The Claret and Blue ribbons that hung from the FA Cup on 10 May 1980 were testament to his unique managerial values, vision and valour.
Having first won the famous old trophy five years earlier, John Lyall then survived the dreaded drop before repaying the Board’s faith in him with yet more silverware, when he produced a tactical masterstroke to silence Terry Neill’s Gunners.
“Relegation in 1978 was a terrible blow to the Club, the players and my own pride, so the 1980 FA Cup final victory was a tremendous personal boost to me,” wrote the late Hammers boss in his autobiography Just Like My Dreams – My Life with West Ham.
“The manner of the win over Arsenal gave me enormous satisfaction and helped repair any damage my reputation had suffered following that drop to the Second Division.”
Certainly, the West Ham United Board had remained loyal to Lyall, backing him with the funds to make Phil Parkes the world’s most-expensive goalkeeper (£565,000) and Ray Stewart Britain’s costliest teenager (£430,000), while the £200,000 capture of Stuart Pearson from Manchester United unbalanced the Upton Park wage bill, too.
But as he led his second-tier side out at Wembley to face top-flight Arsenal, Lyall knew that each of those signings had brought something to the party during his side’s epic FA Cup run, starting with Parkes’ dramatic, dogged, defiant display at West Bromwich Albion in the third round.
“Standing in the players’ tunnel just before the teams walked out, I’d looked at Phil and thought: ‘If it hadn’t been for you big man, we wouldn’t be here now,’” he continued, as he committed his thoughts on the Hammers’ magnificent FA Cup run to the printed page.
“At Orient, Billy Bonds had insisted on playing with a serious wound and bound a bandage around his head. Billy looked like Geronimo and he played like him, too. I told the press afterwards: ‘The chief won his battle’.
“Paul Allen and David Cross had scored late in the game against Swansea City before fortune smiled on us in the quarter-final against Aston Villa, when Ray Stewart’s penalty decided a tight, competitive match.”
“Then, in the semi-final, Frank Lampard emerged as a most unlikely goal-scorer,” continued gentleman John, whose Claret and Blue legacy still lives on following his tragic passing, aged 66, in April 2006. “To see him do his little dance around the corner flag was a wonderful moment for me.
“When it came to the final itself, I had a difficult decision – it all came down to a straight choice at left-back between Paul Brush and Lampard. I chose Frank simply because of his experience.”
“Arsenal were favourites, there was little pressure on us and I was happy and relaxed,” confirmed Lyall, who remains the last manager outside the top flight to lead his side to an FA Cup triumph. “I had watched them twice and devised a plan. We needed to come up with something a little different, something that would confuse them and perhaps disturb their defensive organisation?
“We were the underdogs and could afford to gamble so I decided to play David Cross as a lone striker and drop Stuart Pearson into a withdrawn position in front of the midfield. You couldn’t have experimented with such a tactical move in a Wembley final with lesser players than Pearson and Cross, who was such a willing and resilient striker. It worked out exceptionally well for us.”
