Comments on: Looking for Eric: Stories of Fans & Footballers

By: Timmy

Timmy — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:35:37 +0000

i’ve never been a fan of Fowler’s. it makes so much sense now that you said that. “Fowler and his writer plainly struggled to find those rare moments in his life when he’s been unsure of himself.” who wants to read about a guy who thinks he’s perfect? the draw to a story is the dramatic edge and trials in life.

By: Fake Sigi

Fake Sigi — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 20:13:09 +0000

I’ve also read Addicted, but to be honest, I found it a bit shallow and tedious. It’s probably better than “Footballeur” by Robert Pires, though. That was simply awful if I recall correctly.

By: Jennifer Doyle

Jennifer Doyle — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 01:01:21 +0000

I love getting the recommendations! Will look for Addicted & Left Foot Forward when I’m in the UK next week.

By: Lars

Lars — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 23:01:27 +0000

The best biography i’ve ever read is Addicted by Tony Adams. I strongly recommend it to anyone interested in football or not.

By: Joe W

Joe W — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:25:05 +0000

Will there ever be a review of an autobiography quite like WSC’s take on Tim Lovejoy? –

http://www.wsc.co.uk/content/view/145/29/

“Chopped into “chapters” that barely fill a page, in a font size usually associated with books for the partially sighted, Lovejoy on Football is part autobiography, part witless musing, and one more triumph for the crass stupidity rapidly replacing culture in this country. Hopelessly banal and nauseatingly self-assured, smirkingly unfunny, it’s a £300 T-shirt, a piss-you-off ringtone, a YouTube clip of someone drinking their mate’s vomit. Its smugness is a corollary of its vacuity. I hope it makes you sick.”

By: Tom Dunmore

Tom Dunmore — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:20:53 +0000

I think it’s no surprise, and in keeping with Jennifer’s point, that journeymen often end up writing the best autobiographies. I haven’t read it for fifteen years or so, but I remember Charlton and Brighton’s Gary Nelson wrote an interesting one, Left Foot Forward. A little self-deprecation goes a long way when it’s a professional footballer writing.

On the other hand, there is of course an unintentional comedy genius to some of the deluded ramblings of the likes of a Gerrard or Joe Cole….

By: Joe W

Joe W — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:57:50 +0000

I just finished reading Glenn Hoddle’s World Cup memoirs.

Having already read Clive Woodward’s book Winning, about the rugby World Cup, it was interesting to hear Hoddle’s thoughts on something similar.

The writing is awfully bland yet you can tell Hoddle does see things differently to the lay person.

Perhaps the most interesting part of any of these books is to see what came true and what didn’t. To read that Michael Owen would be a superstar, that Beckham may fare better abroad, or even that Ian Walker could be England’s number 1 for years to come just highlight that we can all get it sometimes right and often badly wrong.

I wanted to read it a second time, but karma tells me it’d get worse the second time around…

By: Fake SIgi

Fake SIgi — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:04:19 +0000

Thanks for this short survey. I’ll be sure to check out Dunphy and Canoville’s books.