2004–05 West Ham United F.C. season

During the 2004–05 season, Rob Lee, Brian Deane, Wayne Quinn and Shaun Byrne were all released from West Ham United on free transfers, following their Championship playoff loss to Crystal Palace. Their departures were closely followed by those of Kevin Horlock, who signed for Ipswich Town, and David Connolly, who left for Leicester City in a £500,000 deal. Sébastien Carole also returned to AS Monaco after his loan spell, while Richard Garcia and Elliott Ward signed new contracts.

The first signing Alan Pardew made following the end of the previous season was goalkeeper James Walker, signed on a free transfer from Walsall where he had been a folk hero. He was brought in as cover for Stephen Bywater. The following month former England international Teddy Sheringham and Sergei Rebrov both signed on free transfers, from Portsmouth and Tottenham respectively. Their arrivals were closely followed by those of Bournemouth captain Carl Fletcher for £275,000 and winger Luke Chadwick from Manchester United on a free transfer. In September Malky Mackay signed for £300,000 from Norwich City.

West Ham's biggest defeat of the season was away to Cardiff City on 2 November 2004 when they lost 1–4. The Welsh team, featured former Hammer Jobi McAnuff who created the first two goals and scored the fourth. West Ham's biggest win of the season came in their home game against Plymouth Argyle on 19 February 2005 when they won 5–0. Marlon Harewood scored the first goal by sending the keeper the wrong way from the penalty spot. The penalty was given after the defender inexplicably punched the ball away. The second was an own goal by the keeper as he fumbled a Sergei Rebrov corner into his own net. Malky Mackay lobbed the keeper from another corner to net the third. Goals four and five were scored by Teddy Sheringham. The fourth, and arguably the best of the day's goals, came when Carl Fletcher crossed for Teddy to head home. The fifth goal was a twice taken penalty.

West Ham only lost one of their last ten games which helped push them up from 7th and into 6th, guaranteeing a play-off spot. The club returned to the FA Premier League at the second time of asking, beating Preston North End in the 2005 Football League Championship play-off Final with a single goal from Bobby Zamora.

Results ^[4]

West Ham United score shown first

No.		Player	Pos	P-O Apps	P-O Gls	Lge Apps	Lge Gls	FAC Apps	FAC Gls	LC Apps	LC Gls	Tot Apps	Tot Gls	Date Signed	Previous Club
First XI (Most appearances)
1		Stephen Bywater	GK	0 (1)		36		2				38 (1)	'	20 February 1998	Rochdale
2		Tomas Repka	RB	3		42		3		3		51	'	14 September 2001	Fiorentina
34		Chris Powell	LB	3		35 (1)		3				41 (1)	'	September 2004	Charlton
21		Malky Mackay	CB			17 (1)		3		1		21 (1)	'	10 September 2004	Norwich City
15		Anton Ferdinand	CB	3		24 (5)	1	3		1		31 (5)	1	14 December 2002	Academy
17		Hayden Mullins	CM	3		32 (5)	1	2 (1)		2		39 (6)	1	23 October 2003	Crystal Palace
30		Luke Chadwick	RM			22(10)	1	3		1		26(10)	1	2 August 2004	Manchester United
20		Nigel Reo-Coker (Captain)	CM	3		34 (5)	3	3		1 (1)		41 (6)	3	22 January 2004	M.K. Dons
8		Teddy Sheringham	CF			26 (7)	20	2	1	0 (1)		28 (8)	21	14 July 2004	Portsmouth
10		Marlon Harewood	CF	3	1	45	17	3	2	3	2	54	22	25 November 2003	Nottingham Forest
12		Matthew Etherington	LM	3		37 (2)	4			2		42 (2)	4	4 August 2003	Tottenham
Players with 10+ appearances
6		Carl Fletcher	CM/D	1		26 (6)	2	3				30 (6)	2	31 August 2004	Bournemouth
25		Bobby Zamora	CF	3	4	15 (19)	7			2	2	20(19)	13	2 February 2004	Tottenham
11		Steve Lomas	CM			18 (5)	1			2		20 (5)	1	March 1997	Manchester City
23		James Walker	GK	3		10		1		3		17	'	June 2004	Walsall
16		Sergei Rebrov	F			12(15)	1	1 (1)		2 (1)		15(17)	1	27 July 2004	Tottenham
22		Elliott Ward	CB	3		10 (1)				1		14 (1)	'	1 August 2001	Academy
24		Mark Noble	M	0 (3)		10 (3)		3		0 (2)		13 (8)	'	1 July 2003	Academy
26		Shaun Newton	RM	2 (1)		11						13 (1)	'	March 2005	Wolves
3		Rufus Brevett	LB			10 (1)	1			3		13 (1)	1	31 January 2003	Fulham
26		Calum Davenport	CB			10						10	'	9 September 2004	Tottenham
35		Gavin Williams	M/F			7 (3)	1					7 (3)	1	December 2004	Yeovil
Other players with appearances
19		Adam Nowland	M/F			3 (1)	1			2		5 (1)	1	23 January 2004	M.K. Dons
19		Darren Powell	CB			5	1					5	1	20 November 2004	Crystal Palace
5		Andy Melville	CB			3				0 (1)		3 (1)	'	17 January 2004	Fulham
14		Chris Cohen	LB/M			1 (10)		0 (1)		1 (1)		2 (12)	'	1 July 2003	Academy
4		Don Hutchison	F			2 (3)				0 (1)		2 (4)	'	30 August 2001	Sunderland
7		Christian Dailly	CD/M	0 (1)		2 (2)						2 (3)	'	January 2000	Blackburn Rovers
28		Trent McClenahan	CB			0 (2)				1		1 (2)	'	1 July 2003	Academy
9		Mauricio Taricco	D			1						1	'	19 November 2004	Tottenham
21		Richard Garcia	F			0 (1)						0 (1)	'	16 September 1998	Academy
9		Jobi McAnuff	RM			0 (1)						0 (1)	'	3 February 2004	M.K. Dons

First-team squad

Squad at end of season^[5]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Stephen Bywater 2 DF Tomas Repka 3 DF Rufus Brevett 4 MF Don Hutchison 5 DF Andy Melville 6 MF Carl Fletcher 7 DF Christian Dailly 8 FW Teddy Sheringham 10 FW Marlon Harewood 11 MF Steve Lomas 12 MF Matthew Etherington 14 MF Chris Cohen 15 DF Anton Ferdinand 16 FW Sergei Rebrov 17 MF Hayden Mullins 18 FW Youssef Sofiane

No. Position Player 20 MF Nigel Reo-Coker (captain) 21 DF Malky Mackay 22 DF Elliott Ward 23 GK Jimmy Walker 24 MF Mark Noble 25 FW Bobby Zamora 26 MF Shaun Newton 27 FW Greg Pearson 28 DF Trent McClenahan 30 MF Luke Chadwick 31 DF Darren Blewitt 32 FW Moses Ashikodi 34 DF Chris Powell 35 MF Gavin Williams 36 MF Hogan Ephraim

Left club during season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 6 MF Michael Carrick (to Tottenham Hotspur) 9 MF Jobi McAnuff (to Cardiff City) 9 DF Mauricio Taricco (released) 19 MF Adam Nowland (to Nottingham Forest) 19 DF Darren Powell (on loan from Crystal Palace)

No. Position Player 21 FW Richard Garcia (to Colchester United) 26 DF Calum Davenport (on loan from Tottenham Hotspur) 29 MF Graeme Carrick (to Hornchurch) 41 GK Robert Burch (on loan from Tottenham Hotspur)

References