# 1990–91 West Ham United F.C. season

For the 1990–91 West Ham United F.C. season in English football, West Ham United finished 2nd in the league.

## Season summary

Billy Bonds in his first full season as manager guided West Ham back to the top flight of The Football League as the team finished second in the Second Division, one point behind Oldham Athletic, who pipped them to the title on the last day of the season. Oldham were the season's top scorers in the division with 83 goals.
West Ham finished the season with the meanest defence, conceding 34 goals. The second meanest defence belonged to 7th place Middlesbrough, containing Colin Cooper and Tony Mowbray, which conceded 47 goals. West Ham's two games against Middlesbrough ended in 0–0 draws.
West Ham also enjoyed their best FA Cup run since the triumph of 1980, reaching the semi-finals where they were beaten 4–0 by Nottingham Forest, denying them a Wembley final with local rivals Tottenham Hotspur who went on to win the trophy.
Trevor Morley was West Ham's leading scorer for 1990–91, with 12 goals in the league and 17 in all competitions, while Frank McAvennie showed full fitness after a long term injury by scoring 10 goals in the league (11 in all competitions) to finish the campaign as the club's second top scorer.

## Results

West Ham United's score comes first

### Football League Second Division

| Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Scorers |
| 25 August 1990 | Middlesbrough | A | 0–0 | 20,680 | |
| 29 August 1990 | Portsmouth | H | 1–1 | 20,835 | McAvennie |
| 1 September 1990 | Watford | H | 1–0 | 19,872 | Dicks (pen) |
| 8 September 1990 | Leicester City | A | 2–1 | 14,605 | James (o.g.), Morley |
| 15 September 1990 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | H | 1–1 | 23,241 | Martin |
| 19 September 1990 | Ipswich Town | H | 3–1 | 18,764 | Bishop, Quinn, Morley |
| 22 September 1990 | Newcastle United | A | 1–1 | 25,462 | Morley |
| 29 September 1990 | Sheffield Wednesday | A | 1–1 | 28,786 | Dicks |
| 3 October 1990 | Oxford United | H | 2–0 | 18,125 | Foster, Morley |
| 6 October 1990 | Hull City | H | 7–1 | 19,472 | Quinn (2), Potts, Dicks (2; 1 pen), Parris, Morley |
| 13 October 1990 | Bristol City | A | 1–1 | 16,838 | McAvennie |
| 20 October 1990 | Swindon Town | A | 1–0 | 13,658 | McAvennie |
| 24 October 1990 | Blackburn Rovers | H | 1–0 | 20,003 | Bishop |
| 27 October 1990 | Charlton Athletic | H | 2–1 | 24,019 | Allen (2) |
| 3 November 1990 | Notts County | A | 1–0 | 10,871 | Morley |
| 10 November 1990 | Millwall | A | 1–1 | 20,591 | McAvennie |
| 17 November 1990 | Brighton & Hove Albion | H | 2–1 | 24,019 | Slater, Foster |
| 24 November 1990 | Plymouth Argyle | A | 1–0 | 11,490 | McAvennie |
| 1 December 1990 | West Bromwich Albion | H | 3–1 | 24,753 | Parris, Morley, McAvennie |
| 8 December 1990 | Portsmouth | A | 1–0 | 12,045 | Morley |
| 15 December 1990 | Middlesbrough | H | 0–0 | 23,705 | |
| 22 December 1990 | Barnsley | A | 0–1 | 10,348 | |
| 26 December 1990 | Oldham Athletic | H | 2–0 | 24,950 | Morley, Slater |
| 28 December 1990 | Port Vale | H | 0–0 | 23,603 | |
| 1 January 1991 | Bristol Rovers | A | 1–0 | 7,932 | Quinn |
| 12 January 1991 | Watford | A | 1–0 | 17,172 | Morley |
| 19 January 1991 | Leicester City | H | 1–0 | 21,652 | Parris |
| 2 February 1991 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | A | 1–2 | 19,454 | McAvennie |
| 24 February 1991 | Millwall | H | 3–1 | 20,503 | McAvennie (2), Morley |
| 2 March 1991 | West Bromwich Albion | A | 0–0 | 16,089 | |
| 5 March 1991 | Plymouth Argyle | H | 2–2 | 18,933 | Marker (o.g.), Breacker |
| 13 March 1991 | Oxford United | A | 1–2 | 8,225 | Quinn |
| 16 March 1991 | Sheffield Wednesday | H | 1–3 | 26,182 | Quinn |
| 20 March 1991 | Bristol City | H | 1–0 | 22,951 | Gale |
| 23 March 1991 | Hull City | A | 0–0 | 9,558 | |
| 29 March 1991 | Oldham Athletic | A | 1–1 | 16,932 | Bishop (p) |
| 1 April 1991 | Barnsley | H | 3–2 | 24,607 | McAvennie, Dowie, Foster |
| 6 April 1991 | Port Vale | A | 1–0 | 9,658 | Bishop |
| 10 April 1991 | Brighton & Hove Albion | A | 0–1 | 11,904 | |
| 17 April 1991 | Ipswich Town | A | 1–0 | 20,290 | Morley |
| 20 April 1991 | Swindon Town | H | 2–0 | 25,944 | Parris, Dowie |
| 24 April 1991 | Newcastle United | H | 1–1 | 24,195 | Dowie |
| 27 April 1991 | Blackburn Rovers | A | 1–3 | 10,808 | Dowie |
| 4 May 1991 | Charlton Athletic | A | 1–1 | 16,137 | Allen |
| 8 May 1991 | Bristol Rovers | H | 1–0 | 23,054 | Slater |
| 11 May 1991 | Notts County | H | 1–2 | 26,551 | Parris |

