Dave Taylor (Thames Ironworks F.C. founder) Dave Taylor (Thames Ironworks F.C. founder) Dave Taylor was one of the co-founders of Thames Ironworks, the team that became West Ham United, in 1895. He was a foreman at the Thames Iron Works as well as being a local football referee. Taylor approached the Ironworks owner Arnold Hills with the idea of starting a works football team, and with his financial aid was able to announce on 29 June 1895 the following in the company's weekly journal: He organised the half-a-crown year's membership for fifty would-be players and spent that summer arranging the fixtures for the Thames Ironworks team
London Athletic Club another was at the West London running grounds held on 25 November 1865. On 16 January 1866 "The Sporting Life" reported that the Mincing Lane Athletic Club had been renamed the London Athletic Club, because “gentlemen from all parts of London and most of the principal pedestrians of the day [were] among its members”. Three years later, in 1869, the club moved its base to the newly-opened Lillie Bridge Grounds, a few hundred yards north of where Stamford Bridge Stadium is today. Then, in 1870, the brothers James and William Waddell, who had joined LAC as athletes, became treasurer and