Claret & Blue Congratulations

[Ian Herring]

Tubby Isaacs - beautiful.

I have fond memories of Hornchurch and Upminster. My old paternal Grandad was an exact case in point, bombed out of the East End and from there a resident of the banks of the Ingrebourne for many years. He was a West Ham supporter himself.

Generally these days I think that football fans have become more 'belligerent' in some of the ways they identify themselves with what they think their teams represent, swallowing an awful lot of cod mythology along the way, without fully understanding why it is they say and do what they do.

Yet when you meet like-minded fans, it's often to find out that our outlooks are often similar.

I always loved that part of Essex because I was delighted to discover it had a place called Elm Park.

My paternal roots were Essex and East End, maternal were Glaswegian displaced to Reading and Berkshire 'won' my residency in the end.

Anyway, pleasant to come across some geezers not spouting the party line.

Feel the love!

[Barry the bird boggler]

We'll be the oldest club in the Premier League next season. Again.

Stoke City 1863 >>>>> Reading FC 1871

HTH

And they had the hoops before we did.

1870

Yeah, but for how long?