‘The Binman Chronicles’ by Neville Southall (2012)

I’ve always liked Neville Southall – the legendary Everton and Wales goalkeeper who played into his 40’s. By the time I was a football obsessive 8 year old, he was already in the later years of his Everton career and the team were a long way away from the League and FA Cup winning teams of the mid-80’s. Southall appeared to be a throwback to an earlier era as football became increasingly commercially driven.

The Binman Chronicles is a fairly standard ex-footballers autobiography. It follows an old-school format of focusing heavily on his playing career and, after covering his early years and how he got into professional football, chronologically detailing season-by-season. The book reads in Southall’s voice but the book could have done with tighter editing with a bit too much repetition – every off-season was boring, he doesn’t like holidays, just loves playing football etc. It feels too much like interviews with Southall were transcribed directly rather than a ghostwriter editing to capture Southall’s voice and story.

While the book can at times be a bit bland, Southall himself is an interesting character – as anyone who follows him on twitter will know. Arguably the best goalkeeper in the world during the mid-80’s, he never pushed for big money or a glamours move abroad. A tee-totaller but a piss-taker, he seems to have somehow been both a loner and a senior figure in the Everton dressing room. Never one to follow the crowd, Southall wears his differences as a badge of pride and seemed to have totally resisted any pressure/temptations to be ‘one of the lads’. There is a limited amount of detail on his own personal life – apart from his love of Wales and his daughter – but he is ultimately open about his failings and his affairs during his first marriage.

From a footballing perspective, any Everton or Wales fan will be fascinated by the insights into those teams at the times Southall played. He is open in both his praise and criticism for coaches and fellow players – he has warm words for Howard Kendall and Joe Royle despite some pretty negative experiences with both them, bit is damning in his criticism of Mike Walker’s ill-fated time as Everton manager. For those who are too young to have experienced English football in the 80’s, the book paints an interesting picture of Everton’s rise to rival Liverpool without really detailing what exactly led to the remarkable improvements during Kendall’s first spell in charge – it seems simply have been better players and good man-management.

I would have enjoyed more about his present work which involves teaching troubled young people. His own early struggles in education seem to help him build relationships with those who are struggling to find a place in society. It’s clear that Southall has found a passion that rivals football and is committed to helping.

binman

And here’s 12 I prepared earlier

Before starting this blog, I very occasionally reviewed books on Goodreads. This post captures 12 long ago, and in many cases forgotten, musings on a wide selection of sports books. Some of these are in the re-read pile and will get a fuller, updated review when I get to enjoy them again. These 12 cover a range of topics including: Boxing’s 4 Kings, Brazilian and German football, Irish cycling and drugs in sport.

Drama brazil

1) ‘A Ringside Affair: Boxing’s Last Golden Age’ by James Lawton

A Ringside Affair is a love letter to boxing from one of the UK’s great sportswriters. Each chapter covers one of the great fights or fighters that Lawton had the immense pleasure of witnessing throughout his career. It’s clear that the era of the Four Kings
(Leonard, Hearns, Hagler and Duran) stands out as the golden age of the title, but it’s the career of Iron Mike Tyson which clearly shines through in the book. Lawton’s admiration for young Tyson’s talent is only topped by his disappointment at the Tyson’s eventual troubles and crimes.

Lawton’s accounts really bring the fights to life as well as placing them clearly in their time and place. His passion and love for the sport shines through. Its a work of remembrance and of celebration as Lawton reflects on his career.

For all fight fans the book is a fantastic summary of 30 years of top level boxing. It’s excellently written and will make you want to pull out the you tube videos and track down the great boxing books. I highly recommend it.

2) ‘Drama in the Bahamas’ by Dave Hannigan

An entertaining and in-depth look at Ali’s last fight and the sad spectacle it was. The book is best enjoyed by someone well versed in Ali’s life story – it paints some characters a bit too thinly for anyone coming to Ali;s story without a reasonable knowledge of the cast of characters that surrounded the Champ.

Hannigan paints a picture of an Ali who is his own worst enemy. It is apparent that there is no is villain guiding Ali to fight one last time. It really appears to be Ali himself and his own desire for attention and love that motivates him to take one more totally unnecessary and disproportionate risk.

Like all Hannigan’s work, it’s an enjoyable read and a welcome addition to the library of Ali books.

3) ‘The Fall of the House of Fifa: The Multimillion-Dollar Corruption at the Heart of Global Soccer’ by David Conn

I greatly enjoyed this book on FIFA’s troubled history. Its extensively researched and well written. As a follower of David’s writing in the Guardian the book lives up to expectations.

Its a sad reminder of the scale of corruption and the breath of individuals involved. Blatter emerges as not quite the villain but rather the enabler and master politician. There is plenty of new material even for those following FIFA closely, especially a fascinating interview with a post retirement Blatter.

The only criticism is that it is a bit too detailed at times. Sometimes the narrative could be shortened and there is a bit of repetition at times.

