Top Ten Football Books: Steven Bell

This site was lucky enough to interview Steven Bell back in September 2019 about his excellent book, From Triumph to Tragedy: The Chapecoense Story and review it shortly afterwards. In October 2020, that book is to be followed up by another incredible story in The Man of All Talents: The Extraordinary Life of Douglas ‘Duggy’ Clark, when Bell uncovers the tale of a man who was to become amongst a number of things, a Rugby League legend as well as a hero in the First World War.

Here though, he presents his Top Ten Football Books, with a noticeable Manchester United flavour, a nod to the club team that influenced his love of the game.

10) Red – Gary Neville

I was surprised by how much I thoroughly enjoyed this after being bought it as a Christmas present shortly after he retired from playing. Interesting, deep and articulate, the book is more reminiscent of Neville the pundit and TV personality than it is of the dour and often scowling right-back.

9) Until Victory Always – Jim McGuinness

Another present – this time from my Irish sister-in-law. This is an underdog story for the ages, told by the former coach of Donegal (Gaelic Football), written grippingly alongside his own personal, and often heart-breaking, story.

8) Between the Lines – Michael Carrick

One of my favourite players, I looked forward to reading his story and, in particular, his own thoughts on his perennial misuse by England. Penned by him personally, it turns out to be a surprising rollercoaster of sporting highs and terrible woes as Carrick discusses his spells suffering with mental illness. As a fellow overthinker, he only went up in my estimations – something I didn’t think possible before opening the book.

7) Alex Ferguson – My Autobiography

Sir Alex was manager of Manchester United when I was in nappies, and his team of Schmeichel, Giggs, Cantona et al are one of the main reasons I fell in love with the game. Reading his story from a toolmakers apprentice in Glasgow to winning The Treble to discovering and nurturing Cristiano Ronaldo was a joy, and a perfect way to reminisce on the 20-years of joy his team had given me.

6) More Than Just a Game – Chuck Core and Marvin Close

The harrowing but wonderfully uplifting story of the Makana FA – set up by the political prisoners of Robben Island at the very summit apartheid in South Africa. The ability to organize and run a football association for two decades helped give the men the confidence and the tools to eventually overthrow their captors. Inspiring stuff, to say the very least.

5) I am Zlatan Ibrahimovic (with David Lagercrantz)

A true rags to riches story. The pages seem to turn with the Zlatan swagger, as his personality and confidence ooze from the telling of his life story. Great anecdotes that let the reader know, Zlatan is not just a character he plays to the camera, it is a way of life.

4) Blessed – George Best (with Roy Collins)

The rollercoaster ride that is part of pop culture but told from George’s heavy heart. What makes this more tragic, is that it ends at such a happy period of his life – and we all know that there was another heart-breaking chapter or two to follow.

3) Doctor Sócrates – Andrew Downie

‘Footballer, Philosopher, Legend’ is the sub-title of this extraordinary biography, and I really cannot add to that. A unique and amazing life told brilliantly and researched diligently. Inspired me to do further research into Sócrates bizarre appearance for Garforth Town in my very own West Yorkshire and subsequently write an article for These Football Times.

2) Back From the Brink – Paul McGrath (with Vincent Hogan)

When I think of this book, I feel my heart get heavy. I couldn’t stop thinking about it for days during and after reading. To this day, when I see a positive social media message from Paul I feel instantly glad that he is in a good place. A harrowing read with spikes of unbridled joy and triumph from a gentle giant and a footballer ahead of his time.

1) The Miracle of Castel di Sangro – Joe McGinniss

The reason I immerse myself in and write sports stories. A masterpiece.

 

 

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Book Review: George Best – Fifty Defining Fixtures by Iain McCartney

In this instalment of the Fifty Defining Fixtures series, author Iain McCartney acknowledges, “there have been many books on the ‘Belfast Boy’…but while telling the story of the player many believe to have been the ‘best ever’, they have merely skirted around many of the games when he laced up his boots, pulled on the jersey and caused havoc in opposition defences.” The author’s aim therefore in this edition is to focus instead on Best’s games rather than the off field dramas that came to impact his career and later life so dramatically. So, if readers are looking for a book detailing the wild-side and scandal that surrounded the life of George Best, then this isn’t the book for you.

