West Ham United F.C.

Terence Brown | manager = Alan Pardew | league = FA Premier League | season = 2005-06 |

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West Ham United Football Club is a professional English football club based in Upton Park, Newham, East London.

West Ham are viewed in England as the biggest club to have never won the league title. They play their home matches at The Boleyn Ground, referred to as Upton Park by most followers of football. They are nicknamed "The Hammers" "The Academy of Football" by the media, but are better known as "The Irons" by their own fans (due to the club's origins at the Thames Ironworks - see below). The club has a training facility at Chadwell Heath, adjacent to the railway line from which the team may occasionally be viewed at practice during the week. The club currently play in the FA Premier League. After the club first returned to the Premier League, they finished 9th and led the FA Cup Final match on May 13, 2006 first 2-0 in the first half and then 3-2 in the second half before being tied 3-3 and lost 3-1 on penalties after a nail biting match. They will be playing European football next season (2006-2007) in the UEFA Cup.

History

The club was founded in 1895 as the works side Thames Ironworks F.C. by Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Co. Ltd company chairman Arnold Hills and foreman Dave Taylor. "The Irons" joined the London League in 1896 winning it in the 1897-98 season. They turned professional upon entering the Southern League Second Division in 1898, which they won at the first attempt. When the club became a limited company in 1900 the club name was changed to West Ham United F.C..

The club moved to the Memorial Ground in Plaistow in 1900 and then to a pitch in the Upton Park area, originally named The Castle for the 1905-06 season. The original gates to the ground, with the original Hammers crest (now painted in claret and blue, can be seen in Grange Road, London, E13. They joined the Football League in 1919 and were first promoted to the top division in 1923. They have won the FA Cup three times: in 1963-64, 1974-75 and 1979-80. In 2002-2003, after a poor campaign in which it took them nearly six months to win their first home match, they were relegated from the Premiership. The following season they reached the play-off final but were defeated by Crystal Palace. At the end of the 2004-05 season, which saw huge pressure placed on manager Alan Pardew by the team's supporters, West Ham managed to finish sixth in the Championship, securing a play-off place for the second successive season. After a 2-2 draw at Upton Park, West Ham went on to beat Ipswich (who had finished 3rd, 12 points ahead of West Ham) 2-0 at their homeground of Portman Road, thereby qualifying for the playoff final. The Hammers went on to win the promotion final 1-0 over Preston North End to secure a return to the Premiership.

Greenwood and Lyall: The Glory days

West Ham's Bobby Moore lifts the F.A. Cup at Wembley. This was West Ham's first ever major trophy.

West Ham United first established themselves in 1964, when manager Ron Greenwood guided the club to their first major trophy in the shape of an FA Cup final victory over Preston North End.
Their captain, Bobby Moore, would skipper the England team to World Cup success in 1966, while striker Geoff Hurst scored a hat-trick in the final against West Germany. (The other goal in the 4-2 victory was scored by Martin Peters, also a Hammer). The success of 1964 was repeated a year later, this time with a European Cup Winners Cup triumph over 1860 Munich at Wembley. Greenwood guided West Ham to another FA Cup success in 1975, this time against Fulham, before being promoted to the position of general manager - a role which he occupied for two years before beginning a five-year reign as England manager.

Ron Greenwood was succeeded as team manager by John Lyall, who guided West Ham to another Cup Winners Cup final in his first season in charge (1975-76). But this time West Ham were on the losing side, and were relegated to the Second Division soon afterwards. In 1980, while still a Second Division side, Lyall inspired West Ham to an FA Cup victory over Arsenal - a feat which no side outside the top division has achieved since. It is also West Ham's most recent major trophy. In 1981, West Ham finished runners-up in the League Cup. Between 1982 and 1985 West Ham achieved three consecutive top ten finishes. Lyall helped them achieve their highest league finish of third in 1986, but was sacked three years later as they suffered relegation to the Second Division.

The Billy Bonds era: Up and down

Lyall was replaced by Lou Macari for the 1989-90 season, but Macari resigned after just one season as manager to concentrate on clearing his name in connection with financial irregularities at his previous club Swindon Town. The next manager to occupy the hot seat at West Ham was Billy Bonds, whose first season at the helm (1990-91) ended with runners-up spot in the Second Division and a place back in the top division. But West Ham struggled throughout the 1991-92 season and were relegated in bottom place, missing the first season of the new Premier League.

