It was a year ago today that my friend—and Claret & Hugh founder—Hughie Southon passed away in his sleep.
As always seems to be the case these days, a year has gone by far more quickly than seems possible. But my old mate Hughie remains constantly in my thoughts.
Hughie was a true old-school Fleet Street journalist who wrote for all of the red tops during his time as a sports writer. He had more stories than I could ever begin to recall. During the golden generation of England—Beckham, Scholes, Rio, etc—he was the England correspondent, travelling with the team on official chartered flights to away games.
His proudest professional achievement was acting as ghostwriter to the great Bobby Moore. Part of his role involved sitting next to Bobby at matches, watching the game together. He never quite got over the fact he was paid to do that, and I only wish I’d recorded some of the stories he told me about those days.
As for the man himself, Hughie was a true friend in every sense of the word. He supported me through my darkest times—gave me work when I’d lost my job, and was a daily presence during my marriage break-up as I struggled to adjust to single parenting.
We spoke every day—sometimes five times a day. Often about West Ham, but also music, which we both loved. His favourite band was The Stones, mine is The Who, and we’d constantly swap stories and hidden B-sides from the likes of Zeppelin, Free, The Eagles and beyond.
After his passing, Hughie’s daughter Kate (he always said “Katie”) made the brave decision to keep Claret & Hugh running—something Hughie always wanted. He was a gifted writer who left a huge void, but he always envisioned the site as “The Daily West Ham Newspaper”—short, punchy articles offering news and opinion in around 200 words. That’s what we have tried to continue, sometimes we get it right and sometimes we don’t.
He created the site so he could work from home and care for his beloved wife Sandra, whose health was in decline. To say he succeeded in both would be an understatement. The site today remains as close to Hughie’s original vision as possible, even without the man himself.
That said, I still hear him in my ear every matchday—especially when we play badly or win emphatically. Hughie would call me and sing “Bubbles” after a win, or rant like the best of them after a dire performance. He never pretended to be impartial and never swayed from the fact that C&H was a West Ham site. That meant he had his favourites… and let’s just say, players he’d have rather seen moved on.
His memory is kept alive not only through regular contact with Kate, but also with his brother Eric—who sounds uncannily like him and shares that same inquisitive mind and passion for football. It’s been a pleasure to get to know him this past year, even if the circumstances are sad.
So today, I’ll raise a cup of tea to Hughie (he gave up drinking years ago), and say a massive thank you to everyone who has helped keep the site going—Sean, Martin, Matt, Jason, Simon, and of course Yvonne on Facebook.
I wouldn’t quite call C&H a well-oiled machine—it often reacts to news just like everyone else—but it’s very much the corner shop of West Ham news. We’re not backed by a multi-million pound network with a site for every Premier League club. C&H is a small, family-run site built by a passionate West Ham fan.
RIP Hughie, mate. Miss you every day. x
