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The “Hammers” have never won the F.A. Cup, nor have they achieved the distinction of League champions. Once they reached the Cup Final and once they finished runners-up in the Second Division, but it always appears to have been the lot of West Ham United to content themselves with second best.
They do not rank with the aristocrats of the Football League. Nevertheless, they are one of the most popular clubs in the land. Before the second World War they were famed throughout Europe; they command respect from the strongest of rivals, and possess an enviable record for home-grown players.
"Amazing... these words were written over 60 years ago, apart from the bit about not winning the F.A. Cup, you would have thought they were printed yesterday..."
OFFICIAL HISTORY OF WEST HAM UNITED
Reg Groves: Newservice – 1947
The story of West Ham’s Football Club, begins not with the founding of a professional club but with the formation of a works team.
Which is as it should be, for ever since those earliest days the West Ham club has found its supporters among the people of London’s busiest, most hard-working area. The Club belongs to the crowded streets, the docksides, the manufactures, the print shops and transport depots of East London. West Ham United is truly of the place and the people.
AT HOME WITH THE HAMMERS
Ted Fenton - Nicholas Kaye Ltd (1960)
What do you want to know?
Does Ted Fenton regard the manager’s job as the ‘hot seat’ of soccer?
Not so long as it is with West Ham United! The club has had only three managers in some 60 years. ‘United’ isn’t just a name.
Is he satisfied with the state of football in this country? Has he any constructive suggestions for its improvement?
Fenton lives for improvement. He wants better-class soccer for supporters, for England – for the whole world. He goes deeply into the problems of team selection on club and international level, the necessity of keeping players up to peak fitness with ‘competitive’ training – and, remember, West Ham have the reputation of being one of the fittest sides in the Football League – and varying team tactics according to weather and ground conditions. And he plans to make Upton Park a ‘show-piece stadium.
There isn’t too much of the I-kicked-a-tennis-ball-against-a-wall stuff?
None at all. Fenton couldn’t write like that. He’s too much of an individualist. He kicks off with a tale of joy – the match that meant West Ham’s return to the First Division after 26 years. He tells you exactly how they did it, too.
How does a manager set about building a winning team?
He deals with the discovery and signing of promising young players, with the club organisation that nurses them to first-class standard and the constant revision of strategy on the field and training methods. He explains why he thinks the F.A. should turn to certain club managers, all great players of their day, to make England a power in international soccer again.
But it’s impossible to tell you all Fenton writes about. This is the story of his life, and since soccer is his life it’s also the story of soccer in our time, with all the pulsating excitement of League struggles and dizzy Cup runs. You’ll revel in a book that is at once a thrilling history of a go-ahead club and a sage commentary on every phase of the game the world plays.
160 pages
COVER PRICE 15s (£0.75)
THE STRATEGY OF SOCCER
Johnny Byrne - Pelham (1966)
I was just moving on to the League scene when the ‘Mighty Magyars’ of Hungary shocked the world with their respective 6-3 and 7-1 victories over England at Wembley and Budapest in 1954. They were sad and distasteful blows – and there were more to follow. Soon after, came the emergence of the South American countries like Brazil and Uruguay who proved to be the equals and, indeed, the superiors of the country generally regarded as the Masters of Soccer.
But we were big enough to learn from disasters. I was lucky enough to be one who was in on the ground floor as British football was caught in a training and coaching whirlwind. The basic skills of the game were given priority attention. Clubs up and down the country realised that many other nations had made enormous progress and were, in fact, leaving the old masters high and dry when it came to the finer arts of the game.
The challenge was answered, and there is no doubt that much was done to improve our standard of play. But there is still much more coaching at school level can do a tremendous amount to give the game an even greater percentage of players who have learned the fundamentals of football.
When I first came into the game, tactics played a much smaller part than they do now. It is no exaggeration to say that our tactical thinking today has improved 100 per cent. But there is still so much more we can do to improve it further. Tactics are important to soccer – and can help sell the game to a more and more demanding public. As a player advances through different levels of competition, tactics play a much greater part. The need today is for thoughtful players. They must look at the game more scientifically.
MY SOCCER STORY
Bobby Moore - Stanley Paul (1966)
Tall, blond and handsome Bobby Moore is the Golden Boy of football. At 25 he has already achieved more than most footballers have done in a lifetime, and enjoyed such material rewards as are possible for a young man at the top of hos profession today. For three years he has been captain of England. He is captain of West Ham United who, under his leadership, have won the F.A. Cup and the European Cup Winners’ Cup. In 1964 the Football Writers elected him ‘Footballer of the Year’. Yet all this success has not come as easily as it might at first appear. In this absorbing story of his football life, Bobby Moore reveals that he started out as something of a Soccer Cinderella. At school he was the fat boy of the team who the big teams overlooked. ‘Everybody seemed to be getting the magic chance to become a professional except Fatso Moore.’ Once bobby did get his chance with West Ham he worked like a beaver to improve both his physique and playing ability. He had missed schoolboy honours, but soon achieved a record number of eighteen Youth International caps, the England Youth captaincy, and a trophy as ‘Young Hammer of the Year 1957’. He hasn’t looked back since.
In this book Bobby has written fully and frankly about his struggle to the top, and his no less strenuous efforts to stay there. He tells the behind-the-scenes stories of the many dramatic and exciting games he has played for club and country. He takes a shrewd and serious look at football today, and those aspects which are currently of concern to players and spectators alike. Moore is recognised as one of the best men in football at ‘reading’ a game, so his views about his own, and other teams and players are of exceptional interest.
COVER PRICE: 18s (£0.90p)
THE WORLD GAME
Geoff Hurst - Stanley Paul (1967)
There is always fascination about the first: the first man up Everest; the first man in space; or, in football, the first man to score three goals in a World Cup final. Millions of words have described those three goals but until now, none from the only man who could have known how it felt to score them.
Geoff Hurst was that man “The World Game” is his fascinating story. He was, he confesses, hardly born to greatness. His skill was created artificially, step by step from his own efforts and the help of the men who have managed his career – Ron Greenwood and Sir Alf Ramsey. Lacking their guidance, instead of being the forward who won the World Cup for England he would have been plodding on as a clumsy wing-half. And he gets angry when he talks of the talent still being wasted week by week in English soccer. He tells of the weeks of preparation in the England camp, when a flaming row between famous players became the start of the understanding that finally brought success. He recalls the days of waiting and praying while a fateful decision was made: who would play in the final – Greaves or Hurst?
He tells about the man nobody knows, Sir Alf Ramsey. How does this sometimes cold, withdrawn man appear to his players?
What does he tell them, how does he treat them? And what is the secret Sir Alf keeps even from the players closest to him? Geoff Hurst has more than skill, he has ideas. He has ideas on how English football can improve… and he knows the men who can ruin the game. He names the players whom he has met… and talks of the men whose purpose in life is to ‘kill’ the stars by their ruthless play. And what of his club side, West Ham? This team achieved much but promised more until something went dramatically wrong. Was it too much bad play… or too much of the good life?
There is humility in the Hurst story, the record of a player who has touched the top without forgetting what it was like at the bottom. And there is humour, too. He tells of the day when a King’s Rolls-Royce drew up at his door to astonish the neighbours… of when he had to flee a mob at a supermarket… and when a hospital matron wore his England shirt to a dance!
For two seasons, Geoff Hurst has been the most powerful marksman in English soccer. He writes as he plays… with power and with deadly aim
COVER PRICE: 21s (£1.10p)
SOCCER THE MODERN WAY
Bobby Moore - Stanley Paul (1967)
English football leads the world and since England's World Cup victory in 1966, a new style of play has emerged. This blends Continental tactical skill with British drive and determination. Bobby Moore calls it 'Soccer the Modern Way', and in this book he takes it apart to see what makes it tick.
Bobby Moore captained England since the age of 22 and is acknowledged as an outstanding'reader' of the modern game. This is his first instructional manual, Bang-up-to-the-minute and forward-looking, it is a MUST for footballers of all ages throughout the world who seek to improve their understanding of scientific soccer.
Besides giving many valuable tips to young players about all the fundamental skills on training and practice games, Bobby explains complicated strategy and tactics in simple, readable terms. the latter includes his own blunt assessment of 4-3-3 and other playing systems. He also reveals secrets of how and why his team did what on important occasions.
This is all the practical stuff without the egg-head theories. Throughout the book, Bobby Moore stresses that the main odject is to encourage the reader to help himself ny practising the skills described and, above all THINKING about the game.
It is evident that Bobby himself has devoted much thought to the planning of the contents. As a result, this is a shrewd and intelligent book which will be of interest to anyone who has ever kicked a ball.
'Packed with interest' particularly for the young student of the game.
1966: the World Cup Final at Wembley. England beat West Germany to win the coveted Jules Rimet Trophy - skippered by blond Bobby Moore, of WEST HAM UNITED. Scorer of threee of the England goals in that Wembley triumph was the deadliest marksman in British soccer today, Geoff Hurst, of WEST HAM UNITED. And England's other goal in a 4-2 win came from all-purpose international, Martin Peters, of WEST HAM UNITED.
Moore, Hurst and Peters... stars of England and West Ham, the progressive club from East london dockland with a long reputation for good soccer. Ace coach Ron Greenwood, whose playing career embraced Brentfford, Chelsea and Fulham, is only the fourth manager in the long history of West Ham, a family club wit a four-man board and supporters who are among the most knowledgeable in football.
Unfer Greenwaood's direction, the club have had their fans cheerfully singing the West Ham theme tune "We're forever blowing bubbles" with successes in the European Cup Winners' Cup, the F.A. Youth Cup and in America in International Soccer League.
West Ham UNited Football Book will take a close look at this friendly club, and feature many great players who have worn the claret and blue shirts. Spotlighting stars of the past... big Jim Barrett, Len Goulden Ted Fenton. Recording the achievments of Moore, Hurst, Peters and Co. And looking ahead, through the eyes of Ron Greenwood.
128 pages
COVER PRICE: 20s (£1.00)
GOALS FROM NOWHERE!
Martin Peters - Stanley Paul (1969)
Martin Peters has a rare and much-envied talent. Few players, if any, have been able to match his versatility at world-class level. He is a footballer in the purest sense of the word… before he was 24 he had played in every position, including goalkeeper, not only at junior and reserve level but in the Football League. World famous managers like Hellenio Herrera have praised the extraordinary range of this football phenomenon who packs every facet of a football team into his tall slim body.
All the same, because Martin Peters didn’t play in one position only, he was a nobody. Even after he had played for England in their World Cup winning side he felt people looked straight through him… that when they saw him on the field they couldn’t easily identify him with a set job or position and so ignored him.
Just when he was resigned to playing football at its highest level without a flicker of glory or recognition, he spotted in the sports columns of a newspaper that Sir Alf Ramsey had said of him: ‘Martin Peters is ten years ahead of his time.’ That sentence alone didn’t make Martin Peters any better known – but it did give him an identity he badly needed. He hasn’t looked back since. The footballer of the future has added to his bewildering array of talents by becoming an ace goalscorer for West Ham United and England.
The Martin Peters story is not one of sensational controversy – he doesn’t get sent off… he doesn’t get into trouble off the field – he doesn’t have blazing rows with authority. But there has never been another footballer like him.
Martin Peters not only discusses the highlights of his international career, but takes you behind the scenes of a club match, describes the emotions of facing a crowd like Anfield
and farelessly lists the crowds and grounds he doesn’t like to visit. There have been many books written by footballers but as Martin Peters is unlike any other footballer it follows that this story is special.
Pages 128
COVER PRICE: 21s (£1.05)
Sportsman Book Club Edition 10s (£0.50)
THE WEST HAM UNITED FOOTBALL BOOK No.2
Dennis Irving - Stanley Paul (1969)
The Hammers from East London's Dockland are the delight of the soccer connosseur at home and abroad. As one famous internatuional put it when his side lost 7-2 at Upton Park: "It is almost a pleasure to be beaten by them."
The soccer purists may purr and the West Ham fans may sing their famous "Bubbles" theme tune, but the burning ambition of everyone at Upton Park is to win the league Championship title. In the eight years' reign of manager Ron Greenwood the Hammers have scaled the heights and achieved success in European competitions and in the F.A. Cup. In doing so they have brought glory to the claret and blue and their homely club.
England's famous World Cup trio, skipper Bobby Moore, hat-trick scorer Geoff Hurst and all-purpose player Martin Peters are typical home-grown products of the progressive cluc from London's East End. West Ham is a family club with a four-man board, directors and supporters who are among the most knowledgeable in soccer, but it is a club eager to succeed and go forward.
West Ham have spent well over £100,000 on improving facilities for their loyal fans, and another £100,000 on strengthening the side. Alan Stephenson, Bobby Ferguson and Billy Bonds have been drafted into a side boasting the cream of talent produced by a conveyor belt of a youth scheme over the years.
Dennis Irving, a self-confessed admirer of the Hammers and their style of play, takes a close look at one of the brightest clubs in soccer. A club with reputation.... a club with heart.... a club with ambition.
Spotlighting stars of the past, taking an intimate look behind the scenes at Upton Park, the West Ham United Football Book No.2 is a must for all supporters and those who have the claret and blue at heart. It is a book for all who admire soccer played the West Ham way - the best in football.
128 pages.
COVER PRICE: 20s (£1.00)
ENGLAND! ENGLAND!
Bobby Moore - Stanley Paul (1969)
The World Cup tournament in Mexico City ushers in the exciting Sporting Seventies and this promise from Bobby Moore, O.B.E. - England will return the Jules Rimet trophy, the golden winged statuette which millions of fans all over the world saw her win in such dramatic style at Wembley four years ago. In a compelling autobiography, the England and west Ham United captain, battle-hardened by almost eighty internationals, analyses the final rounds of the 1970 World Cup in the most unequivocal terms. Being drawn against Brazil doesn't worry him. 'All that it means is that there could be an England v. Brazil final... if they are good enough.
He states why he believes Pele, idol of Brazilian crowds, may not last the pace and names a surprise choice among four countries to reach the semi-finals. An incredibly detailed medical dossier, built up over the past four years, ensures that this will be the fittest England squad ever to leave these shores. Moore tells of the various tests which the players have undergone to combat the effects of playing at high altitudes. And explains why each player will be ordered to remove his shoes when he boards the plane for Mexico City. But this is far more than a searching insight into the World Cup and the sixteen countries who fight out its final stages.
For the first time the England player closest to Sir Alf Ramsey gives a fascinating assessment of the ice-cold tactician who has master-minded a soccer revolution in his seven years as team manager. He discloses how Ramsey has disciplined players, including Moore; how he stands no nonsense from officialdom; how he refuses to be hoodwinked by international gamesmanship off the field; and how, when the heat of battle is over, he relaxes with his team.
MOORE ON MEXICO
Bobby Moore - Stanley Paul (1970)
Why did England fail to retain the World Cup? What happened during the Bogota Bracelet scandal? How great are Brazil? Who were the England successses?
These are the questions all football is asking and nobody is better placed to answer them, and many more, than Bobby Moore, captain of England and the player even the dazzling Brazilians acknowledge as the greatest defender in the World. In this engrossing book Bobby Moore 'the man on the inside' tells all. Hegives a fascinating blow-by-blow account of England's travels from the comparative quite of European football to the unknown white heat of the game played Latin America stayle. Were England the centre od a World Cup hoax right from the start even in their friendly games in Columbia and Equador when Bobby Moore was charged with staealing a bracelet?
Moore discusses the feeling in the England camp when the six players omitted from the final squad heard their fate from another source before Sir Alf Ramsey the England team manager, could speak to them.
Bobby Moore talks passionatelly about the 'hatred' of the people of Guadalajara towards the England players. Just why was there a strong Mexican press campaign to denigrate the players of England to the World?
in a spaecial chapter Bobby Moore gives his opinion on the England successes, like Alan Mullery, and his views on the attacks on the 4-4-2 system which many said, put England out of the tournament.
finally, in this well-written searching book, Bobby Moore talks about his future in the game and that of Sir Alf Ramsey. He also looks forward to the World Cup in Muinch 1974.
