Product Description

MARK WARD was a former high-profile Premier League footballer until his life was turned upside down in May 2005, when he was arrested and charged with possessing a class A drug with intent to supply.

He was jailed for eight years for dealing in cocaine and sent to Liverpool's Walton Prison, where he spent fearfully unforgettable nights among the category `A' prisoners on lifers' wing and a further eight months on remand in the mayhem of B-Wing - among murderers, rapists, smack-heads and other career criminals. His life would never be the same again.

Scouser Mark, who starred on the right-wing for West Ham United, Everton, Manchester City and Birmingham City in the late 80s and early 90s after beginning his pro career with Oldham Athletic, rented a house near his home city of Liverpool on behalf of a contact. Police raided the property and found a stash of drugs with a street value of £645,000 and what was described in court as "a drugs factory."

`Wardy' refused to grass on his associates who put him up to the deal and has consequently spent the last four years behind bars, haunted by the shame of letting down his family and friends.

In From Right-Wing to B-Wing . . . Premier League to Prison he bears his soul and tells in compelling graphic details how he once had it all and then lost it . . . his career (400-plus games over 13 years), his marriage and, ultimately, his dignity and his freedom. How it all went so horribly wrong, what prison life was like from the inside, how he coped with being locked up and completing the longest jail sentence served by any former professional footballer.

He tells of the prison gangs, the scams, the fights . . . and the suicides.

Now 46, he relives the highs and lows of his turbulent career . . . the heartbreak of rejection by his beloved Everton at 18 and the thrill of returning to Goodison 10 years later in a £1m deal to score brilliant goals that defeated Arsenal and then Liverpool; playing a key role in West Ham's most successful league team; helping to save Man City from relegation; and, as player/coach, being at the centre of political turmoil involving Birmingham's fiery manager Barry Fry, MD Karren Brady and owner David Sullivan.

We learn of his many off-the-field scrapes and his frightening brushes with the criminal underworld. Being beaten up and later subjected to blackmail threats during a nightmare six-month reign of intimidation at the hands of one of Liverpool's most notorious crime figures.

He recalls how he innocently became embroiled in the drugs trade and his friendship with a man who turned out to be one of Birmingham's biggest dealers . . . before the man in question was shot dead in a city centre pub.

This book is so much more than a `warts and all' portrayal of a professional footballer and is certainly not the usual run of the mill ex-footballer's story. No other former Premier League player has been through the nightmare experienced by Mark Ward.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4765 in Books
• Published on: 2009-05-30
• Binding: Hardcover
• 296 pages

Review
This is no ordinary footballer's autobiography.
As in his conversation, he is honest, direct, unrelenting in his self-analysis. The tales of prison life, of turning out for the lags' team, of smuggling in mobile phone sim-cards in unexpected anatomical places, mingle with a no-holds-barred account of his time as a player. -- Daily Telegraph, Jim White, May 30, 2009

Review
'An absolute corker of a read. Once you've opened it, I guarantee you won't put it down until you've read the very last word.'

Review
Arguably the most lurid account yet of a footballer's time behind bars.

Customer Reviews

Excellent book, refreshingly honest and frank.
What a great book. Being a Birmingham fan I had added interest, but was surprised how much I enjoyed reading about Wardys times at his other clubs, and of course of his time at his majesties pleasure. I hope things pick up for Mark, he has done his time, and deserves a break now, after a tough few years.

Wardy, great book, your a brave guy to write it.

Football as it used to be
A warts and all story of football as it used to be before money,television and foreign owners took over.

An excellent read and a reminder that not all professional sportsmen have a bed of roses life.