| Club: | West Ham United F.C. |
| Season: | 2008–09 |
| Manager: | Alan Curbishley (until 3 September) Gianfranco Zola (from 9 September) |
| Chairman: | Björgólfur Guðmundsson |
| League: | Premier League |
| League Result: | 9th |
| Cup1: | FA Cup |
| Cup1 Result: | Fifth round |
| Cup2: | League Cup |
| Cup2 Result: | Third round |
| League Topscorer: | Carlton Cole 10 |
| Highest Attendance: | 34,802 (v Arsenal) |
| Lowest Attendance: | 10,055 (v Macclesfield Town) |
| Pattern La1: | _westham0809h |
| Pattern B1: | _westham0809h |
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| Prevseason: | 2007–08 |
| Nextseason: | 2009–10 |
The 2008–09 season saw West Ham United compete in the Premier League, where the club finished in 9th place. The beginning of the season was overshadowed by the sudden resignation of manager Alan Curbishley, following the sale of first team players Anton Ferdinand and George McCartney to Sunderland - after Curbishley claimed that these transfers had been authorised without his consent - and the related financial troubles of the club's owners, brought on by the 2008 Icelandic Banking Crisis. The club's owners had their assets frozen by the UK government, with the club narrowly avoiding going into administration as a result. Curbishley was replaced by Italian former Chelsea forward Gianfranco Zola on 9 September.[1]
The club recovered from its off-field troubles, and a relatively poor start to the season, to finish in the top half and were never seriously threatened with relegation after the turn of the year.
See main article: 2008–09 Premier League.
http://www.footballsquads.co.uk/eng/2008-2009/faprem/westham.htm
| Competition | Record | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Premier League | ||||||||
| FA Cup | ||||||||
| League Cup | ||||||||
| Total | ||||||||
| Name | Premier League | FA Cup | League Cup | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ST | 12 | data-sort-value="Cole, Carlton" | Carlton Cole | 10 | 1 | 1 | 12 | |
| 2 | ST | 10 | data-sort-value="Bellamy, Craig" | Craig Bellamy | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | |
| MF | 16 | data-sort-value="Noble, Mark" | Mark Noble | 3 | 2 | 0 | 5 | ||
| 4 | ST | 32 |  | data-sort-value="Di Michele, David" | David Di Michele | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 5 | ST | 25 | data-sort-value="Tristan, Diego" | Diego Tristan | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | |
| MF | 31 | data-sort-value="Collison, Jack" | Jack Collison | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 7 | DF | 3 |  | data-sort-value="Ilunga, Herita" | Herita Ilunga | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| ST | 9 | data-sort-value="Ashton, Dean" | Dean Ashton | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| MF | 11 | data-sort-value="Etherington, Matthew" | Matthew Etherington | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| MF | 21 | data-sort-value="Behrami, Valon" | Valon Behrami | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | ||
| MF | 46 | data-sort-value="Stanislas, Junior" | Junior Stanislas | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 12 | DF | 2 |  | data-sort-value="Neill, Lucas" | Lucas Neill | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| MF | 8 | data-sort-value="Parker, Scott" | Scott Parker | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| MF | 14 |  | data-sort-value="Kovac, Radoslav" | Radoslav Kovac | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| MF | 17 | data-sort-value="Mullins, Hayden" | Hayden Mullins | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| DF | 27 | data-sort-value="Davenport, Calum" | Calum Davenport | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| MF | 28 | data-sort-value="Reid, Kyel" | Kyel Reid | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
| MF | 29 | data-sort-value="Bowyer, Lee" | Lee Bowyer | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
| DF | 30 | data-sort-value="Tomkins, James" | James Tomkins | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
| ST | 41 | data-sort-value="Hines, Zavon" | Zavon Hines | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Own goals | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |||||
| Totals | 42 | 6 | 4 | 52 | |||||
|-! 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|}
| 23 July 2008 | MF | Valon Behrami | Lazio | £5,000,000[2] | ||
| 5 September 2008 | DF | Walter Lopez | Free Agency | Free[3] | ||
| 14 October 2008 | FW | Diego Tristan | Free Agency | Free[4] | ||
| 20 January 2009 | FW | Savio Nsereko | Brescia | £9,000,000[5] |
| Date | Nation | Position | Name | Club To | Fee | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 June 2008 | MF | Nolberto Solano | Free Agency | Released[6] | ||
| 15 July 2008 | DF | John Paintsil | Fulham | £6,300,000 (combined with Zamora)[7] | ||
| 15 July 2008 | FW | Bobby Zamora | Fulham | £6,300,000 (combined with Paintsil) | ||
| 22 July 2008 | GK | Richard Wright | Ipswich Town | Undisclosed[8] | ||
| 6 August 2008 | MF | Freddie Ljungberg | Free Agency | Released[9] | ||
| 27 August 2008 | DF | Anton Ferdinand | Sunderland | £8,000,000[10] | ||
| 1 September 2008 | DF | George McCartney | Sunderland | Undisclosed[11] | ||
| 8 January 2009 | MF | Matthew Etherington | Stoke City | Undisclosed[12] | ||
| 14 January 2009 | FW | Craig Bellamy | Manchester City | Undisclosed[13] | ||
| 26 January 2009 | MF | Hayden Mullins | Portsmouth | Undisclosed[14] |
| Date | Nation | Position | Name | Club From | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 August 2008 | GK | Jan Lastuvka | Shakhtar Donetsk | Full-Season[15] | ||
| 2 September 2008 | DF | Herita Ilunga | Toulouse | Full-Season[16] | ||
| 2 September 2008 | FW | David Di Michele | Torino | Full-Season | ||
| 30 January 2009 | MF | Radoslav Kovac | Spartak Moscow | Until end of season[17] |
| Date | Nation | Position | Name | Club To | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 October 2008 | MF | Nigel Quashie | Birmingham City | One month[18] (extended 24 November[19] and again on 23 December[20]) | ||
| 27 November 2008 | GK | Jimmy Walker | Colchester United | One month[21] (extended 12 January[22]) | ||
| 9 January 2009 | MF | Lee Bowyer | Birmingham City | Until end of season[23] | ||
| 15 January 2009 | MF | Kyel Reid | Wolves | Until end of season[24] | ||
| 22 January 2009 | MF | Nigel Quashie | Wolves | Until end of season[25] | ||
| 31 January 2009 | MF | Julien Faubert | Real Madrid | Until end of season[26] | ||
| 2 February 2009 | DF | Calum Davenport | Sunderland | Until end of season[27] | ||
| 15 February 2009 | MF | Tony Stokes | Újpest | Until end of season[28] |