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Book Review: Out of the Shadows – The Story of the 1982 England World Cup Team by Gary Jordan

For many football fans in England, the 1982 World Cup in Spain is simply remembered for the fact the Three Lions were eliminated from the tournament despite not losing a game: a footnote, nothing more than a pub quiz question. However, there is so much more to this oft repeated simplistic one-line memory of England at the 12th Copa del Mundo Finals.

Author Gary Jordan, could have simply gone down the route of writing about the games that Ron Greenwood’s squad took part in during that summer of 1982, but has instead provided a well-researched and in-depth look at providing a story that leads all the way back to the 1970 World Cup Finals in Mexico. By taking the reader back to that Quarter-Final tie when as World Cup holders England surrended a two-goal lead to West Germany, Jordan pinpoints the start of a period in the international football wilderness for the English National team. Jordan continues in the opening chapter his exploration of England’s fall from grace with the detailing of the infamous 1-1 draw at Wembley against Poland, which effectively sealed Sir Alf Ramsey’s fate, as England failed to qualify for the 1974 Finals in West Germany, and the Don Revie era, tainted by his defection to the United Arab Emirates, with England once again missing out on World Cup qualification, this time to Argentina in 1978.

With Revie gone, Ron Greenwood takes the reigns in 1977 with the aim of ensuring qualification for the 1980 European Championship Finals in Italy and the 1982 World Cup Finals in Spain and in doing so, hopefully restore some pride in the Three Lions. This mission for the ex-West Ham United supremo then is explored by Jordan, who skilfully details the changing face of the playing squad as it navigates qualification for the 1980 Campionato Europeo di Calcio in Italy. England qualified for the Finals, after going unbeaten in a group which contained, Bulgaria, Denmark, Northern Ireland, and Republic of Ireland and travelled to Italy with high expectations. However, against a backdrop of English hooliganism on the terraces and dull defensive football on the pitch, England missed out on progression to the knock-out phase, after a draw with eventual runners-up Belgium, a 1-0 loss to hosts Italy and a 2-1 win over Spain.

However, Greenwood now had the task of ensuring qualification for a World Cup for the first time in 12 years and with a draw that saw England in a group with Hungary, Norway, Romania and Switzerland, the English Press were planning their Spanish sojourn even before a ball had been kicked, given what they perceived was an easy group. Younger England fans familiar only with the ease of qualification that Gareth Southgate’s team have enjoyed for the 2018 World Cup and 2021 European Finals, will find the chapters in this book detailing the group games during 1980 and 1981, bordering on the unbelievable, as Jordan describes England stumbling over the finishing line to reach Espana ’82, including at one point the intended resignation by Greenwood and the lows of the losses (all on the road and all by the same score-line 2-1) to Romania, Switzerland and Norway.

However, with qualification achieved, the book turns its attention to the preparation for the tournament and almost has a real-time feel to it as the provisional 40-man squad is whittled down to the final 22 and the last friendlies are played, before the actual tournament itself. Jordan continues though to provide some great insights into the issues in and around the camp during the tournament, with England playing against the backdrop of the Falklands War, concerns about the behaviour of English supporters and the injury struggles of England’s key-players, Kevin Keegan, and Trevor Brooking. History tells us that the Three Lions finished top of their group after wins against France, Czechoslovakia, and Kuwait and went into the second group-stage with hosts Spain and West Germany, where only the winners would progress to the Semi-Finals. England drew 0-0 with the Germans and went into the Spain game knowing that they had to win to have any chance of progressing. With a third of the game remaining and the score 0-0, Greenwood threw on Keegan and Brooking in the hope of pulling off a miracle. It wasn’t to be, but as every good pub-quizzer knows England bowed out undefeated and Greenwood having done what he set out to achieve, made way for Bobby Robson.

There is a useful statistic section included which details the qualifications for the 1982 Finals and the games in Spain itself. A nice touch is the biographies of the 18 players who made the provisional squad, but were cut from the final 22, some never to get near an England Cap or indeed an England squad ever again.

This book just is not just about a largely ignored time in England’s footballing past but tells the tale of football as a whole from a different era, whether this be the coverage it now receives, the preparation squads now have or the globalisation of the sport. As an example looking at the number of teams participating in major competitions then and now shows the growth in just under forty-years. In Italy for the 1980 European Championship Finals, there were just 8 teams in a tournament which lasted only 11 days, the now rescheduled 2021 equivalent, will see 24 teams contest the title over the period of a month. The World Cup too has seen not only the format change, but as with the European Finals a rise in the numbers qualifying for the showpiece event. Spain 1982 saw a 24 team tournament, whist Qatar in 2022, will see 32 countries take part and talk from FIFA of further expansion in future.

Jordan does in this book indeed bring the England team of this era, Out of the Shadows, in an honest reflection of the work manager Ron Greenwood did in a difficult period for the National team. A book for those who remember that time and for younger readers to appreciate the history of the Three Lions.

