Regards sport oriented books I think of two in particular as being absolutely outstanding. One, which perhaps wouldn't be so much of interest here, is 'The Game' by Ken Dryden. It's a season-long diary and reflections on the Montreal Canadiens ice hockey club in their barnstorming early-1970s days. Dryden was the stand-out goalie in team that was a galaxy of superstars,aimed at the great prize - yet another Stanley Cup victory. Dryden, an educated man who became a politican gives insights from his observations into the players' psyche and behaviours which are outstanding and fascinating in his last season before choosing to end his career at his peak at season's end.
The other book will, I'm guessing, be no mystery to many on here. It's 'My Father and Other Working Class Football Heroes by Gary Imlach. Some will know Gary as a sports broadcaster but maybe less known outside of his home town is that his father, Stewart Imlach was a Scottish football internationalist who played in the 1958 World Cup and won an FA Cup winners medal with Nottingham Forest in 1958. The book charts those times and follows Stewart's struggle to have the international caps awarded to him that were his right. Our own Eddie Turnbull went through a similar battle shortly after him as I recall. It's an account of a son's proud love and admiration for his father and his achievements which also cronicles the life of a professional football in the late 1950s on a maximum wage. Gary talks of his dad, who originally hailed from Lossiemouth, heading off to the City Ground for training in the morning on his bike from their West Bridgford home with his ladders and bag of tools attached to his crossbar, ready to go straight to his signwriting job in the afternoon after training.
As an aside, at that time some years ago I was sitting having a quiet afternoon pint one day in the public bar of a pretty and ancient pub in the middle of nowhere in the Nottinghamshire countryside, reading the back page of the local Nottingham Evening Post, there was an article about Stewart Imlach's wrestle to be awarded his beloved Scotland caps. An elderly gent sat down opposite and exclaimed, he was a 'guid 'un you know, we used to call him "the Rabbit" because he was so bloody quick'. Said in an instantly recognisable accent to me which I questioned, he then went on to say he was a Hearts supporter!. We then had an utterly magical and memorable conversation about his days and memories watching the Terrible Trio and the Famous Five on opposite Saturdays.