Essex Retro Football Show offers day of nostalgia to fans

Greg Lansdowne has been a football writer, researcher and communications professional since the mid 1990s.

And more recently he has become a specialist in football nostalgia – writing two books on Panini stickers, with a third on the way, and being a regular contributor to ‘Backpass’, the retro football magazine.

“Having attended several other Football Memorabilia Fairs to promote my work I decided Essex needed an event to celebrate what many consider ‘the good old days’ of football,” he said.

“My dad and brother were both professional footballers – dad Bill was at West Ham United as a player and coach for 25 years from the mid 50s to the end of the 70s, while brother Billy played for West Ham in the late 70s/early 80s before joining Charlton and Gillingham ahead of a successful move to Sweden.

“He scored for Kalmar FF in the 1987 Swedish Cup Final and finished as the top dvision’s leading goalscorer in 1985, going on to have a successful career as a football pundit on Swedish TV.

“There will be stallholders selling football programmes, shirts, magazines, books, cards/stickers, badges, Subbuteo and much more.

“All of the most popular teams supported in the local area will be well covered.

“There are a number of similar events up and down the UK but nothing in Essex/east London so it’s about time there was!”

Admission is free to the event, which runs from 11am until 3pm at The Loughton Club, Station Road and is just a short walk from the Central Line underground station.