| Club: | West Ham United |
| Season: | 2005–06 |
| Manager: | Alan Pardew |
| Chairman: | Terry Brown |
| Stadium: | Boleyn Ground |
| League: | Premiership |
| League Result: | 9th |
| Cup1: | FA Cup |
| Cup1 Result: | Runners-up (Lost final to Liverpool) |
| Cup2: | League Cup |
| Cup2 Result: | Third round (knocked out by Bolton Wanderers) |
| League Topscorer: | Marlon Harewood (14) |
| Season Topscorer: | Marlon Harewood (16) |
| Average Attendance: | 33,743 |
| Prevseason: | 2004–05 |
| Nextseason: | 2006–07 |
During the 2005–06 season, West Ham United competed in the FA Premier League, following promotion from the Football League Championship the previous season.
West Ham had barely scraped into the top six of the Championship the previous season before gaining promotion via the play-offs, so few gave the Hammers much hope of Premiership survival. However, West Ham surprised their naysayers to stand fourth at the end of October after 11 points from their opening six games. A run of mediocre form saw West Ham fall to tenth, before a run of five straight wins between January and February, including a 3–2 win at Arsenal, which saw the Hammers become the last side to beat Arsenal at Highbury, saw them rise to sixth. Alan Pardew won the Manager of the Month award for February. Several more good results, including a 2–1 home win over Tottenham Hotspur on the last day of the season that denied the North London side Champions League qualification, saw West Ham finish in ninth, above Everton, Middlesbrough and Manchester City.[1]
West Ham's best form came in the FA Cup, where they overcame Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers and Middlesbrough to reach the FA Cup final – their first since 1980 – against a Liverpool side that were the reigning European champions and finished third in the Premiership. In spite of the odds, West Ham took a 2–0 lead within the first half-hour and also led 3–2 before a Steven Gerrard equalised at the end of normal time. Extra time proved goalless and a penalty shoot-out was required. Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina, who had made several errors in the match, saved from Bobby Zamora, Paul Konchesky and Anton Ferdinand to give Liverpool a 3–1 win. However, as Liverpool had already qualified for the Champions League, West Ham qualified for the UEFA Cup.
See main article: 2005–06 FA Premier League.
Squad at end of season[2]
See main article: 2005–06 Football League Cup.
See main article: 2005-06 FA Cup.
| Competition | Record | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Premier League | ||||||||
| FA Cup | ||||||||
| League Cup | ||||||||
| Total | ||||||||
| Name | Premier League | FA Cup | League Cup | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ST | 10 | data-sort-value="Harewood, Marlon" | Marlon Harewood | 14 | 2 | 0 | 16 | |
| 2 | ST | 25 | data-sort-value="Zamora, Bobby" | Bobby Zamora | 6 | 2 | 2 | 10 | |
| 3 | ST | 8 | data-sort-value="Sheringham, Teddy" | Teddy Sheringham | 6 | 1 | 0 | 7 | |
| Own goals | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |||||
| 5 | ST | 9 | data-sort-value="Ashton, Dean" | Dean Ashton | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 | |
| 6 | MF | 15 |  | data-sort-value="Benayoun, Yossi" | Yossi Benayoun | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| MF | 20 | data-sort-value="Reo-Coker, Nigel" | Nigel Reo-Coker | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | ||
| 8 | MF | 11 | data-sort-value="Etherington, Matthew" | Matthew Etherington | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | |
| 9 | DF | 3 | data-sort-value="Konchesky, Paul" | Paul Konchesky | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
| DF | 5 | data-sort-value="Ferdinand, Anton" | Anton Ferdinand | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| DF | 19 | data-sort-value="Collins, James" | James Collins | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 12 | MF | 6 | data-sort-value="Fletcher, Carl" | Carl Fletcher | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| DF | 7 | data-sort-value="Dailly, Christian" | Christian Dailly | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
| MF | 17 | data-sort-value="Mullins, Hayden" | Hayden Mullins | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
| ST | 20 |  | data-sort-value="Bellion, David" | David Bellion | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| MF | 26 | data-sort-value="Newton, Shaun" | Shaun Newton | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| Totals | 52 | 14 | 4 | 66 | |||||
|-! colspan=12 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Goalkeepers|-! colspan=12 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Defenders|-! colspan=12 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Midfielders|-! colspan=12 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Forwards|}
| Date | Pos. | Name | From | Fee | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 July 2005 | DF | Paul Konchesky | Charlton Athletic | £2m | |
| 5 July 2005 | DF | Danny Gabbidon | Cardiff City | £4.5m[3] [4] | |
| DF | James Collins | ||||
| 7 July 2005 | ST |  Petr Mikolanda | Viktoria Žižkov | Undisclosed[5] | |
| 19 July 2005 | MF | Yossi Benayoun |  Racing Santander | £2.5M[6] | |
| 29 July 2005 | GK | Shaka Hislop | Portsmouth | Free[7] | |
| 1 August 2005 | DF | Clive Clarke | Stoke City | £275,000[8] | |
| 17 August 2005 | ST | David Bellion | Manchester United | Loan[9] | |
| 25 August 2005 | ST | Jérémie Aliadière | Arsenal | Loan[10] | |
| 31 August 2005 | MF | Sekou Baradji | Lens | Undisclosed | |
| 1 January 2006 | ST | Yaniv Katan | Maccabi Haifa | Undisclosed[11] | |
| 23 January 2006 | ST | Dean Ashton | Norwich City | £7.25m[12] | |
| 1 February 2006 | DF |  Lionel Scaloni | Deportivo La Coruña | Loan[13] |
| Date | Pos. | Name | To | Fee | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 June 2005 | DF | Andy Melville | Retired | ||
| 7 June 2005 | ST |  Serhii Rebrov | Dynamo Kyiv | Free[14] | |
| 22 June 2005 | DF | Rufus Brevett | Plymouth Argyle | Free[15] | |
| 22 June 2005 | ST | Greg Pearson | Rushden & Diamonds | Undisclosed[16] | |
| 11 July 2005 | DF | Chris Powell | Charlton Athletic | Free[17] | |
| 5 August 2005 | MF | Don Hutchison | Millwall | Free[18] | |
| 3 August 2005 | GK | Stephen Bywater | Coventry City | Loan[19] | |
| 4 August 2005 | MF | Luke Chadwick | Stoke City | Loan[20] | |
| 15 August 2005 | ST |  Moses Ashikodi | Gillingham | Loan[21] | |
| 19 August 2005 | DF | Malky Mackay | Watford | Free[22] | |
| 31 August 2005 | MF | Steve Lomas | Queens Park Rangers | Free[23] | |
| 31 August 2005 | MF | Sekou Baradji | Reading | Loan[24] | |
| 14 October 2005 | ST | Youssef Sofiane | Coventry City | Free[25] | |
| 7 November 2005 | DF | Chris Cohen | Yeovil Town | Loan[26] | |
| 8 November 2005 | MF | Gavin Williams | Ipswich Town | Loan[27] | |
| 3 January 2006 | DF |  Trent McClenahan | MK Dons | Loan[28] | |
| 11 January 2006 | ST | Moses Ashikodi | Rangers | Free | |
| 23 January 2006 | DF | Tomáš Řepka | Sparta Prague | Free | |
| 31 January 2006 | ST | Petr Mikolanda | Rushden & Diamonds | Loan[29] |