Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #144965 in Books
• Published on: 2006-02-24
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 288 pages

Synopsis
"This is my world, of growing up in the roughest parts of South London, where it pays to be quick-witted, handy with your fists and brave enough to use a tool if you have to." In "From Prison to the Premiership", Jamie Lawrence has one hell of a story to tell. Though a talented schoolboy footballer heading for a career with a top team, the combination of his parents returning to Jamaica and frustration at not getting the breaks with a pro club led him into crime. Trying to do the right thing in poorly paid jobs and living with his sister who was also struggling financially was not enough, and things went progressively downhill leading to a spell in youth custody and then prison. Incarceration proved to be his salvation. Whilst playing in an inter-prison match, Lawrence's talent was spotted and soon after release from a four-year stretch, he was playing for Sunderland and attracting plaudits. Winning over the many sceptics, he played at the highest level for Leicester and Bradford against the world's best and was even a regular in the Jamaican national side, featuring in a match against world champions Brazil. No other rise from obscurity to celebrity sportsman can compare.

His story will inspire everyone who still has unfulfilled ambitions.

Customer Reviews

From the Premiership into Print
Reading this book rather evoked my memories of watching Jamie Lawrence play: always lively and whole-hearted, but ultimately frustrating. Football fans read player autobiographies to find out more about what goes on behind the scenes at a club: the dressing room politics, the tension between teammates and the involvement of managers, coaches and chairmen in shaping what the fan sees for 90 minutes each Saturday. As a Bradford City supporter I picked up this book to read Jamie's take on his time at Valley Parade between 1997 and 2004 - arguably as eventful a few years as any club has recently had (one promotion, two relegations, a European campaign, two administrations and six different managers). Unfortunately, despite the abundance of different experiences and characters we encounter, throughout the book Lawrence's insights are altogether too superficial and brief. We are told in no uncertain terms who he liked and disliked, but only in rare cases (such as his lively contrasting of successive Sunderland managers Terry Butcher and Mick Buxton or his description of acceptance by the Jamaican national team despite his criminal past - imagine the publicity if an ex-con was picked in England's midfield) does he offer anything in they way of interesting analysis. In many ways this is a missed opportunity because Jamie knew or played with some of recent English football's great personalities (Martin O'Neill, Chris Kamara, Peter Beagrie, Dean Windass, Paul Jewell, Barry Fry, Benito Carbone, Martin Allen, Paul Merson to name just a few) yet whether out of respect or lack of gumption his observations seldomly rise above the banal - no lateral comparisons are drawn and the writing is too anecdotal. At least we get the impression that Jamie enjoyed himself, and there is a profound sense of gratitude coarsing through the book that he had the talent to escape the vicious circle he fell into as a teenager, and the commitment to make the absolute most of his talent as a footballer.