'20-21 - the Book*' needs you... *there will be a better title...

Tangerine innit?

I hope this isn't a self regarding thing but I have had the urge to write something longer (readers cry, 'longer? for fuck's sake lad, your shite is long enough as it is...') about the season just past. Saying 'I'm going to write a book' feels like something a bit pretentious. I suppose it is. Sorry and that... 

If you just want to cut my usual over long stuff - you can contribute here. Otherwise, you can read on... 

Why? 

It was a unique season that will (hopefully) never be replicated. It was a difficult time for many but also a season full of joy. I think there's a danger it will recede into a distant blurred memory of endless ifollow freezes, grim announcements and too many weekday beers and that the individual and collective performances will be lost. I think the players and staff deserve better than that and so do we. We held together and they produced something magic. 

What? 

I intend to write a season diary (thus far I'm about 10,000 words in and we've just beaten Burton away...) I won't just be copying and pasting the blog wholesale, but it's the draft so to speak. The problem is, a season diary where you just listen to me tell you about endless matches on video could get very boring. I will try my level best to be succinct and make it read well, but no one wants to read an entire book about a boring middle aged man on his couch. The 'witty' observation will get weary. (believe me, I'm bored of myself) 

What I want is to include the voices of other fans. I'd love people to contribute their experiences of both the football and life in general during the last year.

For me, the football and the connection to other people it gave me were a godsend. Weeks blurred together, the news was full of doom and darkness and football held things together. It was more than football somehow. I witnessed people talking about stuff online and sharing their feelings, I watched as people raised money and I took part in something bigger than me every Saturday and Tuesday at a time when my world felt very, very small. 

I'd like to contrast my writing with short vignettes, little images from other people's bubbles and maybe, if possible, a little bit of detail about some of the other stuff that went on outside football. I can't do that without other people. I can't include everyone's life story but I would like to have some sections that go a bit deeper into some things beyond the pitch. There was more to being a Pool fan than just applauding Jerry and Big Gaz this year in a way that probably won't ever be the same again. 

It'd look a bit like this... 

Me: "blah blah, Jerry scored, blah blah, the Viking ran into the post, blah blah, Critch didn't make any subs blah blah, waffle, Bez on a unicycle, blah blah.... Another win!" 

Contributor "My sister had lost her job on the Monday and I couldn't go and see her, so I was in a bit of a state but this game was the one thing that week where I smiled" 

"My little lad knocked over and smashed a vase when Jerry scored but I couldn't shout at him as I was jumping around too"

How? 

I'm not asking for money to get this off the ground. I love doing it and it's a privilege to write about Pool and I get a lot from doing it. I just want it to be taken or left according to whether it works for people or not and to write what I want, not what makes money or gets 'hits'. Asking for money would make it something else and I don't want that.

Instead of money... any stuff on the following would be massively appreciated. 

• How you watched games. The little rituals and routines you developed. 
• Did the football help you? How? 
  
• Observations about particular games or players. (I'd be happy to use tweets - I read a book recently that used tweets in a 'diary' style really well - we have some brilliant, funny and knowledgeable people on twitter) 
• Did you get involved in anything positive around the club or supporters groups during the pandemic? I'd love to include some of this because it was brilliant and deserves credit as much as anything else.   
• Summat else I've not thought of. 

I'm happy to write up anything you've got to say - don't worry about expression or owt. We're all just dickheads with different skills and I'd really like as many perspectives as possible not just wordy gobshites who fancy themselves with a typewriter (i.e. me) 

You can contribute by clicking here. You can do so anonymously or with credit.  

When? 

I will be asking for money to buy the book. I haven't got a clue how to get a book published and I'm a bit 'DIY' in nature so we'll see. I've also got no time. I will do it though! 

What about the money???- You just said you didn't want to make any but now you are charging me you two faced shyster...

As above, I don't want to make money from this personally. It's been a pleasure to write and to get read by people and it is definitely the kind words of Blackpool (and other) fans that have given me the confidence to try this. I don't want it to be something other than what I want to do. I can't lose money doing it though but I'd put any profit above costs (and I won't be Oyston-esque about costs!) to something good, like Blackpool Food Bank or mental health charities. I'll work this out when I've actually got a book but that's how it will work. I also don't want the effort and time of working out how to pay contributors so it's easier for me on a selfish level. 

Cheers for reading.

Go well.