In September 2016, I was proud to publish my first book, From Albion To Zazzera. The book is a history of Ashford Town (Middlesex) Football Club which took over seven years to research and write.
One of the reasons the book took so long to produce was that prior to the start of the project, the club’s own records dated back only as far as 1982. From Albion to Zazzera traces the roots of the Evo-Stik League Southern Division One Central club from their formation in 1958, summarising every season up to and including promotion from the Combined Counties League at the end of last season.
The book also contains brief profiles of the seven players who have gone on to play in the Football League or an equivalent abroad and the nine footballers who have won caps for their country and also worn the Ash Trees’ distinctive tangerine and white strip.
The book also includes profiles of a number of notable personalities from different eras, information about the seven known venues the club has used for home matches and also details the achievements of two clubs to have played in the local area prior to the emergence of the current club. A foreword to the book has been written by club Patron and television and theatre personality Russell Grant.
This project has been a real ‘labour of love’ and to see the book in print is a dream come true. It’s fantastic to know that there is a proper record of the club’s story available for anyone to read. It’s also been a fantastic opportunity to pay tribute to a handful of the many people who have helped to make the club the brilliant organisation that it is and I hope that the end result will bring pleasure to many people.
From Albion to Zazzera is available to buy from Amazon in paperback at a cost of £9.99 and in a Kindle edition priced £4.99. You can read a sample of it below.