MY FOOTBALL

The Barking-born singer-songwriter and activist recalls meeting Bobby Moore, making Stuart Pearce roar, and playing a gig during a Euros final

- BILLY BRAGG

What was the first match that you ever saw live?

I can’t remember! I used to go with friends and my family in ’64-65. I can remember going to see West Ham bring back the FA Cup, and that would have been around the time I first went to games as a kid – the Moore, Hurst, Peters period. What happened is: in ’64, West Ham won the FA Cup; in ’65, they won the Cup Winners’ Cup; and in ’66 they won the World Cup. I’m going to keep saying that until the day I die. That cemented not just West Ham but football as the main interest in my life.

Who was your childhood hero and did you ever meet them?

Obviously, Bobby Moore was a big figure in my childhood. He was a Barking lad, so he was a giant in all three of those key moments in '64, '65 and '66. I met him once at, of all places, the East Of England show. I think he was opening the show there. I was living up near Peterborough at the time and I went with a friend's family; we were wandering around and there he was. I think that if you see someone you really admire, you've got to say to them, "I've always admired your work". That's all you need to say - you just want to tell them what they mean to you. And that's what I did with Mooro.

Who from your club's past would you bring back for the current side?

Maybe Billy Bonds to fill a Declan Rice-shaped hole in the middle there - someone to come in and run things again. We've always been a team based around a midfield general; in our best manifestations of West Ham-iness, that's a key thing, and I think Bonds was quite a good boss of a team. I would like to see that kind of grit in the middle there, commanding back and forth.

What do you like most about going to a match?