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| Bob 70-71 | - See magazines condensed to their 70-71 content !!
October 2001'Jimmy Greaves' by Matt Allen. Virgin, 2001. 12pounds 99p Bob Rating: BBBBB. 'Regrets ... I have a few' Essential reading for all fans of the football history. I hope you get a chance to get hold of this book that covers Jimmy Greaves amazing football career. 1970-71 itself was a terrible year for Jimmy. He had agreed to a move to West Ham United towards the end of the previous season. As with every top level team he played for in his career, he scored on his debut twice in a 5-1 victory over Manchester City, and things looked good. But it was a move that he was to later to regret, as he believed he still had the ability to play for Spurs at the highest level. Jimmy had moved at a time he felt disillusioned with the game. In the 1970 summer break, he even turned to activites outside the game. No longer a contender for the World Cup in Mexico 1970, Jimmy embarked on an incredable 16,245 mile 'World Cup Ralley'. He competed with top ralley driver, Tony Fall, in a black and white Ford Escort. It achieved a great deal of press attention, and out of 96 cars, Jimmy finished sixth ! 'West Ham United ... were in decline' Given that he had to prepare for the ralley it seemed to be a good move for him at the time. It was near his home, which also allowed him to pursue his business career, and was afterall still (the old) First Division football. The problem was that West Ham United at that time were in decline. The team were ageing and there was a strong drinking culture amongst the players. Though the public, or even team mates, were not aware of it at the time, Jimmy was becoming uncontrolably alcoholic. Moving to a team where the spirits were down, helped to hasten this process. He got a career low of just 9 League goals in 1970-71 - it was his last ever season in top class football. 'At the age of 38 he was consistantly the best player on the pitch' What followed was years lost to alcoholic decline, before he finally made a minor footballing recovery at non-league Barnet. At the age of 38 he was consistantly the best player on the pitch. Playing from midfield he scored 25 goals and was the club's Player of the Year. Knowing this brings home just how many great years we missed from Jimmy in what would ordinarily have been his twilight footballing years. Recovery was completed, of course, when Jimmy rose to become a television star on the football review show 'Saint and Greavesie' and later a top 'Sun' newspaper columnist - though this stage of his life is not covered by the book. If the book has a fault for me, it is the history-book nature of the writing style. The story from Jimmy's breakthrough into football with Chelsea, his move to AC Milan, and then to Spurs, are all covered with chronological accuracy, supported quotes from Jimmy, old newspapers, and various contemporaries such as Bill Nicholson and Alan Mullary. It reads a bit like an elongated essay. It doesn't take any risks, and gives very little sense that we now know any more about Jimmy's true character at the end than we did already at the beginning. Sure the alcoholism is covered, but without the depths of new insight. It's as if the whole thing has been cobbled together from books and newspaper clippings with the aim of going along with the official version of the legend. 'I want to know about him, Jimmy, the bloke ...' There is also a tendancy to stray from the script, as well. Matt Allen is a Spurs fan, and that seeped into the book. For instance, we are given one chapter where the Spurs team of the day is described in full detail such that I was asking - what's this got to do with Jimmy exactly ? I want to know about him, Jimmy, the bloke, his character, not a break down of the merits of the 60s Spurs team. At one point there's a quote from my hero, Billy Bremner, all about the famous picture of Billy being held threateningly by Dave Mackay. The relevance to the Jimmy Greaves story being ... 'I thoroughly enjoyed reading it' Don't let me put you off getting this, though, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, and would recommend you to do the same. It has been launched by 'FourFourTwo' as part of a 'great footballers' series. This for me is a much more legitamate start than the only other book in the series so far on Paul Gascoigne, whose career is still ongoing. Any chance of any non-Spurs players you reckon ? For further October 2001 news see ...
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| Bob Dunning 31 October 2001 |
Click to see the latest Soccer headlines www.bobdunning.net |
