WEST HAM UNITED
FOOTBALL PROGRAMMES &
Memorabilia through the Decade
theyflysohigh : Steve Marsh
A Pictorial History
Charlie Paynter
#345
ARCHIBALD MACAULAY
Born: 30 July 1915, Falkirk, Scotland
Signed: Glasgow Rangers
Date: 1 June 1937
Fee: £6,000 Club record
First game: 28 August 1937 Aston Villa (A)
Last game: 2 November 1946 Newcastle United (H)
Appearances: 90
Goals: 31
Individual honours: Football League War Cup (1940),
Scotland War Time Internationals (3 caps),
Representative (7 caps)
Transferred: Brentford
Date: 15 November 1946
Died: 10 June 1993 aged 77
Archibald Renwick Macaulay started his football journey playing junior football in Scotland. He joined Glasgow Rangers in 1933, the inside-right became a regular in the Ger’s side at just 18 years of age. He won a Scottish Cup Final medal in 1936 followed a year later with the Scottish League Championship title.
West Ham United manager Charlie Paynter was quick to pick up on his emerging talent and signed Macaulay on the 1 June 1937 for a then Club record fee of £6,000. Macaulay made his initial Claret and Blue debut in the second ‘practice match’ playing for the ‘Club Colours’ against the ‘Blues’. The record signing scored twice in his sides’ 3-3 draw.
His Football League debut came in the opening fixture Second Division fixture against Aston Villa at Villa Park in a 0-2 defeat on the 28 August 1937. The volatile Scot would soon made his presence felt, scoring his first Hammers’ goal in the 3-1 win against Bradford Park Avenue on 4 September 1937. He finished his first Boleyn Ground campaign as joint top-scorer along with Stan Foxall with 10 goals in 39 games.
The following season he recorded his first hat-trick in a 6-1 home victory against Tranmere Rovers on 24 September 1938. His League form caught the eye of the Scotland selectors as he ended the 1938-39 season as top-scorer with 16 goals from 36 games. However, like so many other players of this period he had his football career cruelly interrupted by the Second World War, although he did go on to play in 91 war-time fixtures for the Hammers scoring 28 goals. Macaulay also picked up a Football War Cup Final winners medal against Blackburn Rovers in 1940 and represented Scotland in three unofficial wartime internationals as well as seven Representative matches.
After he had seen service with the Essex Regiment, the former Sergeant-Major PTI, found it difficult to settle in the club’s first campaign after hostilities had ceased, and was transferred on 15 November 1946 to the then more glamorous First Division Brentford, and made his official Scotland international debut against England at Wembley Stadium on 12 April 1947. Brentford were relegated to the Second Division at the end of the 1946–47 and signed for Arsenal in July 1947 for £10,000. After clocking up 103 league appearances for the Gunners’ he finished his playing days with Fulham, later going into management, first with Guildford City and then guiding Norwich City to the F.A. Cup semi-finals when they were still a Third Division club in 1959.
After leaving the Canaries he joined Scottish First Division club Dundee in an administrative capacity and was connected with Liverpool FC in 1970. Later taking charge of West Bromwich Albion (1961-1963) and Brighton and Hove Albion (1963-1968) respectively before retiring and leaving football management completely, and later became a traffic warden.
#346
BENNY FENTON
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#347
ROD WILLIAMS
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#348
BILL ROBERTS
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#349
CHARLIE TURNER
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#350
JOHN WOOD
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#351
STEVE FORDE
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#352
REG ATTWELL
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Frederick Reginald Attwell started his football journey with non-league side Denaby United. The 17-year-old Midland League player joined West Ham United on 12 January 1938 as understudy to future Hammers’ manager Ted Fenton.
Three-months later, with Fenton sidelined with injury, Attwell stepped up to make his first team debut in the Second Division fixture at Bramall Lane against Sheffield United. The tough-tackling player endured a nightmare start to his Claret and Blue career as the Hammers fell to a 3-1 defeat on 23 April 1938. With the on-set of the Second World War, the wing-half had to wait a further eight years to register just 4 more first-team appearances.
During the conflict Attwell served with the Essex Regiment and Royal Artillery. Like many players of that era, the Football Association introduced the guest player system as Service personnel were frequently moving around the country.
When off-duty leave allowed, he chalked up a further 49 unofficial war-time league and cup appearances for the east Londoners and played as a guest player for a host of clubs including Northampton Town, Chelsea, Queens Park Rangers and Leeds United before enjoying a fruitful period with their Yorkshire neighbours Doncaster Rovers, playing 35 times and scoring 3 goals between October 1942 and September 1945. During that same 1945-46 campaign he also turned out 15 times in the Football League North for this afternoon’s visitors Burnley where he made a big impression with the Lancastrian fans and found the net on one occasion.
