The Glory Game (Mainstream Sport)

Product Information

Yes, they were sufficiently better off than the average man in the street, but the passages about some of their lifestyles being like those of a bank manager and concerns about what might happen to them if their career is ended or when they have to give up playing are quite profound.

The Glory Game by Hunter Davies | Waterstones

As a long-time avid reader of Davies' late wife, Margaret Forster, I looked forward to reading this instalment of his/their life and bereavement.However, this book is not only about the players, but the members of the Board are also heavily involved in the pages. I’m a massive Spurs fan, so I found it intriguing to learn about the glory days of the past, the differences compared to today. His family moved to Carlisle in northern England when Davies was 11 and he attended the Creighton School in the city.

Glory Game by Hunter Davies - AbeBooks The Glory Game by Hunter Davies - AbeBooks

His harrowing account of his descent into alcoholism (including bed-wetting and clothes-soiling) drew criticism from those with weaker constitutions. Football in the 1970s was a completely different beast, and that shows not only in the game and the style of play but the players and coaches themselves. Players in those special days included : Alan Gilzean, Steve Perryman, Danny Blanchflower, Martin Chivers, Cyril Knowles, and Joe Kinnear. Much of the talk of great teams from Dynamo Moscow to Dynamo Kiev and Steaua Bucharest is repeated in Inverting the Pyramid, but it’s the people to whom Wilson speaks for this book that implore the reader to care about teams they may otherwise ignore. He clearly loved her deeply and they were together for a long time but I didn’t much like the character he portrayed.Their off the cuff remarks, often in the post-match moments, are sometimes the most revealing, but the lives of the footballers back then are very different from those of the modern day. This tells of a white male only world that was becoming at odds with the progressive and inclusive world that was over-taking it. The Manchester United striker revels in his role as pantomime anti-hero, but goes deeper than mere Marmite pastiche. Apart from the historical facts being against this, (United were in a dreadful slump during this period) the glory in the title is glory that is aspired to not necessarily enjoyed. He has written or contributed to ten books about popular music, including four on The Beatles, and been a columnist for Record Collector magazine for 20 years.

Hunter Davies - Wikipedia Hunter Davies - Wikipedia

When the first edition of The Glory Game was published in 1972, it was instantly hailed as the most insightful book about the life of a football club ever published. But this book was a unique opportunity for the author, who had not written a football book prior to this.One review on here complains that it should be about a team that was very successful and suggests Manchester United. Adams talks with breathtaking honesty about the two addictions which have dominated his life – football and alcohol. Not sure why people are knocking stars off this book for players outdated opinions on things though. From a childhood spent face-down in the dirt at a rugby school –“I stared at the grass below and, as a heel lashed into my nose, I dreamt of the fruits of the outside world, Association Football”– to watching Pele and Garrincha light up the 1958 World Cup Final over a lovelorn female companion’s shoulder in a Paris café, Moynihan’s focus on events and fandom make this come alive. However, there is always the shadow of Margaret’s cancer in the background, and eventually the book becomes incredibly sad as she becomes terminally ill.

The Glory Game - Hunter Davies - Google Books

Discover the joy of reading with us, your trusted source for affordable books that do not compromise on quality. The majority were simply dumbfounded by what they read, and concurred with Wenger’s comment: “Tony, I’m amazed you’re still actually with us. However, Conn’s 2004 book is a heartfelt account of the increasingly rapid changes of the previous couple of decades. Mark and Lard had a good point in saying that the sole justification for golf was to keep footballers out of the pub between 9 and 5 o'clock. With the start of the Seventies being a time of change not only in football, but in society itself, the attitudes are very different from today, but in other regards, some are not that different.Hunter Davies was looking to the present for his readership and was as surprised as anyone when the book kept selling. Expecting to be on the end of their anger at having lost, they receive positive support despite the cup run being ended. I've enjoyed a few books that have taken this approach and this challenges my favourite which up until now has been I Lost My Heart to the Belles by Pete Davies where Davies once again showed himself to be a generation ahead of his time.