Taking a break from considering the highbrow works of The Clitheroe Kid, magazine editor Andy Lyons, writer Harry Pearson and host Daniel Gray discuss Old-Fashioned Wingers – or ‘offensive laterals’ – from low-socked loco Rene Houseman to scuttling Leighton James via Eddie Gray’s pineapple arms. Magazine Deputy Editor Ffion Thomas previews WSC issue 435, Record Breakers brings us a banger from Bremen, and we continue our sprightly feature The Final Third, in which a guest contributes a match, a player and an object to the WSC Museum of Football. Joining Dan as our visiting curator this time is Jon Harvey, comedy writer, producer and performer, and author of the new book A Fan For All Seasons: A Journey Through Life and Sport.
Search: ' Leighton James'
Stories
The tears and triumphs of David Rocastle
by James Leighton
Simon & Schuster, £18.99
Reviewed by David Stubbs
From WSC 355 September 2016
David Rocastle commands enormous affection among Arsenal fans, who have a special fondness for their underachievers; Charlie Nicholas and John Jensen spring to mind also. In Rocastle’s case, he was luckless with injuries over the course of his career and, sadly, suffered the supreme misfortune of dying in 2001 aged just 33 of Non-Hodgkin lymphoma. In the decade he spent at Arsenal, however, he is remembered as a player who on his day was able to conjure flashes of Brazilian-style magic for an Arsenal team whose success was generally earned, under George Graham, through more pragmatic means.
How Bury triumphed
in British football’s worst year
by James Bentley
SilverWood Books, £14.99
Reviewed by Charles Morris
From WSC 350 April 2016
The story of how a hard-up Fourth Division club succeeded against the odds and won promotion in 1984-85 using just 15 players has immediate appeal to fans of smaller clubs. The underdog theme also chimes with the present, as Leicester, Bournemouth and Burton confound expectations this season. The tale’s backdrop is compelling, too, because 1984-85 was a nadir for British football, a period besmirched by appalling hooliganism and the tragedies of the Bradford fire and the Heysel stadium.
The media lambast England manager Fabio Capello as some choice decisions see his side losing a friendly to France 2-1.
Fabio Capello can please no one. Harry Redknapp thinks he shouldn’t pick players he turned down for the World Cup. Sam Allardyce is upset that he disrespected Paul Robinson. Robert Huth thinks he should pick Ryan Shawcross. David Moyes wants him to play Leighton Baines more. And Roy Hodgson wants him to play Steven Gerrard less.
The Man Who Never Gave Up
by James Leighton
DB Publishing, £16.99
Reviewed by Huw Richards
From WSC 298 December 2011
Inconvenient truth as it is for some of us, Cardiff City's FA Cup victory in 1927 remains the greatest achievement by any Welsh club. The associated quiz question will endure until somebody else takes the Cup out of England, while the date is to Cardiff fans what 1966 is to England followers.