As with the other books in this series, the content looks at games, with reports of the time from newspapers, club programmes and other written material, to provide the reader with an idea of the genius of one of the greatest players of all time.

McCartney has been somewhat creative with his interpretation of ‘Fifty Fixtures’ with some chapters including both legs of European ties and then for Best’s spells at Fulham and Hibernian, single chapters are used to summarise his brief time at the respective clubs. Of the 160 pages, 143 are dedicated to Best’s career at Manchester United and internationals with Northern Ireland from 1961 through to 1974 and quite rightly so, given that it will be those times for which the player should be remembered. In doing so, McCartney captures the highlights of Best as he emerged at Old Trafford, but also his decline as his career entered the early 1970s and issues off the field affected the player, and in parallel as the club from the red side of Manchester also went from European Champions to a relegation threatened First Division club.

These ‘Fifty Defining Fixtures’ books have a place in providing an outline and or indeed an introduction to the players and managers they feature to potential readers, and don’t in anyway pretend to be anything more than that. However, this edition suffered in a number of ways, firstly in that the number of typos was distracting, with errors such as the repeating of the same sentence (page 94) one of the most glaring. Secondly, it was good to see a number of images included in the book, but perhaps if they had been ordered chronologically it would have been beneficial and made more sense. Thirdly , whilst still on the topic of photographs, the author makes reference to a famous image of Best from the United fixture v Burnley at Old Trafford in 1965, yet it doesn’t feature in the book. Finally, McCartney is undoubtedly an expert on the Old Trafford club, having written a number of books about the Red Devils, but his insistence on referring to Best as simply ‘George’ even in the team line-up images, feels overfamiliar and adds nothing to the reading of the text.

 

(Amberley Publishing. October 2015. Paperback 160pp)

 

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Book Review: George Best – A Memoir by Michael Parkinson

George Best died in November 2005, aged just 59, but his legend means that his name still lives on undiminished – and so too the interest in him. He was, unquestionably, a mercurial and complicated figure – a man who had it all but sadly couldn’t keep the demons away.

Lifelong friend Michael Parkinson saw Best at his highest and his lowest – both on and off the pitch – and thus writes this latest memoir from the privileged position both of Best’s friend but also as a journalist. As such it is equally a warm recollection and yet at times a critical assessment of this troubled character, compounded perhaps by what comes across as something of a lack of understanding about the nature of addiction. It is, of course, a difficult subject to broach, not least for someone close by watching another self-destruct, but it does feel as if the emphasis on Best’s troubles with alcohol are equated more often with a matter of choice than illness.

Best, it is repeated, is not a man who accepted pity, but the book does perhaps not have the empathy I had expected. I also found some of the writing quite unappealing, notably a couple of sections when Parkinson seemingly puts words and thoughts into Best’s head, which seems particularly strange given his reference to Best’s comment, ‘Nobody knows me’. In contrast, the book is at its strongest in the transcripted interviews with the man himself and the players and managers who knew him best on and around the pitch. Here we get to see both the awe at his footballing brilliance and the poignancy of a life derailed.

Best’s own assessment of the lack of support for footballers, the intrusion of the outside world and the philosophy of the British media are all particularly sad indictments and also understandable pressures on a young man upon whom the mantle of being the first real footballing superstar was thrust. What the book does do really well is it to pose some thought-provoking questions, not least about whether Best may have had a different experience had he been playing today, or whether even the support structures in place nowadays are really any better.

Another question that crops up is that perennial one of who is the best: Best, Messi or Ronaldo? But phrased not in terms of today but of Best’s era, it opens up the debate once more. Indeed, it is not a question of whether Best could have matched Messi and Ronaldo in the modern game but whether Messi and Ronaldo could have equalled Best in his era. It’s an interesting one, as too is that of how he would have fared under today’s managers. The portrait of Busby’s handling of him seems far removed from today’s footballing culture and makes you wonder just how Best’s career may have transpired under Sir Alex Ferguson, Pep Guardiola and, most intriguingly perhaps, Jose Mourinho.

The book ends with a reflection from Michael Parkinson’s son, Michael Junior, and it is perhaps one of the most touching moments of the memoir, as the junior Parkinson remembers having a kickaround with Best in the garden – or rather, as it turned out, a run around for the Parkinson boys as they chased United’s unplayable winger – a funny set piece in many ways but also a somewhat perfect portrait of both the joy and isolation football brought Best.

