Graham Paddon RIP

[Kent_Hammer]

http://www.canaries.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetails/0,,10355~1170858,00.html

Terribly sad news. One of my very favourite players from our successful mid-70s team, I'll always remember the cultured left foot and fantastic shot. Nothing on the official site as yet.

RIP mate.

[TheresaWHUFC]

I've only just seen this news and am shocked and extremely saddened. I was privileged to see Graham play when I first started supporting West Ham United, happy happy memories.

RIP Graham.

[Hawaiian Hammer]

So sad, Paddon was one of my all time favorite players, loved watching him when he was at Norwich and was so glad when we signed him.

RIP Graham Paddon

[blainehammer]

Aged 57. No age. Very sad.

[hammer_scout51]

He was one of my favourites of all time. Saw a fair amount of his games, lovely left foot. Scored a beauty V Frankfurt in the Euro semi's.


RIP Graham.

[Hammerette 1]

Very sad news. RIP Graham.

http://www.whufc.com/page/News/0,,12562~1170995,00.html

[hammer_scout51]

A long but hopefully very worthwhile read C+P from another board.

Football connoisseurs of the early-Seventies simply drooled over
Graham Paddon and it was West Ham's good fortune to obtain his
services during a period of turmoil midway through the 1973/4
season. Bold, blonde and bearded, Graham formed a formidable
midfield link with Billy Bonds and Trevor Brooking that provided the
creative backbone of our 1975 FA Cup winning team, which almost
followed it up with European glory a year later. NEALE HARVEY
travelled to deepest Norfolk and tracked down a true West Ham hero.

With just one win and 9 points from 18 games the Hammers were firmly
embedded in the smelly stuff when Graham Paddon arrived from Norwich
City in December 1973. Relegation from the old First Division looked
odds-on and goalkeeper Bobby Ferguson found himself dropped for
remarking `there are too many gutless, spineless men in the team'.
Morale was at rock bottom.

Ted MacDougall, the much-vaunted former Manchester United striker,
for whom manager Ron Greenwood had shelled out a record £170,000 ten
months earlier, had proved a disaster at Upton Park and there was
relief amongst anguished supporters when he was quickly dispatched
to Norwich in a part-exchange deal that saw Graham make the opposite
journey.

The move was inspired. It takes more than one man to make a football
team, but the history books show that the arrival of Graham - who
possessed one of the sweetest left feet in the business - coincided
with an immediate upturn in our fortunes as another successful
chapter in the club's history began to unfold.

"We were in the mire in a major way," said Graham, 52, who now lives
near Great Yarmouth. "We hadn't won at home that season but we
played Manchester City, who were top of the league, in my first game
and beat them 2-1. That was fantastic for me and we really fought to
get out of trouble. We only lost another six games and survived.

"It was strange, though, because I nearly didn't sign. I'd taken the
train to Liverpool Street but only a taxi driver was waiting to meet
me. That was a bit off so I got straight back on the train home. The
bloke on the train said `I thought you were signing for West Ham
today?'. I told him I wasn't because I couldn't believe what they'd
done.

"But later, after I'd spoken to my wife, I had second thoughts and
decided it was something I really wanted to do. With Norwich I'd
been promoted and played in a League Cup Final at Wembley, which
were both unbelievable experiences, but when I went to West Ham it
was even better and my time there was the most wonderful of my
career."

Before the glory, however, big changes at the club were afoot. He
may have helped us escape relegation, but Graham had been powerless
to prevent a humbling FA Cup Third Round defeat at the hands of
Hereford United and feelings of unrest were prevalent amongst
supporters who had witnessed one poor season too many since the
glory days of the mid-Sixties.

The start of the 1974/5 campaign followed much the same pattern and,
with just one win and three points gained from our opening seven
matches, calls for Greenwood's head grew louder. Greenwood took his
cue in September and moved `upstairs', with John Lyall stepping up
to become manager in his 19th year at the club.

Gradually, things began to gel and following the arrival of strikers
Billy Jennings (£110,000 from Watford) and Keith Robson (£45,000
from Newcastle) our season ignited. Losing just once - a 0-3 reverse
at Arsenal - in 17 league games from then until Boxing Day, league
security was all but assured by New Year, leaving us free to
concentrate on the FA Cup.

Graham quickly established a rapport with Robson - both on and off
the field! - and along with Frank Lampard they formed a left-flank
trio that became feared at home and abroad. There were few hints of
what was to come, however, when, having won a Third Round tie at
Southampton, we almost succumbed to Third Division Swindon.

"We really struggled at Swindon on a mud bath," said Keith, as he
recalled the glory run to Wembley and our eventual victory over
Fulham. "It was the big West Ham thing that you were going to get
knocked out by the smaller team - still is! We'd been done by
Hereford the year before, but we escaped from Swindon with a draw
and Trevor Brooking scored in the replay with a header - a miracle.

"We beat QPR after that and when you reach the Quarter-finals you
start to think something might be on. But we drew Arsenal away and
they'd already beaten us there in the league.

"On our day, though, in a one-off match, we could beat anyone. Down
the left side we had Frank, myself and Keith and we'd developed an
understanding that no one else could beat. We all had good left feet
and were strong, so Arsenal held no fears. I liked playing at
Highbury and I'd scored a hat-trick there once for Norwich.

"Alan Taylor was drafted into the team but he said he was really
scared. We played a practice match on the Tuesday, after which we
all reassured him, saying he'd be all right. But he'd come from
Rochdale and was terrified. `I don't know what to do', he said. So I
replied, `Don't worry, we'll look after you'.

