Roy- The Roy of the Rovers autobiography

The Blurb

The greatest story ever told by the world’s most beloved sportsman, Roy of the Rovers, in his own words for the first time.

The shocking details of the five terrifying kidnappings that threatened to blight his playing career; the stomach-churning murder attempt in 1980, which left Roy in a life-threatening coma; the sickening car bomb attack that tragically killed eight of Roy's team-mates while on a pre-season tour of Basran; the devastation of losing his wife, former Melchester club secretary Penny Laine, who died in a car accident that brought Roy closer than ever to quitting the game he loved.

And finally the horrific helicopter crash in 1993 that resulted in the amputation of Roy's legendary left foot, bringing the curtain down on his sensational, game-clinching, goal scoring exploits.
Candid, emotional, optimistic, and never nothing less than inspiring, the autobiography of the man all fans of the game know simply as Roy Race aka 'Roy of the Rovers' lays bare for the first time the truth behind soccer's ultimate fairy-tale story.

It’s all Rover, and it is here for the first time for his fans to enjoy all in one victorious book.

The Review

Roy Race (AKA Roy of the Rovers) is the perfect football hero.  He's successful, a family man and dedicated to his beloved Melchester Rovers in a way that few modern day footballers are.  He's one on his own, and I'm surprised he (ahem) hasn't written an autobiography before now.

I really wanted to love this, to fondly relive some of the moments from the comic strips of my youth, such as the Mel Park earthquake.  Unfortunately, I found it a bit lacking.  Firstly, I found the discrepancies between the blurb and actual text of the autobiography irritating, for example the 'eight FA Cups' of the back cover to the ''eleven times' FA Cup winner mentioned on p112 and 'five terrifying kidnappings' which become being 'kidnapped nine times' on p131.  I don't know if it's supposed irony, playing on the hyperbole of the comic strips and Roy's confident demeanour or what, but I found it extremely frustrating. I'm not a big enough fan to know Roy's career history off pat, so I don't know which, if either, are factually correct.  Not good for an autobiography.

I would also have loved some of the iconic images of Roy's career in a picture section-after all, isn't that the bit we all flick to first in any autobiography worth its salt?  There was nothing like that.  I'm not sure if it was due to copyright, but I found that really disappointing.

Also, I am a massive fan of Penny and would have liked more of their life together to have been focussed on in the book.  Unfortunately, she comes across as little more than a baby machine, which isn't fair portrayal. 

I'll be honest, I really wish it had been done as a compilation of the highlights of Roy's career in comic strip format-whether that was simply linking the strips that had been run over the years with snippets of text in between or completely reworking it but retelling the story we all know and love in the format we are familiar with.  I wasn't overly enamoured by the ghost writers style either, I'm convinced there are fans out there who could have done a better job of sharing Roy's inimitable story.

For me, I'm sad to say, it didn't work.  I'd say this is one for the 'die hards' but unfortunately I think most die hards would say this is a poor, inaccurate effort to recreate the magic of Roy's career and moreso his private life.

NB. Yes, I am fully aware Roy Race is a fictional character.

With thanks to the publisher who sent me a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Roy is out now, published by Random House.

I am the Secret Wag- The Secret Wag REVIEW AND INTERVIEW

 

Have you ever wondered what it's like to be a wag?  Ever wondered how much surgical enhancement they've had?  Ever wondered how they cope with the media pressure?  Then you should read I am the Secret Wag.  Written by 'an England footballer's wife', this book is a must for anyone attracted to the celebrity lifestyle.  As it is written anonymously there is scope for free speech and honesty, something which may be compromised in the autobiographies of other wags. 

 

I must admit to being surprised at the sauciness of some scenes-the secret wag certainly holds nothing back when it comes to disclosures about bedroom antics with her hunky footballer husband.  With sex, fashion, club brawls and boob jobs, I am the Secret Wag paints a picture of wagdom not that far removed from an episode of the Footballer's Wives.  If you subscribe to glossy magazines and gossip columns then I am sure you'll find this an interesting read.  In fact, you may have spotted the wag in one of them- her wedding was front page of popular magazine.  

On a personal level I'd hoped for a bit more about the beautiful game itself, but then I am a big football fan.  I've read The Secret Footballer books and enjoyed them as an insight into the world of professional football.  I am the Secret Wag is equally as candid, but definitely aimed at a female market.   My life is so far removed from that described in the book that I did have a few moments where I thought 'seriously?!' but then reminded myself that for someone in the media spotlight with oodles of cash it probably wasn't as outlandish as it seemed to little old me.  There were also a few moments where I felt that she contradicted herself slightly, mainly when talking about how normal she was and then following up by talking about expensive nights out at exclusive restaurants or selling her wedding to a glossy mag.