THE WEST HAM UNITED FOOTBALL BOOK No.3
Dennis Irving - Stanley Paul (1970)
Let them all play the West Ham way! That was author Dennis Irving's plea in an earlier edition of the West Ham Football Book. All who admire soccer the West Ham way - and the Hammers are the delight of the connoisseur - will welcome this insight into a club that has had the fans cheerfully singing the club's theme tune: "We're forever blowing bubbles."
Under the leadership of manager Ron Greenwood on the most respected men in soccer today and only the fourth manager in West Ham's long history, the Hammers have tasted the sweets of success. Success in the European Cup Winners' Cup, the F.A. Cup, the F.A. Youth Cup and in America in the International Soccer League. That was the West Ham story of the 60's.
But there was more. Blond Bobby Moore, of West Ham, skippered England to victory against West Germany in the World Cup Final in 1966. Marksman Geoff Hurst, also of West Ham, scored three of the England goals in that 4-2 extra-time triumph; Martin Peters, then of West Ham, scored the other.
Moore, Hurst and now Greaves... stars of England and West Ham, the friendly side from East London's Dockland that plays soccer with style. The fans turn up because they know that West Ham will attack and ENTERTAIN. Both Moore and Hurst are typical home-grown products of the Hammers, the club that has provided a conveyor belt of talent over the years from a flourishing youth scheme, but has not been frightened to spend big to improve facilities for loyal fans. Over £100,000 on ground improvements... nearly three times that amount on star names such as Peter Eustace, Alan Stephenson, Bobby Ferguson and Billy Bonds.
The West Ham United Football Book No.3 examines this family club, spotlighting stars of the past and taking an intimate look at a staff at Upton Park that has a burning desire for League success.
Dennis Irving, who has had claret and blue wallpaper installed in his office, is a fan of the Hammers. He has dubbed them the Gay Deceivers, but he also wants every club to play their stylish way. Followers of the Hammers will cherish this latest look at their club. They will understand the reasoning.
128 pages.
COVER PRICE: 20s (£1.00)
COLOURS OF MY LIFE
Malcolm Allison - Everest (1975)
The private Malcolm Allison is startlingly different from his public image. A giant of a man, yes. Arrogant and impulsive, a womaniser, a gambler, an inveterate nightclubber. But the cigars-and champagne facade hides a person tortured by self-doubt, full of human failings, shockingly insecure.
Beneath the bluster is a surprisingly fine brain, with deeply complex ideas about football and a total dedication to the game. in this candid autobiography he talks emotionally and honestly about -
Allison the Virgin Soldier, a 19-year-old National Serviceman cut off after curfew in the Russian sector of Vienna with a girl; sipping hot chocolate and kirsch with millionaire ladies in Cortina; and tackling the Olympic ski run for a dare.
Allison the Gambler, losing £4,000 in a day at Kempton Park, and buying champagne all round in the member's enclosure at Ascot;
Allison the Broken Man, struck down by tuberculosis at the height of his career as a football player, almost losing his life - and briefly wishing he would;
Allison the Lover, learning from a Mayfair socialite called Suzy how to read a French menu - and a lot more besides, dating a Brazilian diplomat's daughter, and carrying on an affair with Christine Keeler;
Allison the Clubman, drinking heavily, wasting time, losing sight of what life is about - until it is almost too late;
Allison the Coach, finding his gift for bringing out the greatness in players from Plymouth Argyle to Toronto City, putting Manchester City back on top, discovering his true vocation.
This is much more than a book about football. It is the story of one of the great sporting figures of the twentieth century.
BOBBY MOORE
Jeff Powell - Everest (1976)
A KING WITHOUT A FRIEND
Bobby Moore reigned over world foootball through the richest era the game has ever known. He captained West Ham and England - taking the Hammers to Wembley and England to World Cup victory - while soccer became big business, players' wages went through the roof, and footballers took on the status of film stars or pop idols.
Moore was the youngest-ever Footballer of the Year; became acknowledged as one of the greatest defenders the game ever saw; and won more caps than any other player in the history of English soccer. But he was also one of the first players to build a house on Millionaire's Row - and he has to be as careful as any not to end up on Skid Row.
The stars came out to rub shoulders with the working-class boy from Barking. The dressing-room was the launch pad into the cocktail-party orbit. High society added its own pressures to the strains of the game.
Despite his fame, nobody knows Bobby Moore. This giant of sport has always remainded the man apart, the king without a friend, brilliant but unapproachable.
How did he cope with stardom? How much of his private self was in the public image of a cold, withdrawn personality? Did he stael that notorious bracelet in Bogota? What goes on inside the real Bobby Moore?
He was always as careful in what he said as in choosing his company. But here for the first time, in his authorised biography, he speaks openly and candidly about his life, his game, and himself.
192 pages.
COVER PRICE £4.25
BALLS
Johnny Byrne - Richard Lyon (1976)
“BALLS” takes the reader into the intimate world of professional soccer, both here (South Africa) and England, with candour and humour – a rare combination.
“BUDGIE” Byrne has always been direct in his approach on and off the field. “Balls” is no different. The magnificent portrayal of Byrne the man, Byrne the footballer and Byrne the manager makes this book a collector’s item.
Someone, sometime, had to do it. “Budgie” was always irresistible, at work or play. He was one of the finest centre-forwards Britain ever produced, and his sense of fun was unrivalled. Together with co-author Bradley he brings some fun, most of the action and a few of the tall stories to brighten the winter nights. Oh yes…and there was some football, too.
Highly readable…a book that will appeal to students of human nature as much as to students of the game.
Image courtesy of John Northcutt
WEST HAM UNITED OFFICIAL ANNUAL 1981
Harry Harris - Circle Publications Ltd (1981)
PROMOTION IS OUR PRIORITY THIS SEASON
I’m writing this introduction to the inaugural West Ham annual with a great deal of pride and satisfaction. Not just for myself, but for the marvellous players, directors, and truly loyal supporters of this famous East London club.
1980 has been a vintage year and we are all hoping that 1981 will be just as fruitful. This annual will be a souvenir of the FA Cup success at Wembley, but we shall not forget our endeavours in reaching the quarter-finals of the League Cup. Naturally we were all disappointed that we did not win promotion, but the glory came our way to make full amends when we beat Arsenal at Wembley. We are also in Europe and that is a bonus. We have reached the European Cup Winners’ Cup quarter-finals, which must rank as another success. Not bad for a Second Division club, you might say. But make no mistake we shall not rest until we are back where we feel we belong in the First Division. Just look at the First Division sides we took on and overcame on the way to Wembley… West Bromwich Albion, Aston Villa, and Everton, and of course, Arsenal in the Final. That proved we have the calibre of players equipped to do ourselves justice in the top flight. We are prepared to return to the First Division and our good start this season gives us every encouragement. Naturally, I have a dream that West Ham will win promotion and pick up one or two cups along the road this season. Well, quite simply in football you cannot pick and choose. You must be grateful for any success, be it promotion or another trophy, that comes you way. Our factor will be guaranteed. The players and myself will work relentlessly to eventually take the club to promotion. We have a side that is beginning to earn a reputation for a solid defence. Yet, at the same time we have not forgotten our traditions to provide entertainment. I feel we have a much better chance of promotion this season, simply because we are gaining a better understanding as a team. A club like ours has a close affinity with their fans, and the supporters have provided me with some of the very best memories of the Wembley occasion, which I shall cherish.
We believe in providing our fans with a champagne type of football.
Size 204x193mm - 96 pages
COVER PRICE: £2.95
TREVOR BROOKING AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY
Trevor Brooking with the assistance of Brian Scovell - Pelham (1981)
Long recognised as England’s most skilful midfield player, Trevor Brooking joined West Ham United at seventeen straight from school and ever since he has been a one-club player with one of Britain’s most popular clubs.
In this book he tells his story and gives his views on the future of English football with special reference to how the game is run, £1 million transfers and football hooliganism. He talks about the West Ham side in the sixties – Geoff Hurst, Bobby Moore Martin Peters – and some of the finest players of post-war years. He has played under four England managers – Sir Alf Ramsey, Joe Mercer, Don Revie and Ron Greenwood – and gives an insight into how they work. He relates, too, the inside story of how Brian Clough tried to buy him and Bobby Moore and gives his views on Clough’s style of management.
With nearly fifty England international caps in a career lasting
sixteen years, Trevor Brooking is one of England’s most
experienced and respected players. Here he talks candidly
about his life in football, his family and business interests and
his future. But his book is more than an autobiography – it is
a thinking man’s impression of the national game.
192 pages.
COVER PRICE Hardback: £6.95
Softback Edition:
Updated in 1982 to cover The World Cup
COVER PRICE: £1.95 - Pages 234
CHAMPIONS! Back to the First Division
Harry Harris - Circle Publications (1981)
Our great season by manager John Lyall
Incredible! That’s the word I’d choose to describe our season. We set out with promotion as our number one priority. We achieved that by taking the Second Division by storm and guaranteeing our place back at the top long before the end of the season. But along the way we reached the League Cup Final, and also excelled in Europe with six very worthwhile games. Our players have gained a tremendous amount of knowledge from our European excursions in the Cup Winners’ Cup. It has taught us how to improve against a variety of systems and styles. That will be of enormous benefit when we return to the First Division. We will be facing teams that have acquired a great deal of their know-how via European football. Naturally we’ve relished the glamour of the cups but the league has been the most important. The club has been reared on First Division football. It was a huge disappointment when we were relegated three years ago. We’ve been forced to make certain adjustments to life in the Second Division. It is credit to the players that we have made these adjustments successfully and it is marvellous that we have fought our way out of the Second Division. There is no substitute for playing the likes of Liverpool and Manchester United in the league. It is stimulating and vital in terms of experience for the players. We want to be playing the best teams week in and week out. That will be the only true assessment of our abilities. Success in the Second Division has given our young players confidence, having given us the opportunity to bring them forward a lot earlier than we would have otherwise anticipated. Our aims back in the First Division are simple. We want to be as SUCCESSFUL AS POSSIBLE, as quickly as possible.
Certainly it may take us a little while to re-adjust. In the early days we shall strive for stability and build from there. Before I give my thanks to the players, I would first like to offer my appreciation to our marvellous supporters. It has given us all at West Ham great pleasure to win back our First Division status for those fans who have followed us for the past three years. For them, we shall be doing our best next season. Now I’d like to give praise and appraisal of our first team squad that has won back our right to play in the First Division.
Size 295x209mm - 48 pages
COVER PRICE: £1.99
OFFICIAL ANNUAL 1982
Harry Harris - Circle Publications Ltd (1982)
THE STORY OF THE HAMMERS
Peter Brill & N. Aplin (1982)
Audio cassette recording :
A rare insihht into the back ground of the Hammers with personal views by all the players.
HAMMERS '83
Colin Benson - Circle Publications Ltd (1983)
YOURS SINCERELY
Ron Greenwood - Willow (1984)
Ron Greenwood is a man admired throughout the world of football for his knowledge and perception and in this book he recalls with honesty, detail and humour a unique career in the game. He remembers vividly his playing days with Bradford Park Avenue, Brentford, Chelsea (helping them with the League championship in 1954-55) and Pulham; his eventful period as Arsenal's coach; his sixteen colourful years at Upton Park where he was only the fourth manager of West Ham; and his five dramatic years as the fourth manager of England. He describes how West Ham won the FA Cup, the European Cup winners' Cup and a million admirers; how three of his players, Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters, matured into World Cup Winners in 1966; and the fascinating background to England's success in the 1980 European Championship and the 198S World Cup.
Ron Greenwood talks about great players and matches over five decades, intriguing transfers, personality conflicts, heated arguments, and curious coincidences. He tells many fascinating stories for the first time and explains controversial decisions. He recalls how England's players talked him out of retiring early in a plane high over Europe; why he wanted to sack Bobby Moore and Jimmy Greaves; why he did not give Glenn Hoddle a permanent place in the England side; how Kevin Keegan mysteriously disappeared during the 1982 World Cup finals; why he turned down a chance to buy the great Gordon Banks; and how stars like Alvin Martin and Alan Devonshire were discovered.
This is a book written by a man who sees football as an eternally exciting challenge, a champion of open, attractive play in an age of negative defence and of sportsmanship in an age of violence. He is strongly critical of current methods and attitudes and believes the modern professional game is slowly being ruined.
Ron Greenwood sees football as the true international game and travelled the world to expand his knowledge. His insight into the game is acute and Yours Sincerely is testimony to a long, rich and outstanding career.
Size 237x152mm - 240 pages
COVER PRICE: £
THE WEST HAM STORY
John Moynihan - Arthur Barker Ltd (1984)
After a modest start in life in Canning Town as the amatreu Thames Ironworks XI, founded in 1895, West Ham United grew and prospered in its dockland home - an area previously starved of top-class football. Throughout their ups and downs on the pitch, the Hammers have always played attractive, flowing football, and the club has retained its unusual family atmosphere. Its history is full of long-serving players, from Jimmy Ruffell, the flying left-winger of the 1920s, to 'the great unflappable', Bobby Moore, and the record-breaking Billy Bonds.
John Moynihan's lavishly illustrated history of the club, recalls its many great stars and characters, men like Syd Puddefoot, Ted Hufton, Vic Watson, Len Goulden, Ernie Gregory, Malcolm Allison, Johnny Byrne, Bobby Moore, Martin Peters, Geoff Hurst and Trevor Brooking. He also descibes in detail the highlights in the club's colourful history - none more spectacular than the first every Wembley Cup Final when, in the presence of George V, the barriers broke, the stadium was dangerously over-filled, and tragedy only averted by the single policeman on the now legendary white horse Billie.Moynihan gives blow by blow accounts of the outstanding matches and most glorious moments, as when a youthful team under Bobby Moore and manager Ron Greenwood won the F.A. Cup for the first time in 1964, and a year later the European Cup Winners' Cup. After two more recent Cup successes the Hammers are now firmly established as one of the major forces in the Football League, still playing their own attractive brand of football, and John Moynihan's entertaining book is a fitting tribute to a great club.
176 pages.
COVER PRICE: £6.95
Promotional Leaflet
HAMMERS '84
Colin Benson - Circle Publications Ltd (1984)
PLAY THE 'BROOKING' WAY
Trevor Brooking - SPORT GB (1984)
Trevor Brooking's Illustrated Coaching Guide
It is generally felt that although our standard of football is as good as anywhere in the world, sometimes our technical skill can let us down. The basic ingredients for any footballer must be to have toatal control over the ball itself. this level of control can only be achieved by hours of practice and the determination to get better at the different skills you attempt.There are anumber of illustrated sequences I have suggested here, which I hope will encourage you to improve over a period of time. The more you are willing to practice the better your skill will become. Don't always want to play a match. You can practice many of these sequences in a small area and if you haven't a partner many can be done individually by rebounding the ball off a flat surface.
All the best for the future.
Trevor Brooking
WEST HAM UNITED - The Making of a Football Club
Charles Korr - Duckworth (1984)
No detailed inside history of a football club has ever been published. It is remarkable therefore that the board of West Ham United should have opened its archives to an American historian and given free scope to an outsider to tell the story of the 'Hammers'.
The result is a triumph.
West Ham United: The Making of a Football Club is a lively and entertaining account of the club from its foundation, in 1895, as the company team of the Thames Ironworks. Many of its star players have been local men, while the board, since its inception, has been peopled by generations of local families, most prominently the Cearns and Pratt families.
west Ham's greatest successes are covered, and also its low points; and there are numerous sketches of the stream of characters who have surrounded the club from its earliest days, from the colourful and flamboyant Syd King to the intensely professional and private Ron Greenwood.
This evocative and well-illustrated book - with a Foreword by Manager John Lyall - will appeal to anyone interested in sport or the East End - and, of course, to all West Ham United supporters keen to know how their club came to be what it is today.
This Who’s Who represents a written and statistical account of past and present players of West Ham United F.C. and gives a s far as possible a complete record from 1919, when Hammers first entered the Football League.
