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Post by ohtobeatplainmoor on Mar 16, 2009 22:35:33 GMT
I great track by the Welshmen rebels in their very own style and drinkers in my local in Cardiff when I was there as a student (I was going to say "when I was studying" but I did very little of that!) in the 90's!
Yep - that is Robin in the picture playing for Cardiff City in one of the few games he played for them before jacking it all in. He had apprently just jinked around the Luton keeper (with a Slavic name?) to score. He also knocked a policeman's hat off as well at Ninian Park
He had a twin brother, but I think he had a tragic young death as well. Robin himself died of around 1990 - he never even reached 40. Drug use and demons ravaged the man.
Longeaton - did you get to see him play?
My Dad did and remembers him at Plainmoor.
I was reading the book on the train back from London and a commuter noticed and told me how he was an Oxford fan but when he ws younger he used to watch Reading as well because of Friday's ability and flair.
Yes Barton, it is the very same book.
I'll have to try the one on Brazilian football. I've been to South America a couple of times and yes, they are football crazy for the most part - but in very distintive ways...
Peruvians seemed hugely interested in the English game, or at least the "English Brand"- every kid seems to know of Beckham, Michel Owen Manchester United etc - always the first words they say to you as a Englishman! No-one, of course, had heard of Torquay United! They do get some fantastic results in the Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamerica with Sporting Crystal and Cienciano.
Bolivian football is pretty terrible - most people are fairly shy so don't really talk about anything - let alone football.
Uruguay is a very sedate country by South American standards - but Montevideo has a massive football culture - Penarol and Nacional have supporters as fanatical as anywhere else on the continent.
You can't fail to understand Maradonna-fever in the areas of La Boca and San Telmo (and much of Buenos Aires) - even if you "hate" him. The Argentines are more inward looking with their football (like everything else!) and perhaps have a moderate interest in Italian football.
Sadly the season wasn't open in Chile on my last trip - but the Santiago teams have a savage reputation for violence (especially Colo Colo - the "Barra Brava" similar to Italian Ultras) and the live football experience is probably more for novelty value than for high quality for the casual observer.
I've not ventured very far into Brazil so far (maybe next time), but I would love to get to a big game there in Rio or Sao Paulo.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2009 22:36:42 GMT
The biography of Sir Tom Finney(The Preston Plummer) is also a great read! I lived in Preston for a while and - whilst I believe the word "legend" is horrendously overplayed these days - it doesn't come anywhere near describing Tom Finney's status in Preston. He's nearly 87 now and it's close to fifty years since he played for North End yet he's still discussed - even by those too young to have seen him play - as being the world's greatest ever player. That might not be a widely-shared view south of Leyland but what makes Finney so special in those parts is that he's lived in Preston all his life and has been a major community figure since his retirement. Something of a Tony Boyce figure in a way - chairman of the area health board, an important employer, possibly a magistrate as well? It's a book I must read sometime myself. |
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Post by chrish on Mar 16, 2009 22:56:12 GMT
All those "hooligan memoirs" are dreadful. I admit to having the Paul Dodd (of Carlisle United) effort at the turn of the millenium, but I read a lot of football (although that is a "football book" in the loosest sense) books around the time. Looking in the sports section at Watertones there seem to be about 20 books along the same lines - making mugs out of the impressionable and misguided! All Played Out - Story of Italia '90 (Pete Davies) is a favorite and worth a read. Gives a great insight to a tournament that made me think we were one of the best teams in the world as a kid. The Greatest Footballer You Never Saw (The Robin Friday story) is fantastic, I've never seen any television football footage of him but I can imagine his flair - I bet some posters saw him play at Plainmoor back in the 70's. Tragic story. Left Foot in the Grave - great book by a really decent chap. Lucky enough to have got him to sign my copy. Still think about the administrative error that Nelson revealed that meant Sean Farrell's signing didn't go through - he ended-up playing in Notts County's promotion team and scoring 20 odd goals for them! A biography on Dixie Dean was eye-opening for me as to how different football was in yesteryear - the old cliche of the players travelling to the matches on the bus with the supporters! It couldn't have been more different to the "Hand of God" offering about one of my favorite ever players - Maradonna! The aforementioned "Who Ate All the Pies" and "Damned United" are also favorite reads. When I picked up the Damned a few months ago I had a couple of mornings with very blurry eyes due to the late night reading! I'd be interested in reading Winstone Bogarde's autobiography (although I'd have to learn how to speak Dutch first!!). He makes no bones about the fact that he simply stuck-out his contract in the reserves and youth team making only 11 appearances in 4 years - earning over 15m euros in the process! Couldn't have happend to a nicer club... I always used to look forward to the News of the World Football book every summer as a kid - that was as sure fire way to know that the pre-season was around the corner! I've also got Geoff Thomas and Lee Sharpe (the latter being a £1 purchase!) to read. I'll also put some of my Amazon vouchers to good use to buy the Gary Imlach and ian Ridley efforts, such are the great reviews on here. I've only read a couple of theseHooligan memoirs. I binned the Cardiff City "soul crew" after about 8 pages. It was just absolute mindless twattishness. On the flipside I did however manage to read all of the "Blades Business Crew" by a guy called Steve Cowens. I thought it was a pretty good read and it had some very funny stories. One football book which I've re-read a couple of times is "A season with Verona" by Tim Parks which is a fantastic read. It's all about a shit team battling against relegation. We should all be used to that by now eh? Another everyone should read is "Dynamo" by Andy Dougan. Its a gripping yet ultimately harrowing read about Dynamo Kiev players who refused to let a select German side beat them in a moral boosting "friendly". Its a bit like the Dennis Hopper interogation scene in True Romance. There's just a realisation of that if you're going to die you might as well take the pi$$ a little bit before you exit this world and into the next. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2009 23:01:39 GMT
I've been to South America a couple of times and yes, they are football crazy for the most part - but in very distintive ways... I'm envious! I've been to South America once for the 1993 Copa America in Ecuador. The highlight was the 28 hour road trip from Guayaquil to Cuenca for a double header of Brazil v Paraguay and Chile v Peru. After a visit to a banana plantation - always a good start to an away trip - we hit problems up in the Andes when the Pan American Highway was blocked by a protest. We were diverted on to a mud track for a good fifty miles and arrived so late in Cuenca that we had a police escort to the stadium. At the ground we found it was hellishly overcrowded - more tickets than seats obviously - and sat in great discomfort for four hours watching the two games. One memory is of Steve Bond, another Torquay fan, describing a skied ball from a Chilean defender as an "O'Riordan ball". Leaving Cuenca at around eleven in the evening we were hoping the Highway might be open. No such luck I'm afraid and - by this time - it had been raining hard turning the track into a deathtrap. At one point, as the bus stated to slide towards an almighty precipice, the driver regained control just in time. The answer was to get off for an hour or so and wait for the road to dry out. Not the sort of thing you ever got with Wallace Arnold! |
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Post by chrish on Mar 16, 2009 23:06:54 GMT
And - somewhere in this feature from yesterday's NLP - a suggestion from Ricey:  I believe my blue United silk scarf may still be lying in the back of some b*****d Pompey supporters drawer as it was whipped off my wrist (remember, we tied them round our wrists cos we had the knitted ones knotted round the neck!) after we beat them 2-1 in October 1979....we were walking to Cary park to be picked up by parents when a group approached us, skinheaded bovver boys as most following Portsmouth seemed to be those days, and demanded our scarves. My friend came out with the classic, oft repeated line, 'You can't have mine, my Mum knitted it for me!' (Sorry Shaun...). Showing a modicum of compassion, or disbelief, they whipped my silk one instead never to be seen again.. You could ask Shaun North? A BMW 3 series eh? What a lout! |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2009 23:13:46 GMT
It was just absolute mindless twattishness. Brilliant review! You don't get that in the Times Literary Supplement, do you? Tim Parks is a good read - I think it all happened at the time of the Barnet Season. Another good Italian read is The Miracle of Castel di Sangro which is about a small town team going up the leagues in increasingly dodgy circumstances. Dynamo is a stark reminder of the hellish life suffered by people in the Ukraine throughout the Stalin years and WW2. It's absolutely stark. Not to be confused with Football Dynamo which is out now and deals with present day Russian football (one for my list). |
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Post by ohtobeatplainmoor on Mar 16, 2009 23:25:07 GMT
Didn't know there was book about the "Dynamo" story, another very tragic tale but at the same time one of defiance and true bravery. I'll try and get round to reading it soon.
