# 1976–77 West Ham United F.C. season

West Ham United narrowly escaped relegation by finishing 17th in the First Division in the 1976–77 season.

## Season summary

Although West Ham ended their run of seven months without a League victory in August 1976 by beating Queens Park Rangers, they dropped to the bottom of the table after failing to win any of their other first twelve League games. At the start of April 1977, they still occupied last place, but after a succession of draws they beat Manchester United 4–2 at Upton Park in their last fixture to avoid relegation by two points, having lost just one of their last thirteen matches. Perversely, many of their better performances came against teams towards the top of the table: as well as doing a League double over Manchester United, they took three points off the champions Liverpool and also beat Arsenal at Highbury and Manchester City at home. Pop Robson, who had re-signed for the club from Sunderland, was their top scorer with 14 goals.
West Ham also struggled in the cups, and they were convincingly beaten by Aston Villa in the fourth round of the FA Cup.

## League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 15 | Derby County | 42 | 9 | 19 | 14 | 50 | 55 | −5 | 37 |
| 16 | Norwich City | 42 | 14 | 9 | 19 | 47 | 64 | −17 | 37 |
| 17 | West Ham United | 42 | 11 | 14 | 17 | 46 | 65 | −19 | 36 |
| 18 | Bristol City | 42 | 11 | 13 | 18 | 38 | 48 | −10 | 35 |
| 19 | Coventry City | 42 | 10 | 15 | 17 | 48 | 59 | −11 | 35 |

## Results
### Football League First Division

| Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Goalscorers |
| 21 August 1976 | Aston Villa | A | 0–4 | 39,012 | |
| 23 August 1976 | Queens Park Rangers | H | 1–0 | 31,668 | Paddon |
| 28 August 1976 | Leicester City | H | 0–0 | 24,960 | |
| 4 September 1976 | Stoke City | H | 1–2 | 19,131 | A Taylor |
| 11 September 1976 | Arsenal | H | 0–2 | 31,965 | |
| 18 September 1976 | Bristol City | A | 1–1 | 28,932 | A Taylor |
| 25 September 1976 | Sunderland | H | 1–1 | 24,319 | Jennings |
| 2 October 1976 | Manchester City | A | 2–4 | 37,795 | A Taylor, Doyle (o.g.) |
| 6 October 1976 | Leeds United | H | 1–3 | 21,909 | Jennings |
| 16 October 1976 | Ipswich Town | H | 0–2 | 24,534 | |
| 23 October 1976 | Everton | A | 2–3 | 23,163 | McNaught (o.g.), Bonds |
| 30 October 1976 | West Bromwich Albion | A | 0–3 | 19,856 | |
| 6 November 1976 | Tottenham Hotspur | H | 5–3 | 28,997 | P Robson, Bonds, Jennings, Brooking, Curbishley |
| 10 November 1976 | Norwich City | A | 0–1 | 24,762 | |
| 20 November 1976 | Newcastle United | A | 1–2 | 21,324 | P Robson |
| 27 November 1976 | Manchester United | A | 2–0 | 55,366 | Brooking, Jennings |
| 4 December 1976 | Middlesbrough | H | 0–1 | 20,184 | |
| 18 December 1976 | Liverpool | H | 2–0 | 24,175 | Brooking, Jennings |
| 27 December 1976 | Birmingham City | A | 0–0 | 39,978 | |
| 1 January 1977 | Tottenham Hotspur | A | 1–2 | 44,972 | Brooking |
| 3 January 1977 | West Bromwich Albion | H | 0–0 | 25,236 | |
| 22 January 1977 | Aston Villa | H | 0–1 | 27,577 | |
| 5 February 1977 | Leicester City | A | 0–2 | 16,201 | |
| 12 February 1977 | Stoke City | H | 1–0 | 20,160 | P Robson |
| 19 February 1977 | Arsenal | A | 3–2 | 38,221 | A Taylor (2), Jennings |
| 26 February 1977 | Bristol City | H | 2–0 | 29,713 | Bonds (pen), Jennings |
| 5 March 1977 | Sunderland | A | 0–6 | 35,357 | |
| 12 March 1977 | Manchester City | H | 1–0 | 24,974 | P Robson |
| 22 March 1977 | Ipswich Town | A | 1–4 | 27,315 | P Robson (pen) |
| 2 April 1977 | Everton | H | 2–2 | 22,518 | P Robson (2) |
| 4 April 1977 | Queens Park Rangers | A | 1–1 | 24,930 | P Robson |
| 8 April 1977 | Birmingham City | H | 2–2 | 28,167 | Jennings, Pike |
| 9 April 1977 | Coventry City | A | 1–1 | 15,816 | P Robson |
| 11 April 1977 | Norwich City | H | 1–0 | 27,084 | Pike |
| 16 April 1977 | Newcastle United | A | 0–3 | 30,967 | |
| 20 April 1977 | Derby County | A | 1–1 | 21,380 | Pike (pen) |
| 26 April 1977 | Leeds United | A | 1–1 | 16,891 | P Robson |
| 29 April 1977 | Middlesbrough | A | 1–1 | 16,500 | P Robson |
| 4 May 1977 | Coventry City | H | 2–0 | 25,461 | P Robson, Pike (pen) |
| 7 May 1977 | Derby County | H | 2–2 | 32,079 | Pike, Jennings |
| 14 May 1977 | Liverpool | A | 0–0 | 55,675 | |
| 16 May 1977 | Manchester United | H | 4–2 | 29,311 | Lampard, Pike, P Robson (2) |