When Tony Hogg first put pen to paper on this project in January 1982 it was, to the best of his knowledge a novel idea. Originally intended to cover the years 1945 to 1986, it could be argued that the work has benefited from subsequent publication delays of the intervening years he has now delved much further into the history of the Hammers as a result. With the involvement of “Mr. West Ham” (Jack Helliar) which was an unexpected bonus, and helped to make all the hold-ups seem irrelevant in retrospect.
Tony hopes that the book helps to settle a few arguments and sets the record straight on the players who have pulled on the famous claret-and-blue jerseys since 1919, as well as many of the even earlier pioneers.
Size 255x205mm – 96 pages
COVER PRICE: £6.50
Promotional Leaflet
WEST HAM UNITED
A Complete Record 1900-1987
John Northcutt & Roy Shoesmith - Breedon Books (1987)
Many books have been written about West Ham United, the soccer pride of London’s East End, but none has ever approached the wealth of detail contained in this Complete Record.
In this book, Hammers supporters will find, not only the story of their club since its formation as Thames Ironworks FC, but a complete record of every competitive first-team game since those days – results, scorers, line-ups and attendances – as well as biographies of the players and managers, memorable matches and thousands more fascinating facts and statistics. Indeed, there has never been a book like this on West Ham United Football Club.
Published in a limited edition.
Size 212x155mm – 432 pages
COVER PRICE: £14.95
Fully revised and updated in 1993
BONZO AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY
Billy Bonds - Arthur Barker (1988)
What was it that stopped Billy Bonds from ever getting a chance with Alf Ramsey’s England? Which manager wrote off his prospects as a pro? Who was the team-mate, now a respected manager, who once hurled a beer bottle across the dressing-room… and who’s the one who so nearly drowned after a summer tour night out? Why does Billy think Vince Jones is a pussy cat?
Still giving an inspirational 100 per cent for West Ham in the First Division at the age of forty-one, Billy reveals the answers in an affectionate look back at his astonishing quarter-of-a-century in League football. Bonzo’s autobiography traces his path from soccer-mad kid kicking a ball around on a council estate to one of football’s most respected players – and adored Upton Park folk hero. For many years a lead-from-the-front Hammers’ captain, Billy reminisces about the numerous great players he has known, both as club-mates and opponents, the managers who influenced his ideas about football, and the characters and experiences he has encountered in twenty-five years in the game. Twice he led West Ham to FA Cup final triumphs – the first time suffering mental agonies under the threat of suspension. And he discloses how personal tragedy marred an even greater occasion, when he skippered Hammers in a European final. Awarded the MBE in the 1988 New Year’s Honours List for his services to football, and the coveted PFA Merit Award, Billy talks of his hope and ambitions for the future with the club to which he has given such long, dedicated service. Bonzo truly has a tale to tell, and he does so in a way typical of a player whose totally committed approach to football is in stark contrast to his personality off the field, where he is very much the headline-shunning family man. His fascinating story will be essential reading for two generations of West Ham supporters, and of genuine interest to all soccer fans.
Size 222x145mm - 193 pages
COVER PRICE: £9.95
Promotional Leaflet
THE WEST HAM UNITED QUIZ BOOK
Tony Hogg - Mainstream Publishing (1988)
The 1015 questions in this West Ham United Quiz Book have been set with an emphasis on fun and entertainment for Hammers fans of all ages and although some of the posers are somewhat stiff, it is possible to find the answers to the majority of them through the plethora of books published about the club in recent years. Tony Hogg has done his best to avoid the mundane and keep the questions as interesting as possible with an eye to variety. The text within incorporates events on the Hammers up to the start of season 1988/89.
Size 229x152mm – 174 pages
COVER PRICE: £4.95
JUST LIKE MY DREAMS
John Lyall - Penguin Group (1989)
John Lyall is acknowledged throughout the football world to be a perceptive and innovative coach, and an honest and diligent manager. Until West Ham decided in June 1989 that they no longer required his services, Lyall had been the longest-serving one-club manager in the First Division, having started at the club as an office clerk and then played as a promising young full back before a serious knee injury terminated his career. But it was as the manager who took his club to its greatest triumphs – including two FA Cup victories, the Second Division Championship and third place in the First Division – that Lyall established his remarkable rapport with West Ham supporters.
In Just Like My Dreams Lyall recalls with honesty, humour and fascinating detail a unique thirty-four-year career with one of the best-known football clubs in the world. He recalls playing alongside, and later coaching, some of the greatest names in the game, like Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters; and nursing to greatness others, like Billy Bonds and Trevor Brooking.
He remembers some of West Ham’s great games – and some of their more disastrous ones too. He explains the details of the Tony Cottee – Frank McAvennie saga, the signing of Phil Parkes and Ron Greenwood’s reaction to the famous Blackpool nightclub fiasco. And, most poignantly, he describes for the first time how the club chairman summoned Lyall to his house to tell him that after thirty-four years his contract was not going to be renewed. As well as giving the story of a highly respected figure in British soccer, Just Like My dreams offers a revealing insight into one of its greatest yet most secretive clubs.
Size 241x160mm - 248 pages
COVER PRICE: £12.95
HAMMERS ANNUAL 1990
Tony McDonald - Robolle Press (1990)
THE TREVOR BROOKING FOOTBALL QUIZ BOOK
Trevor Brooking & William Walker - Ward Lock (1990)
Former West Ham and England star, now a media football expert, TREVOR BROOKING gives you the chance to show your off-field soccer skills.
Trevor's compiled over 1,250 tantalizing teasers (including picture quizzes) in a fun challenge for every fan.
Find out how much you know about:
The World Cup
The Football League
The FA Cup
European Soccer
Teams, transfers and trophies
All the great names and the great games!
The questions are arranged in three groups - FIRST HALF (easy)
SECOND HALF(not-quite-so-easy) and
EXTRA-TIME (hard)
So whether you're a casual supporter of a football freak, put yourself on the spot with...
Trevor Brooking's Football Quiz Book!
Size 178x110mm - 128 pages
COVER PRICE: £ ?
THE OFFICIAL WEST HAM UNITED QUIZ BOOK
Deano Standing - Rosters Ltd (1991)
How much do you really know about the Hammers?
Deano Standing has combed through the record books to produce over 800 questions which will test your football know-how. Pit your wits against Deano and see how many points you can score.
Celebrate the hAmmers return to Division One with a series of quizzes which will test your knowledge of the triumphs of the 1990-91 season and of seasons past.
Size 178x110mm - 127 pages
COVER PRICE: £3.95
HAMMERS FAN-TASTIC
ACL Colour Print & Polar Publishing (1991)
SOCCER QUIZ SERIES WEST HAM
John Northcutt - Almeida Books (1991)
The idea of a Soccer Quiz Seies first came about following one of the meetings of the Association of Football Statisticians. Several members gathered round the bar afterwards, and it wasn’t long before the football questions got their customary airing. It was agreed that members should use their specialist knowledge and put a quiz together on their particular club – John Northcutt was West Ham’s representative.
After much thought and consideration it was decided to develop the idea further to produce a series that consists of much more than just bland pages covered with tedious questions and answers. The preambles to specialist sections therefore aim to educate and inform, as well as whet your appetite for the hard work to follow.
BOBBY MOORE
The Life And Times of a Sporting Hero
Jeff Powell: Robson Books Ltd (1993)
Bobby Moore’s death in February 1993 stunned not only the footballing world but a whole generation who had held him as a hero. Captain of West Ham United, who he led to the 1964 F.A. Cup and the 1965 European Cup Winners’ Cup, and Captain of England, who he led to triumph in the World Cup in 1966, he was loved and respected throughout the world.
In this definitive and authorised biography, award-winning sports writer Jeff Powell – for many years a close friend and confidant to Moore and his family – has written a powerful and fitting tribute to this legendary man, as he recreates the golden era of English football and the man at its helm, whilst also examining Moore’s astonishing impact on English society in the 1960s and the profound effect of his illness and death on national attitudes in the 1990s.
Apart from passionate accounts of Moore’s greatest moments in football, Powell’s unique access to the man and his family enables him to reveal the very private side of this supremely gentle man. Whilst on the field he was a meticulous and painstaking tactician, a ‘human computer’ who left little to chance, off the field he was a loveable and loyal man, devoid of ego, who could laugh and cry with the best of them.
The best of them, of course, included his friend and contemporary Franz Beckenbauer, Portuguese legend Eusebio, and the greatest of them all, Pele. Unprecedented insights into Moore’s relationships with all these superlative opponents, his World Cup-winning team-mates and his distinguished managers – Ron Greenwood at West Ham and Sir Alf Ramsey with England – illuminate the stirring story of his life in football.
The author also relates the inside story of Moore’s life after football, and movingly reveals how he found true happiness before the tragedy of his premature death from the cancer he kept secret.
Size 240x160mm - 181 pages.
COVER PRICE: £16.95
BOBBY MOORE
A Tribute: The Illustrated Biography of a Footballing Legend
David Emery - Headline (1993)
When Bobby Moore died on 24 February 1993, aged on 51, everyone who loves football mourned the passing of an authentic hero, a man of incomparable style and grace both on and off the pitch. Bobby Moore will forever be remembered for leading England to victory (for the first and only time) in the 1966 World Cup. But he achieved much more than that; he was also, in David Platt’s words, ‘a great person in every sense; a footballer of intelligence and vision, a man of dignity and stature’.
Under the general editorship of David Emery, this book is a lavishly illustrated tribute by Daily Express sports writers to the great England captain. Christopher Hilton, with the help of interviews with relatives and friends, traces his progress from the angelic-looking youngster with a ruthless will to win, through his rise to the England youth team.
Steve Curry, chief soccer writer of the Daily Express, chronicles Moore’s unparalleled football career – 108 England caps, 81 of them as captain, plus winning the 1964 Cup final and the 1965 Cup Winners’ Cup with West Ham. But no one can ever forget that July day at Wembley in 1966 when he led England to glory, beating West Germany 4-2 in the World Cup Final. For Pele of Brazil – he most famous adversary – he was then, and in the World Cup of 1970, quite simply ‘the finest defender in the world’.
James Lawton, chief sports writer of the Daily Express, looks at Moore the man – who, in the words of the Prime Minister, John Major, ‘enhances sport by his example and his behaviour as well as by his skill’. By talking to friends and colleagues such as Malcolm Allison, Ron Greenwood, Alf Ramsey and Bobby Charlton, Lawton looks at the qualities of Moore’s character and his life outside soccer. Players and celebrities from around the world add their own tributes.
Size: 257x193 – 160 pages
COVER PRICE: £9.99
BOBBY MOORE A TRIBUTE
Matchday Publication (1993)
On Wednesday 24 February 1993 the world of football lost one of its all-time greats. And while tributes have understandably homed in on the Cup-winning highlights of Bobby Moore’s long and illustrious career, there’s no doubt that he gave so much of value to the game above and beyond his many accomplished performances as a player.
Fittingly, his last public appearance just one week before had been at Wembley, scene of so many of his greatest triumphs in past decades, where he had been covering England’s World Cup qualifying game with San Marino – ironically, one of the few countries he never met on the field of play – for a London radio station.
A gentleman both on and off the pitch, Bobby Moore set standards others could only attempt to aspire to. This magazine goes some way to celebrating the career of a once-in-a-lifetime player.
Size 295x210mm – 32 pages
COVER PRICE: £2.00
WEST HAM UNITED AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY
John Northcutt & Roy Shoesmith - Breedon Books (1994)
Founded just over 100 years ago as Thames Ironworks FC and re-named West Ham United as the 20th century dawned, when they became a professional club and a limited company, the Hammers of Upton Park have long been one of the great names in football. FA Cup winners three times - they took part in the first-ever Wembley Final - and winners of the european Cup Winners' Cup as well, West Ham have many great days to look back upon over the past century.
In 1994, two experts on the club's history joined forces again to produce West Ham United: An Illustrated History. An authoriative text complemented by hundreds of fascinating photographs, many of them rarely, if ever, published before, it was highly acclaimed and soon sold out.
Now John Northcutt and Roy Shoesmith have updated their book to take the Hammers' story from its very beginnings at Canning Town to today, so that all the great players and memorable moments are her.
the result is a book which will continue to fascinate west Ham supporters of all ages, evoking many memories and acting as a spledid souvenir of this fine club.
Size 302x215mm - 183 pages
COVER PRICE: £15.99
1994 Edition
1997 Edition
1998 Edition
2002 Edition
CLARET & BLUES
Tony Cottee - Independent UK (1995)
One of the most precocious talents in the British game, Tony Cottee exploded onto the football scene in 1983, when he scored for West Ham United against Tottenham Hotspur on his first team debut at the age of 17. And since then he has never stopped scoring. The dynamic striker etched his name permanently into /hammers’ history – he is currently their fifth highest all-time goalscorer – by topping the scorechart in four of his five seasons in his first spell with the East London club he has supported since childhood. In 1988 ‘TC’ became Britain’s most expensive footballer when he joined Everton in a record-breaking £2.05 million deal. But despite reaching the FA Cup Final in his first season, finishing top scorer in five of his six full seasons on Merseyside and winning seven full England caps, he returned to Upton Park in September 1994 seeking a new challenge after years of frustration.
In his revealing book, Claret & Blues, Tony recalls the highs and lows of his eventful career and talks with refreshing honesty about his own experiences as well as many other key aspects of life as a professional in modern-day football – tackling controversial issues such as drugs, drink, bribes and bungs.
An intelligent 30 year-old who grew up supporting the Hammers from the terraces, Cottee has witnessed the threat of hooliganism at first hand, and he had forthright views on how he believes the authorities should deal with the problems that beset the game in last year’s so-called ‘Season of Sleaze’ Claret & Blues is much more than a star striker’s autobiography. It provides a fascinating insight into the professional game today.
Size 240x170mm - 368 pages
COVER PRICE: £15.99
1895-1995 HAMMERS 100 YEARS OF FOOTBALL
Tony Hogg & Tony McDonald - Independent UK (1995)
A multitude of books have been published about West Ham united FC, the homely Hammers from London's East End.
But not many have been compiled with the same dilligence and insight as this combined effort from Tony Hogg and Tony McDonald. Drawing on their in-depth knowledge of the club they have supported man and boy, they have put together a fascinating pictorial and written account of the 100 years history of this world famous club.
In '1895-1995 Hammers 100 Years of Football', they have raided the archives and the recesses of their own rich memories to produce a book that will delight the club's thousands of loyal supporters and, we suspect, interest many more fans whose allegiances lie elsewhere.
This book represents a celebration of a century of soccer in London's East End. from the Victorian endeavours of the early Thames Ironworks pioneers, whose pounding Hammers rang out across the River Thames to give this famous club its unique identity, to the pomp and splendour of the new Bobby moore South Stand and Centenary Stand,
A claret and blue kaleidoscope designed to create a visual picture of a great football club, reflecting the cahnges in fashion, as well as football, in 100 years of humour, heartbreak and heroes.
The somewhat unusual design conveys the different atmospheres engendered by each decade. This is not an ordinary football book. But then West Ham United is not an ordinary football club.
Size 280x245mm
COVER PRICE: £16.99
AN IRRATIONAL HATRED of LUTON
Robert Banks - Independent Sports (1995)
Robert Banks was born in Beckenham in 1968. Educated at his local secondary modern and later at South Bank University. Robert graduated with a degree in Estate Management and has spent 10 years in Property Management and Valuation. Naturally, he now works as an insurance agent for the Co-op. Running parallel to such noble academic and professional pursuits, Robert also gradated with honours from the South Bank, upton Park.
He first supported the Hammers as an impressionable six year-old. They quickly became his first love, despite the distractions of Suzi Quatro, Olivia Newton-John and the blond bird from Abba. After a very close shave that almost resulted in marriage and termination of his literary ambitions, he escaped to write a regular column in the top West Ham fanzine, Over LAnd & Sea, and currently features in Hammers News Magazine. He has written for numerous (three) other publications on non-footballing subjects. A prolific fiction writer, he has also written a novel and a book of short stories.
"The thing that keeps me going is the thought that, one day, West Ham United will win the Premiership. It sounds daft, but then so does the idea that Jesus Christ was born to a virgin mother - and there are more people believing that than there are wiaiting for silverware at Upton Park".
