Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #89597 in Books
• Published on: 2007-08-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Synopsis
Perry Groves spent over a decade in the footballing spotlight. Sometimes he was at the top, often he was at the bottom and that's half the reasons the fans loved him so much - and still do. This is the most truthful and hilarious book about professional football you will ever read. Perry Groves was the first signing by the legendary Arsenal manager George Graham, and that unmistakable figure with his Tin-Tin haircut and cheeky grin was a player in one of the Gunners' greatest sides. Now, he has decided to tell all about his roller coaster years of booze binges, girl-chasing and gambling sprees. He's a non-stop fund of hilarious anecdotes, recounting top-flight games played with a hangover, 125 mph motorway chases with international stars, visits to a brothel with an England World Cup hero and revealing how one drunken escapade ended with a group of internationals being questioned over an attempted murder charge. This is a unique chance to find out what top-flight footballers really get up to off the field and how they behave when the dressing room door is closed.

Customer Reviews

Excellent read
This book just goes to show that you don't need to be a star or an
international to write a good story about life as a professional
footballer. Perry Groves certainly isn't the most most famous player ever,
he played for Colchester and then he was a fringe player in the Arsenal side
under George Graham, but his memoirs aren't limited at all by the fact he
never became a household name.
He always seemed to see the funny side of everything - even defeats or
injuries - and obviously enjoyed his football. Above everything else he
liked a laugh and it comes across throughout the book. Although he was
never a regular in the Arsenal team and his career was cut short by injury,
there is no trace of self-pity anywhere in the book, quite the opposite and
I found it all very upbeat and interesting.

Funny, Whitty Insight To An 80s/90s Unfashionable Footballer
A good book, yes a quick read, but a good quick read.

Funny throughout and a good insight into the life and times of an unfashionable player, playing with a big fashionable club in an era just prior to the mega bucks paydays now on offer to top flight showmen.

Definately worth a read.

Wanted to like it. Didn't.
What's not to like about a C-list Arsenal player writing a book that out-sells Ashley Cole's whinge?

Plenty, unfortunately. It's a quick enough read, and I guess it gives an insight into the experience of a professional footballer back in the day.

The main problem: this guy is not very likeable. He's engaging when he laughs at himself but there's something strained in all the grinning. Like maybe he realizes that it's not really THAT funny being a drunk and a 'lad' and a cheat (on his family, not on the pitch, so it's okay).

I like a world where Perrry Groveses can have bestsellers. Just wish it was worth the read.