Next up we travel to the capital for a clash with relegation threatened West Ham with The 
Magpies hoping to climb back up the table; Upton Park was the venue for one of the most important games in our history believe it or not with the man nicknamed ‘Mr. Newcastle’ Stanley Seymour grabbing our goal in a 1-1 draw back in April 1927 which left us two points ahead of second place Huddersfield with two games to spare (United won the league the week later at home to Sheff. Wed). We managed to beat them on our way to promotion in 1948 too when goals from Jackie Milburn and Tommy Thompson settled the match at 2-0 in Newcastle’s favour. It took West Ham over 10 years to join us in the top division after that but the 25,000 who witnessed the next encounter were treated to a classic as The Magpies ran out 5-3 winners with the goals coming from George Eastham, Ivor Allchurch, Gordon Hughes and Len White (2), we were hit with five later on in 1968 though, with Trevor Brooking scoring a hat trick for a West Ham side containing Bobby Moore, Martin Peters and the most morally corrupt man in football, Harry Redknapp; Two years later we got our revenge however when Bryan ‘Pop’ Robson bagged a brace in a 2-0 victory only a year before he was sold to The Hammers. Robson was on the scoresheet in this fixture again in 1979, by this time in his second spell at Upton Park; Alan Devonshire and Frank Lampard were also amongst the goals in a 5-0 rout. There was more misery in stall for Newcastle when we were back in the top division; West Ham beating us 8-1 on a day when United had to play with three goalkeepers, Martin Thomas and two outfield players in Chris Hedworth and Peter Beardsley with Newcastle defender and Beano character John Bailey apparently shouting ‘I only came out for a loaf of bread!’ to The South Bank. During our rampant start to the 94/95 season we faced West Ham in a midweek fixture when an in-form Rob Lee caught the eye scoring alongside Steve Potts (O.G) and Alex Mathie. The season later our title hopes suffered a serious dent at Upton Park when Danny Williamson and Tony Cottee scored on a night when Newcastle were simply below par. Ten seasons later we managed a 4-2 win with Michael Owen scoring a hat trick against a West Ham side managed by Alan Pardew, Shearer scored his 199th Newcastle goal that day. The season after, Pardew had the considerable talents of Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano at his disposal but failed to utilise them to good effect with Damien Duff and Obafemi Martins scoring their first league goals in a 2-0 Newcastle win. In 2010 housemates Kevin Nolan and Andy Carroll secured three points against the club they now currently play for.
RYAN BELL 