COVER PRICE: £6.95
WHO's WHO 1985-1995 Centenary Edition
Tony Hogg & Tony McDonald - Independent Sports (1995)
When the original Who's Who of West Ham United was written by Tony Hogg and Jack Helliar back in 1986, there were very few books of its type in circulation. The intervening years have witnessed a huge output by club historians and satisticians, however, resulting in a publishing boom which has given football fans a far clearer insight into the history and playing staff of their particular club.
Many gaps stil exist, although despite the fact that invaluable records were lost in the blitz of the last war, Hammers have fared better than most in this field - thanks to a smal, though very enthusiastic, group of people who have painstakingly, 're-researched' the 100-year history of West Ham United Football Club. without claiming to have covered every detail, this special centenary edition of the Who's Who includes a biographical account of every player to have pulled on a claret and blue shirt since West Ham united was formed in 1900, in addition to many of the even earlier pioneers of the Thames Ironworks team which began life in 1895. Also included a number of players who, although they did not make an official first team appearance, went on to establish themselves in the game, either in another capacity at Upton Park or as a player with another club. Tony Carr and Harry Cripps are two typical examples.
Size 305x215mm - 256 pages
COVER PRICE: £17.99
"We would like to thank Steve Marsh for providing pictures, drawing cartoon caricatures and giving us unlimited access to his incredible collection of memorabilia accumulated in his years as founder of the West Ham United Autograph Society (hence the signed pics in this book!)".
Tony Hogg and Tony McDonald
TERMINATOR
The Authorised Julian Dicks Story
Kirk Blows - Polar Publishing (1996)
Many football journalists have no doubt pondered the possibility of writing a book about the life and times of Julian Dicks, probably in order to capitalise on the player’s public profile and exploit his notorious reputation and image. Hang the story on his numerous sending-offs and sensationalise the many controversial moments of his career and Bob’s your uncle – you’ve got a cut-and-paste biography that meets minimal expectations.
But that wouldn’t be telling the whole Julian Dicks story. So, intrigued by the challenge of discovering what really makes the man tick, Kirk Blows set about making contact with as many people associated with his life as possible, not just to talk about his career as a player but to find out who the REAL Julian Dicks is.
The objective was not to attempt to repackage or represent him as a player or person, or apologise for any areas of his past, simply to probe Julian’s background and reveal more about his true character and personality.
IN HIS OWN WORDS…
“I used to kick shit out of Lou. But he always used to come back for more”
“I wanted to sue Mellor’s bollocks off”
“If they’re picking people on their hairstyles then it’s a bit pointless playing for England at all”
320 pages.
COVER PRICE Soft back: £9.99
MEMORIES OF 1966
Geoff Hurst & Martin Peters - Cherry Red Records Ltd (1996)
This unique 2 cassette recording brings together two of England’s greatest ever sporting heroes. Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters. This double cassette gives a fascinating insight into England’s most famous sporting achievement with Geoff and Martin talking candidly about the build-up to the World Cup Finals the progress through the early rounds plus of course the final itself and the celebrations afterwards. The two goalscorers reveal their own personal feelings about the tournament and funny anecdotes from behind the scenes inside the England camp.
Geoff and Martin also talk honestly about the disappointment and pressures of being World Champions going into World Cup Mexico 70 and their European adventures with West Ham.
Approximate running time: 1hr 45 mins
MOORE THAN A LEGEND
Phil Daniels - Goal Publications (1997)
The world of football was united in grief on February 24, 1993, when Bobby Moore - arguably England's greatest-ever footballer - died of cancer, aged 51.
A comprehensive tribute to the memory of our legendary World Cup winning captain, this book contains a unique collection of over 100 interviews and tributes from Moore's family, friends, team-mates at West Ham United and Fulham, rivals, managers, directors, celebrities, business associates, the media and fans.
Contributions include: Pele, franz beckenbauer, George Best, Geoff Hurst, Martin Peters, Bobby Charlton, Gordon Banks and all the Boys of '66, Michael Caine, Henry cooper, Brian Clough, Alex Ferguson, Terry Venables and many more.
25p from the sale of the book was donated to the Bobby Moore Fund for Imperial Cancer Research.
Size 210x150mm - 256 pages
COVER PRICE: £12.99
"I once spent an entire 90 minutes plucking up the courage to ask Bobby Moore for his signature and during all that time in never occured to me that I didn't have a pen! To this day, that very first autograph I so nervously asked for remains the only one signed in pencil - albeit a pencil owned by the great man"
Steve Marsh - West Ham United Autograph Society
YOUTH SOCCER COACHING
Tony Carr - Cassel (1997)
The coaching ideas… portrayed in this manual will be both imformative and useful for any coach dealing with young footballers, from schoolboy to young professional leavel.
Creating a winning team takes time, effort and skill. But most od all it requires good practices. West Ham United has a reputation for playing entertaining football, but the skill and ability needed to play in the team style begin at youth level.
In this book, Tony Carr, manager of West Ham United’s Youth Team, details the best practices to help you develop individual and team skills in the players you coach. The drills cover a wide range of play, from basic ball control such as turning, heading and striking, to team moves such as third man running, one-on-one marking, accurate passing and intelligent movement. This collection of practices makes up the basic training for any young player but no matter what age or ability level of the team you coach, this book – together with your own ideas and enthusiasm – will help you to create a successful side.
COVER PRICE: £12.99
BUBBLES, HAMMERS & DREAMS
Brian Belton - Breedon Books (1997)
Players, managers, directors and now even grounds come and go, but football supporters are always there. As such, football clubs do not belong to boards, shareholders or chairmen, they are the fans’. So it is from their point of view, and their moment in time, from the Boxer Uprising in China, through two World Wars, the Fifties and CND, Sixties London, the slump of the Eighties and into the future – the Irons of 2095, their second centenary year – that Bubbles, Hammers & Dreams looks at the growth of West Ham United Football Club.
Arthur Hopcroft, in his classic work The Football man, wrote: ‘Football has not been a sideshow of this century. What happens on the football field matters, not in the way that food matters, but as poetry does to some people and alcohol does to others; it engages the personality.’
In Bubbles, Hammers & Dreams this is essentially what Brian Belton has captured. Across the decades and generations, his book looks at West Ham United through the lens of historical events and the eyes of the past.
And this is not just a book for West Ham supporters, It should be read by anyone who has an interest in football and who seeks to understand how passion, loyalty and love for a football club are transported over thousands of miles, down the years and across entire communities.
COVER PRICE: £12.99
'GATLING GUN GEORGE' HILSDON
Colm Kerrigan - Football Lives (1997)
Early in the century first-class football in London was largely dominated by professional players recruited in Scotland and the North of England and, to a lesser extent, by payers from the Midlands, Wales and Ireland… until the arrival of George Hilsdon. Born in London’s East End, Hilsdon’s progress from a talented schoolboy player to become Chelsea and England’s centre forward provided an inspiration for the many Londoners that were to follow him in seeking fame and fortune in the national game.
COVER PRICE: £5.75
HAMMERS DREAM TEAM
Jason Tomas - Mainstream Sport (1997)
Some of the greatest names in English football have worn the claret and blue of West Ham with pride. None of the Hammers' post-war stars shone more brightly than those 1966 World Cup winners Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters. More recently, others who have stood out include trevor Brooking, Billy Bonds, Tony Cottee, Julian dicks, Joe Cole, Paolo Di Canio and Rio Ferdinand. In The Hammers, 11 of West Ham's best players recall the greatest games they ever played.
from the esctasy of winning the European Cup Winners' Cup to the glory of the FA Cup success, all the players' favourite goals, classic local derbies, cup upsets and league triumphs have been gathered together in this book. It makes an enthralling read, essential for any true fan of the Hammers.
Size198x129mm - 175 pages
COVER PRICE: £7.99
WEST HAM UNITED MATCH BY MATCH
From Greenwood to Redknapp
Clive Leatherdale - Desert Island Books (1998)
Football thrives on memories, and for supporters of West Ham United those memories are both bitter and sweet. Bitter, when the club sank into the old Second Division. Sweet, when the FA Cup and European Cup-winners’ Cup were won at Wembley’s hallowed stadium.
Memories fade, but this book restores them. Look up any particular match, in any particular season, and the games comes alive on the page – the players, the goals, the action, and even the referee.
There are so many ways to tell a story – in words, in pictures, or with facts and figures. West Ham: From Greenwood to Redknapp uses words and figures to recall the turbulent recent history of the Hammers in unprecedented detail. This book breathes life into almost 2,000 matches played since Ron Greenwood was appointed manager in 1961, settling some arguments and starting others.
COVER PRICE: £16.99
SUPERCLUBS SOCCER YEARBOOK 98/99
Steve Bradley and others - Dempsey Parr (1998)
This was one of 101 titles in this series covering all the clubs in the F.A. Premier League, Scottish Premier League, English League Divisions 1, 2 and 3.
A unique compendium for the upcoming season ahead, featuring 1998 and 1999 diary, full – season yearbook. All the league fixtures for all the club’s in 1998/99 season, club and player statistics, club history. Also included is the 1996/97 and 1997/98 season summaries, essential information for home and away supporters
Size 208x236mm – 96 pages
COVER PRICE: £6.99
THE UPTON PARK ENCYCLOPEDIA
Dean Hayes - Mainstream (1998)
West Ham United are widely considered to be one of the giants of English football. Originally known as the Thames Ironworks, the renamed club took the Second Division title in 1958 and 1981 and soared to victory again in 1964, 1975 and 1980 when they won the FA Cup. They also achieved victory in the prestigious European Cup-Winners’ Cup in 1965.
In terms of players, West Ham can boast of many of the greatest names in the history of the game. Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters (all of whom played in England’s World Cup winning side of 1966), Trevor Brooking, Frank Lampard and Billy Bonds are just some of the stars who feature in this book.
The Upton Park Encyclopaedia is the ultimate guide to West Ham United Football Club. Covering everything from their most acclaimed players to their unsung heroes, from the quickest goal to the FA Cup, this is a mine of information. It is a must for every Hammers fan and, with its easy alphabetical format, every fact is available at the turn of a page.
Size 234x156mm - 190 pages
COVER PRICE: £8.99
WEST HAM UNITED F.C.
The 25 Year Record 1973-1998
David Powter - Soccer Books (1998)
This title in the 25 Year Record Series covers West Ham United FC during the seasons 1973-74 to 1997-98. With full line-ups and statistics as well as all the cup results. Also includes brief season-by-season write-ups.
HAMMERS IN FOCUS
A Photographic Record Over Three Decades
Steve Bacon - Hallamshire Press (1998)
Steve Beacon has been an unmissable figure at football grounds the length and breadth of the country for over twenty years. Wherever West Ham United are playing you will find him photographing the action from the touchlines. Steve, the son of a Billingsgate fish porter, is proud of his East End roots and still lives just a long free-kick from the Boleyn Ground where he has covered matches fro both the Newham recorder and the club programme since 1976. ‘Having supported the Hammers since I was a youngster,’ says Steve, ‘it was a dream come true to be asked to photograph their matches, and since 1976 I’ve missed only a handful of games.’ Steve left East Ham Grammar School in 1968 keen to find a job in photography but, with no success in that direction, took a job as a clerical assistant in the Civil Service, a position that would last all of six months. A series of good-fortuned contacts finally led Steve to a meeting with Arthur Edwards, now the much-respected Sun royal photographer. Arthur was rapidly becoming more and more involved at the Sun and needed somebody to handle his local agency work around the East End. One thing led to another and, after serving my “apprenticeship” covering non-league football and then the likes of Orient and Millwall, I progressed to covering the Hammers on a permanent basis. Steve was soon invited to become the club’s official photographer. ‘John Lyall asked me if I could take the job on, and I jumped at the chance. My first official team group was for the 1980-81 season with the newly-won FA Cup proudly on display.
This collection of over 200 photographs, selected and captioned by Steve himself is testament to the skill and versatility of one of football’s most colourful characters, recognised by both players and supporters alike at football grounds all over the country. Trevor Smith – Newham Recorder July 1998
HARRY REDKNAPP MY AUTOBIOGRAPHY
Harry Redknapp - Harper Collins (1998)
Harry Redknapp soccer’s Mr Indestructible has spent his life defying the odds, ever since the late 1960s when he gate crashed the ‘little England’ club at West Ham to become a firm favourite alongside World Cup winners Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters.
Broke in the 1980s after falling prey to an outrageous con-man, he suffered a soul-destroying season alongside old pal Moore in the twilight world of non-league football, before a spell riding the Dave Webb roller-coaster at Bournemouth saw him take the first steps on the road to management. His very first result as a fully-fledged boss? A 9-0 defeat.
There were further heartaches ahead. On a dream trip to Italy for the 1990 World Cup Redknapp was seriously hurt in a car crash that claimed the life of a close friend. His injuries were so horrific that a hospital attendant, believing he was dead covered his head with a blanket, but not before someone had removed his watch and rifled his pockets.
When he returned to his spiritual home at West Ham some years later, it was to replace manager and Hammers legend Billy Bonds in the most controversial of circumstances. He struggled to win over the Upton Park faithful as the West Ham team he inherited plunged from one relegation crisis to another. Now Redknapp is among the safest managers in the dog-eat-dog world of the Premiership, having turned West Ham from relegation fodder to European contenders.
In this fascinating book he recounts his colourful life: his close relationship with soccer star son Jamie: his catastrophic foreign policy which turned the East End brotherhood at West Ham into a back-biting League of Nations: and the pressures he faces in carrying out one of the most demanding jobs in sport.
Size 240x160mm - 223 pages
COVER PRICE: £16.99
Updated Softback version
FIRST AND LAST ENGLISHMEN
Brian Belton - Breedon Books (1998)
the young men who made their way up to collect their winners' medals following West Ham's FA Cup Final victory over Preston North End in 1964 were all born and raised in England, a feat which has never been repeated.
A year later West Ham fielded another all-English team to win the European Cup-winners' Cup. Although Tottenham Hotspur had become the first British club to win a European trophy the previous season, Spur's side, Danny Blanchflower at its heart, was a truly British team.
Thus, West Ham players of 1964 and 1965 were The First And Last Englishmen, and this is their story. It is a tale told partly from a point of view of Alan Sealey, who was right in the middle of the action, and his team-mates. But the voice of the supporters is just as important in this epic.
West Ham's rise to European glory is portrayed through the memories of those who played and of those who watched. It is a compelling book about a unique time in English football.
COVER PRICE: £14.99
OFFICIAL HISTORY
A Ward - Hamlyn (1999)
1895 – 1999
The official history of West Ham United from the early days to the end of the 1998-99 season. Includes full details of:
* The Thames Ironworks team
* The White Horse Cup Final
* The Academy of the 1950s
* Three Cup Finals in three Years
* Moore, Hurst and Peters
* European Glory in 1965
* John Lyall’s Cup winners
* The Redknapp revolution
Includes a complete statistical record and in-depth features on: The Academy of football; and the Club’s incredible record of youth success.
FORTUNE'S ALWAYS HIDING
Kirk Blows - Mainstream (1999)
With Harry Redknapp holding the management reins at West Ham United, there’s hardly been a dull moment at Upton Park since the club were promoted to the Premiership in 1993. As editor of Hammers News Magazine for five years, Kirk Blows has seen 80 players come and go and is in a unique position to reflect on a period in which the team has established itself as one of the most exciting in the top flight. Featuring the likes of Wright, Dicks, Hartson, Di Canio and many others, Fortune’s Always Hiding? Provides a revealing insight into life behind the scenes at Upton Park during a rollercoaster five seasons. The real story of the Hammers in the ‘90s, it addresses numerous controversies and analyses the true personalities of the star names. Packed with candid conversations, amusing anecdotes and forthright opinion, this is a fascinating story that makes for essential reading for all Hammers fans.
Kirk Blows is a lifelong West Ham United supporter and is the author of the controversial and highly acclaimed Terminator, the authorised biography of Julian Dicks.
