East End Born and Bled: The Remarkable Story of London Boxing

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In the fanzine, while the good and the bad old days are covered, every feature ends with this; will the move be good for West Ham?

It soon became the alternative read on the way home after a game to the West Ham cult following who bought and continue to buy copies and two anthologies of PUSH have subsequently been published by the East London Press, in claret and blue covers, naturally. And then in this final season, everyone was saying to me that I had to do a West Ham-only fanzine dedicated to this emotional end to an era in E13.Some of the arguments used are seen today used against all immigrants: the stealing of jobs, the destruction of businesses run by native-born Englishmen – it is all horribly familiar. The course led to me doing voluntary work in the community and then being employed. I was able to train local people, do community engagement work - and it was through all that I was asked on to Clyde Gateway." Rosie said: "At first it was daunting. It seemed like a huge responsibility, but as time goes on my confidence has grown."

Fortunes have always been hiding, and as West Ham fans, trust me, we seriously have looked everywhere. But maybe fortunes were always there right on our doorstep. Ready and waiting in another east London stadium.

In the midst of life I woke to find myself living in an old house beside Brick Lane in the East End of London

Until now, small groups of people have come together to save a particular building – but the accelerating sequence of losses in recent years, combined with some monstrous developments looming in the immediate future and the failure of the public consultation process, calls for collective action. Then exactly 40 years to the day of my first game, I launched a literary fanzine called PUSH that I sold at West Ham v West Brom in March 2013 and it is still going (up to issue 20 as I write). I wanted the fanzine to feature players who played under those managers, fans from the terraces talking about that same era as well as opposition viewpoints. Those interviewed and featured have been the likes of Frank Lampard Sr, Mark Ward, Kenny Brown, Johnny Sissons, Frank MacAvennie and current West Ham Under 18s coach, Mark Phillips. I had opportunities through the voluntary sector and I want people to recognise these opportunities exist and to see people aspiring to more.