### FA Cup

| Round | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Goalscorers |
| R3 | 8 January 1977 | Bolton Wanderers | H | 2–1 | 24,147 | Jennings, Pike |
| R4 | 29 January 1977 | Aston Villa | A | 0–3 | 46,954 | |

### League Cup

| Round | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Goalscorers |
| R2 | 1 September 1976 | Barnsley | H | 3–0 | 17,889 | Holland (2), Paddon |
| R3 | 21 September 1976 | Charlton Athletic | A | 1–0 | 32,898 | A Taylor |
| R4 | 27 October 1976 | Queens Park Rangers | H | 0–2 | 24,565 | |

## Players

| | Player | Pos | Lge Apps | Lge Gls | FAC Apps | FAC Gls | LC Apps | LC Gls | Date Signed | Previous Club |
| First Team |||||||||||
| | Mervyn Day | GK | 42 | | 2 | | 3 | | 1973 | Academy |
| | Frank Lampard | LB | 36 | 1 | 2 | | 1 | | 1967 | Academy |
| | Billy Bonds (Capt) | CM | 41 | 3 | 2 | | 3 | | 1967 | Charlton Athletic |
| | Bill Green | CH | 22 | | 2 | | 2 | | 1976 | Carlisle United |
| | Tommy Taylor | D | 36 | | 2 | | 3 | | 1970 | Leyton Orient |
| | Kevin Lock | CH | 25 (1) | | 2 | | 2 | | 1971 | Academy |
| | Alan Devonshire | LM | 27 (1) | 3 | | | 1 | | 1976 | Southall |
| | Billy Jennings | F | 27 (4) | 9 | 2 | 1 | 2 | | 1974 | Watford |
| | Trevor Brooking | CM | 42 | 4 | 2 | | 3 | | 1967 | Academy |
| | Pop Robson | CF | 30 | 14 | 2 | | | | 1976 | Sunderland |
| | Alan Taylor | CF | 24 (1) | 5 | 1 | | 2 | 1 | 1974 | Rochdale |
| Other Players |||||||||||
| | Johnny Ayris | RW | 1 (2) | | | | | | 1970 | Academy |
| | Keith Coleman | RB | 12 (1) | | | | 2 | | 1973 | Sunderland |
| | Alan Curbishley | M | 8 (2) | 1 | 1 | | 1 | | 1974 | Academy |
| | Pat Holland | M | 6 | | | | 1 | 2 | 1969 | Academy |
| | Mick McGiven | CH | 15 (1) | | | | 2 | | 1973 | Sunderland |
| | Yılmaz Orhan | F | 1 (2) | | | | 1 | | 1975 | Aveley |
| | Anton Otulakowski | M | 10 (2) | | | | | | 1976 | Barnsley |
| | Graham Paddon | M | 12 | 1 | | | 3 | 1 | 1973 | Norwich City |
| | Geoff Pike | M | 20 | 6 | 1 | 1 | | | 1975 | Academy |
| | John Radford | M | 18 | | 1 | | | | 1976 | Arsenal |
| | Keith Robson | W | 7 (2) | | | | 1 | | 1974 | Newcastle United |