West Ham regained their top flight status at the first attempt, finishing Division One runners-up in 1992-93 and securing promotion to the Premiership. They survived relegation by a comfortable margin in 1993-94, but Bonds walked out on the club the following summer to be succeeded by Harry Redknapp.

The Harry Redknapp era: Consolidation

One of Harry Redknapp's first actions as West Ham manager was to re-sign striker Tony Cottee from Everton. He also signed Liverpool's Don Hutchison and Mike Marsh and brought back Julian Dicks, as well as re-signing striker Iain Dowie from Southampton. Redknapp also attempted to bring young talent to the side, signing Joey Beauchamp from Oxford and bringing through the young talent of Matthew Rush, Steve Jones and Matty Holmes. Cottee started the second spell of his West Ham career well, and formed a solid partnership with Trevor Morley aided by the superb midfield talents of Ian Bishop and Dale Gordon and the aggressive Martin Allen. The team defied the popular belief they would return to the 1st Division with a superb 13th place finish. In addition John Moncur was added from relegated Swindon.

West Ham avoided relegation again in 1994-95 and played their part in the final-day drama of the season, holding Manchester United to a 1-1 draw at Upton Park and denying them a third successive Premiership title. On paper the team was routinely outclassed by opposition, but on grass put in a series of superb performances. Old head Alvin Martin partnering Steve Potts, Tim Breacker and Dicks with longterm custodian Ludek Miklosko in goal forming a stout defence to make up for the deficiencies elsewhere in midfield and up front which had seen a number of players move on including fan favourite Matthew Holmes to newly christened league champions Blackburn for £1.5m.

Redknapp spent the summer adding to the teams defence. He had previously captured Danish International centrehalf Marc Rieper in one coup and quickly followed this up by signing another international, this time the Croatian Slaven Bilić in January of 1996 for a then club record £1.65m instantly solidfying the team at a crucial time in the year. West Ham as a result progressed to 10th place in 1995-96.

Crucially at this point the John Bosman case finally came to an end resulting in the Bosman ruling. This meant no longer would Redknapp have to balance his team based upon nationality a problem the previous year when Miklosko, Rieper and were all classed as 'Foreign' and leaving only 1 remaining slot open for Irish/Welsh and English players. The change in ruling opened the door for a number of foreign internationals, and at the same time had seen a great number of established players within the team being shown the door (Hutchison, Burrows, Morley, Marsh, Holmes, Boere and Gordon all released or sold on).

The following summer, going into the 1996-97 season, Redknapp continued looking abroad and made two of the most ambitious but least productive signings in the club's history - a current International Romanian striker Florin Răducioiu and Portuguese winger Paulo Futre (formerly a £10m man) from AC Milan. The deals failed to work out Răducioiu left after six months at the club and returned to Romania after falling out with the manager (famously being christened a "tart, a fairy, a little girl" by Redknapp in his Autobiography for complaining about the physical nature of the English game), while Futre played just one first-team game before being beaten by a long-term knee injury and announcing his retirement (and equally famously storming out after being denied the number 10 shirt for a friendly). Coupled with the equally disastrous Marco Boogers affair, the drawn out Work Permit wrangle involving Răducioiu's compatriot Dumitrescu who had been signed 6 months earlier from Tottenham (but had failed to play the required number of games whilst at Spurs) and the lack of a quality second striker West Ham struggled to the start of the season and nosedived at Christmas.

The 1996-97 Hammer campaign nosedived towards disaster after starting in an average fashion. Injuries to key and back-up players were critical (losing Lazaridis to a broken leg for instance, and what turned out to be the career ending injury to the promising Richard Hall signed only months before for £1.5m from Southampton), but so were the failed signings and some poor performances. The form of Michael Hughes (signed permanently after 2 years on loan from RC Strasbourg) and performances of loan signing Hugo Porfirio were rare bright spot, as was the emergence of Rio Ferdinand and Frank Lampard. Răducioiu's chief contribution - a curling left footed shot around a full stretch Schmeichel in a 2-2 draw - was almost worth the transfer. At Christmas the team sat low in midtable with only 5 wins and 7 draws from 19 games at which point they added only 1 point from the next 6 games sending the team to the bottom of the table.