Size 234x156mm – 205 pages
COVER PRICE: £9.99
HELL RAZOR
Neil Ruddock - Harper Collins (1999)
Tough, Uncompromising. Not to be messed with. That's Neil Ruddock
One League Cup winners' medal and a solitary England cap are not much to show for his wholeharted efforts for his five clubs to date - Millwall, Tottenham, Southampton, Liverpool and West Ham. Yet Ruddock has gained the respect of managers and fans of all his former clubs for his never-say-die attitude and the fact that he has never given less than one hundred percent.
There have been occasions, of course, when this level of commitment has taken him over the edge. From the moment he was involved in a drunken brawl as a young Millwall player to his arrest after a Christmas party at West Ham, controversy has never been far away. In between times he has given his detractors plenty of ammunition: like whenhe ran fifty yards to headbutt an opponent; when he broke both Andy Cole's legs in a reserve game for Liverpool; or the time he took the law into his own hands when team-mate Robbie Fowler 'got a bit tippy and needed a slap'.
But beneath this tough exterior and uncompromising attitude is a player who lives life to the full and then beyond. Ruddock has played under some of the greatest managers in George Graham, Terry Venables and Kenny Dalglish, and with some of England's finest footballers - Glenn Hoddle, Alan Shearer, Michael Owen and Ian Wright. And he has plenty of stories to tell about them all... and much more.
Now fully established at West Ham as a senior pro, Razor Ruddock continues to extract every ounce of enjoyment from a career that has straddled both the highs and the lows. It's a story that makes for fascinating reading.
COVER PRICE: £16.99
DAYS OF IRON
The Story of West Ham United in the Fifties
Brian Belton - Breedon Books (1999)
IN 1958 West Ham United emerged from a 26-year hibernation outside top flight football, storming back as Second Division champions with 101 goals. In their second game back they beat mighty Wolves, the eventual champions. In the same month they overpowered Manchester United, who would be runners-up. And in the spring of 1959 they shook fortress Highbury with a glorious 2-1 victory over the team that would take third place. West Ham finished sixth and although the Irons had reached the same position in 1927 - and were to emulate the feat in 1973 - in 1958-59, with 48 points the Hammers had never done better. And no Upton Park side did do better until 1986 when Cottee, Parkes, Alvin Martin and Co finished third in the old Division One. Throughout a decade when the East End of London still struggled to shrug off the cloak of World War Two, manager Ted Fenton built a formidable team. From 1956 to 1959 West Ham fielded six full internationals. In 1958 the young Bobby Moore came into the side and by 1959 Geoff Hurst was emerging. The championship side was full of talent with the likes of Ernie Gregory, John Bond, Noel Cantwell, John Dick and Vic Keeble. But the foundation had been laid earlier in the Fifties, a bedrock made up of sweat and effort of lesser-known players like Doug Wragg and Gerry Gazzard, and the football intellect of Frank O'Farrell and the inimitable Malcolm Allison, leading members of the Hammers' famed 'Football Academy'. This is a story of those days, and all the days of the Fifties, through the eyes of those who played - it is the story of West Ham's Days of the Fifties, through the eyes of those who played - it is the story of West Ham's Days of Iron.
Size 248x175mm - 228 pages
COVER PRICE: £14.99
This soft-back book was published in 1999 by members of the Scandinavian Supporters Club.
It's all written in Swedish and has 128 pages.
Image courtesy of John Northcutt
THE HARD WAY
Robbie Slater - Harper Collins (1999)
Robbie Slater was the heart and soull of the Socceroos for over a decade of international football and the first Australian player to win a Championship medal in the English Premier League.
Gutsy, determined, tenacious, uncompromising… these are just some of the words used to describe a footballer who played the game, and made it to the top, the hard way. From his junior days playing backyard cricket with Steve and Mark Waugh in the suburbs of Sydney to sharing the field with Diego Maradona in Buenos Aires’s River Plate Stadium, Robbie Slater made the most of his humble beginnings. His fighting spirit, on-the-ball skills and superb fitness saw him play close to forty internationals for his country and forge a distinguisged career in Europe for club such as Lens, Blackburn Rovers, West Ham United and Southampton alonside – and against – some of the greats of modern football: Alan Shearer, Eric Cantona, Jean-Pierre Papin, Ryan Giggs, Mark Bosnich, Zinedine Zidane, Dennis Bergkamp. But with the glory came the pain: Australia’s heartbreaking exit from the 1998 World Cup qualifiers at the hands of Iran shattered his dream of playing on football’s ultimate stage.
Co-written with Matthew Hall. The Hard Way is the no-hilds-barred story of one of Australian’s soccer’s true legends – a man who always put his body and heart on the line, no matter what the odds.
WEST HAM 'TILL I DIE
Robert Banks - Boleyn Books (2000)
PAOLO DI CANIO - The Autobiography
Paolo Di Canio - Harper Collins (2000)
There is no more exciting footballer in the British game than Paolo Di Canio. In fact, it is hard to think of any player in the last decade who has given as much entertainment value, both with the ball at his feet and in front of the cameras, as West Ham’s talismanic striker.
‘A complete nutter’ says ex-boss Ron Atkinson, while Harry Redknapp refers to him as ‘a genius’ and ‘the best trainer at the club’; he’s an outrageously gifted player who has suffered from depression, undergone psychiatric help and enlisted the services of a faith healer. Is it so surprising then that one man can ignite such contrasting emotions from two of the shrewdest managers in the game?
One thing’s for sure, Di Canio has never been one to shirk the spotlight. As a young trainee at Lazio, he joined the infamous Irriducili, supporters who had a reputation for wrecking trains, smashing shop windows and clashing with opposing fans. At Juventus, playing alongside the likes of Baggio, Ravenelli and Vialli, his spell at the club was cut short after a violent altercation with the manager, Giovanni Trapattoni. After a brilliant season on loan at Napoli, he helped Milan to an Italian title but then came to blows with boss Fabio Capello during a pre-season tour and was forced to seek his fortunes outside Italy.
In his autobiography, Di Canio also talks candidly about his time at Celtic; how he fell in love with club and the fans but ended up leading a players’ revolt against chairman Fergus McCann before walking out on the club. Then at Sheffield Wednesday he was inspired by Ron Atkinson before the disastrous altercation with referee Paul Alcock and his subsequent vilification by his club and the British media. For the first time Di Canio describes in detail his self-enforced exile to Italy and contrasts the support of his friends with the many enemies seeking to destroy him.
Rejuvenated at West Ham and playing the best football of his career, Di Canio has found a sympathetic manager in Harry Redknapp and a Hammers faithful who have adopted him as one of their own. Yet the emotion still boils beneath the surface. His book unveils the true person behind the often misunderstood footballer.
Size 240x160mm - 280 pages
COVER PRICE: £16.99
THE ESSENTIAL HISTORY of WEST HAM UNITED
Kirk Blows & Tony Hogg - Headline (2000)
Life for West Ham United suppoerters has never been less than enthralling. Undulating between the heights of ecstasy and the depths of despair, the Hammers have carved a unique place in football history by remaining true to their philosophy of playing with style and flair. Whatever the results, their Upton Park home has never been a dull place, graced by some of the game's legendary characters. The Essential History of West Ham United not only documents the triumphs and tragedies of a world famous club, but also includes complete season-by-season statistics as well as exclusive interviews and rare material from the authors' archives.
Size 242x160mm - 320 pages
COVER PRICE: ££19.99
PSYCHO
Stuart Pearce - Headline (2000)
‘Some say I would kick my own brother if it meant winning – they were right.’
Psycho reveals Stuart Pearce as few people know him. A cult figure among the fans, particularly the England supporters, he may be a very public person on the pitch but he has always remained a private one off it. In this, his long-awaited autobiography, Pearce finally lifts the veil on the key events in his life: from his days as a youngster when he was at odds with the police to his fierce pride in captaining his country.
His ability and aggression, which quickly earned him the nickname ‘Psycho’, originally attracted Coventry City to sign him, but frightened off the England selectors. Yet his total commitment won over the doubters: who else would have asked to play on after breaking his leg, as Pearce did in a match in 1999?
Here he tells the inside story of his fascinating life playing at Nottingham Forest for Brian Clough, a character like no other in the game. He relives his highs and lows – none worse than his penalty miss against Germany in the 1990 World Cup finals, which reduced England’s strong man to tears – and discusses his renaissance at West Ham, where at thirty-seven he reclaimed his England place, after being sidelined at Newcastle United.
A passionate punk rocker, he is a dedicated family man away from the spotlight who enjoys sampling life in far-flung corners of the world. Few players have had such a rapport with the fans, or been so admired by their opponents. In Psycho he explains just what it is that motivates him and so reveals why you’d always rather have him on your side.
Size 240x160mm - 312 pages
COVER PRICE: £17.99
PRE SEASON WITH PAOLO DI CANIO
FOUR FOUR TWO - FILA (2001)
WEST HAM UNITED – THE ELITE ERA
A Complete Record
John Helliar - Desert Island Books (2000)
2005 updated edition:
West Ham United from 1958 to 2005 which includes full line-ups and statistics for every game played during this period.
Size: 164mm x 241mm – 544 pages.
Cover Price £20.00
1966 AND ALL THAT
Geoff Hurst - Headline (2001)
WH Smith - Geoff Hurst autographed special Limited Edition Box set of 1100. Also includes a signed print.
This edition number 0700/1100
Limited Edition Signed print
1966 AND ALL THAT
Geoff Hurst - Headline (2001)
They think it's all over...
No debate about the single most memorable achievement in English sport will end in unanimity, but all such arguments must start with Geoff Hurst’s hat-trick in the 1966 World Cup final. There is no player in the history of the game so universally identified with a single match – the greatest day in English football. Hurst’s unique hat-trick turned him overnight into a global superstar and, as he recounts in his absorbing autobiography, changed his life profoundly. He became a sixties icon, but his fame was not without its own personal cost.
Hurst paints an enthralling picture of English football’s golden years, of life under Sir Alf Ramsey and of the men who won and lost the World Cup. He also reveals for the first time many stories from that period that will make us all reassess key figures. He played with and against some of the greatest names in the sport – Pele, Beckenbauer, Eusebio, Moore, Charlton, Keegan, Law – and along the way established a legendary reputation as a goalscorer who would be beyond price in the modern game.
His complete playing career, his friendship with Bobby Moore and Martin Peters, the rivalry with Jimmy Greaves and his stormy management of Chelsea have never before been properly chronicled. Nor has his stance on the modern game, today’s generation of superstars or England’s 2006 World Cup bid
...it is now
GEOFF HURST Reads 1966 AND ALL THAT
Hodder Headline Audiobooks (2001)
Catapulted to fam in only his eighth international, Geoff Hurst scored a ha-trick against West Germany in the 1966 World Cup final. His third goal, the famous "They think it's all over... It is now", has dominated his life ever since. This revealing and thoughtful autobiogaphy shows that there is far more to the man thathat one day. hurst played with and against some of the greatest names in the sport - Pele, Beckenbauer, Eusebio, Moore, Charlton, Keegan, Law - and along the way established a legendary reputation as a goalscorer who would be beyound price in the modern game. knighted for services to football in 1998, he once again became Eng;and's World Cup figurehead, travelling the globe to promote the Football Association's unsuccessful bid to host the 2006 finals.
Now Geoff Hurst relives the golden era in which he played, reveals some astonishing behind-the-scenes stories of events with England and his club sides that have never previously emerged, and offers his authoritative views on the game today.
BOYS of '86
The Untold Story of West Ham United's Greatest - Ever Season
Tony McDonald & Danny Francis - Mainstream (2001)
The highlights have been few and far between for West Ham United’s long-suffering fans over the years – three FA Cup wins (in 1964, 1975 and 1980), a European Cup-Winners’ Cup victory in 1965, various other cup runs that failed on the verge of success, and of course the enjoyment of watching great players such as Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst, Martin Peters, Johnny Byrne, Trevor Brooking and Billy Bonds. Throughout the 45 seasons the East London club has spent in the top flight of English football, the prospect of challenging for the League Championship title has been little more than a pipe dream. Except for one season: 1985-86
A 16th place finish in 1984-85 had hardly filled the fans with optimism for the coming campaign, and the loss of young star Paul Allen to arch-rivals Tottenham Hotspur had some supporters questioning the ambition of the club. They were in for a shock. Little did he know it at the time, but manager John Lyall’s summer purchases of young Scottish striker Frank McAvennie from St Mirren for £340,000 and diminutive winger Mark Ward from Oldham Athletic for £250,000 were the final pieces in a jigsaw that fell into place spectacularly to provide West Ham fans with a campaign they would never forget.
On the final Saturday of the season, the Hammers faced West Bromwich Albion still holding genuine hopes of finishing as League Champions. With Liverpool playing at Chelsea that day, Lyall’s men knew that if they beat the Baggies, and the Blues triumphed at Stamford Bridge, they only needed a victory against Everton two days later to secure their first-ever league title.
Despite victory at the Hawthorns, though, news filtered through that Liverpool player-manager Kenny Dalglish had hit the winner against Chelsea to ensure that the Reds couldn’t be caught.
Today, with the gulf between the Hammers and the monied Premiership elite of Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea ever widening, it is doubtful that a club with West Ham’s relatively humble resources will ever again come as close to winning the ultimate prize in the English game. Fifteen years on, this book reflects in detail on the one and only season in which the claret-and-blue army were really able to chant: “We’re gonna win the league.”
Boy of ’86 includes exclusive interviews with the management and players, who recount previously untold stories and anecdotes from this record-breaking season.
CASS
Cass Pennant - John Blake Publishing Ltd (2002)
He’s been run through with a sword;
He’s been shot a point blank range;
He’s got a reputation and respect as one of the hardest men in Britain…
Cass’s life reads like a Hollywood gangsters movie. In this best-selling autobiography he tells the amazing stories of how he saved the life of World Boxing Champion Frank Bruno from a knife attack; how he was shot three times in the chest and still kept on fighting; and how he was alleged to be the leader of the notorious West Ham ‘InterCity Firm’.
He is one of the hardest men in Britain, he lives his life on the edge of the law, giving respect where
respect is due, and dishing out terrible retribution upon anyone who dares to cross him.
Wensley Clarkson - John Blake Publishing Ltd (2002)
He’s the hottest star in British football. He’s Britain’s most celebrated and highly paid defender. He’s signed for £33 million to Manchester United and fired up from a phenomenal performance in the World Cup, Rio is ready to take the world by storm!
Few in the history of football have achieved such greatness so young, and so fast, as Rio Ferdinand. Signed by West Ham at 17 it wasn’t long before Rio was selected to represent his country at international level. At 21, he was transferred to Leeds United for £18 million, then a record sum for a defender, where his skills and hard work soon earned him the skipper’s armband. After his incredible goal against Denmark in the World Cup Rio is ready to take his place amongst the legends of football…
* So how exactly did Rio get to be so good? In this, the first biography of the footballer, best-selling author and investigative journalist Wensley Clarkson reveals the secrets behind Rio’s amazing talent and his incredible ambition, by talking to those who knew him best. This groundbreaking book takes an inside look at:
* His childhood on the mean streets of Peckham
* How the death of schoolmates Stephen Lawrence affected him
* His driving shame that nearly cost him his career
* His outrageous behaviour on holiday in Cyprus
Now he’s come through it all to produce the kind of magic that can keep stadiums spellbound.
Size 240x155mm - 256 pages
COVER PRICE: £16.99
IRONS IN THE SOUL
Pete May - Mainstream (2002)
It’s a typical season at West Ham, really. Harry Redknapp has been sacked in the summer and replaced with rookie boss Glenn Roeder, who admits to feeling like a 100-1 outsider winning the Grand National. Paolo Di Canio makes more tearful exits than the average opera diva before deciding to turn down Manchester United in favour of spending more time with the piranhas. West Ham lose 7-1 at Blackburn but a few weeks later win 1-0 at Man United, and the huge new Dr. Martens Stand (or is it the Rio Stand?) is opened by right-royal supporter the Queen. Aussie defender Hayden Foxe mistakes a West End bar for a urinal while over-celebrating at the players’ Christmas party, and David James sports a season’s worth of dodgy barnets, ranging from peroxide tea cosy to mustard-on-hot-dog squiggles. Journeyman Christian Dailly is transformed into an ever-present football genius, while Steve Lomas causes several fans to suffer panic attacks by removing his shirt after scoring. Sinclair, Cole and James go to the World Cup with England, and under the astute leadership of Roeder a side that had been tipped for relegation surges up to seventh place (and finishes above Spurs). With wit and style, lifelong fan Peter May charts a remarkable season while also reminiscing about some of the funniest moments in West Ham’s history, making this an essential read for those with Hammers in their hearts.