I am the Secret Wag may appeal to fans of chicklit, reality TV or those looking for an easy beach read and of course you can't help but wonder who it might be (I have very strong suspicions but am keeping schtum!).  I did wonder if some parts had been exaggerated or embellished to make a more interesting story, but at the end of the day it doesn't really matter if they had or not because the book isn't professing to be anything other than a fun glimpse into the life of a wag.

I am the Secret Wag is out now, published by Corgi.

I was fortunate enough to be able to ask the Secret Wag some questions exclusively for Books with Bunny.  Here's what she had to say...

Do you worry that your identity will one day be revealed? Especially with regard to the more risqué aspects of the book?
I absolutely wince at the prospect of my family reading about my sexual experiences, so yes it would be an utter nightmare for my identity to be revealed in that respect!  The beauty of the secret aspect is that I have been able to be 100% honest and just said it how it is.  I haven't held back in the nitty gritty details that's for sure!

 

How did your husband feel about you talking about your sex life so openly in the book?

He is very proud of me for what I have done, and enjoyed reading the book a lot. I must admit he did go a beetroot red colour when reading the bits about our sex life!  He was so overwhelmed with what I wrote about our relationship, especially my feelings towards him and the way I describe him.  He maintains I have never said them to his face, so he was really touched.

 

Would you ever consider writing a novel?

I would love to!  I have found a real passion for writing and found it very good therapy!  I love losing myself to my laptop and putting down all the thoughts racing through my head.  If anyone tries to talk to me when I'm in the flow of writing they get totally blanked!

 

Who do you think will win the World Cup?

I'm pretty certain Brazil will win.  They are a really strong side and being the host country and having all those passionately supporting them will spur them on even more.  The supporters become the twelth man.

 

Are wags really as obsessed with fashion/beauty as the media make out? 

Wags LOVE fashion and beauty. We love to have the newest items out in the shops or be trying the latest beauty products, just so that we can say we have.  We are very good at shopping as we're lucky to have the time and funds to do it, and when we want to. The atmosphere of competition means we're always striving to be the fittest and the best dressed. 

 

Besides your husband, who do you think is the most attractive footballer past or present?

David Beckham is absolutely gorgeous in the flesh.  His style, his hair, his charisma, he just oozes sexiness! Roque Santa Cruz who plays for Malaga is a bit of alright too.  Oh and Gerard Pique is totally gorgeous also!  It's alright to look, right?!

 

Sure...after all, who wouldn't look at this fine specimen of a man?! (Any excuse for a picture of the Beckmeister on my blog).

With thanks to the Secret Wag and Madeline Toy.

The Gaffer: The Trials and Tribulations of a Football Manager- Neil Warnock

 

Neil Warnock is known as one of the most controversial figures in football.  He speaks before thinking, regularly slams referees and their assistants and has strong opinions on everything football related.  However, after the length of time he has had in the game (as a player, manager, pundit and newspaper columnist), he certainly has a few tales to tell.

 

The Gaffer focuses predominantly on Warnock's time as manager of QPR-and it is certainly eventful.  It proves that although the manager is the figurehead of a club, the power lies beyond that with chairmen, investors and board members.  Players and agents hold more sway than ever before.  Football management is evolving along with the rest of the football world and those like Warnock who have been around for a long time have had to adapt to keep up with the younger managers.

 

The Gaffer showcases all aspects of life in management- the long hours, the time away from family, the difficult decisions, the frustrations of trying to please players, agents, fans...it is an honest, no holds barred account.  It was interesting to find out more about his experience managing 'difficult characters' such as Diouf and Barton.

 

However, I found there were points where I skim-read, where I felt Warnock was covering the same ground repetitively.  It wasn't that it was bad, I just didn't find it wholly engaging.  Perhaps now is the time to say that I am a Sheffield United fan, so Neil Warnock has played an important part in my life as a supporter.  Some of my favourite days watching the Blades had him standing on the sidelines ranting and raving, yelling abuse at linesmen or making cringeworthy comments on the local radio.  I met him numerous times and he was always friendly, down to earth and approachable.  I found his previous book Made in Sheffield a fascinating read.  So I feel a bit bad saying that this was just 'alright'.  Maybe QPR fans will find this an insightful record of successful yet irregular time in their history and enjoy it more than I did.

