of Syd King.
The Hammers first nine years in the top flight of English
football would see them yo-yoing up and down the division, finishing as high as
6th before eventually succumbing to relegation in 1932 after a
disastrous season in which they conceded 107 goals. Most commentators at the time cited King’s
stubborn refusal to buy players in this period, preferring to nurture home
grown talent, as the main reason for the clubs demise, and Syd began to become
extremely paranoid. Convinced, at first,
that there was a conspiracy against the club, and then increasingly sure the
club itself was conspiring against him. These
delusions, combined with his reported heavy drinking, came to a head at a board
meeting in November 1932, when King was allegedly drunk and verbally abused one
of the directors. He was suspended,
without pay, for three months. Rumours of
financial impropriety (never proven) followed, and in January 1933 the decision
was taken to sack him.
West Ham was Syd King’s whole world. He had taken them to the Boleyn, to their
first FA Cup final and brought them to highest level of English football, now
he was broken and betrayed. There were
plenty of other offers for his services, but Syd was not interested. West Ham had been his life, and his life had
been taken away. Just a few weeks after
his dismissal, he committed suicide by drinking a corrosive substance mixed
with alcohol, and this brilliant and eccentric visionary quietly slipped from
memory.
“In the summer of 1895, when the clanging of “hammers” was heard on the
banks of Father Thames and great warships were rearing their heads above the
Victoria Dock Road, a few enthusiasts, with the love of football within them,
were talking about the grand old game and the formation of a club for the
workers of Thames Ironworks Ltd.”
- Syd King – The Book of Football
1905
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