Glenn Roeder was officially appointed as the club’s manager and he brought in former Hammers Paul Goddard as coach and Ludek Miklosko as goalkeeping coach. After his father had been dismissed by West Ham the unhappy Frank Lampard junior left to join Chelsea for a fee of £11 million. Now with money to spend, Roeder bought midfielder Don Hutchison for £5 million and Czech defender Tomas Repka for £5.5 million, but it was not until the fifth game of the season against Newcastle that the Hammers got their first win. They had also been beaten on penalties in the League Cup tie at Reading. Worse was to follow as the team crashed 5–0 at Everton and 7–1 at Blackburn Rovers. After this results improved with three successive victories and a thrilling 4–4 draw at Charlton, where Paul Kitson grabbed a hat trick. On Boxing Day Derby County were beaten 4–0 at home, which left the Hammers in eleventh place.

Teenager Jermaine Defoe was beginning to score freely and he netted twice at Macclesfield in the FA Cup win. In the next round Chelsea proved to be tougher opponents and after a 1–1 away draw the Hammers went out 3–2 in the replay. There were seven home games remaining and six of these were won, the only loss being a 5–3 defeat to Manchester United. Glen Roeder had done well in his first season as manager, the team finishing in fifth place. As the season came to a close Her Majesty the Queen officially opened the new Dr Martens West Stand.