### FA Cup

| Round | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Goalscorers |
| R3 | 5 January 1991 | Aldershot | A | 0–0 | 22,929 | |
| R3R | 16 January 1991 | Aldershot | H | 6–1 | 21,484 | Morley (2), Slater, Parris, Bishop, Quinn |
| R4 | 26 January 1991 | Luton Town | A | 1–1 | 12,087 | Parris 43' |
| R4R | 30 January 1991 | Luton Town | H | 5–0 | 25,659 | Parris 45', Bishop 53', McAvennie 54', Morley (2) 68', 83' |
| R5 | 15 February 1991 | Crewe Alexandra | H | 1–0 | 25,298 | Quinn |
| R6 | 11 March 1991 | Everton | H | 2–1 | 28,161 | Foster 33', Slater 60' |
| SF | 14 April 1991 | Nottingham Forest | N | 0–4 | 40,041 | |

### League Cup

| Round | Date | Opponent | Venue | Result | Attendance | Goalscorers |
| R2 1st leg | 26 September 1990 | Stoke City | H | 3–0 | 15,870 | Dicks (pen), Keen, Quinn |
| R2 2nd leg | 10 October 1990 | Stoke City | A | 2–1 (won 5–1 on agg) | 8,411 | Allen (2) |
| R3 | 31 October 1990 | Oxford United | A | 1–2 | 7,528 | Morley |

## Squad

| Number | Player | Position | Lge Apps | Lge Gls | FAC Apps | FAC Gls | LC Apps | LC Gls | Date Signed | Previous Club |
| West Ham United 1990–91 First XI ||||||||||||
| 1 | Ludek Miklosko (Hammer of the Year) | GK | 46 | | 7 | | 3 | | February 1990 | Banik Ostrava |
| 2 | Steve Potts | RB | 36(1) | 1 | 7 | | 2 | | May 1984 | Academy |
| 3 | George Parris | LM | 37(7) | 5 | 7 | 3 | 2 (1) | | 1985 | Academy |
| 4 | Tony Gale | CB | 23(1) | 1 | 7 | | 0 (1) | | August 1983 | Fulham |
| 5 | Colin Foster | CB | 36 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | | 1989 | Nottingham Forest |
| 6 | Chris Hughton | LB | 32 | | 7 | | | | 1990 | Tottenham |
| 7 | Ian Bishop (Captain) | CM | 40 | 4 | 5 (1) | 2 | 3 | | December 1989 | Manchester City |
| 8 | Frank McAvennie | CF | 24(10) | 10 | 3 (1) | 1 | 0 (1) | | March 1989 | Celtic |
| 9 | Stuart Slater | RM | 37(3) | 3 | 7 | 2 | 2 | | 1987 | Academy |
| 10 | Kevin Keen | CM | 36(4) | | 6 (1) | | 3 | 1 | 1986 | Academy |
| 11 | Trevor Morley | CF | 38 | 12 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 1 | December 1989 | Manchester City |
| Important Players ||||||||||||
| 10 | Martin Allen | M | 28(12) | 3 | 2 | | 3 | 2 | August 1989 | Queens Park Rangers |
| 8 | Jimmy Quinn | CF | 16(10) | 6 | 3 (2) | 2 | 3 | 1 | December 1989 | Bradford City |
| 2 | Tim Breacker | RB | 23(1) | 1 | 6 | | | | October 1990 | Luton Town |
| 5 | Alvin Martin | CB | 20 | 1 | | | 3 | | July 1976 | Academy |
| 3 | Julian Dicks | LB | 13 | 4 | | | 2 | 1 | March 1988 | Birmingham City |
| 9 | Iain Dowie | CF | 12 | 4 | | | | | March 1991 | Luton Town |
| Other Players ||||||||||||
| 5 | Ray Stewart | RB | 5 | | 0 (1) | | | | September 1979 | Dundee United |
| 9 | Matthew Rush | W | 2 (3) | | | | 1 | | 1990 | Academy |
| 9 | Franz Carr | F | 1 (2) | | | | | | March 1991 | Nottingham Forest |
| 9 | Simon Livett | M | 1 | | 0 (1) | | | | 1990 | Academy |
| 14 | Leroy Rosenior | CF | 0 (2) | | | | | | March 1988 | Fulham |
| 12 | Simon Clarke | F | 0 (1) | | | | | | 1990 | Academy |
| 5 | Stewart Robson | M | 0 (1) | | 1 | | | | January 1987 | Arsenal |