With the resumption of league football in 1946/47, Attwell returned to the Boleyn Ground and played out the last of his four first team games. In stark contrast to the Hammers who was languishing in 18th place, Burnley were riding high in the Second Division table and on 28 October 1946 Turf Moor manager Cliff Britton swooped to sign his former guest player for £1,000.
The right-half played his first competitive match for the Clarets in the 1–1 draw with Luton Town on 9 November and played a major role in the side that that won promotion to the First Division with his 22 league appearances and was included in the starting XI that lost 1-0 to Charlton Athletic in the 1947 Wembley FA Cup final.
Attwell remained Britton's first-choice right-half throughout the following season alongside captain and future manager Alan Brown and club stalwart George Bray.
Scored his first goal in the 2-0 away victory over Chelsea on 24 April 1948. His performances over the following season earned him a call-up to the Football League representative side for a match against the Scottish League at Ibrox in 1949. Following this, he was widely tipped to be selected for the England national football team, but unfortunately the call never came.
The 34-year-old played the last of his 269 first-team in a 1-0 loss to Everton at Turf Moor on 4 September 1954. With a total of 11 Clarets goals he joined Third Division (North) Bradford City on a free transfer.
The remainder of the 1954/55 campaign saw him make 24 appearances for the Bantams, but returned to non-league football in the summer of 1955, having a short spell with Lancashire Combination side Darwen before retiring from the game in 1956.
#353
HARRY MEDHURST
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#354
GEORGE FOREMAN
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#355
GEORGE PROUDLOCK
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#356
TERRY WOODGATE
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#357
REG GORE
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#358
RICHARD BELL
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#359
ARTHUR BANNER
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STANLEY BURTON
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CLIFF HUBBARD
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RON CATER
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ALMERIC HALL
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KEN BAINBRIDGE
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#365
KEN WRIGHT
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GEORGE TAYLOR
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RICHARD DUNN
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#368
DEREK PARKER
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GEORGE SADLER
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JOE PAYNE
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ERNIE GREGORY
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RON WILSON
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#373
ERIC PARSONS
Born: 9 November 1923, Worthing, Sussex
Signed: Ground staff 14 August 1938
First game: Leicester City 4 January 1947 (A)
Last game: Notts County 25 November 1950 (A)
Appearances: 151
Goals: 35
Transferred: Chelsea
Date: 30 November 1950
Fee: £23,000 record fee
Died: 7 February 2011,
Eric Parsons was first spotted by the Hammers while playing for his hometown Boys’ XI in the English Shield against West Ham Boys at the Boleyn Ground on 5 February 1938. The game had barely concluded before the centre-half was snapped up after his side was narrowly defeated by a last minute goal. After seeing him play a brilliant game of football, one of West Ham’s on-looking scouts engaged in conversation with the youngster in the dressing room, a few minutes later the 14-year-old signed amateur forms giving the east London side the option on his services as soon as he leaves school.
In the intervening period he picked up International trial honours for The South verses The North, and went on to gain amateur County caps for Sussex. 14-months after signing the youngster was invited to play in Hammers’ concluding London Mid-Week League fixture on 24 April 1939 against Northampton Town at the Boleyn Ground, a dream start as he netted a debut goal on his first appearance in the 5-3 win.
Unfortunately with the outbreak of the Second World War his soccer education was halted before it had begun. It was whilst serving in the Army that he came to the forefront, making a name for himself as a winger, playing for the British Army of the Rhine team in Montgomery’s Eight Army.
Parson signed his first professional contract with West Ham just six-days shy of his 19th birthday. When National Service leave allowed he donned the claret and blue against Southampton in a 2-1 Football League Cup competition win on 26 February 1944 this was followed by and a scoring performance against Fulham in a Regional South League game, his two war-time appearance were both later expunged from the official record books.
His senior Football League debut came against Leicester City on 4 January 1947, at Filbert Street the Foxes inflicted a resounding 4-0 defeat on the Hammers. Three months later, on 26 April, Parsons netted two goals in a match for the first time as Barnsley were defeated 4-0 in a Division Two fixture at the Boleyn Ground.
The following two seasons would probably be regarded as his best for the east Londoner’s. In 1947/48 West Ham finished in 6th place in the Second Division, he pipped Ken Wright into second place as the club’s top scorer with 11 League and one FA Cup goal in an ever-present campaign. Another ever-present in 1948/49 contributed to a consecutive league run of 125 appearances which started on 4 April 1947 away at Bury and ended 22 months later at Chesterfield on 25 February 1950. The match at Saltersgate kicked-off late due to the players train being held up by a goods wagon that had derailed near Bedford. The West Ham players having to change into their football kit on the train and run to ground an hour and ten minutes late. His pace down the flanks earned him the nickname, ‘Rabbit’ by the Upton Park supporters.