Size 232x153mm - 224 pages
COVER PRICE: £9.99
WANT SOME AGGRO
Cass Pennant & Micky Smith - John Blake (2002)
A mob of 1000 skinheads running along a road is a frightening sight. Into the tube gates we rushed. On the tube, there was the usual knees up mother brown, with the whole carriage full of skinheads jumping up and down, the train rocking from side to side. Mile End and all out… want some aggro?
It’s the 1970’s a time of skinheads, Doctor Martens, violence and trouble on the terraces. The Mile End Mob rule Upton Park. Long before the days of the ruthless InterCity Firm casuals, they were the first guv’nors of the terraces, striking fear into the other West Ham mobs and fans.
Nicky Smith die-hard Hammers fan was there in the thick of the action, he saw it all as it happened. Here he teams up with best-selling author, ex-I.C.F. face and West Ham authority Cass Pennant to recall these action-packed and turbulent times.
Indeed, it was the reputation and respect commanded by the East End Bovver Boys that drove a hardcore of hooligans to create the notorious InterCity Firm and establish their rule over the terraces up and down the country in the 1980s.
Here is the story of what came before the I.C.F. Thrilling, dramatic and brutally honest it will fascinate any football fan or social historian.
CLARET AND BLUE BLOOD
Pumping Life into West Ham United
Kirk Blows & Ben Sharratt - Mainstream (2002)
SOFTBACK EDITION:
Followed swiftly on from the hardback original, but not only the committed collectors will still be keen to add this impressive volume to their shelf. Apart from adding three new chapters on the latest first team players to have emerged from the youth ranks – Stephen Bywater, Anton Ferdinand and Kevin Horlock – the authors have updated and fully revised other chunks of the original, including the chapters on Rio Ferdinand, Frank Lampard and Joe Cole, three of the most celebrated products of the famous ‘Academy’ and Jermain Defoe whose move to Spurs is also covered.
With eight glossy pages of pics to accompany 256 pages of quotes and candid conversations, this represents great value and is certainly a very worthy addition to any Hammers fan’s book collection.
The interesting question is, how many other home-grown discoveries will be produced at West Ham in future seasons to make even the contemplation of a similar book a possibility.
SCORING AN EXPERT'S GUIDE
Frank McAvennie - Canongate (2003)
FRANK McAVENNIE knows all about scoring – Goals, Women or Drugs. The man is an expert
He is the archetypal football hero: Frank’s natural ability took him from playing on the Ash Parks of the Housing Schemes of Glasgow to performing at the top stadia in England and Scotland. The 1986 World Cup, and a host of top nightclubs throughout the world. And in every situation Frank was never found wanting, his reputation of rising to the occasion well and truly justified. No wonder the fans loved him. If he wasn’t sticking the ball in the back of the net, he was being photographed with the latest girl about town.
His life has been peppered with sporting highs, beautiful women, outrageous behaviour, the company of stars and one too many nights in Stringfellows. But with the highs inevitably come the lows: since his career ended the years have been littered with failed business ventures, court appearances and even imprisonment.
It’s been a rollercoaster ride and now we are invited to journey with him as he recalls the good, the bad and the ugly times.
SCORING, is not just about football, sex, drugs, crime and kiss-and-tell – it is all that and more. Told candidly for the first time, this is Macca’s story in his own words… The colourful life of one of the game’s most lovable rascals.
CONGRATULATIONS YOU HAVE JUST MET THE ICF
Cass Pennant - John Blake Publishing Ltd (2003)
WEST HAM RULE LONDON, ALWAYS HAVE DONE, ALWAYS WILL DO… THAT’S WHY WE’RE THE GUV’NORS…
The InterCity Firm… hard, terrifyingly vicious, brilliantly organised, tremendously feared and highly fashionable. They were the most notorious firm of the Seventies and Eighties football hooligans this country has ever seen. For the first time ever, all the faces of the West Ham firm reveal their memories and thoughts about the violence, the battles, the campaigns, the run-ins with the authorities, and all that came with it.
Bestselling author Cass Pennant was one of the best-known figures of the I.C.F. He has used his unique position as a West Ham insider to bring together these first-hand accounts from the men who were at the eye of the storm, both on and off the terraces.
These tales from the terraces range from the inflamed East End rivalry with Millwall, to the shed-end battles with Chelsea, from aggravation at Anfield’s Kop to the disaster that unfolded at Heysel. The stories unfold against a backdrop of sharp fashion and music, such as The Cockney Rejects and Sham 69, that became the hallmark of the hooligans.
Such was the notoriety of the I.C.F., that they became the subject of a television documentary that attracted worldwide interest and changed the way that outsiders would view football violence.
Brutally honest, stunningly dramatic and genuinely authoritative, this book is a must have read for die-hard football fans and social historians alike: the people that wrote it were part of a social phenomenon that changed the face of a national obsession.
COVER PRICE: £15.99
Congratulations, you are about to meet the I.C.F….
THE DEFINITIVE WEST HAM UNITED F.C.
John Northcutt - Soccer Data (2003)
The Definitives are a series of club histories that focus on the statistical side of the game. Every player in each major competitive game played by the club is listed. Player details include a cross-reference to the seaons they appeared, and their previous and next clubs. attendance details are based on Football League records.
Computer database and spreadsheet programes have been used in the production of the book, in the hope that new standards of accuracy and completeness can be achieved. A full statistical record of West Ham United from 1898-2003.
Size: 208mm x 293mm – 138 pages.
COVER PRICE: £12.00
THE LEGACY of BARRY GREEN
Robert Banks - Boleyn Books (2003)
They say the more things change, the more they stay the same. Where West Ham United are concerned, that much is certainly true. The last three years have seen the club sack long-serving manager Harry Redknapp, finish seventh in the most competitive league in the world, then drop out of it altogether. Redknapp's replacement, Glenn Roeder, was also given the axe as the club faced financial crisis.
The plot would not look out of place in Eastenders - it's been that bizarre. Hammers now face life in the first division under Alan Pardew - so will they bounce back or continue to flounder? How did they get in such a mess? What on earth possessed Roeder to sign Gary Breen? How could West Ham win consecutive cup ties at Manchester United and Sunderland, then lose at home to Spurs?
These questions and more are posed and then totally ignored in Robert Banks' brilliant new book.
Size 178x110mm - 274 pages
COVER PRICE: £6.99
THE WEST HAM UNITED COLLECTION
Breedon Books (2003)
West Ham United is one of the great names in football, the Hammers’ history studded with great players, great matches, great events. Formed in 1895 as the works team of Thames Ironworks, they were renamed West Ham United in 1900, when they turned professional.
The Hammers took part in the first-ever Wembley F.A. Cup Final, in 1923, and won the Cup for the first time in 1964, following up with Wembley victories in 1975 and 1980. In 1966 England won the World Cup with the help of three Hammers players – Bobby Moore, hat-trick hero Geoff Hurst, and Martin Peters – but earlier the Hammers had made history in their own right by winning the European Cup Winners’ Cup with an all-English eleven.
The West Ham United Collection covers all these great eras, with nearly 200 fascinating photographs of the players and the matches combining to produce a collection that will stir memories and will be a wonderful record of some of the greatest days in the history of this great club.
FOUNDED ON IRON
Thames Ironworks and the Origins of West Ham United
Brian Belton - Tempus (2003)
The story of the origins of West Ham United FC tells of the development of the football team affiliated to Thames Ironworks – one of the biggest shipyards in the country at the time.
Size: 156mm x 234mm – 128 pages.
Cover Price £9.99
THE OFFICIAL WEST HAM UNITED DREAM TEAM
Adam Ward & D Smith - Hamlyn (2003)
Every Hammers fan has played the game of creating his or her dream team, comparing legends of the past like Bobby Moore and Julian Dicks with more recent idols such as Paolo Di Canio and Joe Cole. West Ham United supporters have been given the opportunity to present a collective view on the greatest players from the modern era via an exclusive poll. The result is the ultimate West Ham United team as chosen by the fans.
Interviews with many of the winning players, their team-mates and former coaches, give you an insight into the lives of your heroes as they divulge the highlights and low points of their careers. As well as telling you more about your favourite players, this book will take you on a nostalgic journey back to unforgettable games and outstanding performances, making it essential reading for any Irons fan.
Illustrated biographies of the 11 chosen players, exclusive quotes from team-mates and opponents, complete career statistics for every player as well as profiles of the runners-up
JOHNNIE THE ONE
The John Charles Story
Brian Belton - Tempus Publishing Ltd (2004)
John Charles was born into a large, close-knit family during the last months of the Second World War. He was soon recognised as a gifted footballer, playing for one of the most successful Schoolboy sides ever - the West Ham Boys of the mid-1950s. John became the first black player to turn out for a senior West Ham United side in the 1962-63 season.
He had already become the first person of colour to play representative football for England, having won several youth caps. John played 150 matches alongside the greatest Irons of the 1960s - including Budgie Byrne, Martyin Peters, Geoff Hurst - and he defended alongside Bobby Moore on more than 130 occasions.
John led the way for other black professionals. Proud of his East End roots, in Johnnie the One he refutes accusations that West Ham United or the team's supporters were ever racist.
This is the story of John William Charles; a story of a Canning Town football hero. It is also a tale about a family, a place, a time and an extraordinary, ordinary man - Johnnie the One.
COVER PRICE: £14.99
FOR THE CLARET AND BLUE
Micky Smith - John Blake Publishing Ltd (2004)
Two or three of them came over and asked what team I was… they followed me at a distance and when I looked across the platform I saw the other lads from the train getting a good kicking. I felt uneasy and was obviously next on their list for a hiding. I could not bottle it. I had to front it and act as normal as possible…
You don’t choose West Ham – it chooses you. Following West Ham United is not about how many pieces of silverware the team can win. For true fans, it’s a lifelong, sometimes agonising passion. West Ham fans are amongst the most loyal the country has ever seen. In 1964, when footballing legend Bobby Moore held the FA Cup aloft for West Ham, Micky Smith was in the crowd, experiencing the unique thrill of seeing his club emerge victorious. In 1967, when Manchester United came to the East End, Micky was there and witnessed the birth of the football hooligan. In this unique memoir, the co-author of the bestselling Want Some Aggro? Recalls tales from his life as a Hammers fan and also draws on the experiences of other dedicated fans to produce a unique memoir recalling the agony and the ecstasy of being part of the east End’s most faithful following. The fans who have teamed up with Micky recall the violent days when the notorious InterCity Firm ruled the terraces and give their inside accounts of the run-ins with the police, the rivalry between firms and events such as Heysel that changed the face of football as we know it today.
Size 240x160mm - 270 pages
COVER PRICE: £16.99
BURN BUDGIE BYRNE
Brian Belton - Breedon Books (2004)
NIGHTMARE ON GREEN STREET
Peter Thorne - Football World (2004)
Books written by fans are nothing new but Nightmare represents breaking new ground in that it combines the written word with the immediacy of the internet messageboards.
For in this thoroughly entertaining observation of life as a West Ham fan over the past five years, author Thorne allies his own very honest and highly creditable views with those of the supporters who contribute to the popular unofficial fan site, westhamonline.net Thorne, in the guise of his cyberspace alter-ego Billy Blagg, takes us on a painful journey – from Mannygate (Manny Omoyinmi’s farcical appearance that led to Hammers losing a Worthington Cup quarter-final they had already won), via the sale of Rio Ferdinand, and the sackings of Redknapp and Roeder, to last May’s play-off debacle and an attempt at what the future hlds. He consistently hits the mark and you’ll find yourself nodding at regular intervals as you turn most of the 240 totally absorbing pages.
OUR DAYS ARE FEW
Martin Godleman - Boleyn Books (2004)
Relegation. Devastation. Annihilation?
In May 2003, after 10 consecutive seasons in the Premiership with England's football elite, West Ham United were relegated.
Follow the would-haves, the could-haves, the lay-offs and the play-offs in this frank and detailed account of regime change at Upton Park in the aftermath of relegation.
West Ham’s official commentator for video and DVD recordings, the author should be well placed to provide an insight into behind the scenes life at Upton Park. Godleman can certainly write as well as he commentates, although he clearly has little time for some of the more celebrated TV mike-men of his profession. Relegation affects more than just the obvious people and Godleman was another who found his services on the gantry curtailed by cutbacks. He cannot disguise his dismay at how money is now such a ruling influence in the game, on and off the field.
He continues to report from the press room and even during breaks to Australia and USA, he found he could not get by without the latest news of his beloved Hammers. This diary of the 2003-04 season shows that you don’t have to attend games at Upton Park to experience the agony ( and occasional ecstasy) of following the fortunes of West Ham.
Size 178x109mm - 280 pages
COVER PRICE: £6.99
HAMMERS OFFICIAL ANNUAL 2005
John Helliar - West Ham United (2005)
Size 302x215mm - 95 pages
COVER PRICE: £6.99
IRON IN THE BLOOD
John Powles - Soccer Data (2005)
The Thames Ironworks was a major employer in the Canning Town area of East London until 1912. Its products included ships for the Royal Navy, linings for the Blackwall Tunnel and iron bridges. Employees such as Boilermakers and Ship's Platers began to play organised football in the 1890s. as ambitions grew for the football club, professional players were employed. This eventually led to the works withdrawing its support and the club we know today as West Ham United was then formed.
This book tells the story of the football club from 1895 to 1900. Full statistical details of the games played by Thames Ironworks are included, with pen pictures of the principal players. The account of the club is interwoven with events of the time at the works and in East London.
Size 296x209mm - 100 pages
COVER PRICE: £10.00
GOOD AFTERNOON GENTLEMEN, THE NAMES BILL GARDNER
Bill Gardner with Cass Pennant - John Blake Publishing Ltd (2005)
He arrived to rally the troops, the main man in the West Ham Firm and his greeting passed into football fan history. ‘Afternoon, gentleman, the name’s Bill Gardner.’ That introduction alone was often enough to provoke sheer terror in his opponents. He is a genuine legend to anyone who’s ever stood proud on a football terrace. No serious book on the culture would be complete without at least one mention of him. And now at last he’s telling his own , long-awaited story.
For the first time, Gardner himself reveals what made him the top man, including his innermost thoughts and his memories of the classic years for football fans. Everything is here, in thrilling detail, including the grudge matches between Millwall and West Ham fans. Prepare to hear how Bill went from being a fan through to being the main figure in the country’s biggest firm and back to being what he’s always been at heart – just a big football fan.
Among the West Ham following, he has earned respect in all his endeavours. Bill Gardner has only ever been himself – and that’s what made his mark on football culture so great. He has never held back from dismissing lesser firms as being ‘two-bob’ and their fans ‘bullies’ where he thinks it’s the case. Many familiar faces have queued up to add their comments in this book which shows just what it is that makes Bill Gardner unique among the toughest and the most respected of them all.
Good Afternoon, Gentleman… follows from his unhappy childhood, coloured by fighting from the adults around him, through his first days as a football fan, right up to his time spent with his famous crew. Find out how fearless this legend has always been and how he has never given up in the face of overwhelming bullies and plebs. This is a story that is inspiring and terrifying by turn.
FRANK LAMPARD - THE BIOGRAPHY
Douglas Thompson - John Blake Publishing Ltd (2005)
He’s the King of the King’s Road and a vital player in England’s bid for victory at the 2006 World Cup. A footballer of genuine, dynamic majesty, the East End boy who has become a West End star is hailed by fans, players and managers worldwide as a goal-scoring genius. His achievements for West Ham, Chelsea and England have validated his dedication, skill and super-fitness. An all-action man, he’s already established as a bona fide legend in the game.