 

It is a readable account, making no bones about the challenges faced in modern management, yet for me it was lacking the dry, northern humour which I associate with Warnock.  I'd say this is one for the hardcore football fans or those interested in how a football club operates rather than someone looking for an autobiography of a manager.

 

The Gaffer is out now, published by Headline.

 

With thanks to Headline and Bookbridgr for providing me with a copy in return for my honest opinions. 

The Story of the World Cup- Richard Brassey

 

I live in a house where football is a way of life.  My husband and I first met on an online football forum.  He has a season ticket at Sheffield United's Bramall Lane (as I did too, until we had our son and it became difficult to juggle childcare).  We watch a ridiculous amount of football on TV-not just the big Premiership matches-anything going.  So perhaps it isn't surprising that our son Zachary, who is now six, has developed a minor obsession with the game.

 

Zachary is a competent reader (reading age of 8/9) and read The Story of the World Cup independently.  He loved the bright, detailed illustrations and the comic book style, and adored the facts he learnt as he read.  Out of nowhere he was asking me if I knew about Pele, or if I could tell him about the stadiums where previous World Cup Finals had been played. Children (especially boys) seem to love facts, and this book is chock full of them-about the origins of the beautiful game, the Jules Rimet trophy and previous World Cup tournaments, winners and notable players.

 

This would be an excellent book for primary school teachers to use to support a topic on The World Cup.  It might also be suitable to encourage reluctant boy readers.  Although girls can be football fanatics too, as I can attest!

 

I have looked for more books by Richard Brassey since reading The Story of the World Cup, as it was a fantastic non-fiction text for children-visually appealing and with enough detail to make it interesting without being too weighty.

 

Zachary says 'It's amazing! It tells you all about when the trophy was stolen'.

 

The Story of the World Cup is a winner in our house.

 

The Story of the World Cup is out now, published by Orion.

 

9/10

 

With thanks to the publisher who provided me with a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Fan- Danny Rhodes

April 15th, 1989.  Twenty five years ago today.  Nottingham Forest v Liverpool at Hillsborough in the FA Cup semi final.  It was a day which changed football forever. 

In Fan, Danny Rhodes (a Nottingham Forest fan who was at Hillsborough himself on the day of the disaster) has written a novel which explores how the Hillsborough disaster affected so many people.  John Finch, the protagonist in Fan, has never recovered from the scenes he saw as a Nottingham Forest fan at Hillsborough.  Football had been his life- his friendship group had been built around supporting Forest, his wages paid for his weekend jaunts all over the country to support his beloved team.  Written as a dual timeframe novel with flashbacks to the 1988-89 season and with the 'present day' as 2004 (the year Forest's legendary manager Brian Clough died), the reader is given an insight into the troubled mind of Finch.  His ability to work, his relationships and his mental state have all been affected by the tragedy, and as he returns to Nottingham for a funeral he learns how his old friends have coped with the weight of observing such a devastating event.

Fan isn't an easy book to read.  I am a football fan myself and I now live in Sheffield.  I have been to Hillsborough a number of times and sat in the Leppings Lane end during the Sheffield derbies.  I was at an FA Cup semi final myself just two days ago.  That twenty five years ago today, ordinary people just like me, set off to support their team and never returned home-it is heartbreaking.  I have often thought of the fans at Hillsborough that day.  Not just those who died, but those who watched, helpless, as fans around them lost their lives.  Danny Rhodes has taken that thought further, creating a piece of 'faction' which is painful and deeply moving. 

However, as a novel it is superbly written, full of juxtapositions which gave me pause for thought.  It is dark and gritty, as you would expect with the subject matter, but is also incredibly emotive.

Fan is about football.  But it is also about community, compassion, belonging; living, dying, bereavement, PTSD. It is a truly unique book which I am sure was exceptionally difficult for Danny Rhodes to research and write.  I hope it gets the acclaim it deserves.

The 96 will never walk alone.  I sincerely hope that anyone else affected by the tragic events of 15th April 1989 never will either. 

Fan is out today, published by Arcadia.

8.5/10

With thanks to the publisher who provided me with a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

You don't know me, but...- Clarke Carlisle

I've had a bit of a fangirl crush on Clarke Carlisle for many years.  He's an extremely handsome chap.  He always speaks in a considered way.  He stands up for what he believes in in the fight against racism/homophobia/mental health awareness.  Plus, he has been on Countdown (I auditioned for Countdown once and didn't make it on, so anyone who does is a success in my eyes).  So when my husband bought me this book for Christmas, my eyes lit up like glowing lights on our tree.

