Peter Douglas

An important book at its time, it portrays a landscape that seems hard to believe today. The media coverage has been transformed from the superficial likes of Goal, Shoot and their like. This was well before fanzines came on the scene or ex-player punditry on a big scale. The chapter on 'some typical characters' is interesting. Lifestyles of footballers at the highest level have changed completely and the player now has the voice. The footballers covered provide a good variety: Martin Peters ('Tory ladies often call to try and elicit his support for their tea parties and whist drives', page 128), Trevor Hockey 'always thrusting forward', page 131, Gordon West, his wife a classical pianist, Rodney Marsh ('leads a quite domesticated life', page 133), Francis Burns, Billy Bonds, Kevin Keegan, Les Barrett, Albert McCann, the Pompey player with step overs better than Ronaldo's, Colin Waldron, Stan Ternent and Stuart Boam.… (meer)