West Ham United F.C. 1922-1923

Major players brought in by manager Syd King included inside-left Billy Moore and inside-right Charlie Crossley from First Division clubs Sunderland and Everton. He also raided fellow Second Division teams, bringing in wingers Billy Charlton from South Shields and Dick Richards from Wolverhampton Wanderers.

A disastrous start to their Division Two campaign saw West Ham win just three, and lose seven of their opening 15 fixtures.

West Ham suffered their two biggest defeats of the season in consecutive away games. They lost to Blackpool 4-1 in the meeting on 21 October 1922 and a week later to Leeds United 3-1. Billy Moore scored the only West Ham goals in both games.

11 November 1922 saw West Ham face Leeds United at home and they managed to keep a clean sheet, the game ending 0-0. This game was the start of a 32-game league and cup run that would see West Ham lose only once, in their home game against Manchester United on Boxing Day.

West Ham's biggest win of the season came away to Leicester City on 15 February 1923 with the Hammers securing an emphatic 6-0 win. Billy Moore scored a hat-trick, with the other goals coming from Dick Richards, Jimmy Ruffell and Jack Tresadern.

The first fruits of this long run of good form was West Ham's presence in their first major cup final. In the first ever FA Cup Final to be held at the newly built Wembley Stadium, it is thought that a quarter of a million people converged on a ground that had the capacity for half of that, to see West Ham play Bolton Wanderers.

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