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| Full name | West Ham United Football Club | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname | The Hammers | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Founded | 1895 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | Boleyn Ground , Upton Park , London | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Capacity | 35,647 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chairman | Terence Brown | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Manager | Alan Pardew | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| League | The Championship | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2003-04 | First Division, 4th | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The club was founded in 1895 as the works side of the Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company by the company chairman Arnold Hills, playing in the London League. They joined the Southern League Second Division in 1899. When the club became a limited company in 1900 the club name was changed to West Ham United. West Ham's club colours are claret and blue.
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. They joined the Football League in 1919 and were first promoted to the top division in 1923. They have won the F.A. Cup three times in 1963-64, 1974-75 and 1979-80. They also won the (now defunct) European Cup Winners' Cup in 1964-65, beating 1860 Munich 2-0 in the final at Wembley Stadium, London. They also appeared in the final of the same competition in 1975-76, losing 4-2 to Anderlecht of Belgium.
West Ham have never been hugely successful in the League, their highest ever position being a third-place finish in the old First Division in 1985-86. They have been in the Premiership for most of the seasons since its inception in 1992-93; however, 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 playoff final but were defeated by Crystal Palace. They are the only club in the united kingdom still owned and run by the families that founded it.