Faced with relegation the board financed two key acquisitions. Firstly young Arsenal striker John Hartson in a £3.3m move (again breaking the clubs transfer record) and in addition the signing of Newcastle forward Paul Kitson in a £1.2m move and battling Manchester City midfielder Steve Lomas for £1.6m. The strike pair were an instant hit, scoring 13 goals between them in 12 games as a pairing including those in a vital 4-3 win against close rivals Tottenham, a 3-2 against Chelsea and a hat-trick for Kitson and brace for Hartson in a 5-1 rout of Sheffield Wednesday in the next to last game confirming the clubs survival and saving Redknapps job.

Despite the close shave the hopes for the following 1997-98 season were high. Hartson and Kitson gave the team an exciting frontline, whilst in the midfield Redknapp added Eyal Berkovic from Southampton and Trevor Sinclair and Andy Impey from Q.P.R. The team unfortunately had to contend with the season long loss of Club Captain Julian Dicks (who had heroically played on the previous year despite needing urgent knee surgery) and the sale of Marc Rieper to Celtic, and Slaven Bilic to Everton. The profit from the sale did not go to waste as the team acquired former England u21's David Unsworth and Ian Pearce from Everton and Blackburn respectively.

This season marked a change in Redknapps tactical approach, the team changing to a 5-3-2 formation for the most part of the season. This allowed Redknapp to blood the young talent of Rio Ferdinand in his preferred role as a sweeper whilst pairing him with two extremely solid and competent defenders. The pacey Lazaridis and Impey took over wingback roles, whilst the centre of midfield was contested by Lampard, Lomas and Berkovic with Moncur preferred over Ian Bishop in reserve and Michael Hughes out in the cold. In goal Miklosko started out but injury curtailed his season (and by the next summer had moved on to Q.P.R.) resulting in Craig Forrest stepping in. However Redknapp also managed to pluck the flamboyant Bernard Lama on loan from Paris St. Germain and his super performances helped maintain West Hams late season push.

Unfortunately the season did not go entirely to plan. Kitson struggled (as he was for the remainder of his West Ham career) with niggling injuries limiting him to only 13 appearances (and 4 goals). Redknapp acquired Samassi Abou for a bargain £250k to add depth, and he performed admirably if sometimes lacking in quality. Nonetheless he became a crowd favourite for his languid style, skill and lampooned name (having to have it explained to him that the crowd were not 'booing' him, but in fact 'abouing' him). Hartson however scored consistently, notching 24 in his first season across all competitions, whilst Lampard flowered in midfield. The acquisition of Sinclair at Christmas injected some vital cutting edfe and propelled the team for the first time into the upper half of the table resulting in the side finishing an impressive 8th.

For 1998/99 Redknapp again went foreign and signed former French International Marc Keller, exciting Cameroonian midfielder Marc-Vivien Foé and World Cup star Javier Margas. However he did not neglect home grown talent, adding the experienced Ian Wright and Neil Ruddock, whilst also bringing Scott Minto back from abroad and Shaka Hislop in as goalkeeper on a free from Newcastle (winning Hammer of the Year in his first season).

West Ham started slowly and by Christmas were facing a crisis. First the club sold Andy Impey under the nose of the manager (literally removing him from a game in which he was tabled to start) and then made it clear he would find no further funds forthcoming due to the absenteeism of Javier Margas (highlighting Redknapps continued failure with foreign talent). To top it all John Hartson was involved in a training ground incident involving Eyal Berkovic and the team was forced to act. Hartson was sold to Wimbledon for £7.5m as a result after having an already disappointing start to the year where he didn't score until 10 games in and was notably overweight and out of shape.

Redknapp was given a some of the funds to buy in replacements. His first choice was Paolo Di Canio, who famously the previous year had pushed referee Paul Alcock to the ground, and he signed for an initial fee of £1.25m. In addition we also signed former Man Utd target Marc-Vivien Foé for £3.5m to solidify the midfield.

By the end of 1998/99 West Ham had achieved an impressive 5th place finish. But, for the only time in league history, were denied a UEFA Cup place due to new UEFA Co-efficients (a season to either side of this year had seen every team down to 7th feature in the UEFA Cup). The team instead was entered as one of Englands Inter Toto cup competitors (and a place in the UEFA Cup proper up for grabs). A thrilling victory over Metz in the two-legged final eventually earned the Hammers a place in the UEFA Cup - ending an absence of almost 20 years from European competition. Redknapp brought in Paulo Wanchope from Derby County to compliment Paolo Di Canio and Igor Stimac to replace the outgoing Unsworth.