Anyway, enough fangirling.  On to the book.  I've read so many football autobiographies over the years, some high profile premier league players and others by players who have plied their trade in the lower leagues.  Quite a few of them deal with the impact that success and fame can have on a person, particularly those with an addictive personality (thinking of particular about the autobiographies of Tony Adams, Paul Merson, Niall Quinn here).  You don't know me, but... does have some similarities to these books. Clarke makes no bones about his addiction, and talks frankly about how decisions have been impaired as a result of these addictions.  However, for me the highlight of this book is Clarke's ability to convey what it is like to be suffering from depression, especially when to the outside world it seems you have it all going for you.  I found myself nodding along saying 'yes, that's exactly what it's like!' and he beautifully captures the fragility and vulnerability of a depressive.  I've never overdosed, thankfully, but the acute pain Clarke writes of in the section about his own overdose is hard hitting and emotive.

In terms of his footballing stories, there are some interesting ones-as a Sheffield United fan I was interested that he might have been transferred to Bramall Lane at one point, and I am always keen to hear how players and former players talk about the managers they have worked under.  Yet the forte of this autobiography is without a shadow of a doubt how impeccably Clarke Carlisle talks about issues that other people in the public eye shy away from. 

His obvious intelligence adds to the readability, the words flowing freely which makes You Don't Know Me, But... an easy book to get sucked into.

One minor mistake in it that griped me a bit as an adopted South Yorkshire lass- Rotherham's new ground is not Don Valley (that's the one with the running track, now being demolished), it is the new York Stadium.

Overall, I wouldn't just recommend this book to sports fans, but to anyone who has felt at a low ebb.  It is exquisitely written and yet remains highly accessible.

You Don't Know Me, But... is out now published by Simon and Schuster.

8.5/10

Hatters, Railwaymen and Knitters-Daniel Gray

Hatters, Railwaymen and Knitters is quite different to books I have previously reviewed for Books with Bunny. An examination of the quirks of British behaviour and the changing face of the national game, Daniel Gray's book reads as a love story-love of Britain, love of football and love of the diversity of our nation.

Before starting a family, I had a season ticket at Sheffield United.  From 1998 until 2007 I could be found at the Lane every other week, and attended around a third/half the away games most seasons. I also went to youth team games (watching players including the now England regular Phil Jagielka), reserve games, open days, 'meet the manager' events, watched training sessions at the old training ground at Abbeydale and generally lived and breathed Sheffield United.  I met my now husband via a Sheffield United online forum and chose to come to university in Sheffield so that I could watch more games.  I have hundreds of photos of myself gurning alongside former players from waiting at the players entrance.  I suppose what I am trying to say is that I know how it feels to have a bond to a team, to feel part of that community that football creates, to have an identity that is formed largely around the team you support.  Just to prove to you that I am writing this review as 'someone who understands'.

Gray visited towns and cities across England in the 2011-2012 season, examining their relationships with the local football teams.  From Burnley to Carlisle, Crewe to Leyton, Hatters, Railwaymen and Knitters explores the diversity of England and the relationship between a local team and the town they are part of.  More than purely a book about football, this is a history lesson, a social commentary, a declaration of love for the beautiful game.  Gray's acute observations will resonate with football fans such as the summing up of the anticipation of visiting a new ground with the phrase 'may nothing stop the feeling a first visit to a new ground gives'.  Portrayals of towns and the characters who reside there alongside both footballing and local anecdotes will amuse and inform in equal measure.

It is perhaps obvious to compare Gray to Hornby given the subject matter, yet the comparisons stretch beyond a passion for football.  Wry observations of the quirky behaviour of football fanatics and a dry underlying humour appear to be Gray's fortes, making Hatters, Railwaymen and Knitters a highly readable and entertaining piece.  Beautifully written, nostalgic and reflective, this will also appeal to fans of Simon Armitage, Stuart Maconie and Tim Moore.

And as this is my blog and it's the first day of the new football season, I'm going to finish this entry my way-Up the Blades!

Hatters, Railwaymen and Knitters is out now, published by Bloomsbury.

9/10
*With thanks to Bloomsbury for providing me with a review copy of Hatters, Railwaymen and Knitters*
*You can find out more about Daniel Gray at his website *