Julian Shea, Author at Blowing Bubbles

Kenny Brown: ‘I’m a Hammer but also a Lion – I’m in a really unique position’

April 13, 2021 Julian Shea 0

Football fans love their tribes, and their derbies, and having local rivals to define themselves against. So it is always a shock to come across someone who goes against the flow and supports two less-

Paul Allen: ‘I never believed I’d be able to get in the West Ham first team at 17’

March 15, 2021 Julian Shea 0

Scoring the winning goal in an FA Cup final is nothing that special. After all, every year someone does it. But being remembered more than four decades on for being prevented from scoring one of

Luke Chadwick: ‘We really should have won the league with the squad we had’

February 17, 2021 Julian Shea 0

Life, like football, is all about being in the right place in the right time. And in the case of former West Ham winger Luke Chadwick, although he managed to be in the right place,

Gary Charles: ‘My second time in rehab was my choice. I tried and it worked’

January 5, 2021 Julian Shea 0

Former West Ham defender Gary Charles had a career many footballers can only dream of. Representing his country, appearing in five Cup finals and playing for the team he grew up supporting are things many

Neil Ruddock: ‘I had the most fun in my career when I was playing at West Ham’

December 9, 2020 Julian Shea 0

Each player’s road to West Ham hero status is as individual as they are. Manuel Lanzini went from Argentina via Abu Dhabi before finding his way to east London, and Michail Antonio’s route took in

Peter Butler: ‘It’s so sad how it turned sour for Billy and Harry’s long friendship’

November 24, 2020 Julian Shea 0

West Ham fans of a certain age can be forgiven for looking at the continued anger amongst supporters towards the board and think ‘we’ve been here before.’ In 1992, to be precise. Then, the toxic

Flashback: Pardew eyes a striker on West Ham’s return to the big time

October 26, 2020 Julian Shea 0

With the current season seeing games played at strange times in empty grounds, and no sign of normal service resuming soon, looking back to previous seasons is becoming an increasingly popular pastime – and for

Craig Forrest: ‘I felt absolutely fine, but then one day I noticed I had a lump’

September 25, 2020 Julian Shea 0

Considering he spent 12 years at Ipswich, won promotion with Ipswich, was named fans’ and players’ player of the year at Ipswich and made more than 200 appearances for Ipswich, you would think that Craig

Bobby Gould: Playing under Ron and John was my footballing education

July 18, 2020 Julian Shea 0

As the man most famous for sending his Wimbledon side off to the pub the night before the 1988 FA Cup final where they produced arguably the tournament’s biggest ever upset, beating the all-conquering Liverpool,

Nigel Winterburn: ‘I didn’t want West Ham’s fans to think I was there for a pay day’

June 10, 2020 Julian Shea 0

Over the years, former Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has been called a lot of things by a lot of people, but one of the more complimentary labels that even his most fierce critic would permit

Articles by Julian Shea