(Pitch Publishing Ltd. October 2017. Paperback 320pp)

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Book Review: Me and My Big Mouth – When Cloughie Sounded Off in TVTimes by Graham Denton

Brian Howard Clough, born in Middlesbrough, 21 March 1935, a man who was destined to leave his own inimitable style on the game of football as player, manager and pundit.

In a ten-year playing career from 1955 to 1965 with hometown club Middlesbrough and local rivals Sunderland, he bagged 267 league and cup goals in just 296 appearances, an almost unbelievable strike rate which was good enough to see him earn England caps against Wales and Sweden in 1959.

A serious knee Injury ended his playing career but started Clough on the management ladder in October 1965 and the beginning of his incredible partnership with Peter Taylor at Fourth Division Hartlepools United. The pair built a reputation for themselves in the North East which earned them a move in 1967 to Second Division Derby County, where a six-year stint saw the Rams promoted to the top-flight and become Champions of England in 1971/72. Their tenure came to an end in October 1973 as the fractious relationship with the Derby Chairman saw Clough and Taylor depart the Baseball Ground.

Within a month the pair had accepted taking over at Third Division Brighton & Hove Albion. However, it proved to be a struggle for the duo and when Leeds United came calling in the summer of 1974, Cloughie departed for Elland Road with Taylor staying on at the South coast club. The 44 days that Clough was in charge have become written into football lore, spawning a book, The Damned Utd, a film, The Damned United and a stage play of the same name.

Cloughie didn’t return to management until the start of 1975, when reunited with Peter Taylor, they brought unparalleled success to Nottingham Forest, breaking Liverpool’s dominance in England, including two European Cup Final triumphs, before Clough retired from the game in May 1993, ironically with Forest being relegated from the top-flight.

That period at the City Ground though was all still to come when in September 1973 Brian Clough took up the opportunity to write a weekly column in the magazine TVTimes. Writer Graham Denton has taken many of these articles (which ran till the end of 1974), in his book, Me and My Big Mouth – When Cloughie Sounded Off in TVTimes. Interestingly, these are all from the most turbulent period of Clough’s managerial career, which saw his time end at Derby and the short-lived spells at Brighton and Leeds prove fruitless. It begs the question whether these articles were one too many distraction for Cloughie amongst his media work and times in the hot-seat as a manager?

The articles themselves hark back to a very different world. This is a time way before the existence of the Premier League, all-seater stadium and the saturation of live football on tv we have today. There was no internet or mobile phones, and newspapers, football magazines such as Shoot! and Goal, as well as the matchday programme from the ground was generally the only place you could read about your club. The terraces were dominated by males and the threat of hooliganism was a real threat when attending games. Off the pitch, the country was in the grip of strikes and power cuts during the three day week. Therefore, Denton’s expansion on some (not all) of Clough’s original articles, provide a useful context to the reader of what was happening in the game and the country in general.

Of course, some of the most common stories attached to Clough are covered, such as his criticism of Poland goalkeeper, Jan Tomaszewski, who made a number of saves to deny England at Wembley in a game which saw the Poles make it to the 1974 World Cup Finals in West Germany at the expense of the English. However, there is plenty of material offering Cloughie’s views on a range of topics, such as Muhammad Ali, Schoolboy Internationals, television, the job of management, players (such as Malcolm Macdonald and Mick Channon) and even a fans survey.

Despite Clough’s reputation by some as being a big-head or self-opinionated, in reading these articles, whether you agree with them or not, they are in the main reasoned rather than rants, and certainly not of the kind from some of the pundits today who appear only to trade in controversial statements for the sake of it.

This book doesn’t pretend to be an authoritative biography of Cloughie but is an excellent addition to the various titles written about a football figure whose legend will like another Nottingham hero, Robin Hood, endure for many years to come.

(Pitch Publishing Limited. September 2019. Paperback 320pp)

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Book Review: The Beautiful Badge – The Stories Behind the Football Club Badge by Martyn Routledge & Elspeth Wills

The Club badge. The symbol of your team. Worn on the shirt and in the modern area kissed by players as a show of their love and loyalty to the Club. And indeed, like the game of football itself something that has gone through a great transition.

This A4 sized beautifully illustrated ‘coffee table’ book looks at the history of the badge from its beginnings in the 1860s to their transformation as brand symbols for the biggest clubs around the globe today.

Over twelve chapters the authors demonstrate their extensive research as they look at topics such as the early history of badges, those influenced by coats of arms, badge design, iconic badges and even a reader’s quiz.

Those thinking that this book is just about the ‘big’ clubs, fear not, as the pages are littered with badges of professional and semi-professional clubs from across the UK and even a few fictional examples.

It is a book that will have a universal appeal to football fans and those interested in the games links with social history and is both a good read as well as visually stimulating. There is however one small gripe, which is that the font size of the silver-grey text on the illustrations is hard to discern in certain lights – slightly ironic in a book given over to the idea of design. However, this doesn’t detract to what is a welcome addition to the football book shelves.

Note: This review was based on the first run of the book. A second run has now been produced which has addressed the issue around the text on the illustrations.

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