mick pickup

This is the true story of a football fan so desperate to follow his team, he decides to hitchhike all over the British Isles to watch them.

It starts with a ‘Road to Damascus’ conversion to football fanaticism and then takes in the terror and discomfort of football hooliganism in the 1970s and 1980s.

From a battering in Brighton to being marooned on motorway service stations, the author shows a combination of crazed loyalty and pig-headed stubbornness. it will make readers laugh and cringe at the same time when they read about the privations he was prepared to endure, all to watch his beloved hometown team.

Eventually the hitchhiking had to stop after his girlfriend threatened to leave him. But this was at the same time as a local steel magnate injected vast sums of money into his team. From obscurity they became England’s Premier League Champions and also won another major trophy. the author continued to follow his team, even venturing across Europe. In between these events, he still managed to keep up his eccentric behaviour by actually walking to one away match.

This book is a story about blind loyalty, determination and crass stupidity. it is also great fun, just what supporting your team is all about.