I must admit I have read the Soul Crew book - only because I knew one of the authors who ran a record shop and club nights through a friend, around the same time I was living there. I had absolutely no idea of his involvement in hooliganism until he wrote his book - it was a bit of a surprise. Still a s***e book though - "twatishness" sums these sort of books-up nicely!
Alongside this website (pure quality thanks to the contributors), I'm enjoying Hargreaves blog hugely. Very different writing style to Garry Nelson - but extremely funny and a very good insight to the goings-on within a footballer's life.
One thing that I do miss in terms of football reading are the fanzines. I remember Mission Impossible being banned by the club under Pope (or is my mind playing tricks on me) and the excellent Bamber's Right Foot - brilliant stuff. I also used to enjoy the fanzines at away games - espcially remember Cardiff City's Intifada, Herefords and Man City's productions.
Barton - I was trying to remember the Miracle of CdS as well from the back of my mind.
Equador - an amazing football experience I would imagine - unfortunately one of the countries that I have yet to get to "down that way".
Unbelievable to think that a Quito team is the reigning champions of the Libertadores when you look at the illustrious winners of the recent past.
It must have been fantastic experience travelling around then - it doesn't sound like the roads are any different!
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Post by Jon on Mar 16, 2009 23:34:19 GMT
I too have just got hold of Floodlit Dreams to read for a second time - will have to compare notes with Merse when I'm done.
Have recently read Damned United. Interesting stuff, but I find the mixing of fact and fiction a strange thing. You think you're reading what really happened, but really it's a sort of novel using real characters. Not sure if that's quite right somehow.
Good to see Fred Eyre mentioned. Didn't he write two or three books? It's ages since I read them but great stuff.
Garry Nelson of course - especially the season at Torquay.
Sharpe's book is of interest - but probably only really the Torquay bits.
One that I don't think has been mentioned yet is the Eamon Dunphy one from the 70s "Only a Game" - which was probably a Garry Nelson book long before Garry Nelson.
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Post by Jon on Mar 16, 2009 23:44:18 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Mar 17, 2009 7:58:53 GMT
Jon, one disconcerting thing about the Damned United is the consistent accuracy of the detail - matches, goalscorers, places and a lot more - alongside the fiction. At Taunton Town last week I overheard somebody say there were "factual inaccuracies" in the film. No doubt the film will differ from the book - they usually do - but I reckon many people will really struggle with the idea of it being predominantly fiction. I followed the original events closely and I struggled with what's fact and what isn't. Ah yes, Only a Game? Something of a ground-breaker. I paid 75p for my copy:  |
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Post by capitalgull on Mar 17, 2009 9:23:23 GMT
The Miracle of Castel di Sangro and A Season With Verona are both great reads - the first of them I even went back for a second read!
I've still got Merse's copy of the Fred Eyre book Kicked Into Touch...maybe he'll take it back one day, although I do recall him saying I could keep it since he had two copies!!
And one for the comedy readers....completely fictional this one but it made me laugh consistently and is probably avaiable for 25p somewhere! My Backside by David Feckham. (I'll let you guess whose autobiography it's based on!!) It's very stupid, but worth the 20 seconds it will take to read it!
