West Ham | Buzzin Championship Football

West Ham Promoted To The Premier League

A goal two minutes before the end of the game from Ricardo Vaz Te meant that West Ham returned to the Premier League after beating Blackpool 2-1 at Wembley Stadium yesterday. Carlton Cole gave the Hammers the lead after 35 minutes, but Blackpool’s Tom Ince equalised shortly after half time.

With the win, West Ham become the fifth club in the last two decades to have won two playoff finals and also became the fifth 3rd placed club in the last ten seasons to win promotion via the playoffs.

I think it’s relatively safe to say that following yesterday’s performance Blackpool should be challenging at the top end of the Championship next season, although it’s always worth pointing out that the odds of the Tangerines earning an automatic promotion spot are slim. Since 1991/92 only three clubs have won the Championship after having lost the playoff final at the end of the previous season and only three have gone on to achieve promotion via the playoffs – and none have finished in the runners-up spot. However, I can’t see Blackpool finishing outside the top ten and trends aren’t set in stone.

With West Ham’s departure to more lucrative pastures, there’s only one spot left in next season’s nPower Championship left. I’ll be back on Friday to take a look at the League 1 playoff semi final between Huddersfield Town & Sheffield United: we’ve already got three clubs from Yorkshire in the Championship and there’s room for one more!

Can Blackpool Beat West Ham?

So this is it: the end of another season. 556 games played and arguably the last and most important one takes place tomorrow afternoon when either Blackpool or West Ham will be promoted back to the Premier League.

Like the rest of the mini tournament, Saturday’s game is unusual as it features two clubs who are looking to ‘bounce back immediately’ (to quote Messers Kean, Coyle and Connor – although Stale Solbakken presumably hasn’t said anything yet) to the Premier League: although any fans of Bolton, Blackburn & Wolves who are reading might want to skip the next paragraph…

In the last decade, there’s only been one playoff tournament that’s featured more than one club that had been relegated from the Premier League in the previous season (2003/04) and over the same period none of the relegated clubs were promoted via the playoffs: West Ham (2004) and West Brom (2007) both lost in the finals.

I’ll have more thoughts about ‘bouncing back immediately’ before the start of next season, but the correct response from any of the current Championship clubs to the recent outbreak of misplaced optimism from the management of the newly relegated clubs should be amusement.

Back to the game. It’s obvious why West Ham are favourites to win promotion, but the closer you look at the game the less straightforward it becomes. The Hammers had no problems in either of the league games between the sides this season: an aggregate score of 8-1 with seven different players scoring in those games appears to give Sam Allardyce’s side a considerable psychological advantage.

Then there’s the historical edge that the Hammers have in their meetings with Blackpool. The last time they lost to Blackpool was in a 3^rd round FA Cup tie in January 1971, when the Tangerines ran out 4-0 winners: Bobby Moore, Brian Dear and Jimmy Greaves had been out drinking the night before the game and all three were fined and suspended by Ron Greenwood. That was the last meeting between the clubs until the 0-0 draw at the Boleyn Ground in November 2010 in the Premier League.

So far so good. But here’s the counter argument: this game will be the fifth final in the last two decades between clubs that finished in third and fifth places and the lower placed team has won three of them. Blackpool won at Wembley two years ago as the lower placed team and seven of the starting eleven who beat Cardiff in 2010 are still with the team: in short, Blackpool have a crucial advantage of having ‘been there and done that’ which could be absolutely vital.

Ian Holloways’s team also fits the playoff winner profile in other respects. Blackpool were competitive this season without ever enough consistency for a sustained run at the automatic places – in fact, they have a lot in common with Hull (2008), Burnley (2009), Birmingham (2002) and Swindon (1993). They were never higher than fourth but never lower than mid table but Blackpool only cracked the playoff positions in January when late goals from Elliott Grandin and Chris Basham gave them a come from behind win against Crystal Palace at Bloomfield Road. They’re currently on a nine game unbeaten run, which is their best form of the season.

West Ham have been in the top five all season- and were top of the pile for a few weeks – but five consecutive draws in March effectively ended their hopes of automatic promotion. The Hammers haven’t lost in eight games since being turned over by Reading at the Boleyn Ground and in any other season would have probably won automatic promotion but this term there were two teams that were better than they were. If they win tomorrow then they’ll joined a very select band of clubs: only Charlton (1998), Ipswich (2000) and Bolton (2001) earned more points during the regular season than West Ham did this term and won the playoff final.

