Bill Hagerty 23 April 1939 – 26 December 2025

Wednesday, 7 January 2026 | News, In Focus, Heritage

Bill Joined the BU Board, March 2016 and contributed match reports since November 2018. In his final report, of our 4-3 victory over MU, May 2025, he signed off in customary style. ‘Couldn’t care less,’ said my mate, Charlie. ‘They were okay, but let’s face it, we are the real deal.' From Bees United, with Bill's family and the national press, it's 'goodbye and thank you' Bill.  
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In Bill’s own words

‘..I started out in this grand old trade covering, among other things, amateur football in east London.
Sixty-something years later, having been around the block, and the globe, several times, I find my only regular gig is writing regular match reports on Brentford FC
Premier League admittedly, but football still.

Funny old game, journalism.’

Foreword by Stewart Purvis
Bees United Chair March 2019 – February 2023

Bill Hagerty was all that’s best about Bees United. He gave his time and his expertise to support the club he loved and asked for nothing in return. His reward was to see the Bees become an established Premier League club. What a change from those Championship days when Bill and I sat in a shed at Jersey Road wondering why nobody other than us and BBC Radio London came there for Brentford  press conferences and why some local papers had given up publishing match reports.
So this Fleet Street legend decided to write his own for BU in a charmingly personal style with the help of a friend called Charlie who curiously none of us ever met. The editor of the best-selling Alastair Campbell diaries also found the time to proofread the two BU books we published. Nothing was too much trouble for Bill when it came to Brentford and he gave us all so much pleasure.

One day in 2016 a man came up to me at Griffin Park and said “you’re Stewart Purvis aren’t you, would you like to be involved in Bees United?”.

Bill, I’m so glad you asked.
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Bill’s wife, Liz writes

Bill introduced me to Brentford FC shortly after we married in 1991. He’d been a fan for decades, bringing his eldest son Will as a child from their then home in Ealing. Initially I didn’t really get football but I soon got the bug.
Our son Adam was born in 1993 and became involved in sports camps and birthday parties organised by the community side of the club – and I, a busy working mum, was masterfully chivvied by the coaches into making sure I was around for awards and presentations –  now some of my best memories.
And bit by bit I became passionate about our team, as Bill and I went from being regulars in the Braemar Road stand to season ticket holders. Our grandsons Frankie and Sonny eventually joined the friends and family list, while Felix got baby Bees kit on his arrival. With the club’s increased involvement with women’s football, Bill’s daughter Faith and Bill’s granddaughter Stella were soon watching matches from the North Stand.
Bill loved being involved with Bees United, a concept he thought really important to preserve and grow. After leaving the board, he was delighted to be able to continue close links as contributing editor and he’d make notes beside me during each match, notes he admitted he never needed to refer to!
The game was in his head. And then of course there was Charlie. Bill’s invisible friend: taciturn, a bit grumpy at times, says it like it is, but always with the glint of humour in his eye. And Bees greatest fan. A bit like Bill really.
I miss them both more than I can say.
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Bill’s son, Adam Hagerty

My father, Bill Hagerty, sadly left us on the 26th of December after bravely battling cancer and other health complications this year.

He was an avid Brentford fan, who shared his love for the team with Will, Faith, Mike, often over from Florida and Liz his beloved wife – mostly season ticket holders. His grandchildren now also attend matches after catching the bees bug. Brentford FC has been at the heart of our family and something we have cherished experiencing together over the years.

After a career on Fleet Street, Bill also sat on the board of Bees United for numerous years where he made many friends connected to the club. After stepping down, he continued as a contributing editor, continuing to write his match reports for the Bees United Newsletter (and Chiswick Calendar), something that brought him great joy.

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Bill Hagerty 23.04.1939 – 26.12.2025

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Twice an editor of Fleet Street newspapers – Sunday Today and in 1991 The People – Bill was also acting editor of the Daily Mirror.
In 2023 Bill was awarded the title of London Press Club Journalist Laureate for efforts far beyond the printed page. Bill collected his honour and the Laureate’s pen in front of a host of national newspaper editors, media executives, and leading media figures including former Downing Street press secretary Alastair Campbell who said Bill was a ‘terrific journalist’ with ‘a youthful zest for life, a real interest in people, and a love of storytelling’

Receiving his award Bill said: ‘I started out in this grand old trade covering, among other things, amateur football in east London. Sixty-something years later, having been around the block, and the globe, several times, I find my only regular gig is writing regular match reports on Brentford FC – Premier League admittedly, but football still. Funny old game, journalism.’

Football reporting was at the very beginning of his career and amongst interviews of stars like John Wayne, Richard Burton, Michael Caine, Roger Moore and Joan Collins. As a sports reporter, Bill covered the 1966 World Cup and later, on the Daily Mirror, flew with a planeload of readers to Brazil to meet Pele along with Bobby Moore, who became a friend. As Bill wryly noted at the end of his career he was still reporting on football with his regular Brentford match reports for the Bees United Newsletter and the Chiswick Calendar.

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We acknowledge with great thanks, these articles from The Times, The Mirror and The Sun 

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