In 1999-2000 consolidation was the key. Unfortunately once again best laid plans were interrupted by injury. The Inter Toto and UEFA Cup expedition took a lot out of the players - but the team started the season sharper than the others resulting in a comfortable upper midtable position by halfway. Tiredness, loss of form, and a build up of injuries resulted in a slide downwards towards the end of the season eventually resulting in a 9th place finish and a 3rd consecutive year in the top half (a first for West Ham).

The year was noticeable for the introduction of Joe Cole and Michael Carrick to the first team proper, the ignominous exit in the League Cup to Aston Villa due to an enforced replay after it turned out last minute sub Emmanuel Omoyimni had featured in the competition whilst on loan earlier in the season (this event saw the resignation of Martin Aldridge), and the barracking Paulo Wanchope received for the early part of the year. The striker failed to settle despite scoring 12 league goals in 33 games (an above average output). Unfortunately his erratic form and gaffes meant he would move on at the end of the year.

Marc-Vivien Foé was sold at the end of the year (his final act was a plunging tackle from behind that saw him sent off against Arsenal) and the Redknapp acquired Frederic Kanoute with the money.

The 2000-01 was Redknapps final year. After a dismal start hampered by further injuries (Sinclair notably, but also Ian Pearce continued absence) and a number of failed loan transfers (Christian Bassila and Kaba Diawara) and unimpressive signings (Davor Suker, reportedly on £50,000 a week who only managed 8 starts, Ragnvald Soma and the continued absence of Margas who had turned up for half of the previous season). With the team in the doldrums the board eventually accepted a bid for the teams prized asset Rio Ferdinand in an £18million move (this move has since been criticised as the fee was neither up front, nor was there included a sell on bonus meaning the club missed out on his later £30m move to Manchester Utd and also a sizeable chunk of the initial transfer).

Redknapp was allowed a small amount of the money, forcing what was to be the end of his time at the club. Redknapp signed Liverpool pairing Rigobert Song (a solid if erratic player) and Titi Camara (an exciting attacking player, but notoriously unreliable), along with Christian Dailly (who had never achieved his great promise) for a total of some £8m. His only solid move from a fan point of view was the loan signing of Hannu Tihinen from Viking FK and Svetoslav Todorov. The teams fortunes improved imperceptibly but survival was ensured thanks to the poor performances of lower sides and as a result the team finished in 15th comfortably out of the relegation zone.

At this point Redknapps relationship with the board fell apart (having been already strained since the Andy Impey incident). Redknapp requested that a warchest of £12m to get the club back into the top six, with a sizeable fee of his requested budget wanting to go towards bringing in Paris Saint-Germain left-winger Laurent Robert, a client of football agent, and close Harry Redknapp associate, Willie McKay.

Slanderous comments soon followed in direction of the West Ham board as Redknapp gave an interview in the unofficial West Ham fanzine Over Land and Sea, focusing his tirade on the lack of funding. The outburst caused so much friction which made his position as manager untenable, and Redknapp was sacked before the end of the season.

In the aftermath Frank Lampard Snr left the club, and due to the obvious fall out his son (and Hammer starlet) Frank Lampard was sold off to Chelsea for £11m. The money was subsequently granted to incoming manager Glenn Roeder.

The Glenn Roeder era: Down again

Several big names were linked with the vacant manager's job. Former West Ham player Alan Curbishley, who had rebuilt Charlton Athletic on and off the field since becoming their manager in 1991, instantly became favourite for the job but insisted he wasn't interested. Steve McClaren, who had been assistant manager of Manchester United in three successive title-winning seasons (including the 1999 treble campaign), was also linked with the job, but he was then appointed manager of Middlesbrough. So West Ham turned to highly respected youth team manager Glenn Roeder to fill the role. People doubted Roeder's suitability for the job, as his only managerial exploits had been short-lived and perceived to be unsuccessful with Gillingham (1992-93) and Watford (1993-96) a viewpoint not shared by Glenn himself who had dealt with difficulties both on the pitch and off it at both teams (soon to be repeated).

