Book Community – Middle Age Fanclub

Book Review : ‘I’m not with the band’ by Sylvia Patterson.

If you’re a music lover you may well have given thought to how you might get yourself a slice of that there scene, at some point. Growing up as an avid reader of the NME and Melody Maker, amongst other music based publications, writing for them was something I wondered how to do, but never dreamed that I’d be able to do it. I couldn’t play an instrument and would have been far too nervous a boy to give signing a go, so writing came in as a close second. But in those pre-internet days, and with only a school careers officer and the local library to rely on, I never worked out how to follow my dream and by the time I did, it was far too late.

Sylvia Patterson, on the other hand, found that music was among her only real interests and, force of nature that she seems to have been, found herself a job that would lead to her writing for the NME, not just reading it! And she’s been writing about music ever since.

‘I’m not with the band’ tells of her adventures in music in a career that, at the time of publication, had just gone beyond 30 years. As you’d imagine there’s lots of the expected hedonism of following bands and artists around. There are tons of tales of the somewhat anarchic and also juvenile things that happened when Silvia was a writer on the sadly missed Smash Hits. It seems that their motto was something like ‘either make it up, take the piss or both’ which sounds right up my street!

There’s also loads of really interesting stuff about big hitters like Madonna, the Manics, Prince, U2, Beyonce, New Order and Oasis and yet you’re often left with the reality that Patterson’s life as a writer isn’t at all as glamorous as you’d imagine. In fact, at times I was thankful for falling into being an English teacher just for the sake of my own safety and sanity! But then you read stuff about people like Black Grape and a notorious trip to the Caribbean to record a video, as well as Cypress Hill and Eminem it helps you to see that while life as a music writer isn’t glamorous, it’s rarely dull.

And ultimately, that’s the saddest part of this memoir. I’d set out into reading it thinking that meeting all of those musicians and following them round the world would be enormously fulfilling and glamorous. But it doesn’t seem to have been so for Patterson. The pay seems barely enough to get by on and the perks never really seem, well, perky enough. In fact our writer seems at her happiest just when taking the piss out of pop stars early on in her career at Smash Hits.

Patterson also details the decline of the music press as well as the closure of many magazines that we may well have read back in the day. The internet has a lot to answer for and part of it is that writers like Sylvia Patterson are forced to work as freelancers, surviving on scraps really. Again, not what we’d expect from someone who on the surface of things, seems to have the kind of job we’d all kill for.

‘I’m not with the band’ is a fantastic, illuminating read. For starters, it’s just very, very funny. But then there’s also a great deal of depth too. Patterson clearly thinks that music – and writing about it – is something life changing. And she’s right. And so the book is equal parts vibrant, honest and thoughtful. With tales of just anyone you could think of within the British music scene of the last 30 years, ‘I’m not with the band’ is a must read for all music lovers.

I give ‘I’m not with the band’…

Book Review: The Wilderness Years Newcastle United 1978-1984 by Gary Sherrard

In the ever prosperous post takeover years a lot of Newcastle United fans will think of the era under Mike Ashley as some kind of wilderness period. In fact, the club has had many wilderness periods. But for some of us more middle aged fans the years between 1978 and 1984 were memorable for all the wrong reasons. For much of them there was literally nothing to cheer, whatsoever. The Ashley years had Ben Arfa and Cabaye while from ’78-’84 we had Shinton and Rafferty! Gary Sherrard’s ‘The Wilderness Years Newcastle United 1978-1984’ covers it all brilliantly.

Newcastle had been relegated from the old First Division at the end of the ’77/’78 season. We’d finished second bottom of the league and ended up 11 points short of safety with a -36 goal difference. A spectacular failure. We would stay in the old second division for the next 6 seasons, often with no hope of going up. These were the wilderness years.

It was during these years that I first started going to St. James’ Park. As a Newcastle United daft kid I’d been desperate to start going to games, having watched my dad going (and coming back in a very different state to the way he left the house) for years. It took heart surgery, a letter from a family friend to Newcastle and a magnificent gesture from the club to make that happen. And so, at the start of the ’79/80 season I was able to take up a seat alongside my dad in the East Stand.

So, for me, ‘The Wilderness Years’ captures my first years of properly supporting the club, while also reminding of a lot of things that my young brain probably didn’t quite take in.

‘The Wilderness Years’ is, in my opinion, essential reading for any Toon fan. Whether you were there or not shouldn’t matter. Sherrard’s writing is superb, capturing the line that we tread between a sense of hope and a sense of helplessness, brilliantly. It’s all done with a sense of humour too, while remaining true to the feeling of the times. Newcastle United was a fractured, directionless football club at this time; the team felt like it was in permanent transition and almost always looking for the final 11 pieces of the jigsaw. Even the ground wasn’t complete, despite ambitious plans.

