Hammer ‘Bish’ runs rule over magical Irons

Ian Bishop was one of the most elegant midfielder players ever to represent the Irons – sadly not a comment that would apply to his hairstyle of the time! A scouser, he arrived at Upton Park in 1989 and stayed intil 998 seasons making  255 appearancesbefore joining Manchester City. He has always been unable to separate the two clubs emotionally and yesterday  (Sat) was back in the country on his annual pilgrimage  from the States for the big game.Here he talks to big fan and CandH editor Hugh Southon on  the amazing events at the Etihad.

EXCLUSIVE by Ian Bishop

Wasn’t it fantastic but you know what – I wasn’t surprised!

Having watched enthralled Stateside at what Slav’s team did to Arsenal and Liverpool I could see that what some might have considered a shock was on the cards.

Manchester City away is about as tough as it gets but such is the way our new boss sets up – we are incredibly hard to break down at the back and a potent threat up front. We always had a big chance and on the day we were magical.

When we went two up I absolutely knew we weren’t going to get beat. Even City weren’t going to be able to get through a fantastic defensive formation twice.

We had gone to the Emirates and Arsenal and shown what we were all about so how people were writing us off – and the bookies offering around 10/1 – I’ll never know.

The deadline days signings had been fantastic and the man I wanted as manager as long as 18 months ago was in charge with my old mate Julian in as his ‘minder.’

I am always careful not to slag off managers who are in the job but we had needed a change and although Sam had done a decent enough job we needed a change back to what we are supposed to be about

We needed one of our own and Slaven was the obvious choice for me, not only because of the football his team play but because he is a polite, intelligent, courteous and humble man who I knew would unify the club.

It was always obvious he as a top footballing manager on the basis of the way the Croatian national team played under his management. And Turkey  is a demanding place to manage a club. I honestly had no doubts about him.

Yesterday was always going to be really difficult for City after the Hammers had broken them down twice – no mean feat by any team – and even when De Bruyne  got one back I couldn’t see them winning. The Irons are just so strong at the back.

At the end I was delighted with the Irons and in a league where this season I see none of the usual outsider suspects like Spurs, Everton or even Liverpool coming through, we have a real chance of finishing in the top five.

When you have such a formation going for you at the back and players who carry a threat going forward you have a real chance.