Product Description

Malcolm Allison is one of the most controversial figures of the last half-century of English football. Leader of the famed 'West Ham Academy', his playing career was cut short by the loss of a lung to tuberculosis. Disillusioned, he became a professional gambler before acknowledging that football was his calling. After humble beginnings as a coach, he began a celebrated partnership with Joe Mercer, turning Manchester City into one of the most stylish teams English football has produced. Along with the trophies came the birth of Big Mal, the larger-than-life personality who helped revolutionise televised football. He became instantly recognisable for his cigar and Fedora, and equally notorious for a string of affairs with beautiful women. As the dark side of Big Mal took over, he was banned for life from the touchlines, became embroiled in a series of boardroom battles and spent time in police cells and rehabilitation clinics fighting the effects of alcoholism. Yet despite the often-destructive effect of his Big Mal persona, Malcolm Allison retains his status as one of the most incisive minds to have graced the game. This book tells both sides of the story, tracing the life and times of one of the most charismatic characters in British sport.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #25623 in Books
• Published on: 2009-09-03
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

Review
A lovingly researched and sensitively written book which serves as an important parable of our football times Daily Mail An excellent, serious and penetrating biography Glasgow Herald An excellent, thoughtful biography ... However melancholy, it is quite a story, and Tossell tells it well from beginning to sad end When Saturday Comes A penetrating account of [Allison's] life and career ... Tossell is an accomplished writer ... a thorough and entertaining biography The Independent on Sunday Tossell has done an excellent job capturing every facet of Allison's personality in this engaging, often very funny, portrait Yorkshire Evening Post Excellent FourFourTwo Tossell cannot be commended too highly ... He writes well from the foundation of asidious research The Independent

Review
An excellent, serious and penetrating biography. Read it and laugh. And weep.

Review
An excellent, thoughtful biography. It is quite a story and Tossell tells it well from beginning to sad end.