Dan Tester’s fifth book, Brighton & Hove Albion On This Day hits the shelves just in time for Christmas. The third edition of this title – re-written and revised – revisits all the memorable moments from the club’s rollercoaster past, featuring all the crucial games, great players and inspirational managers.

“Remember when is the lowest form of conversation” as Tony Soprano once grumbled. But On This Day is no exercise in a Peter Kay-esque ‘remember that?!’ nostalgia.

What it is and what it does, over two hundred and fifty plus pages, is let us recall our truth through the presentation of the facts in the history of Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club.

“Wasn’t it Rohan Ince who scored?” “Murray missed a penalty right?” We all say as the less specific moods, feelings and memories of our lived experience - time with friends, new or regular destinations, memorable personal moments - fill our mind. All these moments tied together by the specifics of football and documented on these pages.

It’s all there and it’s all presented in a digestible format, suitable for a fan from any era. Some to learn from, some to recall, all to empathise with the continuities of following a football club your whole life in any era.

But in the melee of over a century of history, countless personalities and thousands of incidents that comprise a club and community’s history, there’s still stuff that On This Day surfaces that may have passed you by.

Tuesday 17th May 1966 “Police reinforcements were called to the Goldstone to stop youths behind the goal throwing orange-peel and whistling during the reserve game against Notts County.” Not going to look at Granddad in the same way again are you, as you secure his beaker of Bovril from the concourse Kiosk? The citrus slinging hoodlum.

“‘Maradona Eyes Up Albion’!”... qué? I hear you ask. Yes, that's in there. You know that Timpson’s on Church Road? You know the one, near the big Tesco. That’s the location of the club’s first registered address. A sacred spot worth a moment of reflection when you’re getting your shoes resoled.

We all remember our first game in Europe right? That balmy night on the Med. Except it wasn’t our first. 25th May 1953, a 4-4 draw against Belgian side FC Liege. The interplay of facts and truth exemplified and also a lovely nugget of trivia for boring blokes on the WSU concourse like me.

What Tester does so artfully is present sweeping eras, grand narratives and 120+ years of history in an accessible format. You often hear football fans talk about when a certain era started. Our current success is argued as going back to Hughton or Poyet or Bloom or Withdean etc. But what On This Day brings to our attention is that a history of a community never starts or stops, it’s a continuation.

On This Day is a journey through who we are, how we got here and the connections, similarities and parallels that span the course of our history, our lived experiences and our truth.

The book is available here: www.englishfootballbooks.com/brighton-hove-albion-books/