The attention to detail here is superb too. There’s lots I don’t remember about this period – I was dedicated, but also very young – but the book brings it all flooding back in glorious and not so glorious black and white. So any of the players that I may have forgotten are brought back to mind, while all of those that I’d tried so hard to forget over the years – the aforementioned Rafferty, Shinton et al – are also unfortunately brought back too! Sherrard also gives us a little social commentary along the way too; some politics, some culture and current affairs and more pertinently some comments about terrace culture and the epidemic of hooliganism at the time, making the book even more interesting.

‘The Wilderness Years’ ends with the first incarnation of Kevin Keegan at the club; truly wonderful years when suddenly there was innovation and imagination about the way we were run and the direction of travel felt ever more hopeful.

Overall, ‘The Wilderness Years’ is an illuminating read. It’s certainly offers a contrast to more recent history and serves to illustrate that Mike Ashley certainly wasn’t the first steering a rudderless ship. The book might even help remind a few of just how lucky we are under the present ownership and stewardship of Eddie Howe.

I’d thoroughly recommend Gary Sherrard’s ‘The Wilderness Years’ for any Newcastle fan. It’s a comprehensive and enjoyable read, not only about the club, but also the region and the culture during a period of time where supporting the club genuinely felt like a severe test of your patience and loyalty. As the writer says, ‘Newcastle have always been oblivious to the obvious’ and this period of our history highlights that in the most glaring way possible.

A cracking read for any Mag!

Book Review: The Kingdom by Jo Nesbo.

If you’re into your crime thrillers then you’ll know that there are a number of reliable writers in what has fast become a bit of a saturated market. Jo Nesbo though, with his somewhat dark Scandinavian landscapes is undoubtedly one of the best and one of the world’s biggest selling crime writers.

The Kingdom is the tale of two brothers with a dark, mysterious past and more than a few secrets. Roy, the older brother still lives on the family smallholding in remote Norway while holding down a job in the village that they grew up in. Younger brother Carl has emigrated to Canada to make his fortune and perhaps to escape his past. However, when he returns in a blaze of glory, everything changes and a few skeletons begin to threaten to emerge from the cupboards.

The Kingdom is, as you’d expect from Nesbo, a well written thriller full of grisly death and with more than enough twists to keep the reader guessing as to what might happen next and what fate might hold for the two brothers. Dealing with issues like the intricacies of life in a small, insular town, brotherly love and even child abuse, this is much more than just your average crime thriller. Sure, the body count begins to rack up as the story unfolds. but there’s more than just gory mysterious death to this one.

Nesbo’s characters are, as usual, rather complex. In the case of older sibling Roy it felt like the surprises about his character just kept on coming and I never really felt that I’d got to grips with exactly who he was. Maybe this was to do with the conflict between his fierce loyalty to his younger brother and his growing attraction to his sister-in-law, Shannon. And Shannon herself is a pretty dark horse. But then there’s also the younger brother Carl and a whole host of either villagers or mysterious visitors to keep us on our toes.

Such is the sprawling timeline of the narrative that I never felt like I knew exactly what was coming next. And the unpredictability here acts as both a good thing and a bad thing. There was that delicious feeling that you get when the penny starts to drop about what’s going to happen or the time when something is revealed that you truly weren’t expecting, which can be fantastic, but also the distinct feeling that sometimes there might be one character or detail too many. So while I never really lost track, there were times when I hoped that things would move a little faster.

In the end Nesbo draws all of his strings together well, but the twists and turns just keep on coming, meaning that you’re never quite sure who’s going to survive. All this action, drama, blood and backstabbing in a sleepy mountain village. Who’d have thought?

The Kingdom is an epic tale and a hulking great book, but it’s well worth a chunk of your time. And while it can be a little slow at times, it remains an excellent page turner that’s chock full of surprises.

I give The Kingdom…

Book Review: Forever Young by Oliver Kay.

As a football fan, one of the things I love about following the game so closely is when you unearth a player that you’d never previously heard of. I’ve followed football since being very young, I read a lot about the game, have played it for years and even coached for a while. So, I like to think I’ve got a bit of knowledge. And then, every so often something or someone enters my consciousness and there’s a mixture of thrills and sadness about finding them. Adrian Doherty was one such player.

Oliver Kay’s book is brilliantly encyclopaedic in its examination of Adrian Doherty. And it’s all the more remarkable because Doherty only ever made three senior appearances as a professional footballer. However, Kay’s book makes it abundantly clear that the game lost out when we lost the opportunity to watch Doherty on a regular basis.

Doherty is referred to in the book as a lost genius; a teenage prodigy blessed with a gift for the game and sadly, a career ruined by serious injury. Here, Kay follows his journey from the streets of Strabane in Northern Ireland and starring for Moorfield Boys’ Club to the bright lights and big time of Manchester United and Old Trafford under Sir Alex Ferguson.