All in all its a highly recommend for anyone interest in football politics or just good journalism.

4) ‘Shocking Brazil: Six Games That Shook the World Cup’ by Fernando Duarte

Very enjoyable history of Brazilian football. Examining the most successful team in history by focusing on their lowest moments, Durate paints a convincing narrative of the impact each of these games had on shaping the team.

One of many books to come out in the lead up to the Brazil World Cup, Durate captured a lessor seen angle of the 5 times champions. Considering that the worst defeat of all was yet to come – who will ever forget that 7 – 1 – its a timely book and one that will remain relevant as Brazil try to rise again in Russia.

The writer is also a very entertaining journalist and great as a guest on football podcasts.

Das reboot Match vol nowehere

5) ‘Das Reboot: How German Football Reinvented Itself and Conquered the World’ by Raphael Honigstein

A really enjoyable read with great insight into the rise and rise of German football. At times the narrative jumps between time periods and between the national team and domestic games in a confusing manner. A good companion piece to ‘Tor! The Story of German Football’ by Ulrich Hesse to complete the picture of how the world champions became the world champions.

6)’Matchdays: The Hidden Story of the Bundesliga’ by Ronald Reng

Ronald Reng is the author of the heart-breaking, beautiful book ‘A Life Too Short’ about the late Robert Enke.

His second book to be translated to English, Matchdays, is a biography of Heinz Hoher – a real journeyman of German football – a bit of a Wes Hoolihan as a player (talented but often stuck as a flair player in second division) and a bit of an Alan Pardew as a manager (decent at bottom half/middle table teams) but a complete ****. Hoher is quite the character – quitting jobs on a whim, drinking to the point of collapsing on first day of a new job, just missing out on Dortmund job to Hitzfeld.

Reng uses Hoher’s story to tell the story of the Bundesliga from its inception in the 60’s to current day – how it has changed and how the German public’s attitude towards it evolved.

All round an enjoyable, if slightly overlong, read. The style takes a bit of getting use to – although I’m not sure if it that is the author’s style or a result of the translation.

7) ‘Living on the Volcano: The Secrets of Surviving as a Football Manager’ by Michael Calvin

Michael Calvin is modern footballer’s great chronicler. He examines the less beautiful side of English football shining a light on the real life experiences of those who live and breath the game. Living on the Volcano focuses on the stresses of football management – showing the cost, the emotion and the real lived experience of managers at almost every level of the game. It is an interesting and enjoyable read that offers a unique perspective of the job we all love to try on a computer game.

The book does suffer from Calvin at times being a bit too close to some of the subjects. Its hard not to get the sense that he lets the fact he grows to like many of his interviewees/subjects as people get in the way of his objectivity as a football journalist.

8) ‘The Nowhere Men’ by Michael Calvin

Before data, analytics and youtube, talent needed to be scouted. Calvin’s book offers a fascinating insight into the enclosed world of football scouts in the UK

It chronicles a profession teetering on the edge – slowly being replaced by technology (and those who use it) yet a profession that continues to prove that data alone can’t tell you everything.

Above all, the love of football some of the scouts who work for mileage only is amazing, inspiring and heart-breaking all at the same time.

roche Race Running with Fire Nike

9) ‘Born to Ride’ by Stephen Roche

Very interesting and enjoyable book. A chronicle of a time when Irish cyclists ruled the world. Roche really was some rider had an incredible career and I wish I had been older in 1987 to have been swept up in the Roche/Kelly era. Roche’s book is well worth a read for any cycling fan.

As with all cycling books, the issue of drugs hangs over every story like a bad smell. Roche does at least address the drugs controversy which emerged after he retired. His position is not entirely convincing and it is very hard not to believe his accusers. Roche may have been part of the problem, and is definitely not willing to be part of the solution, but his achievements should not be underesimated. If he was clean, its doubtful there has ever been a greater Irish sportsman.

Hunger by Sean Kelly is a very good companion book to give Kelly’s perspective of days that Irish cycling will never see again.

10) ‘The Dirtiest Race in History’ by Richard Moore

Moore is better known as a cycling journalist and writer. Here, he moves away from cycling to the other sport dominated by drugs. He crafts the story of the 1988 Olympic 100m final where Ben Johnson smashed the world record then dramatically failed a drug test. Will there ever be another Olympic final where so many competitors had their legacies tarnished as the testers caught up with the cheats?

The book provides an in-depth look at Johnson’s rivalry with Carl Lewis and both of their journey’s to Seoul. Johnson’s assertion that, while he was on lots of drugs, he never actually took the drug that the test found creates a bizarre and intriguing story.

It is well written, well researched and entertaining. It provides an interesting look at drugs in sport in general – although Moore’s eagerness to believe in Team Sky over the years totally unfairly taints his comments on drugs in sport in my eyes. Highly recommend.