West Ham had a slow start to the 2001-02 season, hampered by injuries to key players (new signing David James injured before he even made an appearance whilst on International duty, Frederic Kanoute, Michael Carrick and Paolo Di Canio nursing groin and knee problems) and the need for clearing out some of the dead wood from the previous term. The board made money available for strengthening the squad and Glenn acquired respected Czech International defender Tomáš Řepka from ACF Fiorentina, and Don Hutchison for his second term with the Hammers. However Glenn Roeder was soon under immense pressure from fans who were calling for him to be sacked, especially after witnessing back to back maulings at the hands of Everton (5-0) and Blackburn (7-1). He responded by turning the club's fortunes around and guiding them to a seventh-place finish in the final table, just one place short of European qualification - although there was a 12-point gap between West Ham and sixth-placed Chelsea. Had West Ham been more consistent over the season, then UEFA Cup or even Champions League qualification could have been achieved.

The summer of 2002-03 did not bode well for the season ahead. Despite a glaring need for squad reinforcements, the only positive transfer activity involved Irish international Gary Breen signing on a free transfer (he was to be later to be reviled as one of the poorest players ever to wear the West Ham shirt). Out the door went a number of experienced pro's such as Paul Kitson, a hatful of youth players and a number of fringe element. Another (now traditional) poor start plagued West Ham United through to 2002-03, and this time Roeder was unable to turn things round quickly enough. The loss of Kanoute for nearly 1/3rd of the season, and Di Canio at the exact same period resulted in the teenage Jermain Defoe leading the line on his own. The loss of form of key players such as Trevor Sinclair, 01/02 Hammer of the Year Sebastian Schemmel, Michael Carrick (still nursing a groin problem), plus the absence of a dependable left back, left midfielder or suitable reserves to call upon merely exacerbated a difficult situation. The Hammers failed to win a single home game until January and suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of Manchester United in the FA Cup. The much maligned Gary Breen was pointedly at fault for a number of errors, but his play was under no circumstances helped by the lack of any cohesive team. During the transfer window the club acquired Les Ferdinand and Rufus Brevett, and more importantly got Di Canio and Kanoute both back on the pitch and off the treatment table. The clubs form improved tremendously and began to claw their way up towards safety. In April Glenn collapsed in his office and was diagnosed with having a brain tumour. He was immediately given a leave of absence and 1980 FA Cup final hero Trevor Brooking took over for the final 3 games of the Premiership season, but despite an upturn in the teams form (winning 2 and drawing only 1) they were unable to overhaul Bolton Wanderers and finished 18th in the final table, 2pts short (West Ham drew early in the season and then lost against Bolton during the run in, a draw against Bolton in their second match would have been sufficient to see West Ham survive). Their 10-year spell in the Premiership was over.
Not since 1994-95 had a club been relegated from the division with more than 40 points (West Ham had 42), but this was no consolation for a disappointed West Ham side filled with some of the most promising young English players, all tipped for International Honours. The relegation forced the sale of key players Joe Cole and Glen Johnson (both to Chelsea), Kanoute to Spurs (and later Jermain Defoe), Trevor Sinclair and David James to Manchester City F.C., in a bid to prevent a financial crisis at Upton Park. Glenn Roeder was sacked soon after the start of the 2003-04 season.

Alan Pardew era: Rising back to the top

Alan Pardew was the eventual replacement for Roeder, following Brooking's second brief stint as caretaker manager. Pardew was head hunted by West Ham and given the objective of promotion back to the FA Premier League, within two seasons. He achieved this by the backdoor, finishing sixth in the Football League Championship at the end of the 2004-05 season, the last place available to qualify for the playoff games.Having beaten Ipswich Town over two legs to qualify for the final at the Millennium Stadium, they achieved their aim with a 1-0 win against Preston North End, with Bobby Zamora scoring the only goal of the game in the second half.

Following promotion, the club have exceeded expectations and the ultimate target of survival for 2005-06 is certain, as Alan Pardew's men occupy a top-half place in the Premiership. Pardew has claimed that he will not sell the club's best players, and he appears to have the backing of the board on this issue. Alan Pardew spent a club record of seven million Pounds on a transfer fee to bring Dean Ashton to West Ham United. Ashton has been touted as "the next Alan Shearer", and a career playing for England looks likely to follow with an extra £250,000 of the transfer fee going to Norwich when Ashton wins his first cap. In January and February 2006, following a 3-1 home defeat by Chelsea, West Ham embarked on their best sequence of results for twenty years, winning seven games in a row in all competitions (five in the league and two in the FA Cup). The 3-2 win away to Arsenal on February 1st, on West Ham's last visit to Highbury Stadium, was the most noteworthy victory during this run, with the Hammers recording their first win over Arsenal at their stadium since 1995.

