IF you don’t care too much for the excesses of modern football and the way the game is now poisoned by self-interest and driven by the relentless pursuit of money by players not fit to lace the boots of their much more accomplished predecessors, then WEST HAM: IN MY DAY should be right up your street.
Very much in the same format as In My Day (volume one), IMD 2 is a compilation of some 24 exclusive interviews conducted with former West Ham United players whose careers spanned five decades, from the late 1950s to the 90s.
The interviews are effectively extracts from previous issues of EX magazine, which we launched in November 2002 but ceased publication in 2016 after 79 editions. The copy has been edited and updated for the purpose of this book and there is also new material.
IMD is, we believe, an entertaining way of providing a fascinating insight into the history of West Ham and how the club evolved over the most successful period in Hammers’ history – the fascinating characters who have come and gone through the claret-and-blue gates and the atmosphere, both buoyant and gloomy, that has existed within the Hammers camp at various times.
The book is also in itself a reflection of how drastically football has changed over the same period – mainly for the worst, it has to be said.
For the knowledgeable authors Roper and McDonald, both West Ham supporters since the 1960s, it was an absolute pleasure to sit down with so many former West Ham favourites, many of them big names in their day, and recall the good times and the bad they experienced at Upton Park and after leaving the club.
And because they are all ex-players, the interviewees have been able to speak very freely and candidly about their careers, the players they played with and the managers they played under, without fear of upsetting their old employers. Their honesty is compelling.
The 21 ex-Hammers interviewed here include: Bill Lansdowne (Snr), Ken Brown (Snr), Lawrie Leslie, Joe Kirkup, Jack Burkett, Peter Brabrook, Bobby Ferguson, Alan Stephenson, Pat Holland, John Ayris, Dudley Tyler, Mervyn Day, Geoff Pike, Steve Potts, Bobby Barnes, Frank McAvennie, Liam Brady, Julian Dicks, Tim Breacker, Mark Robson and John Moncur.
Plus . . . features on the epic 1971-72 League Cup run and Heysel Revisted – the 1976 European Cup Winners’ Cup campaign that ended in defeat in Belgium.
Sadly, three of the above interviewees have since passed away. But in a way, this surely makes their personal experiences and opinions all the more valid and important in terms of our efforts to preserve Hammers history.
