Editing West Ham United F.C. (section)

===Birth of West Ham United (1901–1961)===
West Ham United joined the Western League for the 1901 season<ref name="Stats2">'{{Cite web |last=Richard Rundle |title=Source for West Ham statistics |url=https://www.fchd.info/W-HAMU.HTM |access-date=15 August 2009 |publisher=Football Club History Database}}</ref> while also continuing to play in the Southern Division 1. In 1907, West Ham were crowned the Western League Division 1B Champions, and then defeated 1A champions Fulham 1–0 to become the Western League Overall Champions.<ref name="Stats2" /> The reborn club continued to play their games at the [[Memorial Grounds]] in [[Plaistow, Newham|Plaistow]] (funded by Arnold Hills) but moved to a [[Association football pitch|pitch]] in the Upton Park area in the guise of the [[Boleyn Ground]] stadium in 1904. West Ham's first game in their new home was against fierce [[Millwall F.C.–West Ham United F.C. rivalry|rivals]] [[Millwall F.C.|Millwall]] (themselves an Ironworks team, albeit for a rival company) drawing a crowd of 10,000 and with West Ham running out 3–0 winners,<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Northcutt |first1=John |title=West Ham United: A Complete Record |last2=Roy Shoesmith |publisher=Breedon Books |year=1993 |isbn=978-1-873626-44-3 |location=Derby |page=198}}</ref> and as the ''[[Daily Mirror]]'' wrote on 2 September 1904, "Favoured by the weather turning fine after heavy rains of the morning, West Ham United began their season most auspiciously yesterday evening; when they beat Millwall by 3 goals to 0 on their new enclosure at Upton Park."

[[File:Whitehorsefinal.jpg|200px|thumb|right|''Billie'' the White Horse, saviour of the 1923 [[FA Cup]] final]]

In 1919, still under King's leadership, West Ham gained entrance to the [[Football League Second Division]], their first game being a 1–1 draw with [[Lincoln City F.C.|Lincoln City]], and were promoted to the [[Football League First Division|First Division]] in 1923, also making it to the first ever [[FA Cup final]] to be held at the old [[Wembley Stadium (1923)|Wembley Stadium]]. Their opponents were [[Bolton Wanderers F.C.|Bolton Wanderers]]. This was also known as the "[[White Horse final]]", so named because an estimated 200,000 people came to see the match and the crowd was spilling out on to the pitch, which had to be cleared prior to kick-off by "Billie", a giant white horse (actually grey) being ridden by PC [[George Scorey]]. The cup final match itself ended 2–0 to Bolton. The team enjoyed mixed success in the First Division but retained their status for ten years and reached the FA Cup semi-final in 1933.<ref name="1933semi">{{Cite web |title=Game played on 18 March 1933 |url=http://www.westhamstats.info/westham.php?west=5&ham=1282&united=18_Mar_1933 |access-date=5 October 2013 |publisher=westhamstats.info}}</ref>

In 1932, the club was relegated to the Second Division<ref>{{Cite web |title=1st Division 1931–32 |url=http://www.westhamstats.info/westham.php?west=4&ham=1932&united=1st_Division_1931-32 |access-date=5 October 2013 |publisher=westhamstats.info}}</ref> and long-term custodian [[Syd King]] was sacked after serving the club in the role of manager for 32 years, and as a player from 1899 to 1903. Following relegation, King had mental health problems. He appeared drunk at a board meeting and killed himself soon after.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ronay, Barney |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P38foEpwni4C&q=syd+king+sacked+west+ham&pg=PT12 |title=The Manager: The absurd ascent of the most important man in football |date=5 August 2010 |publisher=Hachette Digital |isbn=978-0-7481-1770-3 |access-date=5 October 2013}}</ref> He was replaced with his assistant manager [[Charlie Paynter]], who himself had been with West Ham in a number of roles since 1897 and who went on to serve the team in this role until 1950 for a total of 480 games. The club spent most of the next thirty years in the second division, first under Paynter and then later under the leadership of former player [[Ted Fenton]].

Fenton succeeded in getting the club promoted back to the top level of English football in 1958. With the considerable input of player [[Malcolm Allison]], Fenton helped develop both the initial batch of future West Ham stars and West Ham's approach to the game.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Helliar, John |date=15 October 2010 |title=Malcolm Allison 1927–2010 |url=http://www.whufc.com/articles/20101015/malcolm-allison-1927-2010_2236884_2185790 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101025141806/http://www.whufc.com/articles/20101015/malcolm-allison-1927-2010_2236884_2185790 |archive-date=25 October 2010 |access-date=5 October 2013 |publisher=West Ham United F.C. }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Ted Fenton biography |url=http://spartacus-educational.com/WHfentonT.htm |access-date=4 October 2013 |publisher=Spartacus Educational}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=A brief history of West ham United |url=http://espnfc.com/feature/_/id/841093?cc=4716 |access-date=4 October 2013 |publisher=ESPN}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Tributes pour in for Bond |url=http://www.whufc.com/articles/20120926/tributes-pour-in-for-bond_2236884_2930511 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120928030453/http://www.whufc.com/articles/20120926/tributes-pour-in-for-bond_2236884_2930511 |archive-date=28 September 2012 |access-date=4 October 2013 |publisher=West Ham United}}</ref>