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| Bob 70-71 | - See magazines condensed to their 70-71 content !!
November 2000Pictorial History of English Football - Updated Edition. by Robert Jeffery with Mark Gonnella. Parragon Books: Bath, 2000. Bob Rating: BBBB This is the page that gets ignored when I'm strapped for time and this month is no exception. Once again the magazine reviews are a victim to a simple lack of time. However, let me bring your attention to a possible Christmas present from the 90 year old reletive who still believes a fiver will get you the present of your dreams. What's more the copy I bought was in Asda, the sort of venue your grandma / great aunt would consider upmarket enough for such presents. Retailing at an unbelievable 4 pounds 99 pence, the cover shouts at you with that famous picture of Bobby Moore being held aloft with the World Cup in 1966 - a close up of the exact photo shown below. The cover also shows pictures of Sir Stanley Matthews, Michael Owen, Billy Wright, and Sir Alf Ramsey.
England's 1966 World Cup win. But the real reason my eyes were drawn to the book was that I've 'spoken to' the author (via email). Indeed Robert Jeffery was responsible for getting this site a pretty good mention in 'FourFourTwo' Magazine a couple of months back. Online Oddity - A Soccer Web Master Interviewed - gives the full text of our email interview. Hence, I was curious to read the book I knew I was going to like it when the introduction was by Jimmy Armfield who, though a commentator now, was responsible for some great English moments himself - and was a squad member in the 1966 team. Jimmy calls himself, 'a good old fashioned football fan.' 'Football is in fact more than a game to most of us. It's a way of life ... We should treasure it. It is a part of our heritage ... and our future.' Jimmy opines. The collection's first picture is that of George Best, which endeared me further. What follows is a run through of football from it's developing years , through the formation of clubs, and on to chief popular footballing highlights and pages devoted to some of the more famous stars. From Bob's 70-71 pages Sir Matt Busby,Bobby Moore, George Best, Kevin Keegan, Kenny Dalglish, and Peter Shilton are given sub-chapters of their own. From 1960 we're given a decade by decade breakdown before ending with a look at the situation now, and even a brave attempt to name a few future stars, which will make more intersting reading in 30 years time ! One rather irritating aspect about the book is its tendancy to repeat a photo that it likes. It reminds me of those awful American so-called documentaries about disasters or crime, where 30 seconds of footage is padded out to fill a 50 minute programme. There's only so many time you can be amazed at some unfortunate being swept away by high tides. Like wise. The opening picture of George I so admired was repeated two more times, Sir Alf's front cover picture is given at least two more showings, that sort of thing. Another irritation is the tendancy to shove information and photos from the 1980s in a chapter about the 1930s - with no attempt at giving a reason for this. Given that I got the book in a supermarket, I guess it was using the non-context shock as a way of keeping the supposed short attention span of todays young generation. It's like placing tins of low offer beans in amonst the new socks and pants aisle - it's a sales technique I believe ... But this book is less than a fiver. And it's big and heavy and full of really really interesting information. It's better than a pair of socks, and worth keeping on the loo-side table to dip in and out of. Which reminds me. One final quibble the pages - the paper itself - smell awful. Now that's not Robert's fault I'll grant, and it does become less of a concern if as I say, it's used for loo-side reading. So the final verdict. Ask for it for Christmas, it'll be the best present you'll ever get from your inflation by-passed Gran ever ... See more November news at the following ... |
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| Bob Dunning 20 July 2001 |
Click to see the latest Soccer headlines www.bobdunning.net |
