Nice memories of that great team in a great season, colupaul.
Mark Ward was my standout player of that season and I often thought he didn't get the credit he deserved.

64 cup final this day we’ll sorry 10 min , we had same problem than as we had now can’t defend, also someone put on Facebook in colour , dad one fella said was Roberto in goal than lol

Another important point about the 85/86 season was the strike of outside broadcasters which meant we never got to see the Match of the Day stuff until half the season had been played and if you lived as far away as I did.

From a article written in the Independent newspaper 2010

"It may sound unthinkable to anybody who has grown up with wall-to-wall Premier League football, but 25 years ago this week a new season began with not a single kick accessible to armchair viewers.

There was plenty of other sport on the box on the weekend of 17-18 August 1985 – European Cup athletics, Ashes cricket and Formula One motor racing – but for football fans, a long blackout had begun.

For over four months the sport was off our screens and even when it returned in the new year, only six top-flight matches were shown live before the season's end – a figure that coach potatoes with twin satellite subscriptions will have reached by next Sunday alone.

The English football landscape was very different then. With the horrors of Bradford and Heysel still fresh in the mind, the Football League had witnessed the lowest total opening-day attendances in 40 years. And the football authorities feared television might have a detrimental impact.

Sir Philip Carter, the then chairman of the champions Everton and a member of the League's television committee, recalled: "There was an underlying concern with all the chairmen that TV would reduce gates and affect football negatively. There was very little money in it. They were saying American football and motor racing had more exposure than football."

The League had rejected an offer of £19m over four years and negotiations had reached an impasse over the split between live matches and recorded highlights, with broadcasters wanting more of the former and the clubs more of the latter. The Sky Sports commentator Martin Tyler, who was then working for ITV, said: "I remember at the time people were saying live football will kill the game. In fact, it's done just the opposite. Football didn't know the television industry so well and I think it was giving itself a bit of thinking time."

So for the first time in 21 years, TV cameras were absent on the opening day and what viewers missed in the ensuing months were Manchester United setting the pace with 10 straight wins, plus a flurry of goals from West Ham's new Scottish stri-ker, Frank McAvennie. Signed from St Mirren, he hit 18 League goals before Christmas to help the Hammers to their highest ever finish – third in the old First Division behind Liverpool and Everton.

Yet with zero TV coverage, he remained an unknown quantity outside Upton Park. "Teams didn't didn't know about Frank," said his strike partner Tony Cottee, suggesting the blackout worked in McAvennie's favour. "He just took the old First Division by storm that season."

Tyler remembers taking McAvennie across London's Waterloo Bridge to see if passers-by could identify the free-scoring Scot. "Not many people recognised him – only a taxi driver did. Amazingly when we walked back down the South Bank to the studios, Billy Connolly walked out and he recognised Frank!"

If that put a smile on the faces of Saint and Greavsie, for English football, the 1985-86 campaign was a period of soul-searching. The post-Heysel ban was in place, with the one-off Screen Sport Super Cup introduced for the six European qualifiers and the Full Members' Cup established for the remaining clubs in the top two tiers.

Talk of a breakaway Super League had begun and by December plans were in place to reduce the 22-team top flight and introduce play-offs. Fortunately December also brought belated agreement over a TV deal, the Football League accepting £1.3m for nine First Division and League Cup games.

Carter said: "The money we got was peanuts but it was a question of getting back into the swing. It was a stupid situation, if I can say so now. I think it actually brought home to people that there was something wrong with not having our national sport on television."

With a separate deal agreed for the FA Cup, the blackout ended in early January with a third-round tie between Charlton Athletic and West Ham. In the end, 13 domestic League and cup games went out live – together with England v Scotland and the European Cup final.

West Ham won that first match back on the box against Charlton with Cottee getting the only goal. Now a Sky pundit, he said: "Imagine nowadays if you said to a kid, 'You can't watch the Champions' League and you can't watch goals from the Premier League – there are no live games and no highlights'.

"It was an incredible situation and it shows how far football has come – to think we've gone from 25 years ago with no football on television to now when we have the most watched league in the world."

