Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #53549 in Books
• Published on: 1998-01-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 290 pages

Synopsis
This is the story of England''s prodigal geni us, a rebellious young man about the King''s Road at it''s tre ndiest, told with wicked humour and great insight. '

Customer Reviews

The Great Meredith
Author John Harding pulls of the trick of writing an excellent, entertaining biography of one of the all-time football greats without speaking to the man himself. This is because Billy Meredith died, aged 83,in 1958, on the same day Bobby Charlton made his England debut.
Welsh wizard Meredith was the Ronaldo, Kaka, and Messi of his day all rolled into one - and then some. In the days before photographs were a feature of newspapers, Meredith was one of the most caricatured figures around, the toothpick he sported while playing making him easy to identify - even on those occasions when the illustation was not up to scratch. Harding's book features some photographs of Meredith and his immediate family and friends, however the illustrations he includes give a real feel of the times.
Dashing and outrageously skilled, Meredith's off-pitch activities are as much a part of his legacy as his illustrious and lengthy career on the right wing. Signed by Manchester City aged 19 in 1894, Meredith still put in the odd shift at his local coal pit in Chirk, north Wales, unitl City called a halt.
Meredith'a dazzling dribbling skills made him the darling of the City spectators, his brilliance shining through the industrial smog of Victorian and Edwardian Manchester. Meredith captained City to their first major honour, scoring the only goal of the 1904 F.A.Cup Final against Bolton. Astonishingly, Meredith played his final game for City, aged 49, in the 1924 F.A.Cup defeat to Newcastle - the Welshman's meticulous detail to diet and fitness was way ahead of its time.
A year after the cup triumph, his City career was significantly interrupted by a spell at the newly-named Manchester United. Meredith received a year long ban for his part in a bribes scandal. Meredith maintained City put him up to it and felt aggrieved when City sought to distance themselves from their skipper, not pay him while he was suspended and not grant him a testimonial.
Meredith felt abandoned by City and blew the whistle on their financial practices, which included paying players more than the maximum wage. As a punishment, City had to sell all their cup winning team. Neighbours United bought Meredith and three other top players for a pittance and duly won all before them.
Money disputes bighted Merdith's realtionship with City and United. In 1909, he and most of United's F.A. Cup winning side came out on strike over trade union recognition for the new players' union; Meredith was the key figure in its formation. His shadow looms large over the modern game and his demands to abolish the hold clubs had on players was to play over continuously until Bosman. A long overdue book on a fascinating figure.