West Ham United F.C. is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London, and also featured in the Apple TV+ series, Ted Lasso. The club was owned by Rupert Mannion after he bought it and then he hired Nathan Shelley as the head coach and manager of the club.
The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, having moved from their former home, the Boleyn Ground. In the show, it is a fictionalized version of the real club.
History[]
West Ham have been winners of the FA Cup three times (1964, 1975 and 1980) and runners-up twice (1923 and 2006). They are one of eight clubs never to have fallen below the second tier of English football, spending 63 of 95 league seasons in the top flight, up to and including the 2020–21 season.
The club has a long-standing rivalry with Millwall F.C., and the fixture has gained notoriety for frequent incidents of football hooliganism. West Ham also have strong rivalries with several other clubs: most of these are with other London clubs, especially with Tottenham Hotspur F.C. in an East versus North London derby and with Chelsea F.C. in an East versus West London rivalry.
The Club's Anthem[]
The supporters chanting "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles"
The team's supporters are famous for their rendition of the chorus of their team's anthem, "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles" introduced to the club by former manager Charlie Paynter in the late 1920s. The 1975 FA Cup version – which contains the original lyrics, and features vocals from the team's then-current players – is always played before home games, with the home crowd joining in and carrying the song on after the music stops at the verse line "Fortune's always hiding".
When the players come onto the pitch, and at other times of celebration, as the song I'm forever blowing bubbles is being sung, around 60 bubble machines produce copious bubbles that rise high into the stadium. The team and supporters are known as The Hammers, in part because of the club's origins as Thames Ironworks. They are also known as The Irons.
Rivalry with Richmond[]
During the funeral of Rebecca Welton's father, Rupert tells his ex-wife and informs her that she can have the remaining shares of AFC Richmond as a gift. He approaches Nate and whispers something in his ear and pats him on the back. Rebecca sees the gesture and being suspicious about it, especially after seeing Nate smiles. Later on, Rebecca finds out that Rupert is now the new owner of West Ham United and realizes why he gave the remaining shares of Richmond to her.
A few months later, Nate is the new manager of West Ham United, and while he's observing the players during training, Rupert approaches him and whispers something in his ear, while patting his back. Nate is a very strict coach and likes to berate his players, even calling them dumb.
The sport pundits are predicting that West Ham United will ranked 8th in the newest football season while Richmond will finishes last. When the best footballer Zava announced that he's leaving his club Juventus to join the Premier League in England, a lot of clubs immediately offered him to join them including Chelsea F.C., Arsenal F.C., West Ham United F.C., and AFC Richmond. During the match between Richmond vs Chelsea, Zava makes an appearance and Rupert is also there, trying to charm the footballer to join West Ham United. However, Zava announces that he will join Richmond Football Club instead.
Nate resigns from the West Ham, and Rupert hired George Cartrick as their new manager. During the final match against Richmond for Premier Leaguerank, the team started to loose their edge and Richmond began to surge towards victory. Beyond furious, Rupert storms onto the field to see George and angrily berates him for doing a bad job. George tries to defend himself, when Rupert orders him to have one of his players injure Jamie Tartt in order to win them back the match.
George is appalled and shocked at his owner's willingness to hurt and cheat, and refuses his command. Enraged, Rupert threatens to fire him if he doesn't. Instead, George cusses him out which makes Rupert goes ballistic and hits the coach, shoving him to the ground. The entire stadium and all the viewers watching on TV are shocked and angered.
West Ham lost the match, and it's been revealed from the news media and newspapers that West Ham United, disgusted by all of Rupert's actions, sacked him from his owner's position.
Uniforms[]
West Ham United team uniforms
West Ham adopted their claret and sky blue colour scheme in the early 1900s, with the most common iteration of a claret shirt and sky blue sleeves first emerging in 1904. The original colours of the team were dark blue, due to Thames Ironworks chairman Arnold Hills being a former student of Oxford University (Oxford blue).
However, the team used a variety of kits including the claret and sky blue house colours of Thames Ironworks, as well as sky blue or white kit.
Team[]
Club Officials[]
| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| Owner | Rupert Mannion (formerly) |
| Manager | George Cartrick |
| Assistant Coach | Disco |
Squad[]
- 1. Rudnicki (GK)
- 2. Ridge
- 3. Atwood
- 4. ???
- 5. Havel (Captain)
- 6. O'Neil
- 7. Vemola
- 8. Black
- 9. Cesar
- 10. Armando
- 11. Allouache
- 12. Meyers
- 14. (Offside player)
Notes[]
- Despite the show securing the rights to use the intellectual property of West Ham United, it seems unlikely that the show will break the trend of using fictional characters to represent footballers from different teams, it has relied on the use of fictional characters to fill in the squads.
- Tommy Winchester was a former player for the club before transferring to AFC Richmond.