The Glory Game (Mainstream Sport)

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One review on here complains that it should be about a team that was very successful and suggests Manchester United. 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. Tottenham seem to me to have been an excellent choice if the aim was to capture the essence of early seventies English football. But, this was fortuitous. Hunter Davies was looking to the present for his readership and was as surprised as anyone when the book kept selling. It is still very much worth the read if you can remember the players. I think it is probably worth the read if you don't. Davies, Hunter (7 December 2007). "Confessions of a collector". The Guardian. London . Retrieved 20 November 2013. The exposure of the dreadful state of English social attitudes; whether it be about gender roles or sexuality or race relations. This tells of a white male only world that was becoming at odds with the progressive and inclusive world that was over-taking it. There are numerous cringe-worthy sections and several that would have been indefensible even in the dark ages of 1971. A Life in the Day' is the second part of Hunter Davies' autobiography, and the follow up to ' The Co-op's Got Bananas: A Memoir of Growing Up in the Post-War North', which I have yet to read.

Glory Game - Penguin Books UK The Glory Game - Penguin Books UK

Author Hunter Davies was allowed unparalleled access to the inner sanctum of a top professional soccer team, the Tottenham Hotspur (Spurs), and his pen spared nothing and no one.

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Before his more famous tactical opus Inverting the Pyramid, Wilson’s first book offered a fascinating peek behind the Iron Curtain into Eastern Europe. Dedicating a chapter per country, or former super-state in the case of former Yugoslav states, Behind the Curtain shows just how influential politics has been on football in Europe’s outposts. From dictatorial influence in Romania with Nicola Ceausescu to the disintegration of Yugoslavia and descent into genocidal civil war, there are stories aplenty. A tad archaic but still insightful. With all the hype surrounding it, I was anticipating something more sensational or groundbreaking, although it probably was both of these things, when it was released initially. You may change or cancel your subscription or trial at any time online. Simply log into Settings & Account and select "Cancel" on the right-hand side. Staggeringly raw and uncompromisingly revealing. I was expecting some unconvenient truths about the game to be shown, but the ammount of darkness that this book portrays still surprised me. I know that you're not supposed to apply your own moral standars on past times, and the 70's had things our time doesn't but still: the energy around Spurs in '72 comes across as outright destructive. Davies mercilessly shows how the players suffer not only from their own fears and prejudices, but also from the reactionary, judgemental and emotionally arid culture around them. As a Spurs fan I've learned to consider Bill Nicholson a "club legend", but after reading Davies' depiction of his almost pathological criticism of people around him, and his contempt of weakness and vulnerability, I feel less inclined to do so. I don't know if things have gotten better since then at Spurs and clubs like them, but in any case I'm glad I wasn't there. The scope of the book is not only restricted to what goes on within the club. The fans feature heavily, with hooliganism starting to rear its head and with the author being in amongst it, there are some vivid tales of the aggro that used to regularly take place on the terraces and the lads who perpetrated it are all wrapped in as part of the match-day experience.

glory game’s A Spurs takeover would be the final nail in the glory game’s

But this book was a unique opportunity for the author, who had not written a football book prior to this. 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. The beliefs on the social side leaves a bit to be desired, but the frailties and worries of the players are probably not that different to those of today’s superstars. Spurs players signed for big money are concerned about being able to live up to the price tag and are depressed when not playing – either because of injury or being dropped.

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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. Hunter Davies was, and still is, the only author ever to be allowed into the inner sanctum of a top-level football team (Tottenham Hotspur) and his pen spared nothing and no one. 'His accuracy is sufficiently uncanny to be embarrassing, ' wrote Bob Wilson in the New Statesman. 'Brilliant, vicious, unmerciful, ' wrote The Sun. Davies, Hunter (20 July 2016). "Hunter Davies: After Margaret died, I had to sell our family home". The Daily Telegraph. London . Retrieved 16 December 2018. Davies, Hunter (9 November 2003). "Posher than Hampstead?". The Sunday Times. London. (subscription required) Davies joined the sixth form at Carlisle Grammar School and was awarded a place at University College, Durham to read for an honours degree in History, but after his first year he switched to a general arts course. He gained his first writing experience as a student, contributing to the university newspaper, Palatinate, where one of his fellow student journalists was the future fashion writer Colin McDowell. After completing his degree course he stayed on at Durham for another year to gain a teaching diploma and avoid National Service.

Glory Game by Hunter Davies | Goodreads The Glory Game by Hunter Davies | Goodreads

Conn is no nostalgic who believes the ’80s were a golden period – to him Wimbledon’s FA Cup triumph in 1988 was not so much a wonderful fairy tale as a victory for thuggery – but he is appalled by the descent of the game into rampant, barely regulated commercialism. “I think the end of the sharing of gate receipts in 1983 was the first break,” he says. I Am Zlatan Ibrahimovic is different. The Manchester United striker revels in his role as pantomime anti-hero, but goes deeper than mere Marmite pastiche. The searing honesty of how his relationship with Pep Guardiola disintegrated at Barcelona– which notably details how fragile that seemingly unshakable ego can actually be – is refreshing, as is how an unforgiving upbringing spending time between an overworked cleaner mother and indifferent alcoholic father shaped everything that followed. He writes a football column for the New Statesman. [7] A compilation of these articles was released as a book, The Fan, in 2005 by Pomona Press. Davies writes "Confessions of a Collector" in The Guardian's Weekend colour magazine. [8] He has written a book about his collections with the same title. A life in the day of Hunter Davies". The Scotsman. Edinburgh. 18 August 2006 . Retrieved 20 November 2013. Brilliant, anthropological account of life with Tottenham in 1973, before there were press officers and brand managers David Goldblatt, author of the World Football Yearbook

Davies, Hunter (17 April 2008). "Modern fitba, eh?". New Statesman. London . Retrieved 20 November 2013. For an autobiography to work,” explains writer Eamon Dunphy, “the subject has to be willing to discuss his faults. The footballer must show himself to be real and flawed.” Addicted was the first such autobiography. Adams talks with breathtaking honesty about the two addictions which have dominated his life – football and alcohol. Hunter Davies, author of the only authorized biography of The Beatles, wrote in his introduction to the 2011 edition of T he Glory Game about a concern he had when the book first appeared in 1973. He hoped that it would appeal to an audience larger than Tottenham Hotspur fans. Through the unprecedented access Mr. Davies was granted by Tottenham, he was able to examine the club from all sides, to give a complete look at the inner workings of a top division team, and write a story that transcends the lines of fandom, and the hands of time. As a ghostwriter, he has worked on the autobiographies of footballers Wayne Rooney, Paul Gascoigne and Dwight Yorke. The Rooney biography led to a successful libel action in 2008 by David Moyes, the manager of his former club, Everton. He has also ghostwritten politician John Prescott's 2008 autobiography, Prezza, My Story: Pulling no Punches. [6] Davies was married to the writer Margaret Forster from 1960 [14] until her death in 2016. Their daughter Caitlin Davies is also an author. From 1963, the family lived in the north London district of Dartmouth Park. [15] [16]