On… Delivery

The Millwall melodrama the world needs now?

“Supporting Millwall can be a costly business.”
Opening words of 1977 Panorama documentary.

If you know, you know.

In 1977, amidst widespread horror at the behaviour of Britain’s disaffected youth, the BBC ran this Panorama documentary about Millwall ‘hooligans’. Plummy-voiced university-educated narrators interrogated the likes of Harry the Dog, Bobby the Wolf, Mad Pat and Winkle, trying to understand why so many young men rejected the social norms imposed from above. It was a massive hit.

Now, fifty years later, we’re bombarded with headlines about ‘toxic masculinity’ and ‘the manosphere’. But rather than attempt to understand the Sun-reading, leave-voting majority, polite society demonises them. Try finding a nuanced depiction of a straight, white, working-class man or teenage boy. On the page and on the screen, it’s as if they don’t exist… and when they do, they tend to be carrying a knife.

I’ve always believed books should represent everyone, not just the voices and situations that are acceptable and familiar to the elite. And I could see a large section of society - perhaps the majority - was effectively ignored when it comes to modern fiction. Go to Waterstones… you’ll find a lot of books set in ‘the quad’, and hardly any set on the Old Kent Road.

“Millwall is more than a football club, it’s a way of life. It offers congregature, excitement and glory. The glory comes not from the team but from the reputation of its supporters.”
Panorama, 1977

So I decided to do something about it…

The result is Delivery, my first novel, which is part coming-of-age story, part traditional romance, and part love letter to the ‘route one’ lower echelons of the football pyramid.

Delivery follows Dean, the archetypal thug - a white van man, a Millwall fan - who can see the world is changing around him and must decide whether to change with it.

It’s influenced by the ‘angry young men’ stories of the 50s and the frenzy of The Football Factory, but tips its cap to the messy and funny female narratives of Eliza Clark, Monica Heisey and Marian Keyes.

“I’ve been following this club years, and I mean years, you know what I mean.
And I’m not going away for some dirty northern ponce to spit all over me.
If he spits over me I’ll put a fucking pint glass in his head.”
Bobby the Wolf, 1977

Delivery has the potential to be more than a hooligan punch-up paperback, although to be fair, there are a couple of tear-ups in it. It’s about Millwall, but it’s also about manhood, and class and identity and the oppressive forces of gentrification. And it’s about hope.

I’m not sharing the pitch for the novel publicly, but you can find the first chapter here. If you’re interested in learning more about the book, drop me a line. Alternatively, subscribe for more musings on books, Millwall, and the modern male experience.