This seven-game winning streak ended when they drew 0-0 with Bolton Wanderers in the FA Cup Fifth Round, however their unbeaten run continued when they drew 2-2 against Everton in the Premiership, before coming to an abrupt halt with a heavy defeat against Bolton Wanderers, losing 4-1. However Alan Pardew fielded a weakened team in that game in preparation for the FA Cup replay against Bolton again, where they won 2-1 aet with a Marlon Harewood winner. They then played, on the 18th March, their former manager and player Harry Redknapp's club Portsmouth, on his first return to Upton Park. Portsmouth won 4-2 as Pardew rested some key players. However, two days later the Hammers beat Manchester City 2-1 to reach the FA Cup semi-finals. On Sunday 23rd April, less than a week following a loss to Middlesbrough in a league fixture, West Ham defeated them 1-0 at Villa Park in the FA Cup semi, with Marlon Harewood scoring the goal that sent the Hammers through to their first FA Cup final since they beat Arsenal in 1980. This also secured the Hammers a place in the 2006-07 UEFA Cup, as Liverpool, their final opponent, are now assured of no worse than a spot in the final qualifying round of the that season's Champions League. The Hammers, with a place in next year's 2006-07 UEFA Cup and a FA Cup Final, now had to secure a top 10 finish, a position they had held since the start of the campaign. With this in mind and the FA Cup final on May 13th, Pardew had a dilemma, whether to stick out his first team and run the risk of injuries and suspensions or hold back. A mock run up of the FA Cup final saw Liverpool beat the Irons 2-1, with a late confrontation involving Mullins and Luis Garcia seeing them both sent off, missing the Final. Mullins, a key to their Premiership success would be dearly missed as he had been a defensive stronghold against many a worthy attacking force. On the back of that troubled match, the Hammers beat an already relegated West Brom team 1-0, in which Dean Ashton limped off with a hamstring injury, a huge doubt for the final. This win was the sixth time the Hammers had played on a Monday night and their sixth win was a huge step towards achieving a top ten finish.

West Ham won their final game of the season 2-1 over arch rivals Tottenham Hotspur, cementing 9th place in the Premier League. Tottenham's loss to West Ham on the final day would result in Tottenham being overtaken in the league by Arsenal and therefore missing out on a Champions League place. The match was marred by controversy as many of the Tottenham players were ill on the evening before the match; this was initially believed to be "food poisoning", but was later found to be a virus that had gone round. The FA offered Tottenham a delayed kickoff which they refused. Tottenham ended up getting outplayed by their superior East London rivals and lost the match by a final score of 2-1. West Ham scored first when midfielder Carl Fletcher launched an immaculate strike past Spurs keeper Paul Robinson. Tottenham then equalised through former West Ham striker Jermain Defoe. The Hammers had a chance to win the game when former Spurs player, Teddy Sheringham took a penalty kick. Sheringham's kick was saved. Israel international Yossi Benayoun was the hero and scored the game winning goal with a stunning strike. A win against Spurs normally is the highlight of any West Ham fan's season, but this was even more satisfying due to the North London club missing out on a Champions League place.

Also this season, two of West Ham's longest serving managers passed away, Ron Greenwood and John Lyall. Greenwood and Lyall both led West Ham to FA Cup victories in 1964, 1975 and 1980.

If Pardew had guided West Ham to FA Cup glory, he would have been the first English manager to win the trophy since Joe Royle won it with Everton back in 1995. It would also have ended West Ham's 26-year wait for a major trophy which began after their FA Cup triumph in 1980. However, the game ended 3-3, despite West Ham taking a two goal lead early in the match. Eventually West Ham lost 3-1 on penalties, in what was considered by many as the best Cup final in recent years. Pardew has got closer than any one to restoring the glory years back at Upton Park.

Current squad

Correct as of 31 July 2006

(captain)

Out on loan

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