Product Description

Des McKeown started at the top in football and worked his way down. He signed for Celtic in a year when they won the League and the Scottish Cup double. They liked him. He loved them. But from the first day he kicked a ball for money, he was never going to make millions out of the game. Faced with a choice between struggling to break into the Parkhead first team and turning part-time and building a career as a salesman, he chose real life. Hundreds of footballers whose ambitions outstripped their abilities have made the same choice as Des McKeown. Hundreds more will one day have it forced upon them. "Don't Give Up the Day Job" is their story. As the privileged few drain the game of more and more money, McKeown warns of the consequences for the journeymen who cling to full-time contracts hoping against hope for a slice of the pie. This is a no-holes-barred account of one season in the life of part-time players seen through the eyes of a husband, father, salesman and left-back.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #395122 in Books
• Published on: 2001-09-17
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

About the Author
Des McKeown is a Sales Director for a stationery company and currently plays for Queen of the South. He began his footballing career in 1988 when he signed for Celtic - only to wreck his chances of making it big by insisting on finishing his Business Degree. He later played for Partick Thistle before transferring to Queen of the South. He lives in Cumbernauld with his wife and two children. Bill Leckie is the author of Penthouse and Pavement: How to Survive in Football Without Sucking Up to the Old Firm (also published by Mainstream) and a sports journalist for the Scottish Sun.

Customer Reviews

An insight into the life of a lower division footballer
At last a book which gives an insight into football where the superstars fear to tread. Des McKeown writes superbly of how he juggles a succesfull career and a family life while turning out for Queen Of The South in the Scottish Second Division. Assisted brilliantly by journalist Bill Leckie whose passion for lower division football is unsurpassed in media circles , Des gives an account of a season turning out for The Doonhammers in sunny Dumfries.

A splendid antidote to ghost written autobiogrophies of overpaid molicoddled superstars , the passion for football in the raw shines through in a very refreshing manner. Although focussing in on Des's year, the account of football will interest football fans of every small club. Mckewon's incredible balancing act of football , family and work are an inspiration to all who try to balance their passion for sport with lifes other responsibilities. This book will remind you that there is more to football than the Champions League and more to life than working !!!