"Then at Arsenal I chipped one across for him to score. He got
another and that was that. Job done.

"The Semi-final against Ipswich was unbelievable. When we walked out
at Villa Park there must have been 30,000 West Ham fans at one end.
I'd been at Wembley with Norwich, playing in front of 100,000, but
Villa Park was something else again. The only thing I can relate it
to was later on, when I was a coach at Portsmouth and we had 30,000
at Highbury for a Semi-final with Liverpool.

"We got slaughtered at Villa Park, but somehow got a way with it and
drew 0-0. We were so bad that when we asked Ron if we could have our
bonus he told us to `bugger off'! But Alan came up trumps again in
the replay at Stamford Bridge and we were at Wembley.

"That was the biggest thing, the Cup Final, but on the Monday before
me and Bonzo had had to prove our fitness against Arsenal. We'd both
been injured but, fortunately, I scored the winner and he was all
right, too.

"In the first half at Wembley we were diabolical and Fulham should
have been winning. We were hopeless and John Lacy put a header over,
which was a real warning and at half-time I remember saying we had
to step it up a gear. Fortunately, we did and it was a relief when
Alan got the first goal. He'd been frightened again, but their
keeper spilled the ball twice and he mopped up.

"We went to The Dorchester afterwards, but they ran out of beer so
we spent the night at The Grosvenor instead. At one point I remember
walking down Tottenham Court Road with my medal in my hand,
thinking `what am I doing with this?'. But the last thing I remember
was Bobby Gould telling me `You're pissed'!

"The Sunday was fantastic and I'll never forget it. Everybody - men,
women, kids, babies, dogs even - was on the streets or hanging out
of windows dressed in claret and blue. The funniest thing, though,
was when we went past the Black Lion in Plaistow on the bus. We
wanted a crate of beer but they said we'd have to pay for it. Do us
a favour!"

As well as guaranteeing immortality for those players in the eyes of
West Ham supporters, our Wembley success brought European football
back to Upton Park for the first time in ten years and this was not
a chance to be missed.

For once we had started a league campaign well - unbeaten in our
first nine matches, then riding high in the First Division in
December. But, as Keith candidly admits, our league form - which
slumped alarmingly as we won just one of our last 21 matches - was
sacrificed as the players mounted an all-out assault on the European
Cup Winners Cup.

"The management didn't think it, but the players did and even though
we were near the top at offensive to pakismas we just said `leave it, we'll go
for Europe'. We tried for all our lives to win that cup and we
nearly did it. We were as close as we could have been and had some
unbelievable matches along the way.

"We had a diabolical start, struggling in Finland against Lahden
Reipas, where Bonzo scored to get us out of the s*** before we beat
them at home.

"Then, after beating Yerevan in the next round, we went to Den Haag
and found ourselves 4-0 down at half-time. That was a nightmare and
probably the worst moment of my career. At half-time I just told
Billy Jennings to keep getting into the near post and, fortunately,
he got a couple to get us back into the tie.

"We did them 3-1 at home to go through and those midweek games under
the lights were fantastic. We were fine then, but were hopeless on
Saturdays because we'd spend every Thursday afternoon in the pub!
We'd come back from European trips, go straight to the Manor Park
and that would be that.

"In the Semi-final I scored one of my best ever goals, a 30-yarder
to put us ahead against Eintracht Frankfurt. We lost 2-1, but won
the tie at home when Robbo curled a beauty into the top right hand
corner.

"We really believed we could beat Anderlecht in the final, even
though they were playing in their home city. 20,000 West Ham fans
did, too, and we were geared for it. We didn't believe we could lose
to any of these teams in a one off match, but they were a good side
and we made mistakes on the day."

Following that 4-2 defeat in Brussels, Graham was soon on the move
again. Yet another poor start to the 1976/77 season - how familiar
does that sound? - heralded another period of change at the club and
he found himself back at Norwich in November.

He spent a further five seasons at Carrow Road, during which time he
enjoyed a short stint playing for Tampa Bay Rowdies in America,
before ending his career at Millwall in 1981.

After running a country pub in Norfolk and a leisure centre in South
Walsham he joined Portsmouth as reserve team coach in 1985 before
moving to Stoke City as assistant manager to Alan Ball in 1989. He
returned to Pompey in 1991, working for Jim Smith until the pair
were fired in 1995.

Since then, Graham has worked in the Yemen and more recently scouted
for Derby County. He now coaches locally and has his own website at
www.footballcoach.ic24.net/defaultf.htm

Looking back, though, he says: "To play with people like Billy
Bonds, Frank Lampard and Trevor Brooking was the highlight of my
career. Ron Greenwood and John Lyall were great, too, and all the
East End people were brilliant to me. The fans were top notch.

"We achieved so much in a short space of time and West Ham are
undoubtedly the best club I played for."

[norwaytips]

Sad news indeed. Oh. how I remember some of those games, especially the ones against Ipswich. My next door neighbour and good friend, was a certain Mick Mills. Tickets were not a problem, but loyalties, almost became confused.

It was always hard shouting on the Hammers when my best mate was in the opposing team.

Graham was a buddy of Mick and I had the pleasure of meeting him a couple of times. A nice man and a big talent.

I am feeling very old. Brian help me.

[claret50]

I am feeling very old. Brian help me.
Can't help with the feeling old bit mate, I've gone way past that stage;) but I would like to add my condolences to the family of Graham Paddon, and all who knew him, I only ever saw him play a few times, (I'd shifted out to the colonies in the early 70's) but here's a photo of the man in his Norwich playing days.
May he R.I.P.


http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y172/claret50/paddon.jpg