Whether or not you played football with Best in the back garden, watched him rule the pitch and fall from grace or know only of him through the reflections of the previous generation, you can’t help closing this book with a sense of loss, of what might have been. And though Messi and Ronaldo rule the roost today, despite his troubles, Best’s name continues to reverberate with theirs, which would surely please the man who said, ‘If only one person thinks I’m the best player in the world, that’s good enough for me.’ Fortunately, there is still a generation of people who think Best was the best player in the world, and maybe, just maybe, the greatest of all time.

Jade Craddock

 

 

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Book Review: True Storey (My Life and Crimes as a Football Hatchet Man)

Growing up in the seventies, my football education came from my dad’s allegiance to The Arsenal and through me discovering my own team, Fulham. The game was a very different beast then. Football on the television consisted of highlights on a Saturday night with ‘Match of the Day’ and Sunday afternoons with ‘The Big Match’. Live football? Well that was one game a season, when the FA Cup Final was shown. Teams wore simple kits in traditional colours without a hint of advertising and played on pitches that varied between sand strewn mud-heaps and bare, rock hard surfaces. It was a time when football was a much more physical game and every First Division team had their ‘hard-man’. Chelsea had Ron Harris, there was Tommy Smith at Liverpool and Norman Hunter at Leeds United, whilst Arsenal had Peter Storey. So in reading “True Storey: My Life and Crimes as a Football Hatchet Man” I knew the footballing background against which the story is set.

One immediate impression about the book is that the 224 pages (Mainstream Publishing 2011 Edition) consist of 23 chapters and an introduction. This for me meant that whilst reading, the book moved on at quite a pace as each chapter was relatively short, precise and punchy, making it a quick read. Overall the style is conversational with some humour, but is essentially forthright, blunt and to the point.

The Introduction provides Storey’s raison d’être for the book in that he wanted to “…explain the ‘madness’ (the seedy side of life after football) for the first time…”. The book is his chance to put straight the “…many lies and half-truths peddled as ‘fact’ relating to the crime which blighted (his) life…” Following the Introduction, Storey’s life is told from growing up in 1950’s Britain in Aldershot, to present day life in South-West France.

The reader is eased into Peter Storey’s tale with his early playing days and his progress through the representative sides of Aldershot & Farnborough Schools FA, London Schools and England Schoolboys, with his passion and desire to be a professional evident. Having left school at the age of 15, he then signed for Arsenal in 1961, “…the best club in the football world…” However, at that time North London rivals Tottenham were the Kings of English football having just become the first club in the Twentieth Century to do the Double.

Peter settled into the youth team playing in the South East Counties League playing alongside Peter Simpson and Jon Sammels, who like Storey went on to establish themselves in the first team. By the 1962/63 season, he progressed to the A team (third team) playing in the Metropolitan League and had signed a professional contract. Storey’s frustrations at not progressing as quickly into the first team is evident, but in the 1964/65 season he travelled as first reserve for an FA Cup 4th Round fixture at Peterborough United and was now playing in the Reserves. Off the pitch, life too was changing for him as he shared houses with Jon Sammels and Terry Neil, where trips to the laundrette and a lack of food provide some amusing tales about the bachelor lives of the young Gunners players.

The 1965/66 season saw Peter Storey make his first team debut for the Gunners on 30th October 1965 at Filbert Street against Leicester City. Arsenal lost 3-1 and Storey made his mark, when he “…coldly barged Sinclair into touch with the ball long departed…” – Peter Storey had arrived. Billy Wright the Wolves and England legend was manager at the time and Storey offers an insight into a club not happy under Wright’s leadership. It was a wretched season for the Gunners and with six games to go they were in serious relegation trouble. However, they did survive, but it had an effect on the Highbury faithful. So much so that the lowest attendance for a competitive game at Highbury was recorded that season, when on 5th May 1966, just 4,554 turned up to watch the Division One fixture against Leeds United. Inevitably at the end of the season Wright was sacked.

