ERIC AND DAVE: A LIFETIME OF FOOTBALL AND FRIENDSHIP by Spencer Vignes

Meet Eric Gill and Dave Hollins, once feted as two of the finest goalkeepers in Britain. Between them they have more stories to tell spanning the past ten decades than there are holes in a football net.

Their unique friendship started as a rivalry, two men wrestling over the same goalkeeper jersey at Brighton & Hove Albion in the 1950s.

Seventy years later they remain the best of pals, having lived long, eventful lives bookended by the horrors of World War Two and the Covid-19 pandemic.

Journey back to when footballers earned £20 a week and goalkeepers wore string gloves, as Eric and Dave recall how they dodged Hitler’s bombs before pitting their wits against some of sport’s most iconic names: a list that includes Stanley Matthews, Pele and George Best not to mention their shared nemesis, Brian Clough.

Touching, inspiring and searingly honest, Eric and Dave is a salutary reminder that youth is not a time of life but a state of mind.

(Publisher: Pitch Publishing Ltd. August 2022. Hardcover: 288 pages)