What do West Ham's Great Escapers from 2007 make of the current crop?

Seventeen springs ago, West Ham United stared into the abyss. Bottom of the Premier League with nine matches remaining and 10 points adrift of safety, Alan Curbishley’s side authored one of English football’s most storied recoveries—seven wins from those nine fixtures, including a 1-0 final-day triumph at champions Manchester United that preserved top-flight status and became known simply as the “Great Escape.”

Today, with eight games left and goal difference the only barrier between themselves and 17th-placed Nottingham Forest, Nuno Espírito Santo’s squad are attempting a modern-day reprise. The parallels have prompted three survivors from the class of 2006-07—Matthew Etherington, Hayden Mullins and Teddy Sheringham—to assess whether the current group can summon the same spirit.

Etherington, who supplied the width in that side, recalls the tipping point: a February home defeat to Watford that provoked fans to chant “You’re not fit to wear the shirt.” The winger admits the criticism was justified, but believes a 2-1 March win at Blackburn ignited belief. “The biggest thing I remember was how we stuck together,” he told The Athletic. “I can see it in this current team.”

Sheringham, whose experience was recruited to steady a dressing-room that had lost Alan Pardew in December 2006, points to the arrival of Carlos Tevez and the galvanising effect of the Argentine’s partnership with Bobby Zamora. “We looked doomed,” the former England striker said, “but when you’re winning you can’t see yourself losing. That’s how it felt. The players under Nuno need to stick together.”

Mullins remembers the low points: a 6-0 New-Year hammering at Reading and a 4-3 home loss to Tottenham that left the squad “in a really bad place.” Yet those setbacks forged unity. “We had a chat among ourselves on the training ground,” the midfielder recalled. “It united the team.”

Leadership was pivotal. Lucas Neill’s January move from Blackburn brought organisational qualities and social events that bonded the squad. “His arrival was a stroke of genius,” Etherington said. “He’s still one of the best captains I played under.” Mullins echoed the sentiment, noting that Neill, Nigel Quashie, Matthew Upson and Luis Boa Morte all “played big roles once they settled.”

The 2024 vintage, anchored by January recruits Taty Castellanos, Pablo Felipe and Axel Disasi, is showing similar traits. Mateus Fernandes, 21, has been labelled “a candidate for player of the season,” while Crysencio Summerville “has the wow factor,” according to Sheringham. Mullins believes Castellanos has finally provided a focal point up front, and Etherington sees a “complete transformation” in Konstantinos Mavropanos thanks to Disasi’s calming influence.

Off the pitch, the togetherness that underpinned the 2007 revival appears to be returning. “Before Christmas it looked a team of individuals,” Etherington said. “Now I don’t see any egos.” Sheringham praised the “zest and fighting spirit,” arguing that Nuno—after a slow burn—has the squad “on the same page.”

Mullins, who manages in the academy system, believes the Portuguese coach’s counter-attacking blueprint and defensive solidity mirror the resilience of Curbishley’s side. “There’s a brotherhood,” he said. “That unity can pull them through.”

The run-in is daunting: Aston Villa away, Wolves at home, Crystal Palace away and Everton at home before the calendar turns to May. Yet the class of 2007 offer encouragement. “West Ham are good enough to avoid relegation,” Mullins insisted, predicting the battle will “go down to the last game of the season.”

If Nuno’s players require a final omen, they need only recall Tevez’s winner at Old Trafford. The current squad may not need to topple champions Manchester City on the final day, but the message from Etherington, Mullins and Sheringham is uniform: belief, unity and a refusal to accept fate can turn despair into delirium.

West Ham’s modern escapologists have eight matches to prove the ghosts of 2007 right.