Given this background, perhaps it was understandable Storey observed that at Arsenal, “…concern for the club and interest in the new manager took precedence over the World Cup…” as the 1966/67 dawned. Although, he did reflect that he noticed, “…teams in the First Division getting a lot more organised, much more professional…” Bertie Mee was appointed Manager along with Dave Sexton as First Team Coach, an appointment Storey saw as vital since Mee “…didn’t have a clue about tactics…” Sexton moved on in October 1967 to manage Chelsea and in came Don Howe to begin a historic period and partnership for the Gunners.

In 1968 and 1969 the Gunners made it to Wembley to the League Cup Final. Despite losing both, 1-0 against Leeds United in 1968 and 3-1 against Swindon Town in 1969, the good times at Highbury were about to bloom. In 1969/70 Arsenal took part in the Fairs Cup (now Europa League) and overcame Anderlecht 4-3 over two-legs in the Final. Even better was to come the following season. Given the historic nature of Arsenal doing the Double, Storey does devote two chapters to the achievements of that memorable season for the Gunners. However, it wasn’t all glory, glory as Storey saw it.

On the Official Arsenal Website, there is a feature on the ‘50 Greatest Arsenal Players’. Peter Storey completes the list at Number 50, a testament to his contribution to the club and regard by the fans. The site outlined his contribution to the Gunners history with the following:

If Peter Storey hadn’t held his nerve, Arsenal would not have made history in 1971. It’s as simple as that. Storey was a vital – if unsung – member of Bertie Mee’s Double squad and his crucial contribution came in March of that year as Arsenal stared defeat in the face at their FA Cup Semi-Final against Stoke City at Hillsborough. Storey had already halved a two-goal deficit with a rasping second-half drive but Stoke looked set to seal a 2-1 victory, and book their place at Wembley, before Arsenal were awarded a stoppage-time penalty for a handball on the goal line. The yellow-shirted Gunners leapt with joy – but not Storey. He had the unenviable task of beating England legend Gordon Banks from 12 yards to keep Arsenal’s Double dream alive. Storey saw Banks go right and slotted the ball low to the keeper’s left, cool as you like. Arsenal went on to win the replay, lift the Cup and complete the Double.

Storey recalls the highs of those events in Chapter Twelve, (“I’ll always have Sheffield”), but Stoke also had unhappy memories later that season when Storey was injured in the fixture against the Potters at Highbury. It meant he missed the title decider at Tottenham and he admits he felt something of an outsider as the team celebrated the title win and observed that he, “…knew a little of the emotional pain and bitter disappointment Jimmy Greaves experienced when he was injured during the World Cup and watched as his replacement Geoff Hurst became a national hero…”. Still carrying the injury, missing the Cup Final looked inevitable and Storey recalls an intriguing episode in which he believes Bertie Mee tried to ensure he missed the game. Peter Storey having declared himself fit was then put through his paces by the manager which Storey saw as an “…unbelievably gruelling fitness test…” However, Storey came through the test, but on the day in the Final against Liverpool he lasted about an hour before limping off.

Success at club level brought Peter Storey international recognition and his first cap came in 1971 in a 3-0 win at Wembley against Greece. Sir Alf Ramsey recognised the versatility of the Arsenal man and in winning 19 caps he played at both right and left back and in midfield for his country. Not bad for somebody who many thought was just an “assassin and a thug…”

That Double winning season proved to be the peak for that Arsenal side. It came as a shock when Don Howe resigned to manage WBA at the beginning of the 1971/72 season. Storey couldn’t understand why the Coach had left when there was the challenge of the European Cup and the chance to build a legacy at Arsenal existed. Whilst the departure of Howe didn’t have an immediate effect, Storey felt that there was a gradual decline in standards, discipline and direction which meant the Gunners never hit the heights of the Double winning season. Arsenal returned to Wembley for the 1972 FA Cup Final, but lost out to Leeds United 1-0. 1972/73 the Gunners finished runners-up to Liverpool for the title. However, the following season they finished 10th. 1974/75 was even worse with Arsenal bottom during October 1974 before finishing 16th and they finished 17th in 1975/76. Storey started that season in the reserves and despite some first team appearances, was suspended by the club in March after a row with Bertie Mee. Terry Neil came in as the new Gunners boss in 1976/77 and offered a way back for Storey, who by his own admission was “…on the piss and out of condition…” To his credit Storey battled back to fitness but as the season went on he was honest enough to acknowledge that he “…was drinking and not really interested in playing for Arsenal any longer…” In March 1977 Peter Storey was transferred to Fulham, where he teamed up with Bobby Moore and George Best. He helped save the Cottagers from relegation and started the 1977/78 season at Craven Cottage. However, his heart wasn’t really in it and he played his last game as a professional footballer on Saturday 10th September 1977 ironically away at Spurs.

