Product Description

Stewart Imlach was an ordinary neighbourhood soccer star of his time. A brilliant winger who thrilled the crowd on Saturdays, then worked alongside them in the off-season; who represented Scotland in the 1958 World Cup and never received a cap for his efforts; who was Man of the Match for Nottingham Forest in the 1959 FA Cup Final, and was rewarded with the standard offer - GBP20 a week, take it or leave it. Gary Imlach grew up a privileged insider at Goodison Park when Stewart moved into coaching. He knew the highlights of his father's career by heart. But when his dad died he realised they were all he knew. He began to realise, too, that he'd lost the passion for football that his father had passed down to him. In this book, he faces his growing alienation from the game he was born into, as he revisits key periods in his father's career to build up a picture of his football life - and through him a whole era. "My Father and Other Working-Class Heroes" brilliantly recaptures a lost world and the way it changed, blending the personal and the historical into a unique soccer story.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14209 in Books
• Published on: 2006-08-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

The Guardian
"brilliantly recaptures a lost world, while the grief that
inspired its writing is evident on every page"

From the Publisher
The most highly acclaimed sports book of 2005, now available in paperback - the moving story of one man's search for his father, and for the game he played

About the Author
Gary Imlach started out writing for national newspapers at the age of 18. He has worked for the BBC, ITN, CNN & Channel 4, and currently presents ITV's coverage of the Tour de France and American Football. He is also the producer of several documentaries, and in 2000 was nominated for a BAFTA as Editor-in-Chief of the BBC's Paralympics coverage in Sydney. This is his first book.

Customer Reviews

Gary Imlach - My Father and Other Professional Footballers
Memoirs of deceased parents can be mawkishly sentimental ponderous affairs drowning in pathos, but Imlach has succeeded in writing a book that is deftly light in tone and entertaining as well as being, by turns, moving, funny and informative.

The contrast between professional footballers' lives half a century ago and today is fascinating - wages were a fraction of what they are now, and not only were players not the superstars they are now but they were often treated with little respect by their clubs, who would occasionally arrange transfers without informing them first.

There are many hilarious moments here, among them the author's foiling an attempt to foul him in a school match by getting in there first, his mum hiding in the pantry when her husband played in professional matches so that she could avoid the radio commentary, and the arch wilfulness of waiters trying to humiliate the wives of players at a posh dinner. This last scene shows off Imlach's flair and wit to the full, with the asparagus laid before the bewildered wives being described as 'straightened question marks to which they had no answer'.

The ease with which Imlach recounts absorbing tales, his ability to draw humour from everyday occurences, and his passion for football will draw obvious comparisons with Nick Hornby or David Baddiel. Hopefully, like them, he will turn his hand to fiction and become a fully fledged writer of best selling laugh-out-loud, blokeish novels.
Leyla Sanai

Moving
Part social history, part family memoir, this is on one hand a son's moving story of his father's life and the ups and downs of a career largely spent outside the top level of professional football. On the other hand, the author uses football to trace social change over the last fifty years.

Nick Hornby's "Fever Pitch" has prompted pale imitations by writers nowhere near as gifted. This book, however, is exceptional in the sense that a talented writer with a broad world view and the perspective that that provides has taken a sideways glance at the rot, corruption and exploitation at the heart of professional football.

Towards the end of the book, he describes his own loss of interest in a game which has become increasingly detached from its core values and traditional audience. Many will empathise with the sentiments he expresses.

At a time when publishers seem to take every opportunity to save on production costs, it should be stated that this is a beautifully produced paperback, worthy of a place on anyone's bookshelf.

Real men and real footballers
This book should be a must read for all the modern day poseurs masquerading as professional footballers. They should be made to read it before signing their contract, endorsements and image rights.
It is a excellent, informative read of football in that era of 1950s & 60s but also a social commentary of that era and insight into housing, work and unfortunately class barriers.
As a member of the tartan army it also shows why we've done so poorly at world cups ie for 1958 no manager, Matt Busby lying injured in hospital, so what do we do? Let a committee of selectors, most who have never played the game, pick the team, cream the expenses whilst some players lost money representing their country!
It is also an interesting tale of a father and son relationship, probably told with some regrets after his death.
I highly commend this book to you.