Despite West Ham’s average performances during this period his goal scoring exploits saw him narrowly missing out on a hat-trick on four occasions. His brace of goals against Barnsley was followed with strikes over Doncaster Rovers (January 1948), Bradford Park Avenue (April 1949) and two against Queens Park Rangers in October 1950. His performances also impressed the international selectors who awarded him a couple of England ‘B’ caps during the May 1949 Continental tour of Finland and the Netherlands. An exceptional scoring display in the 4-0 win in Amsterdam bought the winger to the attention of other clubs.
After 151 competitive games in claret and blue and scoring 35 goals it was no surprise when Chelsea snapped him up for a club record £23,000 on 30 November 1950. One of the best accolades the feisty winger received at the time was from Ted Fenton the West Ham manager. Fenton regarded the transfer as his biggest deal receiving five figures from Chelsea and using the fee to buy six players, including amongst others Malcolm Allison and Doug Bing.
At Stamford Bridge the flying winger was a member of the Blues team which won the 1954-55 First Division title, contributing to the championship success with 11 goals. After six years and 158 league games for the Pensioners he transferred to Division Three (South) side Brentford. Despite sustaining a broken leg while at Griffin Park he made more than 100 appearances for the Bees’, injuries forced him to retire from League football in 1961, and he joined Dover Athletic in July 1961. On the south coast he set up a successful sign-writing business and earned his living as a grocer. Eric Parson sadly passed away 7 February 2011, Worthing, Sussex aged 87.
#374
FRANK NEARY
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#375
ERNIE DEVLIN
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#376
DON TRAVIS
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#377
JACK YEOMANSON
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#378
TOMMY MORONEY
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#379
KEN TUCKER
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BILL STEPHENS
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DON WADE
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#382
ERIC ARMSTRONG
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#383
DANNY McGOWAN
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#384
JOHNNY CARROLL
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#385
EDDIE CHAPMAN
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#386
GEORGE DICK
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#387
BILL ROBINSON
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#388
DEREK JACKMAN
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#389
GERRY GAZZARD
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#390
FRED KEARNS
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#391
JIM BARRETT Jnr.
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Following in the footsteps of your illustrious father ‘Big’ Jim Barrett – a centre-half who played more than 500 games for West Ham between 1925 and 1945 was never going to be an easy task. For slightly-built Jim Barrett junior he took his chance at the Boleyn in the early 1950s before signing for Nottingham Forest on Christmas Eve 1954.
Born a short corner-kick from the Boleyn Ground on Bonfire Night 1930, James Guy Barrett spent his childhood growing up in the Second World War period and played little schoolboy football, so he was possibly deprived of the opportunity of being a member of the West Ham Boys team. It was not until he started playing for Pitsea United in the Thurrock Combination that he won his first honours and soon became a member of Romford F.C.
Barrett joined the ground-staff in August 1944 aged 14, his first outing in a Claret and Blue shirt came in an A team friendly against a Canvey & District side on Boxing Day 1945, two-months later he was in the same side as his father, another friendly game at Bishop Stortford.
At 19 he made his first team debut in a Second Division fixture at Blackburn Rovers on 22 April 1950. Representative honours followed playing for an F.A. XI against Cambridge University in November 1950, scoring two goals in a 4-2 win, and was a late call-up for the England ‘B’ trial teams 3-0 win over the Great British Olympic Trial XI at Highbury Stadium and in May 1951, won his first Hammers’ medal as a member of the side that defeated Southend United 2-0 in the Essex Professional Cup final.
The 1951/52 campaign was one of his most productive in a West Ham shirt as he scored ten goals in 25 appearances. After making a total 91 appearances for the Hammers and scoring 26 goals before joining Nottingham Forest for a substantial fee of £5,900.
At the City Ground the inside-forward enjoyed an outstanding time finishing as the Midland clubs leading scorer in three consecutive seasons. In 1956-57, he scored 30 goals as Forest finished second and gained promotion to Division One. Played 105 times in the red shirt scoring 64 goals before moving to Birmingham City in 1959, playing 10 games and scoring four goals before hanging up his boots from the professional game at the age of 29.
He returned to the Boleyn Ground in the 1960s as player-coach of the A team, assisting the development of players such as Harry Redknapp, John Charles and Paul Heffer. In 1968 he completed his coaching career at Millwall, where he served under former West Ham wing-half Benny Fenton.