West Ham United fan and author Robert Banks has a new project that charts the history of the club during 'The John Lyall Years'.

Banks previously wrote books charting his personal journey as a Hammers fan, including 'An Irrational Hatred of Luton (1995)', 'West Ham Till I Die (2000)', The Legacy of Barry Green (2003)' and 'An Irrational Hatred of Everything (2018)'.

But he has changed medium for this latest venture, branching out into the digital world.

"'The John Lyall Years' was borne out of a desire to map West Ham's history in a logical and chronological way," he said.

"I had seen a similar thing done by a Leeds fan, Marc Gibbons, on YouTube called 'The Wilderness Years' charting the period between 1975-88. I loved it and wanted to do something similar.

"Speaking to Marc, though, it was clear that he was a professional video editor with a MacBook Pro and access to endless TV and newspaper archives. Here I was with my Samsung tablet, software that cost me £30, a bank of West Ham videos converted from VHS and a subscription to YouTube Premium.

"The Leeds videos reminded me of the BBC series “Match of the 70s/80s” and I remember loving watching them but always being disappointed by the lack of West Ham clips - if West Ham did feature it was usually because they were being trounced by Liverpool or Arsenal!

"Here was an opportunity to record something that would chart each game in sequence. I still feel John Lyall is underrepresented in our club’s history and his achievements should be featured more prominently. Probably my age. 

"I decided to make the series about his tenure, starting when he took over first-team affairs in 1974. The aim was to spark memories for those who remember that period, and educate those too young, but who might have heard the stuff of legend.

"The video clips selected in highlights packages tend to concentrate on the glory, not the pain. There was a lot of pain. This series is a warts and all documentary and weaves in news stories, TV shows, films and the chart music of the time into what aims to be the complete package. 

"When you see isolated clips out of context you can think 'we were great then' or 'we were rubbish then' but it is the nature of the club to be great one minute and rubbish the next, so I this it’s important to see each clip in the context of surrounding games.
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Lifting most of the footage from my own digitised video collection or from YouTube, and using MP3 tracks available online, it means every single video has a copyright claim on it so they cannot be monetised. That was never the aim – the aim is to share West Ham’s history with a new audience and provide the comfort blanket of cherished memories for those old enough to remember.

"Above all, it is supposed to be fun and enjoyable. Comments so far have all been positive. I am doing four episodes per season, with a bonus episode for cup finals which means there is likely to be 60-plus episodes so it will be running for a while."

You can find the series by searching @westhamhistory, Robert Banks or The John Lyall Years in youtube.