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Post by merse on Mar 17, 2009 15:03:02 GMT
I've still got Merse's copy of the Fred Eyre book Kicked Into Touch...maybe he'll take it back one day, although I do recall him saying I could keep it since he had two copies!!  Did I? Forgot you had it to be honest, and don't forget I've got your excellent "A Long Time Gone" which I've still not finished due to my habit of reading up to three books simultaneously.................although not together (if that makes sense) Talking of that evening at Crewe all those years ago, did anyone on here ever get to know the late Harold Finch who edited a really excellent Alexandra programme for many years and ran their programme shop? A dead ringer for Rigsby of Rising Damp and a really hospitable guy, and the source of one of the funniest incidents EVER at a football ground.....................he was once viewing a game behind the press box window in the old grandstand at Gresty Road and the occupants were getting annoyed by a loud mouth who kept standing up in front of them and blocking their view whilst he vented his spleen at the perennially failing Alex team. After one particularly nasty and personal attack, Harold knocked on the window and invited the guy to repeat what he had just said and opened the window outwards. Of course the idiot stood up in order to turn around and split his head on the bottom of the frame!    |
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Post by longeatongull on Mar 17, 2009 17:02:11 GMT
Hi OTBAP
thanks for asking--I did have the pleasure of seeing Robin Friday play on many occasions for Reading.
Afraid the memory aint what it used to be but as mentioned previously we used to get his autograph coming out the pub before the game--he used to wear red or green velvet suits.
On the pitch overriding memories of his "knackered legs"---he used to be so bandy.
But you would pay money just to watch him warming up---amazing talent for time on the ball. Again may be my memory but think he played in same team/around same time as Les Chappell. He was another great Reading goal scorer and I was delighted to then meet him again in Torquay working for the Gulls. Presume he still lives in Paignton?
Sorry started to ramble..........cheers
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Post by Jon on Mar 17, 2009 17:37:25 GMT
Jon, one disconcerting thing about the Damned United is the consistent accuracy of the detail - matches, goalscorers, places and a lot more - alongside the fiction. You are right and that accuracy builds the illusion that it is a factual presentation of events when in fact it is a fiction built on third-hand snippets of information mixed with third-hand opinions of the characters involved. Imagine if we acted like that on this forum! You'd have people producing "factionalised" reports of showdowns between Buckle and Rayner or Buckle and Woods and then you'd get people pontificating about how appalling Buckle's behaviour was based on those factionalised accounts. It would be terrible, wouldn't it?  I must admit that I am a little uncomfortable with the blurring of lines between fact and fiction. Brian Glanville was approached for an interview for the Southbank Show on David Peace, but rather than join in the flavour of the day eulogising actually pointed out that he had been at the European Cup semi in 1973 and that the account in the book was utter rubbish. They didn't use his input but found somebody else who would go with the flow and say that Damned United is the best thing since sliced bread. |
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Post by ohtobeatplainmoor on Mar 17, 2009 20:01:50 GMT
I suppose it is similar in some ways to Dave Caldwell in some ways, Longeatongull. A player that had a very different lifestyle to the average professional footballer who fell foul of the footballing authorities and left his club before he had played a huge amount of games. Caldwell, of course very much became a settled person with a respectable job - but with some amazing stories to tell. Sadly Friday's life seemed to become more and more chaotic and became a tragic waste.
I only ever saw Caldwell a couple of dozen times (if that?) in the 87/88 and 89/90 seasons as a kid, but I'll never forget that overhead kick on his debut against Hereford or the Scunthorpe play-off game. A shining-star who didn't burn long in TUFC colours but won't be forgotten by many who saw him play.
With regards to the Damned United fusion of fact and artisic license, I just took it for what it was - a great story to the background of documented history (and also with a pinch of salt)
I guess it is similar to the BBC dramatisation on thatcher recently - the most contraversial and colourful scenes featured Alan Clarke - who isn't around to cause any problems with a libel action!!
It gave an interesting introduction to a bizarre time - Brian Clough taking over Leeds and lasting just those 40'ish days (and the build-up in his career from crocked striker to Derby miricle worker).
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