For the 1989–90 West Ham United F.C. season in English football, West Ham United finished 7th in the league.

Season summary

In the second game of the season, the West Ham fans chanted "We hate Paul Ince" after they discovered through a national newspaper of the player's transfer to

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

. Ince had reportedly been a transfer target for

Alex Ferguson Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson (born 31 December 1941) is a Scottish former football manager and player, best known for managing Manchester United from 1986 to 2013. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest football managers of all time ...

since the end of the previous campaign, the transfer finally being completed on 14 September 1989, by which time Ince had already played a Second Division game for the Hammers. With the dismissal of long-serving manager

John Lyall John Angus Lyall (24 February 1940 – 18 April 2006) was an English footballer and manager primarily known for his 34 years at West Ham United. He played for the club as a youth, then as a first-team player before injury cut short his career. ...

on 5 June 1989, speculation mounted about who was going to succeed him.

AFC Bournemouth AFC Bournemouth () is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest division of English club football. Formed in 1899 as B ...

manager and former Hammers player

Harry Redknapp Henry James Redknapp (born 2 March 1947) is an English former football manager and player. He has previously managed AFC Bournemouth, West Ham United, Portsmouth, Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur, Queens Park Rangers and Birmingham City. In his ...

were strongly linked to the vacancy, but Swindon Town's

Lou Macari Luigi Macari (born 7 June 1949) is a Scottish former footballer and manager. He began his playing career at Celtic where he was one of the Quality Street Gang, the outstanding reserve team that emerged in the late 1960s that also included Kenny ...

(who had taken the Wiltshire club to the verge of the First Division just three years after promotion from the Fourth Division) was unveiled as the club's new manager on 3 July 1989. Macari lasted less than a year as manager. Amid allegations that he was involved in illegal payments at Swindon Town (a scandal which saw Swindon's promotion to the First Division being withdrawn at the end of the 1989–90 season), he resigned on 18 February 1990. Club legend Billy Bonds was appointed manager in his place and saw the Hammers complete their impressive run to the League Cup semi-finals for the second season in succession, but seventh place in the final league table was not quite enough for a play-off place. It could very well have been a different story had key striker Frank McAvennie not been absent for almost all of the campaign, breaking his leg on the opening day of the season against

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 ...

and only managing four more league appearances that campaign when he made his comeback. However, some new signings, including Ludek Miklosko,

Trevor Morley Trevor William Morley (born 20 March 1961) is an English football manager, former professional footballer and pundit. As a player, he was a striker who notably played top flight football for Manchester City and West Ham United. He also playe ...

and Ian Bishop, went on to become West Ham legends.

Results

''West Ham United's score comes first''

Football League Second Division

FA Cup

League Cup

Squad

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:West Ham United F.C. Season 1989-90 1989-90 1989–90 Football League Second Division by team 1989 sports events in London 1990 sports events in London