Full Description
Throughout the 45 seasons the East London club has spent in the top flight of English football, the prospect of challenging for the League Championship title has been little more than a pipe dream. Except for one year: 1985-86. A 16th place finish in 1984-85 had hardly filled Hammers' fans with optimism for the coming campaign. What a shock they were in for. On the final Saturday of the season, the Hammers faced West Bromwich Albion still holding genuine hopes of finishing as League Champions. With Liverpool playing at Chelsea that day, John Lyall's men knew that if they beat the Baggies, and the Blues triumphed at Stamford Bridge, they would only need a victory against Everton two days later to secure their first ever league title. Despite victory at the Hawthorns though, news filtered through that Liverpool player-manager Kenny Dalglish had hit a winner against Chelsea to ensure that the Reds couldn't be caught. Fifteen years on, this book reflects in detail on the one and only season in which the claret-and-blue army were really able to chant: "We're gonna win the league".