As there’s no home advantage at Wembley, the real key to the game could be the away records. West Ham were the best team on the road last season, but Burnley and Leeds – yes even Leeds – had better away numbers than Blackpool did and only four teams conceded more goals away from home than the Tangerines. Given that only Birmingham City scored more away goals than the Hammers did, it’s possible we might have a goalfest on our hands, especially as there’s a history of high scoring games between the two clubs. In the last ten meetings, there’s been an average of 3.5 goals with most of West Ham’s wins over Blackpool being by at least two goals.

It could well be a classic final and regardless of which club wins promoted they’ve both contributed to a memorable season. There’s been a lot of moaning on various other blogs recently about how boring the Championship is supposed to have been this term, but as I’ve made clear over the past months I think that’s down to the ‘safety first’ attitude of some of the mid table teams rather than the clubs that were involved in the promotion and relegation issues.

Enjoy the game: I’ll be back on Sunday evening with a recap as I’m making a day of it – my wife and I are going to a barbecue immediately after the game before watching the Champions League final.

Who Will Join West Ham at Wembley?

The first thing that struck me when looking at tonight’s game is how it’s a carbon copy of the second leg of the recent Champions League semi final between Barcelona and Chelsea. Blackpool don’t have to win but as long as they don’t lose by two clear goals or more then The Tangerines will be appearing in their second playoff final in the last three seasons.

The playoffs are never as straightforward as that though. Over the past ten seasons, only four clubs have won the first leg: the good news for Blackpool is that only one team (Ipswich in 2004) lost the second leg and were eliminated from the tournament. The bad news for Blackpool: only one club that finished fifth and won the first leg actually went on to win promotion in the playoff final – that was Burnley in 2010.

Birmingham finished fourth and lost the first leg. I mentioned the curse of fourth place last year and although I wouldn’t wish it on anyone, it looks very much as if it’s about to claim another victim. It’s been a long season for the Blues and you’ve got to wonder about the impact of playing in the Europa League at the start of the season: tonight’s match could be a game too far.

However, I’m sure that Ian Holloway’s side also won’t want to be reminded that in four of their last five league games at St. Andrew’s they’ve lost by two or more goals, including a 3-0 defeat in the Midlands on New Year’s Eve. Blackpool were already two goals down when ex-Bluenose Barry Ferguson was sent off, to be swiftly followed by Holloway who was dismissed for protesting against the decision a little vehemently for referee Craig Pawson’s liking.

With so much at stake tonight’s game could turn into a torrid affair, but the main aspect on the field will be how the defences cope. Birmingham have only lost once at home this season and had the best home defensive record, keeping clean sheets against Blackpool, Reading and Southampton and only conceding once goal against Cardiff and West Ham but they simply cannot afford to let Blackpool score. If Kevin Philips finds the back of the net, I can’t imagine that he’d want to celebrate against the club he left at the end of last season.

As a neutral, although I was impressed with the way West Ham dispatched Cardiff over two legs, it felt as if something has been missing from the playoffs so far: hopefully we could be in for something less one sided this evening and we may not know the outcome until it’s almost time to go to bed.

As usual, there’ll be an update after the game: the next scheduled post will be before the playoff final on May 19th, but as we’ve seen over the past couple of days ‘silly season’ seems to have started earlier this year.

Update: Birmingham City 2, Blackpool 2: the Tangerines scored either side of half time and although the Blues fought back to level the game, it’s Blackpool who’ll be playing West Ham at Wembley. Let the cliches begin.

Sheffield Wednesday Return To The Championship

First of all, congratulations to Sheffield Wednesday – their 2-0 win over Wyconbe Wanderers combined with Sheffield United failing to win at Exeter City meant that Dave Jones, Milan Mandaric et al return to the Championship in 2011/12. I’m not going to dwell on the League 1 playoffs for too long, but with two of the four clubs taking part having never played at Championship level (I’m definitely not counting MK Dons as Wimbledon) and Huddersfield last playing in the second tier over a decade ago, I think it’s probably fair to say that if any club other than Sheffield United is promoted via the playoffs then whoever that is might struggle in the Championship.

