Syd King - Managerial Career

Managerial Career

The boss at West Ham was Syd King, an outsize, larger-than-life character with close-cropped grey hair and a flowing moustache. He was a personality plus man, a man with flair. Awe struck, I would tip-toe past his office but invariably he would spot me. "Boy," he would shout. "Get me two bottles of Bass." Down to the Boleyn pub on the corner I would go on my errand and when I got back to the office Syd King would flip me a two-shilling piece for my trouble."

–At Home With The Hammers (1960) by Ted Fenton, West Ham United player (1932-46) and manager (1950-61)

At the start of his last season as a player he had been appointed club secretary, although he was already considered to be a 'manager' of the club.

On the eve of the 1904-05 season a small postcard of the team photograph was issued and featured the following text from King on its reverse endorsing Oxo:

"When training, Oxo is the only beverage used by our team and all speak of the supreme strength and power of endurance which they have derived from its use." - E. S. King, Secretary, West Ham United F.C.

His tenure at West Ham included their election to the football league in 1919, which coincided with a personal cheque from the board for £1,500 that paid tribute to his twenty years of service for the club. His basic wage was also raised to £10 a week.

February 1922 saw the controversial sale of West Ham legend Syd Puddefoot to Falkirk for a record £5,000. For negotiating the transfer, Syd King received a £300 bonus. By this time he was also on a £100 annual bonus.

The following season West Ham reached the FA Cup Final for the first time, losing to Bolton Wanderers but also assured their place in the top division finishing as Division Two runners up. An edition of local newspaper East Ham Echo proclaimed at the time that:

"West Ham is Syd King."

Following promotion Syd King instilled a period of consolidation for West Ham in the First Division, the highlight of which was the 1926-1927 season when West Ham finished in 6th place in Division One. This performance was not equalled by the Hammers until the 1958-1959 season during Ted Fenton's tenure. Part of the reason that this consistency was possible, was due to Syd King signing players that went on to become West Ham legends and record holders, as well as England internationals, including Jimmy Ruffell, Ted Hufton & Vic Watson.

Syd King was appointed a shareholder of West Ham United in 1931, but the team was relegated in the 1931-32 season back to Division Two. On 5 November 1932 West Ham lost their ninth game of the next season, against Bradford Park Avenue, and at the same day's board meeting, according to one board member, "during the discussion on the team, (King) was "drunk and insubordinate." It was no secret that King "liked a drink", but he already been appeased by the board many times over the issue. On the following day they announced that:

"It was unanimously decided that until further notice C. Paynter be given sole control of players and that E. S. King be notified accordingly."

It was also postulated by the board, but never confirmed, that King had been syphoning off West Ham funds for himself. He was suspended for three months without pay and also banned from entering the Boleyn Ground. Following a board meeting on 3 January 1933 his contract was terminated permanently, and he was given an ex-gratia payment of £3 a week.