Can’t believe how bad both sports have gone imo I watched the 97 cup final on spurs coach had hoddle superstar waving than being interviewed talking about his club or kids football waved too them sense of

the dogs been rape by its governing body it is last one out turn the lights off

We live in a very different world now fattie and after the lockdown it will be even more different.

Jeremy Ngakia has refused to consider a short-term extension to his contract at West Ham and is unlikely to play a part in their battle against relegation when the season resumes, underlining the potential complications for Premier League clubs with players on deals that expire on 30 June.

West Ham were dismayed when Ngakia turned down a new multi-year deal last month, believed to be worth £5,000 a week, and are resigned to losing the young right-back on a free. The 19-year-old impressed after his senior debut in January, starting the final three games before the season was suspended, but it appears his mind is made up. Attempts to change the academy graduate’s mind have fallen on deaf ears, leaving West Ham to contemplate the likelihood that a player who has virtually established himself in David Moyes’s side will walk out with seven games left.
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It is not a unique dilemma given that out-of-contract players have been one of the main sticking points in discussions about Project Restart. Clubs have until 23 June to negotiate extensions, and Ngakia’s stance shows there are no guarantees players will agree to see out the season with their current employer.

What of the player who has lined up a move and does not want to get injured? Some agents have expressed that view privately, while others think there is a duty to play on. There is an opportunity for a bit of extra pay, though it has been pointed out that players could ask for exorbitant sums to stick around for a few weeks.

The situation is more pronounced in the Football League, where Charlton have said three players have opted not to play, but some top-flight deals remain unsigned. Whereas Chelsea have agreed one-year extensions with Olivier Giroud and Willy Caballero, there has been no breakthrough with Willian or Pedro, who is likely to join Roma on a free. Willian has had a decent season and although there is no chance of Chelsea bowing to his demands for a three-year deal, Frank Lampard will not want to lose the Brazilian before the campaign is over.

No case is the same. There will be clubs who want to get a player off the books as soon as possible. Bournemouth have decided to release Jordon Ibe, but Eddie Howe needs to keep Ryan Fraser beyond 30 June. Will Tottenham keep Jan Vertonghen and Liverpool Adam Lallana until the end of July?

West Ham are 16th, above 18th-placed Bournemouth only on goal difference, and already have a headache. Although Ben Johnson is regarded as a better prospect than Ngakia, he was injured when his rival got in the team. Ryan Fredericks’ injury gave Ngakia a chance to show he was a more reliable option at right-back than the ageing Pablo Zabaleta but he sees his future elsewhere and West Ham, whose only two games this month are Wolves at home on 20 June and Spurs away three days later, will need to adjust their back four.

We have got nothing
Our best player the kid who only played 5 games for us ****g off already

See you next season.

at home 1 up front when we need the points.
Negative aint the word.Why take the young
fullback off?,one of our best players today.

We are so lucky there 3 other pony clubs below us

Where be lucky to get 8mil back for pony Anderson

No surprise tonight
Few half chances
But there better outfit haven’t done anythink special but too fast for us
Same people doing same things
Antonio not a striker
Ton nails isn’t good enough
3 central midfield all holding types
Anderson came on how why he’s being let put the shirt on when clear as day not up for it EVER

3 points and the game decided by Yama's educated left foot brilant!
At first didn't recognise Rice.  Last time I saw him he looked a boy.  Maturing into a fine player and leader.

The Toon.  Now they have been knocked out the f.a cup they have little to play for in theory.  Besides Bruce is old skool and they have reached the 40 point job done.  I think they will play with less intensity.   What I am trying to say is I fancy us to get something.

'free hits' .  Brighton had a 'free hit' against Man utd.  They 'rested' some of their better players(for their next game against Norwich)and got walloped.  We had a 'free hit' against Chelsea played our best available team and won.  If I was a seagull I would not be happy with mr Potter.

Agree with lanzini
But that was much better effort from him
I think he’s had one two injuries
Anderson hopeless case

you've got to play Noble, he has more heart than any other player, he is West Ham through and through, easily the best player in the team. cheers.

I should of course have mentioned Yarmalenko who again impressed when he was brought on.

The January Sale. Bowen and Souceks were incredible business probably the difference between staying up and going down.  Souceks is like a Slavic kouyatte but better and Bowen is a great assist merchant.