BOOKWORM

Printed in the National League South game v Braintree on Saturday 16th January 2021. We won 3-2 

More tiers than a wedding cake, winter weather and every conceivable Netflix series consumed, now is the perfect time to head online to your local bookshop and expand your mind. Well that’s what I always tell myself before raiding the football section.

‘Mind Games’ by Neville Southall is part autobiography, part mini manifesto, part self help book on how to improve the game and society in general. The former England and Wales goalkeeper now works for a special needs school while using his social media platform to highlight issues including handing his twitter account over to various groups.

From the people who produce ‘Groundtastic’ magazine ‘The Cemetery End’ lays bare the grounds and stands that have been lost over the past 25 years including our own Wexham Park. It’s now out of print but if you go weak at the knees at turnstiles and dugouts it’s well worth subscribing to their top notch, well researched and illustrated magazine.

From Stocksbridge Park Steels to winning the Premier League is quite the story and Jamie Vardy’s ‘From Nowhere’ is an enjoyable easy to read rags to riches tale about someone who loves playing football – and scoring goals.

Harry Pearson ‘The Farther Corner’ is a sentimental return to north east football. No matter where you watch your football Pearson catches the hope and despair as well as the replacement bus to Dunston UTS more often than he would like. ‘You getting off here?’ the man in the scarf asked. The other man shrugged, sighed and said ‘I was hoping not to. But aye, come on, let’s go and take our punishment like men.’ There’s Benfield Ultras who numbered just two, meaning they couldn’t hold up their banner and bang the drum at the same time. Or Newcastle fans contemplating another medicore season ‘Football used to be an escape from grim economic reality, now it is grim economic reality.’ Anyone who follows football in the lower reaches of the pryamid will love this book.

Pearson is a regular contributor to the monthly ‘When Saturday Comes’ football magazine which is well worth getting a years subscription for a different perspective on football. 

‘Bloody Southerners’ by Spencer Vignes recalls the story when Brian Clough and Peter Taylor rocked up at Brighton and Hove Albion - a bit like Jose Mourinho in the wake of his Chelsea successes joining Southend. It's a brilliant evocative book that captures not just a pivotal time in the Albions history but also the towns. Although Clough could hardly bring himself to turn up for training, him and Taylor woke a club from slumber with a chairman who splashed the cash and eventually got the club to the top of the tree and a Wembley FA Cup final. They put the town on the map along with Abba appearing at the Dome as it hosted The Eurovision Song Contest winning with 'Waterloo.' But Clough had little time for the place. In his autobiography he wrote 'People go to Brighton for various reasons. For a holiday, for a day trip, for a place to retire, for a Tory Party Conference. Or for a dirty weekend. With all due respect to the club and its fans, you don't go there for the football. Brighton is not a big-time club and is never likely to be.'

And finally, a book about the first superstar football coach, Béla Guttmann. Guttmann was Jewish and the book weaves in the story of the relentless persecution of Jews across Europe laying bare a hideous and harrowing chapter of the twentieth century. He narrowly escapes death countless times but his father, sister and wider family were not so lucky, murdered by the Nazis in their death camps. In 1961, as coach of Benfica, he lifted the European Cup - a feat he repeated the following year. ‘From genocide to football glory, Guttmann performed the single greatest comeback in football history.'  

Rather than lining the pockets of tax dodging Amazon, support independent bookshops. You can find out where your nearest one is here.