Back to the Championship playoffs now and although I’m tempting fate I’d be very surprised if West Ham blew their chance of promotion at home to Cardiff (Sky Sports 1, 4:30pm). The Bluebirds would have to win by three clear goals to stand a chance of reaching Wembley: they’ve only scored two in three meetings since the mid 1920s – and lost two of those matches! If the Hammers reach the final, they’ll be the first side from the capital to play in a second tier playoff final at Wembley since Charlton in 1998.

The first leg of the other semi finals finished with a slender victory at Bloomfield Road for Blackpool, thanks to an own goal from Birmingham defender Curtis Davies on the stroke of half time. Having already declared that West Ham are as good as through to the playoff final, I’m going to make another rash prediction and say that the second leg at St Andrews will provide the semi final drama that seems to happen every year. I wouldn’t be surprised if this one goes to extra time or even penalties.

There’s also the chance that we may learn the identity of another club that’ll being playing in the Championship next season as Blackburn Rovers have to beat Wigan tonight to have any chance of staying in the Premier League. There’ll be an update after that game finishes.

West Ham reached Wembley after beating Cardiff 3-0; Blackburn Rovers lost 1-0 at home to Wigan and will play in the Championship next season.

nPower Championship Playoffs 2011/12

The playoffs are very unusual this season: all three clubs that were relegated from the Premier League last season are involved as well as Cardiff City, who have been unsuccessful at this stage in the last three seasons. Although it’s been a long time since a relegated club was promoted via the playoffs (the last team to do so was Leicester in 1996), it looks as if that record might be broken this year.

The games begin this evening when West Ham travel to Cardiff City for the second time in the last couple of months: goals from Kevin Nolan and George McCartney earned the Hammers all three points at the City of Cardiff Stadium at the beginning of March, which made up for the 1-0 defeat the Bluebirds inflicted at the Boleyn Ground in the first game of the season.

This looks like a tight match: West Ham have only lost twice in their last 10 visits to the Welsh capital but haven’t beaten Cardiff in consecutive league games since the late 1920s! The hosts haven’t exactly been firing on all cylinders recently – indifferent form including five draws in their last six games – put paid to any chances of automatic promotion but Malky McKay has rebuilt the team and made them difficult to beat at home. This is not the same Cardiff side that has quite frankly failed to perform in the post season in recent years and they could cause a surprise.

West Ham were considered hot favourites to win the Championship this season but despite having been in the top two for most of the season it became apparent towards the end of the campaign that both Southampton and Reading had been consistently better than the Hammers: there seems to be some optimism about the playoffs based on the assumption that third place is the best place to finish, particularly as four of the last six winners finished just outside the automatic promotion places. Hammers fans with longer memories might remember that it took West Ham two seasons to achieve promotion from the second tier last time they played at this level: additionally, over the last ten seasons four clubs of the clubs that finished behind the top two crashed out of the semi finals and Sheffield United lost both finals they took part in.

Tomorrow night’s semi final between Blackpool and Birmingham is liable to be just as intriguing but for completely different reasons. Birmingham have had the misfortune to finish in fourth place: the last team to finish fourth in the second tier and achieve promotion was Charlton Athletic, way back in May 1998. The Blues also had the worst away record of any of the top six teams this season and although they earned a point in Lancashire at the end of November (thanks to a late equaliser from Nikola Zigic) they’ve failed to win at any of their closest rivals this season: they’ve only won once in their last ten visits to Bloomfield Road.

Blackpool are one of only two teams to have beaten both Reading and Southampton at home this season (the other was Cardiff) and have only lost once at home since New Year’s Day: Ian Holloway hasn’t abandoned the style of play that earned a lot of praise in the Premier League last season – only Reading scored more goals at home this season and despite being nearly 40 Kevin Phillips has been in vintage form this season – but the Tangerines have tightened up at the back and may be a better side this time round than they were in 2010.

I’m not going to make any predictions about tonight’s games as I’m expecting them to be close contests: losing in the first leg is unthinkable so not losing is almost the order of the day. It’ll be interesting to see what happens: I’ll be back later with an update and there’ll be a brand new post up tomorrow.

Update: two first half goals from Jack Collison gave West Ham a 2-0 win at the City Of Cardiff Stadium. The last three clubs that finished third and also won the first leg of the semi final were promoted – Watford, Derby and Hull between 2006 and 2008.