Death in Grimsby – 50 Years Following Brighton & Hove Albion is now published worldwide in paperback

Burning cows at Carlisle, Meeting Ernie Wise in Leeds, Joking with Gazza in Glasgow, Bribing Match Stewards in Birmingham, a standing ovation at Doncaster and Death in Grimsby

BRIGHTON & Hove Albion FC were founded in 1901 and for all but six seasons of their 118 year existence have played their football in the lower divisions of the Football League.

A stunning new book Death in Grimsby charts one man’s passion for his far from ordinary home town club over 50 of those years.

Among 50,000 words and 115 images Death in Grimsby is a collection of personal stories which will resonate with every football supporter, no matter which club they may follow.

“I have been following my beloved Brighton & Hove Albion since I was a very small kid, and like a fan of any club, whether that be Arsenal, Accrington Stanley, Aston Villa or Alloa Athletic, once you are hooked you are well and truly hooked,” explains author Nic Outterside.

“My passion was conceived on a sunny Saturday afternoon in September 1967 when I was just 11 years old, as I stood wide-eyed at the front of the North Stand of the Goldstone Ground watching these huge men battle for a crisp, white football on the green turf before me.

“It is a passion which has never dimmed with greying hair, crows’ feet etched lines and a free bus pass just three years away.”

Death in Grimsby is a collection of short stories which charts the first 50 years that Nic supported his beloved Albion, starting with that first game at the Goldstone in 1967 and finishing with a match against Wolves at Molineux in April 2017, when his club all but mathematically secured promotion to the promised land of the Premier League.

Each chapter is a separate story related to 21 different matches and events, including Nic’s first night game against Portsmouth in 1969, a record 8-2 defeat against Bristol Rovers in 1973, winning promotion to the old League Division One in 1979, an FA Cup Final in 1983, Football League survival against Hereford United in 1997 and much more.

These are knitted together with many personal recollections such as meeting Ernie Wise in Leeds, trying to explain the Foot and Mouth Disease funeral pyres to his young daughters before a match against Carlisle United in 2001, interviewing the England legend Paul Gascoigne, bribing match stewards with slices of home-made flapjack at Birmingham City and being hospitalised with hypothermia after a game at Grimsby.

“I hope the reader finds something to inspire them, laugh at, wince with or cry… and recapture their own memories of a game which as the great Bill Shankly said: “Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I assure you, it’s much more serious than that,”” adds Nic.

Death in Grimsby – 50 Years Following Brighton & Hove Albion is available in paperback from Amazon:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1095979752/
£10.49 Large Format paperback with FREE UK delivery

Other ways to order and purchase the book will be announced in June 2019.

The full launch with book signings will take place at venues (TBC) in Brighton and Hove during week beginning 5 August prior to the start of the 2019/20 Premier League season.

A Kindle e-book edition of the book will also be available later in the summer of 2019.

Notes:

1. Nic Outterside is an award-winning editor, journalist and author. Among more than a dozen awards to his name are North of England Daily Journalist of the Year, Scottish Weekly Journalist of the Year, Scottish Daily Journalist of the Year and a special national award for investigative journalism. He was twice editor of Weekly Newspaper of the Year. In 2016 he was awarded an honorary doctorate in written journalism.
2. Death in Grimsby is his seventh published book.
3. For interviews or further information Nic can be contacted by email on seagullnic@gmail.com

 

A song for the Goldstone

Kit Napier in the wind swings the ball in

Cha Cha Cha Livesey we all sing

Big Alex rises in the fog of the night

And his power header takes the game out of sight

Give me a sight, give me a sound

Sweet memories of the Goldstone Ground

 

Tiger Tawse races down the left wing

Now you can hear the North Stand sing:

“It’s Brighton Hove Albion

Brighton Hove Albion FC

We’re by far the greatest team

The world has ever seen”

 

Sully intercepts a long floated pass

He plays it wide on the Sussex grass

Beamish races towards their box

And tucks the ball away as the South Stand rocks

Give me a sight, give me a sound

Sweet memories of the Goldstone Ground

 

Tony Towner surges down the right wing

Now you can hear the North Stand sing:

“It’s Brighton Hove Albion

Brighton Hove Albion FC

We’re by far the greatest team

The world has ever seen”

 

Lawro takes the ball from under the stand

Horton signals a move they’ve already planned

Passes to Ryan who chips it to Ward

The PA announces it is Ward who has scored

Give me a sight, give me a sound

Sweet memories of the Goldstone Ground

 

Teddy Maybank sprints down the right wing

Now you can hear the North Stand sing:

“It’s Brighton Hove Albion

Brighton Hove Albion FC

We’re by far the greatest team

The world has ever seen”

 

Jimmy Case lines up a 30 yard free kick

Steve Foster stands like Fletton brick

The ball’s chipped over and Smith must score

But it’s Robinson’s goal and the fans want more

Give me a sight, give me a sound

Sweet memories of the Goldstone Ground

 

Gary Stevens runs down the left wing

Now you can hear the North Stand sing:

“It’s Brighton Hove Albion

Brighton Hove Albion FC

We’re by far the greatest team

The world has ever seen”

 

Brief Encounter #9

Brighton and Hove Albion

THERE is nothing quite like having a pee with your heroes!

And it was so unexpected.

I have been an avid fan of my home town football team Brighton and Hove Albion since I was a small child… 46 years to be precise. I have watched their victories and defeats over those years and the club’s near extinction in 1997.

My baptism as an 11-year-old was standing in the North Stand at the much missed Goldstone Ground on a sunny Saturday 2^nd September 1967 to see this team in blue and white beat Bury 1-0.

The chanting, bustle and atmosphere immersed me. I was hooked and had my first childhood heroes: the effervescent Kit Napier and the midfield maestro Charlie Livesey.

I can still smell the Bovril and cigarette soaked air of my first evening game one year later and the pride and disappointment of the 1983 FA Cup Final.

So I cheered on my heroes from the legendary Peter Ward to icons such as Brian Horton, Steve Foster, Bobby Zamora and Jimmy Case.

Yes, Brighton and Hove Albion are an integral part of my life.

But nothing prepared me for that moment on Friday 28^th March 2008.

My dear Aunt Val had passed away and I had driven down to her home in North London to sort out arrangements for her funeral. Her death was unexpected and I guess my mind was focussed on getting everything right for her.

So after dealing with formalities with her solicitor and the funeral celebrant I hopped in my car to make the long journey back home – then in North Wales – via the M1 motorway.

I stopped at Toddington Services, just north of Luton, for petrol, a coffee and a toilet break.

I was vaguely aware of a smart coach pulling in next to me in the car park.

The loo called first, so I made my way to the gents. I stood by the urinal trough and was just about to relieve myself when more than a dozen guys in dark blue tracksuits walked in. They assembled in various positions to answer the call of nature. As I started to pee I looked up at the guy next to me. He had a Brighton and Hove Albion badge on his tracksuit top. I silently gasped and looked along at the rest of the guys… it was the entire Brighton first team squad.

That was the OMG moment and I got instant water retention. I was peeing with my heroes… or in my case not. I had to stop looking or they might get the wrong impression!

As I exited the service station toilets I turned to the player next to me – our full back Andrew Whing – and politely asked: “What are you guys doing in Luton?”

“We are on our way to Leeds, we play them tomorrow,” was the reply.

“Do we?” I answered stupidly, still desperate for a wee!