Football has always been a huge part of our lives in the Pitty household. Both dad and I played football at a young age and we also watched football. Growing up in Stratford, dad was only ever going to support West Ham United. I grew up in Ilford initially and then we moved to Romford. I followed in my dad’s footsteps and supported West Ham United. Both sides of my family are West Ham United supporters so I was born into it, and what a journey it has been.
The Birth of a Pandemic Project
Due to our knowledge, as well as our experiences of being West Ham United fans, dad and I had an idea to write a book. Dad was born in 1954 and I was born in 1982 so we had many decades to cover and share. It was 2020, ‘The Pandemic Years’ that we all remember. If ever there was an opportunity to begin writing a book, this was it. So, at the age of 66, Terry, and at the age of 38, I decided to jot down some ideas of what this book could actually look like.
Mapping Out Seven Decades of Memories
We decided to concentrate on our most memorable games, that we had watched live, in the stadiums. This would span seven decades of football so the process at first was challenging. What games would we include? We had of course witnessed so many with fond memories. That was the trick, fond memories; why it had stood out at the time of watching it and why we could still remember it so clearly now. We agreed on games that we would both like to write about; some games would be obvious to West Ham fans but others not so obvious as they were personal to us.
The next stage began; looking at the structure of the book. It was decided that we should provide backgrounds on our upbringings, which would link with West Ham United. We would then write about the games chosen in chronological order. Dad would begin the journey of the book, which would then move into our shared experiences, with me as a young boy. My season ticket years with my mates would follow and the book would then move back to dad and I’s shared experiences, in our season ticket years together, both at Upton Park (The Boleyn Ground) and The London Stadium.
Revisiting the Boleyn Ground
To conclude the book, we decided that we would write our thoughts and hopes for the future. All I will say here is that: Hope is a good thing. You’ll understand when you read our comments. Finally, we also decided to revisit the site of Upton Park (The Boleyn Ground) and then write about this experience.
Over the course of two to three years we wrote the book. As with anything, life can take over so it was a process of re-visiting. Dad would write about some of his games, I would do the same. We would come together to edit each other’s work or remind one another of something that could be included for each game. Every game follows the same pattern. It provides the key information: the venue, the date, the competition, the team line-ups, the score, the goalscorers and the attendance. Also, it provides an insight into why it was memorable to us as fans and what our experience was actually like. When someone reads the book, they may have had a similar experience of that game, or a different experience. That’s great because it is all about opinions.
The Journey to Self-Publishing
On completion of the book in 2022, we looked at how we could get our book published. We decided to self-publish and worked with Book Printing UK. We ensured that the book came to life as we expected, working on the formatting, the images that we wanted to include and of course the front cover. We actually have a stone in the Martin Peters section outside The London Stadium so we decided to use that image on the front cover.
The process was smooth and the book was officially self-published in 2023. On the 11th June 2023, I decided to launch the book on my very own football podcast, that has been running since 2020: The Back In The Day Podcast. This time however, I did not host, my fiancée Heather interviewed my dad and I and we discussed the book. Not to be left out, my mum Sue ensured we each had a cup of tea during our informal chat. It was lovely to launch it all together as family ties come through in our book.
Final Whistles and Future Hopes
We thoroughly enjoyed writing the book together and a lot has happened since we completed the book and self-published it: a certain Europa Conference League Final and win. What an experience that was. Finally, I was also very lucky to be invited up on stage at an E13 Event in September 2023 by Ian Morgan to launch our book. We shared that evening with another person launching a book and ex-West ham player, Tony Gale. We managed to sell a few copies of our book that night as well as having our copy of Tony Gale’s book signed by the man himself.
If you are interested in purchasing a copy of the book, please email me at: gpittybooks@gmail.com. Also, you can find my podcast on X @podBITD or Instagram podbitd. The link in the bios which will take you to Spotify.
Be the first to comment