West Ham United DVD 05/06 Season Review

West Ham United Season Review 05/06 DVD Just two championship wilderness years and West Ham United are back in football's elite division, the Premiership, back where they belong. From the wreckage of a calamitously depleted squad and potential financial oblivion, manager Alan Pardew has built a new Hammers squad side worthy of the title Academy of Football.

From the nail-biting Championship Final success over Preston, the side have hit football's top turf at a sprint. An opening day victory against Blackburn Rovers was swiftly followed by a 4-0 thrashing of Aston Villa and an away victory at Fulham's fortress Craven Cottage. The season was also to feature nailbiting victories on a last ever visit to Highbury, doubles over midland neighbours Birmingham City and West Bromwich Albion and a cup run that saw the side in an FA Cup Final for the first time in 26 years.

West Ham's youngest-ever captain, nineteen year old Nigel Reo-Coker, and veteran forty year old striker Teddy Sheringham have together captured the versatility of the side and its fusion of youth and experience. Welsh Internationals Danny Gabbidon and James Collins have strengthened the back four and the goals of Marlon Harewood and Dean Ashton were at the heart of the bulk of sixteen Premiership victories.

The club also said goodbye to two of its most loved ambassadors, managers Ron Greenwood and John Lyall. The two men's collective efforts as purveyors of a new style of exciting football at Upton Park, more than earned the club its branding as the Academy of Football. They will be sorely missed.

With a UEFA Cup place for 2006-07 and a sublime team performance in one of the greatest FA Cup Finals of all time, Alan Pardew and his team can be justifiably proud of their efforts. A new era has commenced at the club, and this is the DVD that effectively heralds its birth. It's an unbelievable three hours of excitement and champagne performances that you will want to play again and again.

West Ham United have again proved themselves a force in the greatest football league in the world, with a young team built for a fantastic future on the European stage.

Let the Season Commence!