His footballer father, the former West Ham and England player Frank Lampard Senior, believed in his son’s talent from the off. He taught him the work ethic he’d learned from Bobby Moore and other heroes of England’s 1966 World Cup squad. He was unstinting in his determination for young Frank to be a winner in the family business.
Against the odds, the critics and accusations of nepotism they scored beyond their hopes and imaginations. ‘Lamps’ is the perfect, highly tuned, magnificent midfield machine. He’s broken home records by playing non-stop Premiership football, while in Europe his rivals are awestruck by his tireless, lightning performances. He’s matured into an ambassador for his country, club and football. Intelligent, thoughtful and clearly spoken he’s a superb team player but is his own man.
His manager, ‘Special One’ Jose Mourinho calls him a ‘full-time galactico’ and said, ‘He is the most complete player of today.’ Brazil’s renowned 1970 World Cup winning captain Carlos Alberto is a huge fan and fans, ‘In Frank Lampard they have the best player in the world,’
Written by acclaimed biographer Douglas Thompson, this upbeat, fascinating and authoritative book chronicles Frank Lampard’s inspiring, triumphant journey from London’s East End to worldwide fame. It’s the must-read, glorious story of a modern sporting hero.
COVER PRICE: £17.99
BOBBY MOORE
By the Person Who Knew Him Best
Tina Moore - Harper Collins (2005)
Bobby Moore’s death in 1993, at the age of 51, had a profound impact on the people of this country. With his almost god-like looks, his style, grace and dignity, the only English football captain ever to raise the World Cup was not just a football icon but a national one. Yet Bobby was an intensely reserved, almost mysterious personality. Only one person was his true friend and confidante – his wife Tina, whom he first met at 17 and married in 1962.
With her, he went through all the triumphs and crises of his professional career – the life-threatening illness that struck him at 23, his clashes with West Ham (and later England) manager Ron Greenwood, his emergence as a footballer of international renown, the almost unheard of media intrusion and the kidnap threats on their children, that amazing 1966 World Cup Final day, the drama of Bogota when he was accused of theft, and his depression as he struggled to adapt to the end of his playing career.
Tina Moore’s story of her life with Bobby, the break-up of their marriage and what happened afterwards, is inspirational, candid and told with revelations and authentic insight into what made Bobby tick. Alongside previously unseen material that sheds new light on his character and anecdotes about players, wives and managers told from a female perspective, this is a moving tribute to a national treasure by the person who knew him better than anyone.
Size 240x160mm – 326 pages
COVER PRICE: £18.95
NEARLY REACHED THE SKY
Steve Blowers - Football World (2005)
Nearly reached the Sky is the definitive, must-have modern-day history of West Ham United Football Club.
Having written for Hammers News Magazine for nearly two decades, Steve Blowers leaves no stone unturned in an intriguing, insider’s view of events at Upton Park from the moment that John Lyall was dismissed in June 1989 through to the 2005 play-off final victory.
Embarking on a comprehensive, memory-jogging 16 season see-saw journey across some 200 players, six managers, three promotions, two relegations and a European sojourn, Nearly Reached the Sky weaves together the observations of all the major characters and commentators, exploring just how close the club came to achieving its own tangible success during those turbulent times down West Ham way. And after seeing the dreams fade and die following relegation, the loss of Hammers’ seasoned professionals and the exodus of their golden crop of coveted youngsters, Nearly Reached the Sky then charts the priceless return to the Premiership.
COVER PRICE: £9.99
THE MEN of 64
West Ham United & Preston North End in the F.A. Cup
Brian Belton - Tempus (2005)
East End faced North End in the 1964 FA Cup Final. It was a meeting of the once ‘Invincible’ Preston Team, the epitome of the Northern bedrock of football, and West Ham United, the blossoming young side that would provide the backbone for England’s World Cup winners two years later. It was a game that captured the spirit of an era, as West Ham, the team of the 1960s, triumphed.
Brian Belton’s book is illustrated with images from both West Ham United and Preston North End’s famous pasts, and features interviews with many of the players who took part at Wembley that May afternoon. It also provides a detailed round-by-round look at the matches both sides played to get to the final, profiles of both teams’ managers and a look back to some of the famous games that West Ham and Preston have played in down the years, including West Ham’s famous 1923 ‘White Horse’ FA Cup Final.
There is also a welcome reminder of the events happening outside football while the 1964 FA Cup was being contested. 1964 also saw the arrival on our screens of Top of the Pops, Cassius Clay fight Sonny Liston for the World Heavyweight Boxing title and Donald Campbell break both the water and land speed records. All these events and more are included in this through volume that will delight not only supporters of both West Ham United and Preston North End, but also any football lover who remembers the 1960s for the unique decade that it was.
Size 235x155mm – 222 pages
COVER PRICE: £14.99
HAMMERS IN THE HEART
Pete May - Mainstream (2005)
West Ham are back in the Premiership and, to celebrate, Pete May reflects on a lifetime of supporting the Irons. It's all here in Hammers in the Heary, from a full account of West Ham's triumph against Preston in the Coca-Cola Championship play-off final at Cardiff on 30 May 2005 to his early recollections of Bobby Moore, high-leg DM boots in the North Bank, Billy Bonds'pirate chic, obscene humour in the Chicken Run, Trevor Brooking's sideburns, the FA Cup triumphs of 1975 and 1980, promotions, relegations and sides invariably 'down to the bare bones'.
with the dark humour necessary to be a Hammers fan, Pete MAy recalls Frank McAvennie's Neighbours mullet; paolo Di Canio's walk-off against Bradford; 'Two Bob' Florin Raducioiu, who preferred shopping in Harvey Nichols to playing for West Ham; Iain Dowie's legenfary own goal at Stockport; homeboy Joey Beauchamp; John Hartson attempting to kick of eyal Berkovic's head in training; beating Bury 10-0 and signing their centre-half; chants of "We want a new back four!" and relegation with the most talented side ever to go down; and, of course, the sublime skills of Brooking, Devonshire and Di Canio.
You'll laugh, you'll wince, you'll probably need a cup of Rosie Lea in Ken's Cafe after reading Hammers in the Heart, an epic tale of dreams that didn't always fade and die.
WHO’s WHO of WEST HAM UNITED 1895-2005
Tony Hogg - Profile Sports Media (2005)
A huge, full-colour well-illustrated who's who of West Ham United which covers every player to don the famous claret and blue from 1895-2005.
Size: 240mm x 318mm – 224 pages.
Cover Price £25.00
HOLMES COACHING MANUAL
Matty Holmes - M Holmes Football (2005)
THE OFFICIAL WEST HAM UNITED ANNUAL 2006
David Clayton - Grange Communications Ltd (2005)
BOBBY MOORE ENGLAND'S GREATEST
WH Smith Publication (2005)
THE WEST HAM UNITED QUIZ BOOK
Chris Cowlin - Apex Publishers (2006)
Size 200x143mm - 134 pages
COVER PRICE: £6.99
HOW TO COACH A SOCCER TEAM
Tony Carr - Hamlyn (2006)
Professional advice to create a successful team
Whether you are taking charge of a school team or have run out of ideas for what to do in the next training session, you will find easy-to-follow drills for every aspect of the game.
Whatever your team needs to work on, clearly illustrated techniques will improve every part of their game and help you develop a winning team.
Packed with practical tips and advice, skills, warm-up routines, tactics, problem solving, coaching during a game and the latest theories.
Cover Price: £12.99
Tony Carr is a highly respected youth coach who has overseen the emergence of a host of professional footballers, including England internationals Rio Ferdinand, Joe Cole and Jermain Defoe.
1966 WORLD CHAMPIONS
Geoff Hurst - Headline (2006)
The 1960s was a larger than life decade, characterised by cultural change - London was swinging, skirt lengths were rising and the Beatles' minds were expanding. But for millions of people there is only one defining moment: Saturday 30 July 1966 - the day that England won the World Cup.
In World Champions, World Cup hero Geoff Hurst takes us back to that glorious summer in 1966 when he and his team-mates defeated the footbal world and captured the sport's biggest prize. Relive all the action on and off the pitch as Geoff talks training, tactics, team camaraderie, pre-match ritals and what it felt like to score not once but three times in the final.
Lavishly illustrated - including photographs from Geoff's own collection - and containing personal reminiscences from a host of celebrities and flashbacks to the news events, films and music of that year, World Champions brilliantly captures and commemorates the time and place of England's greatest ever sporting achievement.
With the re-building of the new Wembley Stadium, turf from the former famous stadium was used in the manufacture of the endpapers of the book.
Size 270x 220mm - 256 pages
COVER PRICE: £20.00
THE GHOST of '66
Martin Peters - Orion Books (2006)
When Martin Peters missed out on playing for West Ham in the 1964 F.A. Cup Final, he wondered if his chance to play a major fixture at Wembley had gone for ever. Two years later, he was part of the most glorious moments in British sporting history, as he ghosted in to score the second goal in England’s 4-2 victory in the World Cup Final in 1966. Now, forty years on from that triumphant day, he looks back on his remarkable career and provides a fascinating insight into the game then and now.
The son of a Thames lighterman, Martin Peters was a typical football-mad kid who grew up to live out his dreams. One third of the famous West Ham trinity alongside Geoff Hurst and Bobby Moore, Peters fondly recalls his early days at Upton Park when he helped the club to some of it’s greatest successes. Eventually, he moved on to Spurs for a record transfer, becoming a hero once more to a new set of fans, before moving to Norwich near the end of his career.
Martin Peters played at a time when footballers’ profiles were rising all the time, and he was very much at the centre of it all. He shows how some of the older generation of managerial greats, such as Alf Ramsey and Bill Nicholson, struggled to cope with a new era of screaming fans, hooligans and press intrusion. He also assesses the current England side’s strengths and weaknesses to give his insider’s view as to whether or not they have what it takes to be the best in the world.
THE BLACK HAMMERS
The Voice of West Ham United’s Ebony Heroes
Brian Belton - Pennant Books Ltd (2006)
West Ham United – a legendary London team, with an army of passionate supporters. Much has been written about the club, the fans, the players, the triumphs and the turmoil. Yet no book has looked back at the history of the club from such a unique and fascinating perspective as this one – a retrospective that focuses on the black players at the Hammers, from the pioneers of the 1960s to the current squad, including captain Nigel Reo-Coker.
For the first half of its existence, West Ham United Football Club had been an entirely white enterprise. Then, in the early 1960s, club history was made as John Charles – the first ‘Black Hammer’ – took the field at Upton Park. His appearance marked the beginning of the end of the notion of a ‘one colour club’ and represented the start of a cultural integration within both the special community of football and the wider arena of sport as a whole.
The arrival of Bermudan Clyde Best in 1969, with his brave and bold striking style, had a huge impact on the club and its fans. Increased television coverage meant that his magnificent skills and strength were seen by a new audience of young black fans who had not witnessed anything quite like him before. Here, at last, was a beacon of hope and possibility for a new footballing era.
A 2-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur on 1 April 1973 marked another milestone for the club as three black players ran out to represent the cockney Hammers: alongside Clyde Best were Nigerian Ade Coker and East Londoner Clive Charles. As their stories testify, these three men remember their time at the Boleyn Ground with affection and warmth and they went on to become models for many aspiring black players. This groundbreaking book is a fascinating as it is informative. By drawing on the memories of those who were there as history was made – and the thoughts of those who are still making it – it provides an invaluable insight into this crucial period in club history. Written by a lifelong supporter, it is an absolute must-read for any fan.
Size 240x160mm – 349 pages
COVER PRICE: £16.99
TOTALLY FRANK
Frank Lampard - Harper Collins (2006)
One of the best footballers in Britain today, Chelsea and England star Frank Lampard has been lauded by fans, managers and fellow players alike.
‘Totally Frank’ is Lampard’s own personal account of a life that seems destined for the big things, ever since this Romford lad was born into a football family. His father Frank Lampard Snr, himself a former England full-back, saw the talent in young Frank at an early age, and he progressed through the youth ranks at Upton Park before signing professional forms in 1995, for a Hammers side then managed by his uncle, Harry Redknapp.
In his book, Lampard provides surprising revelations about the West Ham side of the late nineties that qualified for Europe. He unveils the true story behind his £11 million transfer to Chelsea in 2001, his scathing treatment by west Ham fans, his take on his early career, and goes behind the scenes at Stamford Bridge, with his frank views on Jose Mourinho and Roman Abramovich, among others.
On the international scene, Lampard lifts the lid on life inside the England team, including his views on ex-boss Kevin Keegan and Sven Goran Eriksson; while for World Cup 2006 he focuses on what happened away from the prying camera lenses – including previously undisclosed stories – up to and including the gripping quarter-final against Portugal.
COVER PRICE: £18.99
WEST HAM UNITED MISCELLANY
Brian Belton - Pennant Books (2006)
After hearing Burnley had been drawn to meet West Ham United in the quarter-final of the FA Cup in 1964, Harry Potts, the manager of Burnley, was asked what was going to be done about the clash of colours, as both teams wore claret and blue strips. His answer? 'West Ham will wear claret with blue stripes and we will wear blue with claret stripes.'
This is just one example of the intriguing trivia to be found in this treasure-trove of miscellany about East London's favourite team. Packed with information and little-known facts about the club, the players, the managers and the fans, it cannot fail to please anyone whose obsession is all things claret and blue - and may even surprise a few who thought they knew it all!
For many years, the terraces, the pubs and the living rooms of West Ham fans have buzzed with debate, speculation, opinions and laughter. Who was West Ham's best manager? Who was their worst? Who should form the greatest-ever Upton Park XI? And who should be included in the worst? These kinds of questions and hundreds like them are answered within the pages of this imformative, light-hearted book.
From young to old, from die-hard, all-weather supporters to armchair fan, there is something in this collection for everyone. Author Brian Belton is one of the most prolific historians od West Ham United and has drawn on a lifetime of research to put this book together. With quotes from some of the greatest Hammers of all times (and their opponets!), Upton Park chants from through the years and much, much more, this unique book provides fans with a Hammers bible they wouldn't dare to be without!
Size 193x124mm - 306 pages
COVER PRICE: £9.99
RIO MY STORY
Rio Ferdinand - Headline (2006)
You can't ignore him. Every football fan has an opinion on Rio Ferdinand.
* He's one of the most gifted footballers these shores have produced and loves the game with a passion, but he courts admiration and controversy in equal measure...
* At 18, he was told he'd never play for England again after an alcohol binge in Italy
* The tabloids exposed his meeting with Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon at a time when he was refusing to re-sign at Old Trafford, resulting in threats from United fans
* Most famously he was dropped by England for missing a drugs teat, a decision that led to a players' strike and almost cost England their place at Euro 2004 and the 2006 World Cup
And through everything there's the beautiful game. He's twice broken the British transfer record. He was England's outstanding player in the 2002 World Cup, won the premiership and Carling Cup with Manchester United and played a pivotal role in England's 2006 World Cup campaign.
You've read the front and back page stories. Now, for the first time, Rio tells it as it is, from the heart, no holds barred.
Size 232x150mm - 374 pages
COVER PRICE: £12.99
COLE PLAY
Ian Macleay - John Blake Publishing Ltd (2006)
Joe Cole is one of the most naturally gifted footballers in England. A London lad who’s graced the pitches of two of the capital’s most famous clubs, his ability to set a game alight with his quick feet and powerful, agile presence make him a firm favourite of fans and managers alike.
A talented product of the famous West Ham youth system, the spotlight of media attention shone upon him from a very early age. Hailed as a child prodigy by no less than Harry Redknapp, he made his first-team debut for the club at the age of 17 – and his dedication to the Hammers saw him receive the captain’s armband in his early 20s. Meanwhile a call-up to the England senior team marked his England debut at the tender age of 19. A versatile young playmaker, a series of solid performances in the claret and blue made him a valuable fixture at the East London club. But the lure of a move across town to Stamford Bridge proved too much to resist and in 2003 he donned a Chelsea shirt after a £6 million transfer was agreed.
