In the 1972–73 season

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

finished sixth in the First Division, their highest League position under the management of

Ron Greenwood Ronald Greenwood CBE (11 November 1921 – 9 February 2006) was an English football player and manager, best known for being manager of the English national football team from 1977 until 1982, as well as being manager of West Ham United for 13 ...

and the joint-highest in their history at that time.

Season summary

Pop Robson Bryan Stanley Robson, better known as Pop Robson (born 11 November 1945) is an English former footballer who played as a centre-forward. He played for Newcastle United, West Ham United, Sunderland, Chelsea and Carlisle United, and scored 265 ...

was the First Division's top scorer with 28 League goals, including eight doubles and a hat-trick, just one behind the post-war club record held by

Geoff Hurst Sir Geoffrey Charles Hurst (born 8 December 1941) is an English former professional footballer. A striker, he became the first man to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final when England recorded a 4–2 victory over West Germany at Wembley St ...

, who had left the Hammers for

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

the previous summer. In February 1973,

Bobby Moore Robert Frederick Chelsea Moore (12 April 1941 – 24 February 1993) was an English professional footballer. He most notably played for West Ham United, captaining the club for more than ten years, and was the captain of the England natio ...

overtook

Jimmy Ruffell James William Ruffell (8 August 1900 – 6 September 1989) was an English footballer who played as an outside-left. He made over 500 appearances in the Football League for West Ham United, and ended his career with a short spell at Aldershot. R ...

's West Ham appearance record. He won his hundredth England cap in the same month. West Ham continued their poor Cup record from previous seasons by losing in both the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

and the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

to lower League opposition. Second Division

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Kingston upon Hull, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving ...

beat them in the fourth round of the FA Cup, and the Hammers suffered a humiliating defeat at Fourth Division

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club are a professional association football, football club in Stockport, England, who compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, they wer ...

in the League Cup.

League table

Results

Football League First Division

FA Cup

League Cup

Players

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:West Ham United F.C. Season 1972-73 1972-73 English football clubs 1972–73 season 1972 sports events in London 1973 sports events in London