Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10516 in Books
• Published on: 2006-08-03
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

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

Synopsis
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.

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

Customer Reviews

To Dad, With Love
This is a very moving book and I would hope, should any of the current crop of Premier League players read it, a humbling one too. Gary Imlach has produced a book that serves as both a timely reminder about what football is really about and a beautifully crafted love letter to his late father.

A friend recommended it to me. His copy has passed through a lot of hands but I thought I'd buy my own copy. I trust his recommendations and wasn't disappointed.

It's not really a football book, more a social history of our recent past. Having a father who had a similarly botched cartilege operation (leaving a bit in the joint to playfully work its way around!) and who took me to see my first match, which coincidentally, featured Blackpool at the time when Stewart Imlach was part of the management of that team back in 1977, I even discovered a slight connection with the author.

Highly recommended.

When footballers were footballers not popstars
A really enjoyable and touching read. It takes you back to a time when footballers weren't bathing in money and completely out of touch with reality. They were struggling to get along and had only their talent to rely on. A great book and obviously a labour of love too.

Warts and all
If you click on the "Football" category of the Amazon website you'll find there are 9,159 titles (probably more by the time you read this). About 1% of these are actually worth the money and this book is very high up on the list.
You might recognise Gary Imlach as the likeable guy who presents the Tour de France and used to do the American Football (when you didn't have to pay Rupert Murdoch for the privilege).
On one level this is a biography about his dad, Stewart, a professional footballer in the 1950s and early 1960s, who played for Bury, Derby, Forest, Coventry and Crystal Palace, (as well as Scotland) and went on to coach the great Everton side of 1970 (Alan Ball, Joe Royle and all).
On another level it's about the life of any professional footballer at the time - the clubs simply owned the rights to these guys and the choice was to do as you were told or leave the professional game. They even controlled your access to housing!
On a third level it's about the process of Gary Imlach writing the book and his relationship with his father, discovering how much he didn't know and things he wished he had asked.
It is a very, very good book not least because as disillusion spreads with the way football is marketed these days it is an invaluable reminder that all was not perfect in 1950s and 1960s English football. The working class heroes lived life with the sword of Damoclese dangling in the form of a career-ending tackle or the whim of a manager.
The only vaguely negative thing I ahve to say is that this took a little while to grow on me. After the first chapter or two, I was quite disappointed, in fact. The writing style is quite understated and Imlach senior was not involved in many truly dramatic incidents so it might take a little while to tune in. All I can say is: stick with it. It really is worth it!
Clearly this was a very personal book to write, almost therapy for the author; here's hoping he has another book under way!