In November 1897 Arnold Hills, the owner of the Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company, whose football team Thames Ironworks FC (reformed in 1900 as West Ham United) played at the Memorial Grounds, secured an agreement with the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway to build a station at Manor Road.
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"The Irons" had not yet played London Welsh and as a result, and probably thanks also to Arnold Hills' presidency of the league and Francis Payne's drafting of the rules, Thames Ironworks F.C. were awarded two wins by default and finished the revised league as runners up.
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It was a seamless transition for the club to make as Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Co. Ltd owner Arnold Hills was also president of the London League, and along with Thames Ironworks F.C. committee chairman Francis Payne, helped to draft the competition's rules.
To bolster the squad for their first season in Southern League Division One, Arnold Hills supplied a transfer fund of £1,000 to club secretary Francis Payne, who chose to build the team by buying players already familiar with each other.