FOR claret-and-blue football romantics with nostalgia in their hearts, WEST HAM: IN MY DAY (Volume 1) is a collection of very candid, and often hard-hitting, exclusive interviews with many of the biggest names in West Ham United’s history, which appeared originally in issues of the popular but now defunct EX-Hammers retro magazine.
Edited and updated, these interviews – with former West Ham players spanning five decades, from the 1950s to the millennium – reveal the extraordinary highs and the desperate lows of their time at Upton Park. Bobby Moore is arguably the greatest-ever Hammer, but in a controversial interview you can now read why his former friend and team-mate Harry Redknapp believes the club – and English football – wasted the biggest 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! Their stories will amuse, amaze and, above all, entertain.
IMD recalls a golden era before the game lost its soul and the Premier League gravy train removed much of football’s romance and integrity. A time when the players were still in touch with the people who paid their wages and, long before mobile phone selfies, even chatted over a pint in local pubs and bars. Many would agree that this was a better time.
The 26 ex-Hammers interviewed here include: Billy Bonds MBE, Paolo Di Canio, Alan Curbishley, Harry Redknapp, Martin Peters MBE, John Hartson, Steve Jones, Stuart Slater, Ian Bishop, Leroy Rosenior, Alan Dickens, Tony Gale, Ray Stewart, Alan Devonshire, Derek Hales, David Cross, Keith Robson, Billy Jennings, Bryan ‘Pop’ Robson, Clyde Best MBE, John Sissons, Brian Dear, Eddie Bovington, Ronnie Boyce, Vic Keeble and Ernie Gregory. Sadly, four of the above interviewees have since passed away. But in a way, this surely makes their experiences and opinions all the more valid and important in terms of our efforts to preserve Hammers history.
BOOK REVIEW
Romford Recorder, August 2007
If you were to visit Upton Park on a non-match day and sit in one of the seats looking out at the emerald turf stretching out before you, then chances are the memories will come flooding back.
Depending on your age it could be the days of Robson, Bonds and Devonshire; of Moore, Peters and Sissons; or for younger fans maybe even Di Canio, Hartson and Bishop.
They are the history and heart of the Hammers, part of what makes the club great, and a new book by Tony McDonald entitled West Ham – In My Day has set out to capture a little piece of history with a series of in-depth interviews.
This book has been a while in the making – the foreword is by the late John Lyall – but you can see that it has been put together lovingly by a devotee of the Hammers in McDonald
This is a must read for any devoted Hammer, and I am heartened by the fact that this book is described as ‘Volume One’, as there is much scope for further tomes.
A club is nothing without its history and even if West Ham leave Upton Park in the next few years, it is the fans’ memories, and books like this one, that will keep the history and that spirit alive.
FOR claret-and-blue football romantics with nostalgia in their hearts, WEST HAM: IN MY DAY (Volume 1) is a collection of very candid, and often hard-hitting, exclusive interviews with many of the biggest names in West Ham United’s history, which appeared originally in issues of the popular but now defunct EX-Hammers retro magazine.