Book reviews

Coventry are one of the moving spirits of the Phoenix League. Neville Hadsley believes their frenzied activity masks panic about their own financial position

It’s always struck me that the acting career of the Kemp brothers from Spandau Ballet was limited by the fact that there weren’t enough up-to-no-good twins around to portray. Once you’ve done the Krays, who else is there? Step forward Geoffrey Richmond and Bryan Rich­ardson. True, they are not twins. Also true they are up­standing citizens, rather than criminal gang lead­ers. But they do have a certain physical resemblance – too many good meals in decent restaurants, one sus­pects – and they are also the joint architects of a rather rum scheme.

Read more…

David Montrose remembers West Ham United's 1985-86 season

August, 1985: the omens were ominous. West Ham had ended the previous season just clear of relegation, and Paul Allen, Hammer of the Year, had since de­camped to Spurs under freedom of contract – a tren­chant vote of no-confidence. Few thought jockey-sized Mark Ward, ex-Oldham, would prove an adequate suc­cessor. The acquisition of St Mirren’s Frank Mc­Aven­nie, meanwhile, aroused more mystification than an­­ticipation. Who? Even his position was uncertain. Striker, midfielder?

Read more…

Phil Ball remembers Grimsby Town's 1979-80 season

There’s pleasure in purgatory. Thus speaks the Grims­by Town supporter, a strange creature stuck out in the wilds of north-east Lincolnshire, miles from any­where, in a cut-off place with a cut-off mentality to boot. If you are handed the burden of following this club from an early age, you very soon learn that you are likely to spend the rest of your life having the piss taken out of you, a curious state of affairs which nevertheless hardens you and makes you all the more determined to face things out – to go into the world, as Val Doonican might have put it, walking straight and looking at your adversaries in the eye.

Read more…

Roger Titford remembers Reading's 1994-95 season

Reading have only spent 11 seasons out of the lower divisions since we joined the League in 1920. For ten of those 11 seasons our main preoccupation was to stop falling back into the lower divisions. For one season alone we walked with the giants and might have re­placed someone like Aston Villa or Everton in the Prem­iership. It was 1994-95 and Reading went fam­ously from “2-0 up and a penalty” to lose to Bolton in the play-off final.

Read more…

Steve Parish remembers Manchester City’s 1967-68 season

Nineteen sixty-eight was my last year at school. A-level revision had to be fitted in around the end to Manchester City’s best postwar season, when they played ten matches in six weeks. The run-in began with an am­a­z­ing night at Old Trafford when George Best scor­ed first but City cruised into top gear and beat title rivals Uni­ted 3-1. I’ve still got the little reel-to-reel tape, recorded off the radio, of a Radio 4 documentary called More Than A Game, with vox pop interviews before, during and after the match, and roars, singing and cheers throughout.

Read more…