VERY busy time at the moment. My new anthology A Lifetime Of Football Writing (Poems, Songs & Stories)  has just been published, I’ve got gigs all over the place, and it’s our silver wedding next Monday and my 68th birthday on Tuesday. 

First and foremost, I want to thank my wonderful wife Robina for a quarter of a century of glorious, inspirational togetherness without a single boring moment. We’re absolute soulmates and very, very different: she became a local councillor in 2021 and, ever since, one particular phrase has crossed her lips so many times that I have used it as the title of a recent poem.

Don’t Judge Me By My Husband

“Don’t judge me by my husband”
You say that lots these days!
A tribute to our marriage 
And proudly different ways.
You’re quietly on the inside
Dignified and polite.
I’m loudly on the outside:
Both fighting the good fight. 

I have my reputation
And you, my love, have yours. 
Punk poet and the councillor -
Same building, different doors. 
These words to all who meet us
On our joint path through life:
Don’t judge you by your husband, but 
Please, judge me by my wife.

The last two lines say it all. 

Tonight, Saturday 18, I’m doing a special anniversary/birthday gig at Worthing Cellar Arts Club, with all proceeds split between Worthing Food Foundation and Shoreham and Adur Community Foodbank, and I’ve five more fundraising gigs coming up in the next few days. I’ve got my pension now and I’m still gigging as much as ever, so the least I can do is spend some time helping those who need it most.

On my birthday on Tuesday 21st I’m at the Jenny Lind in Hastings with brilliant Edinburgh songwriter Calum Baird and the wonderful Hastings Punk Choir, who will be joining me on some of my songs. On Wednesday it’s my local, The Duke of Wellington in Shoreham, again with Calum, Thursday at The Lab in Northampton with rapper Karl Phillips, Friday is at The Red Shed in Wakefield with Indignation Meeting, and Saturday at We Shall Overcome HQ, The Station in Ashton Under Lyne, with Mary Moden and the Male Members. We’ll be raising money for We Shall Overcome in Hastings, Wakefield and Ashton, the local foodbanks in Shoreham, and local DIY venue The Lab in Northampton. Please come if you can. 

I’d been thinking for a while that I should publish a specific standalone collection of all my football writing from the last 40 years. A few months ago, completely coincidentally, I had an offer from record label/music promoter friends in Tampere, Finland, as keen on football and poetry as they are on music, to do just that, with the book endorsed by their local club, Tampere United: I’ve done quite a few gigs in Finland as part of my many tours of mainland Europe. So the book was launched in Tampere in July (for obvious reasons their football season is summer-based!) and it’s out here now. 

The main reason Tampere United fans wanted to publish this book is that their original club, FC Tampere — one of the most successful in Finland — was dissolved following money laundering convictions, and as their fans got together, determined to start a new club, they were inspired in part by the story of our successful fan-led campaign to save the Albion. They started their new club in 2012 and it remains fan-owned, having risen from the seventh to the third tier of Finnish football. As I say in the poem I wrote for them: “Don’t tamper with Tampere – keep it fan-owned for ever!” 

It covers my whole life as an Albion fan, starting with my epic poem Goldstone Ghosts, which now hangs on the wall in the North Stand; there are lots of memories of the campaigns and protests during the 90s “war years”, and wry poems and tales from my 14 years as PA announcer and matchday DJ in our temporary homes at Gillingham and Withdean. And to bring everything bang up to date now we’re riding high there’s my recent rewrite of Elvis Costello’s I Don’t Want To Go To Chelsea published in my last column, and lots of thoughts about the contradictions inherent in the modern game. Available at the Albion stadium shop and online at attilathestockbroker.bandcamp.com

Cheers everyone.