Fortune has not always been in Cole’s favour – in particular meeting tough competition for his position at Chelsea – and expectations, raised at an early age, have sometimes been hard to meet, but the attacking midfielder has continually produced a number of fine cameos which only serve to point the way to future achievement for club and country. His record is enviable – he scored in the Premiership, the Champions League and for England, most spectacularly with a sensational volley at the 2006 World Cup.
While it is often acknowledged that there is no-one in an England shirt better playing at the top of a diamond formation, his great poise and skill have made him an increasingly preferred option at Chelsea and England as wide attacker on the left side of midfield. Yet while he worked hard to stay level-headed, his maturity off the pitch has not prevented his involvement in some colourful incidents in recent years.
He’s taken it all in his stride, and is set to become a major figure at the top of English football. This is the ultimate biography of the Hammer and Blue’s enigmatic dangerman.
COVER PRICE: £17.99
THE OFFICIAL WEST HAM UNITED ANNUAL 2007
Colin Benson - Grange Communications (2006)
JOHN HARTSON – The Autobiography
John Hartson (2006)
The autobiography of John Hartson, the Welsh International striker who has been a top goalscorer at clubs including West Ham United, Arsenal and Celtic.
Size: 160mm x 240mm – 290 pages.
COVER PRICE: £17.99
HAMMERS THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS
Martin Godleman - Desert Island Books (2006)
THE LADS of '23
Bolton Wanderers, West Ham United and the 1923 FA Cup Final
Brian Belton - Soccer Data (2006)
The crowd at the 1923 FA Challenge Cup Final at the opening of the Empire Stadium, Wembley, was the largest ever attendance at a football match anywhere in the world. The lads of '23 uses contemporary reports and biographical details of the players and others involved to provide new insights into the build-up to the game, the day itself, and the consequences for English football.
Size 245x188mm - 162 pages
COVER PRICE: £12.00
THE OFFICIAL LITTLE BOOK of WEST HAM UNITED
Douglas Russell - Grange Communications (2006)
This littlke book is packed full of facts, trivia and quotes about some of the greatest players and managers in the club's history.
Size 100x84mm - 160 pages
COVER PRICE: £4.99
"1965 European Cup Winners' Cup hero Alan Sealey tragically broke his leg the following year, whilst playing cricket with some team-mates"
Following his 36 appearances in Season 1939/40, Charles Bicknell become a war-time policeman during the Second World War
In Seasons 1957/58 and 1980/81, West Ham lost just one home league game in each campaign
THE LITTLE BOOK of WEST HAM
Robert Lodge - Carlton Books (2007)
This Little Book of West Ham is a classic collection of words of wit and wisdom by and about the many colourful characters who have passed through Upton Park. From Bobby Moore and Ron Greenwood to Trevor Brooking, Harry Redknapp and Alan Pardew, here are more than 150 memorable quotes and quips that reveal the club's rich history and what it is like to be a loyal Hammers fan.
Size 95x84mm - 160 pages
COVER PRICE: £4.99
"Once he had the ball, you beware. He could make you look a fool in one moment."
Arsenal goalkeeper Bob Wilson was ever wary of Trevor Brooking.
' I don't know the Spanish for "on me head, son" but I'm working on it.'
Alan Pardew works on the language barrier after the signing of Argentinans Tevez and Mascherano
THE CLARET & BLUE BOOK of WEST HAM UNITED
John Northcutt - Pitch Publishing (2007)
West Ham United were formed in 1895 as the works team of the Thames Ironworks Shipbuilding Company. From those humble beginnings the club has developed into one of the most famous names in English football. Taking part in the first ever Cup Final played at Wembley in 1923, West Ham have won the famous trophy on three separate ocassions. In 1965 they won the European Cup Winners Cup with an all-English team and a year later provided three players to the England team which won the World Cup.
The Claret & Blue Book of West HAm United features those memorable matches and the most-famous players to have worn the claret and blue; as each decade produced a new Upton Park hero. From the 1920s there's Vic Watson who scored an amazing 298 league goals; he is the club's all time leading goalscorer. Read about Joe Cockroft, who arrived in 1933 and played in every match for four consecutive seasons. In more recent times Hammers heroes have included Bobby Moore, England's finest captain played in 108 internationals; Billy Bonds, the Hammers skipper made a total of 793 appearances for the club; and with the influx of several foreign talents the magnificent skills of Italian striker Paolo Di Canio delighted Hammers fans as the new millennium arrived.
Full of fascinating facts, and amazing annecdotes this book will delight West Ham supporters of any age. The book also includes a unique reference section: including a definitive list including every West Ham first-team player and their complete appearance and goal record. You will find lists, tables, stats in amongst player biographies, match reports and other tales and trivia to read at your leisure.
Size 192x120mm - 144 pages
COVER PRICE: £9.99
MATCH OF MY LIFE
S Lowe - Know the Score (2007)
WEST HAM IN MY DAY
Tony McDonald - Football World (2007)
IN MY DAY is a collection of exclusive, riveting interviews with some of the biggest names in West Ham United’s history, who recall the extraordinary highs and lows of their time at Upton Park. From long-serving goalkeeping stalwart Ernie Gregory and World Cup-winner Martin Peters to FA Cup hero Ronnie Boyce, legendary skipper Billy Bonds, 80s stars Alan Devonshire, Ray Stewart and Tony Gale, 90s favourites Stuart Slater, John Hartson and Ian Bishop… to the Millennium maestro Paolo Di Canio, these and many other former Hammers provide a compelling insight to life both on and off the field at the East London club over the last half century. Their greatest memories and the experiences they would rather forget. Bobby Moore is the greatest-ever Hammer – but in another controversial interview you can now read why his former friend and team-mate Harry Redknapp believes the club – and English football – wasted the greatest talent it ever had. One ex-Hammer tells how he came back from the brink of alcoholism, another admits selling his FA Cup final tickets to a tout and buying a new car with the proceeds! The issue of racism, coping with crowd abuse, punch-ups in the bath, career-ending injuries, the curse of agents and simply playing for the love of the game in the days before money ruled…
IN MY DAY takes you back in time to a different world, one largely at odds with the modern game.
It’s all here in this revealing book compiled by EX magazine editor Tony McDonald, who has covered West Ham for the past 20 years during which he became a trusted friend of many of the ex-players featured here.
IN MY DAY is a must-read for all football romantics.
Size 248x168mm – 248 pages
COVER PRICE: £12.00
HAMMERS HEAVEN and HELL
Kirk Blows - Mainstream (2007)
Little did anybody anticipate that West Ham's play-off final victory against Preston North End in 2005 would provide the launch pad for one of their most successful seasons ever, with the club securing a top-half Premiership finish and qualifying for Europe thanks to its first FA Cup final appearance in 26 years. Indeed, the thrilling 3-3 draw with Liverpool will be remembered as one of the most dramatic finals of all time.
With a keenly anticipated UEFA Cup campaign and the shock arrival of Argentina World Cup stars Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano, the future could hardly have seemed brighter. But storm clouds were gathering on the orizon as the Hammers embarked on what would prove to be the most turbulent and traumatic period in the club's entire history.
A protracted takeover saga, the sacking of manager Alan Pardew, a Premier League inquiry that would rsult in a record £5.5 million fine and a season-long battle against relegation were the main issues that dominated the headlines, while an unseen presence-fuelled by ego and varice - threatened to erode the fabric of the club from within. Yet salvation would eventually be achieved in the most sensational and controversail of fashions.
Full of exclusive material, anecdotes and analytical comment, Hammers Heaven and Hell investigates the true reasons for two campaigns of contrast and conflict as West Ham experienced both ecstasy and agony in equal measures.
COVER PRICE: £9.99
West Ham Annual 2008
Danny Francis - Grange Communications (2007)
WAR HAMMERS
The Story of West Ham United During the First World War
Brian Belton - Stadia (2007)
This book tells the fascinating story of west Ham United Football Club during the First World War. It charts the relationship between war and football by following the pursuits of West Ham from 1913/14 to 1918/19. In many ways, it was their success in wartime competitions that led to them being accepted into the Football League in 1919, paving the way for subsequent F.A. Cup and League successes.
As well as a football story, this book is about the impact of the war on Britain, and Londoners in particular. It documents the social implications of war on Londoners and the social and political influence of football the armed forces and civilians alike. Looking closely at the 13th Service Battalion, also known as the West Ham Pals’, the book includes a look at players such as George Kay, Ted Hufton and their manager and coach Syd King and Charlie Paynter.
This book will fascinate football and social historians, as well as lovers of West Ham United Football Club.
Featuring the best of John Chandler’s cartoons from the popular fanzine Over Land & Sea, this book relives the highs and lows of the last eighteen years at West Ham United as seen from the terraces. As well as favourite players, managerial changes, promotions and relegations, Chandler also recalls some of the bizarre events to which Hammers fans have become accustomed, such as the stabbing of Trevor Morley and the strange disappearance of Marco boogers, read and reminisce about thrilling matches, great players, shit kits and unbelievable cock-ups. You won’t know whether to laugh or cry…
Size 235x165mm – 96 pages
COVER PRICE: £12.99
IRONS IN THE FIRE
Russell Brand - Hodder & Stoughton (2007)
Over the past eighteen months Russell Brand has built up a unique fan club through the sports section of the Guardian. Each week Brand writes a sharply observed and wickedly funny column about his first love -- football. Russell is 'West Ham till I die'. He's a season ticket holder and he's been going to Upton Park since he was a kid. He's also a huge England fan too, although after England lost to Portugal on penalties (again), he wanted a divorce. In this sharp and stylish book Russell guides us through one of the most dramatic footballing years in recent memory. We start with West Ham reaching the FA Cup Final for the first time in twenty-five years and end with their 1-0 win at Manchester United on the last day of the season, which kept them in the Premiership against all the odds. Along the way Russell turns his wit on Sven ('I bet he wears pants in the bath'), the WAGS, football chants, Jose Mourinho ('he's like the littlest hobo - he does terrific work then clears off leaving John Terry with a frog in his throat cos there's a voice that keeps on calling him'), and the night he slept next to David Beckham.
WEST HAM UNITED : THE MANAGERS
Tony McDonald - Football World (2007)
West Ham United have employed only 11 full-time managers in their 107-year history – a proud record of continuity at odds with the ‘quick fix’ mentality of the modern game in which many clubs hire and fire their bosses on a whim.
Not that it has been at all easy for the select band who have had the honour of guiding the fortunes of the Hammers. The first manager SYD KING, committed suicide just days after being sacked by the East London club.
LOU MACARI failed to turn up for one match and then resigned, just seven months into the role, after being hounded out of Upton Park by the press for betting against his own team!
GLENN ROEDER survived a brain tumour before his team were relegated, only to be given his P45 just four months later.
Legendary Hammer BILLY BONDS walked out after his job was given to his former best mate HARRY REDKNAPP behind his back.
There was controversy, too, when JOHN LYALL was fired after serving the club, as man and boy, for 34 years. He took charge after his inspirational mentor RON GREENWOOD left Upton Park to become England manager.
And there is still mystery surrounding the sudden departure of TED FENTON, who led Hammers back to the top flight after 26 years in the Second Division under his predecessor, the fatherly figure of CHARLIE PAYNTER.
In more recent times, ALAN PARDEW and ALAN CURBISHLEY have discovered just what managing West Ham United is all about. Living with the pressures and dealing with all the day-to-day problems that arise at a big club, where the expectations of the fans is another key factor that makes the job such a challenging one.
In West Ham United: The Managers the author exclusively interviews all of the living Hammers’ managers – plus SIR TREVOR BROOKING, who had two spells as caretaker boss – and was the last journalist to interview John Lyall before his untimely death. It features the views and memories of the families of some of the managers – the sons of Fenton, Greenwood and Lyall – as well as revealing accounts from ex-Hammers players and staff, who knew the people at the top better than most.
The author adds his own hard-hitting comments to a compelling account that examines every aspect of what managing West Ham United is all about and how – good and bad – the ‘First 11’ went about their task.
I was honoured to be asked by Tony McDonald to compile the managers transfer records for the book
Size 255x 175mm - 400 pages
COVER PRICE: £20.00
SNAPSHOT of a SEASON
G Clarke & G Demetriou - West Ham FC (2007)
EAST END HEROES, STATESIDE KINGS
Brian Belton - John Blake (2007)
BROWN OUT - A Search for the Truth
Brian Belton - Pennant Books (2007)
Brown was, and is, more than a businessman. He has an exceptional devotion to West Ham that it would be hard for many fans to match. While a board member, and more so as a chairman, on the worst days of East London winters, he was consistently to be seen watching west Ham teams at any and every level – from kids to stars. At the same time, he is also a proud man with regard to his own business record. These two facets of his make-up would prove to be great assets to West Ham United…
West Ham Football Club is an institution; it is defined by the East End culture that surrounds it and its fiercely loyal fans are integral to its make-up. This book tells the intricate true story of an enigmatic man who came to a position of power in the club at a highly complex time of change at Upton Park. Terry Brown was chairman of West Ham from 1992 to 2007 and succeeded in steering the club through 15 turbulent years of change. Now, as another chapter in the club’s fascinating history comes to a close, this book lifts the lid on what really happened throughout those years, who the enigmatic Terry Brown really is and the events surrounding his departure from the club.
Terry Brown was West Ham born and raised. His father and grandfather were Hammers supporters and Terry faithfully followed in their footsteps. Yet, as a boy, his devotion to his club was curtailed only by his devotion to playing the beautiful game as opposed to spectating – most Saturdays were spent on the pitch rather than in the stands. After an early career as a trader, Brown built up enough of a cash fund to make investments in property. He got a job at the Royal Exchange and it was there that he learned how to invest money in public companies. While he moved up the business ladder, Brown studied hard and eventually built up a
Promotional leaflet
respectable portfolio of companies – he was a slick businessman and a successful entrepreneur.
In Brown Out, author Brian Belton charts the reign of the modest, much maligned and often misunderstood potentate of Upton Park. From the much-criticised bond scheme to Magnusson, from Redknapp to Curbishley, from mediocrity to glory, Brown presided over the Hammers’ struggle back from the precipice of administration to see the pride of East London march to the ‘greatest FA Cup Final of all time’. Then, within the season, this inscrutable football tsar had resigned from the board in the wake of the controversy surrounding the Carlos Tevez deal. An intriguing must-have title for any football fan.
Size 240x160mm - 284 pages
COVER PRICE: £16.99
60 MINUTES WITH... JULIAN DICKS
Julian Dicks: www.60minutes.tv (2007)
An Official Julian Dicks Product
Exclusive signed limited edition audio interview with fans' favourite Julian Dicks. There are only 1000 of these sets in the world, each box set coming complete with a numbered signed Julian Dicks certificate of authenticity and exclusive plhoto.
In this interview you will hear Julian talking about the highs and lows regarding hid football career, as well as talking about his fantastic relationship with the West Ham United faithful. West Ham fans will also be delighted to hear that Julian has not ruled out the opportunity of returning one day.
60 MINUTES WITH... TONY COTTEE
Tony Cottee: www.60minutes.tv (2008)
An Official Tony Cottee Product
If you love an autobiography, then things have just got even better.
You can now hear Tony Cottee tell his own story about his legendary football career. This exclusive interview set in a strickly limited edition and only 1000 sets have been made worldwide. Each set comes complete with a numbered and signed Tony Cottee certificate of authenticity (real autograph) and exclusive photo.
THE DVD BOOK OF WEST HAM
Martin Godleman: G.U. Publishing Ltd 2008
EAST LONDON: A HOTBED OF FOOTBALL 1867-1918
Colm Kerrigan:
CASS
Cass Pennant: John Blake (2008)
Cass Pennant business card
IRONS of the SOUTH
John Powles: Soccer Data (2008)
In this follow up to his acclaimed "Iron in the Blood", author John Powles continues the story of the early years of West Ham United FC. A change of name in 1900, from Thames Ironworks, still saw the club playing home games at the Memorial Grounds. A move to Upton Park followed in 1904. This book is a full account of the club's time in the Southern League, to 1915
