Search: ' Terry Venables'

My Autobiography
by Gary Neville
Bantam Press, £18.99
Reviewed by Joyce Woolridge
From WSC 297 November 2011

Buy this book

"Put ‘Gary Neville' and 'wanker' into Google and you'll get about 10,000 results." Neville is a man with no illusions about his popularity. The English generally like their professional footballers to be either thick or humble, preferably both. Gary Neville is neither and has taken plenty of flak about what are deemed to be his ridiculous pretensions, such as planning to build an ecohouse and daring to have opinions.

Read more…

The Autobiography of a Goalkeeping Legend
by John Burridge
John Blake, £16.99
Reviewed by Damon Green
From WSC 295 September 2011

Buy this book

Like the tale of one of those old ladies born in Paris to the sound of Robespierre's guillotine, and eventually run over by a motor car on the Champs-Élysées, it is hard to believe that the two ends of the John Burridge story belong in the same lifetime.

Read more…

by Matt Le Tissier
by Writers Name
Harper Sport, £18.99
Reviewed by Tim Springett
From WSC 279 May 2010

Buy this book

In keeping with his career, Matt Le Tissier’s autobiography is an interesting read but doesn’t truly satisfy. One reason for this is that both the front and back covers, as well as the internal layout,
look appalling.

Read more…

David Davies witnessed more than a decade of controversy and change at the FA, but his new book seems to have missed out all the interesting bits. Taylor Parkes reads between the lines

Not so long ago – for old times’ sake – I found myself stumbling drunkenly through Soho Square. Pausing, as ever, to peer in through the FA’s window, I noticed a slogan on the foyer wall, right next to the three lions: “A world class organisation with a winning mentality.” I laughed, and choked, and walked on. But I remember wondering how this happened – how the FA morphed from an affluent impression of Last of the Summer Wine into something resembling a consultancy firm, brisk and businesslike (if still bungling), pinning up pointless and insulting motivational slogans. I hoped that FA Confidential, by former spin doctor and acting chief executive David ­Davies, might provide some explanation.

Read more…

Is it possible for Jamie to comment fairly on Harry?

It was no surprise that Harry Redknapp’s appointment as Spurs boss a few days later met with almost universal approval in the press. Most football journalists seem to love Redknapp – while many managers treat reporters with varying degrees of suspicion, he’s affable, talkative and funny, a constant source of good copy. In among the many phone calls he apparently made in the hours after his departure from Portsmouth around midnight on Saturday was a characteristic quip, reflecting on the £5 million compensation agreed with his ex-employers: “Pompey couldn’t sell a player in the window so we sell the manager.”

Read more…