West Ham winning trophies once felt normal. Will 43 years of hurt end now?

W est Ham are in their first European final for 47 years. Back in 1976 I was a 16-year-old on a rainy night at Upton Park watching the Irons beat Eintracht Frankfurt 3-1 to reach the European Cup Winners’ Cup final. For the winning goal Trevor Brooking threw a dummy that sent a defender halfway down the Barking Road.

We lost the final 4-2 to Anderlecht, but it didn’t matter too much. I saw West Ham win the FA Cup at Wembley in 1975 and again in 1980. The Hammers reached the League Cup final in 1981. Surely finals would come round every few years? But then came the 43 years of hurt since we last won a trophy.

Every supporter believes their team has a monopoly of misery. But like Roy Batty in Blade Runner, I’ve seen things you wouldn’t believe. West Ham had their best-ever finish of third in 1986 but didn’t get into Europe because of the post-Heysel ban. We were relegated but returned to the big time, later boosted by Harry Redknapp’s Minder-esque transfer dealings and some maverick genius from Paolo Di Canio. We finished fifth under Harry in 1999, but still no trophies.

Under Glenn Roeder the Irons managed to not win at home until late January and achieved the considerable feat of going down with a record 42 points in 2003. The club ended up selling most of the England side in Ferdinand, Lampard, Cole, Carrick, Johnson and Defoe.

New gaffer Alan Pardew achieved promotion and then reached the 2006 FA Cup final. This was the moment our trophy drought was to end with the lads 3-2 up after 90 minutes. That was until Lionel Scaloni (whatever happened to him?) hoofed a clearance towards the Liverpool midfield and one Steven Gerrard, who dispatched a hypersonic missile into Shaka Hislop’s net. We lost the greatest final of