In recounting the episodes regarding his life after football, Peter Storey is incredibly candid. Indeed this extends to his relationships and marriages, where Storey recognises that his selfish and vain life-style were major factors in their failure. Storey doesn’t hide his brushes with the law or try to blame anybody else. He admits that he missed the buzz that football had provided him with and was “…attracted to the brash, flash lifestyle enjoyed by smartly dressed thieves…the way they always seemed to have a pretty girl on one arm, a pocketful of ready cash and plenty of time to indulge themselves…”. Storey pinpoints the buying of the Jolly Farmers in the summer of 1975 as the beginning of the end. Storey honestly admits, “…the decline, when it came, was relatively swift, brutal and mostly my own fault…and (I) found solace in a bottle…” The spiral downwards included, spells in jail for smuggling pornographic videos and conspiracy to counterfeit gold half-sovereigns, a suspended sentence for running a brothel and conviction for selling cars which were on hire-purchase. Reading these final chapters of the book is a shocking, yet sobering experience, that illustrates how easily life can descend into chaos.

It is a book which provides a great insight into a genuine Gunners legend, honestly detailing the highs of his playing career and the murky lows of crime and prison in life after football. However, Storey was lucky that he had people to help and support him to emerge the other side and now lives a contented life in France with wife Daniele. Storey closes by telling with obvious pride about the three boys he has and the simple enjoyment that a few beers shared with his sons and his father can bring. The hatchet man has put down his axe and seems at peace with the world.

 

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Featured Writers – Graeme Garvey

A long time ago in a world far, far away I remember sitting in the press box at Halifax Town as my dad reported on the match. That was in the days of the old Third Division. I was born in Halifax and moved to Bradford when I was two. Watching Bradford Park Avenue in World Cup winning year, their best player by almost exactly a million miles was Kevin Hector, although I did see the classy Johnny Haynes and Allan Clarke when Avenue played Fulham in the F.A. Cup.

I moved to the famous metropolis of Drighlington in 1968 and soon began watching Leeds United. Not many stars of other sides played well against that Leeds team; apart from one magical minute when he scored two goals, George Best was almost always kept quiet by Paul Reaney. Paul Madeley had a similar damping effect on Bobbie Charlton. Jimmy Greaves, the finest goalscorer I have ever seen, scored a great opportunist goal for Spurs in their 3-1 defeat. Momentary flickers of greatness. Cryuff and Neeskens did very little in the Elland Road leg of the European Cup semi-final whilst playing for Barcelona. Perhaps surprisingly, the visiting player who impressed me most at Elland Road was the gutsy and skilful Mike Summerbee.

There have been many memorable occasions watching football so it is not easy to pick out the best.  Although I was fortunate enough to see Leeds win the Cup in 1972, I would probably rate higher the two Championship titles achieved by the Revie boys. The best team after 42 games truly is the best in the land. For me, their greatest team performance was against Tottenham in the Cup on the way to Wembley triumph.

Sadly, there is no doubt which has been my worst experience watching football. When 56 people die and another 265 are injured at a game, it truly puts everything else into context. May 11th1985, Bradford City v Lincoln City. After such an awful experience, football has never been quite the same again and has put me completely out of patience when I see fans, in close-up on the huge TV screen, weeping in inconsolable grief at not winning this trophy, narrowly losing out on that title, or even – dread the thought – being relegated. So what?

I was a member of Leeds Football Writers’ group, contributed to Leeds, Leeds, Leeds the club magazine, have appeared in Four Four Two and done a bit of radio work as well. More recently I have been contributing weekly pieces to www.clarkeonenil. Over the years I have also been involved in producing and publishing several books on football, including Fanthology (as contributor and editor), Doolally (contributor and publisher) and Black Catalogue (contributor and publisher).

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