11) ‘Running with Fire: The True Story of Harold Abrahams’ by Manterrk Ryan

Very enjoyable biography of the 100m Olympic gold medalist and legend of athletics officialdom. Charts the prejudice he faced for being Jewish, his fantastic athletic career and even more successful (and interesting) administration career after he retired.

A must read for any fans of Chariots of Fire.

12) ‘Shoe Dog’ by Phil Knight.

Every long lasting company needs its origin myth. What is unusual is the founder telling his story so long after the fact. Shoe Dog is both a sports book and a business book. It is much better than I would have expected.

Knight tells the story of the founding of Nike and its early years before it broke into the big time. It ticks the usual boxes of near disaster, dramatic recovery and eventually incredible growth.

What becomes clear is that for Knight, the early years are where is heart remains. It is a loving reflection on the days before he became a bazillionaire and a love letter to Steve Prefontaine.

I would have liked it to go a little further and look at the signing of Jordan and the groundbreaking nature of that change for Nike and for sport.

Bowerman and the Men of Oregon by Kenny Moore is a great companion piece to round out the story of the technical genius that combined with Knight’s business brain to change the sporting world.

Open by Andre Agassi (2009)

First up is a reread of Open by Andre Agassi, a book that regularly makes the various lists of best ever sports books. For now, I’ve written my thoughts based on how I remember the book from when I first read it more than 7 years ago. I’m about to start re-reading it and will update the post after I finish.

Open

Sometimes the right book comes into your life at the right time – this is that book for me. This book had a significant impact on me. I read it at a low point in my life when I was very overweight, miserable in my job and eager for change. I was on 3 months study leave from work to study for accounting exams and determined to use the time to lose weight. I managed to drop a huge amount of weight that summer, and the following year – get significantly fitter, meet my now wife and reach a much happier place in my life. I also did pretty damn well in those exams.

What I know is I loved this book – I genuinely believe it had a major impact on my finally being successful at losing weight and keeping it off (although I’ve put a lot back on in last couple of years which has prompted the re-read. I’m eager to discover if it lives up to my memory.

What I remember is a brilliantly well written and searingly honest account of Agassi’s life. His struggles with hating tennis, hating his father and substance abuse were striking. His ability to turn his life around and become a better player post 30 than before was remarkable, but 7 years removed all I can really remember is that I recommended the book to many many many people. Will update as soon as reread is complete.

UPDATE

I reread Open over two nights – its as good if not better than I remembered.

From the first pages, its immediately obvious that it is first and foremost a very well written book. There a huge number of memorable lines in the introduction alone. The repetition of Agassi’s hatred of tennis is striking and makes it clear this is a book about the man as much as the sportsman.

It feels very honest – you believe this is the real Agassi, the Agassi that his friends saw but that he kept hidden from the rest of the world. The contrast between the public image and the private thoughts of young Agassi is almost unbelievable.

The first two thirds of the book – his young life and early professional career is the journey of a young man who seems to have the greatest of lives but is struggling deep down. It think it wonderfully captures the feelings of someone who who ostensibly has a good career but struggles day to day with the Why? We want to believe “successful” people are happy because then, if we are successful, we will be happy too. Agassi reminds us that “success” is deeply personal and many of us never fully grasp that or what our own personal victory looks like.

Aggassi

While I loved reading this again, I did begin to wonder why this had such an impact on me other than being a really great book. And then I read this piece at the beginning of Chapter 21:

“Change. Time to change Andre. You can’t go on like this. Change, change, change – I say this word to myself several times a day, every day, while buttering my morning toast, while brushing my teeth, less as a warning than as a soothing chant. For from depressing me, or shaming me, the idea that I must change completely, from top to bottom, brings me back to centre. For once I don’t hear that nagging self-doubt that follows every personal resolution. I won’t fail this time, I can’t because its now or never. The idea of stagnating, of remaining this Andre the rest of my life, that’s what I find truly depressing and shameful”.

I can remember the impact that paragraph, and particularly the last line had on me. It was visceral, it was like reading my own thoughts. It spoke to me, like very few books every have. So the experience of this book was deeply personal for me and my review is obviously impacted as a result.

However, besides the personal relevance, it is a wonderful book. I have read a lot of autobiographies, as this blog will hopefully eventually show, and this really does stand head and shoulders above so many others.

The final third – Agassi getting his life back on track, and his late career resurgence is a feel good redemption story. His coming to grips with finding himself down a path he never chose is inspiring. He figured out what his own goal was, what he wanted for himself – to win all 4 grand slams – and achieved something that was for him.

Mostly though, this book is about love. The misguided love of Agassi’s father. The love between brothers, between friends, between those who come into our life when we need them most. And the overriding importance of being with the right partner. I was single when I first read Open and his telling of his relationship with Steffi Graff felt conjured, too adorable and manufactured, the one thing that didn’t ring true. Then I met my wife and I realised some people do actually get that lucky.

Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf at the Savoy Hotel for Wimbledon Winners Ball

It won’t be another 7 years before I read this again.