About Irons Through The Ages - A Brief History of West Ham Utd
Irons Through the Ages is a ten-episode history of West Ham United, told from the very beginning.
From a shipyard on the Thames in 1895 to Prague in 2023. Bobby Moore and the 1966 World Cup. Clyde Best. The 1980 FA Cup. Paolo Di Canio. The farewell to Upton Park. And Jarrod Bowen's ninetieth-minute winner that ended a fifty-eight-year wait for a European trophy.
128 years. One club.
Come on you Irons.
Let us know what you think so far The decade opens with the first and most painful of the academy departures: Rio Ferdinand sold to Leeds United in November 2000 for £18 million — a world record for a defender, and the beginning of a dispersal that will define the era. Harry Redknapp, increasingly at odds with chairman Terence Brown over resources and direction, resigns in 2001. Frank Lampard follows him out of the door, sold to Chelsea for £11 million. Then Joe Cole, Michael Carrick, Jermain...
2 Sept 2026
Episode 9 : Revolution and Promise (1990 to 2000)
Let us know what you think so far The decade begins in the wreckage of John Lyall's dismissal — with Lou Macari's brief and ill-fitting tenure, and Billy Bonds taking over and steadying the ship. Bonds wins promotion back to the top flight in 1993, only to be replaced by Harry Redknapp in a manner he found deeply hurtful — one of the more uncomfortable episodes in the club's modern history. The Premier League arrives and transforms English football's financial landscape almost overnight. Tere...
27 Jul 2026
Episode 8 : The Lyall Years (1976–1989)
Let us know what you think so far Fifteen years. Two FA Cups. Two relegations. A Second Division title. And one season — 1985-86 — in which West Ham finished third in the First Division, the highest league position in the club's history, with McAvennie and Cottee scoring 46 goals between them. John Lyall was the most successful manager in West Ham's history. This episode covers his reign in full, and ends with the collapse of 1989 and a dismissal that took 73 words in the club programme. Res...
13 Jul 2026
Episode 7 : After the Summit (1966 to 1976)
Let us know what you think so far The decade after 1966 brings the gradual departure of Moore, Hurst, and Peters — and the arrival of Billy Bonds and Trevor Brooking. It also tells the story of Clyde Best, the teenager from Bermuda who became the most prominent Black player in English football in the early 1970s, facing systematic racist abuse and responding with a courage that changed the sport. The episode ends with the 1975 FA Cup win — and a painful European final defeat to Anderlecht in ...
29 Apr 2026
Episode 6 : The Golden Generation (1958 to 1966)
Let us know what you think so far The story of West Ham's greatest era. Ron Greenwood is appointed manager in 1961, Bobby Moore is made club captain at twenty-one, and within three years West Ham win the FA Cup. The following season they win a European trophy. And on 30 July 1966, three West Ham players — Moore, Hurst, and Peters — are central to England's World Cup Final victory over West Germany. This episode covers all of it, and asks what it means for a club to produce three men who cha...
3 Apr 2026
Episode 4 : The Fall and the Rise (1930 - 1940)
Let us know what you think so far The 1930s bring rupture and renewal. West Ham are relegated from the First Division in 1932 after conceding 107 goals, and the club's long-serving manager Syd King dies in tragic circumstances the following year. Under new manager Charlie Paynter, the club begins a slow rebuild — and finds an unlikely interlude in the form of a professional baseball team. The decade ends with the Second World War and West Ham's first ever trophy: the Football League War Cup, ...
31 Mar 2026
Episode 5 : The Long Road Back (1940 - 1958)
Let us know what you think so far After the war, West Ham spend fifteen years in the Second Division — but these are not wasted years. In the cafés and training grounds of East London, a group of players and coaches are quietly developing football ideas that will transform the English game. Manager Ted Fenton, Malcolm Allison, Noel Cantwell, Dave Sexton, and Frank O'Farrell hold conversations at Cassettari's café that lay the intellectual foundations of what will become the West Ham Academy. ...
6 Mar 2026
Episode 3 : The White Horse Final (1919 - 1930)
Let us know what you think so far West Ham enter the Football League for the first time in 1919 and, within four years, find themselves in an FA Cup Final at the brand new Wembley Stadium — the famous White Horse Final, played in front of an estimated 200,000 people. They lose to Bolton Wanderers, but two days later they win promotion to the First Division. This episode also covers the club's all-time record goalscorer Vic Watson and how 'I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles' became the Upton Park ant...
24 Feb 2026
Episode 1 : Thames Ironworks - The Birth of the Hammers (1895–1900)
Let us know what you think so far Episode 1: Thames Ironworks — The Birth of the Hammers (1895–1900) Before there was West Ham United, there was a shipyard. In June 1895, workers at Thames Ironworks — one of Britain's largest shipbuilders — formed a football club on the banks of the River Thames in East London. This episode tells the story of those origins: the industrial landscape of Victorian Canning Town, the visionary owner Arnold Hills, the foreman Dave Taylor who first organised the pla...
24 Feb 2026
Episode 2 : West Ham United is Born (1900 - 1919)
Let us know what you think so far West Ham United FC is officially incorporated on 5 July 1900. This episode covers the early years of the new club: how they came to wear claret and blue, the move to the Boleyn Ground in Upton Park in 1904, and the long managerial reign of Syd King, who built the club from the ground up. It ends with the First World War and the West Ham Pals — the battalion of supporters and players who left Green Street for the Western Front, and did not all come back. Res...
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