And this is where Adrian Doherty’s story begins to move away from the traditional biography of a footballer. Doherty’s story is at first the stuff of every boys’ dreams, but one that ultimately turns into something else entirely. Always a little different as a kid, Doherty continued to follow very much his own path into his youth. While he excelled on the football pitch, Doherty never allowed the sport to consume him and always had outside interests that would clash jarringly with what was maybe expected of him as a potential professional footballer.

As part of Manchester United’s famous Class of ’92, Doherty played with some of the game’s legendary figures such as Beckham, Giggs and Scholes and it was said that he was better than the lot of them! And yet, even that and the promise of a glittering career just didn’t seem to enough for him.

Doherty was very much a free spirit and football was never the be all and end all for him. And as he grew older, those differences left him more and more isolated in life. This wasn’t a state that bothered him though. Doherty seemed to be living happily with only his poetry and music for company, making his own way in life while somehow forging ahead with a burgeoning football career. And then tragically, injury intervened.

Kay’s book is a remarkable tale that is both tragic and heart warming at the same time. I read it feeling a certain sense of regret that this was a player that I never got to see, regardless of the team that he would have played for. But Kay is careful to convey the fact that Doherty derived a great deal of pleasure and fulfilment out of life and his chosen path. Even when injury ended a promising career, that’s all it was to Doherty; a career and not the only thing that he had in life. The free spirit was able to blossom, roam and pursue things like poetry, writing and music.

‘Forever Young’ is a must read for football fans. But don’t expect the traditional footballers’ tale. This is not a story that ends with riches, glory and the raising of any trophies. This is a story that gives us a completely different take on footballers and as a result is a really interesting read. Having Doherty as a team mate is described as being “like having Bob Dylan in a No 7 shirt”…and if that doesn’t add up to a book that intrigues you then I don’t know what will, especially if you’re a sports fan.

I give ‘Forever Young’…

Book Review: ‘Outrunning The Demons’ by Phil Hewitt.

Running is one of those subject that can be quite divisive. As runners, we’re sold on its many qualities. It can almost feel like a drug in its addictive nature and despite the pain and the exhaustion, we always come back for more. Worse still, it can also become all that we want to talk about and so, we become ‘running bores’ on top of everything else. Believe me, other people love a running bore!

‘Outrunning The Demons’ is a collection of real-life tales from various runners of all abilities about the reasons why they run and the reasons why running has saved them. There are stories of bereavement, addiction and mental health challenges and all of them highlight the importance of running to those involved. In fact, Hewitt himself turned to running after being mugged and left for dead in 2016, so he’s living proof of the healing qualities of getting out for a run.

Since rediscovering running in my forties I’ve realised its importance in helping me think things through and its values in terms of my mental health. Then, having had a major heart procedure when I hit 50, running has become even more important, giving me at first a recovery goal and since then a lot of the strength needed just to keep going at times.

So ‘Outrunning The Demons’ felt both pertinent and personal to me. There was lots to relate to in these tales, as well as the type of pain and running ‘journeys’ that I couldn’t hope to understand. Among the 34 stories there are elite runners and there are people who only took up running because of the loss of a runner who was close to them. Charlie is a recovering drug addict, Theresa lost her firefighter husband in 9/11 and ran to take his place in a marathon, James an army veteran recovering from trauma in Iraq and Sujan suffers with anxiety brought on by a troubled childhood. All of them looked to running to help them cope again with every day life.

And there are loads more amazing stories to read about here. This is a book that’s as full of inspiration as it is pain. And it’s a book where you can’t fail to care about the people that you read about. So, at times it’s an emotional read. If you’re a fellow runner, you’ll undoubtedly recognise many of the emotions and be able to empathise with the trauma that some of these ordinary folk have endured.

Hewitt’s own tale is startling and perhaps worthy of a book in itself. But instead, he spent time bringing together people from all corners of the globe who have sought out a similar solution when faced with the kind of problems that might otherwise have seen them go under.

‘Outrunning The Demons’ is at times an incredible read. It’s subtitled ‘lives transformed through running’ and is comprehensive in recounting what really are some remarkable transformations. Always interesting and always inspiring, it became hard for me to put down at times. A life affirming read, whether you’re a runner or not.

I give ‘Outrunning The Demons’…

Book Review: Half a World Away by Mike Gayle

Imagine living with a past that you could never shake off, regardless of how content you might be with life. Imagine living with the kind of secret that you had no idea how to address.

Kerry Hales is a single mum who does everything she can to provide for her young son and make the most of life on a south London estate. Meanwhile, across London her brother Jason lives a successful life with a wife and daughter. Now a top barrister, he knows nothing of the sister that he was once so close to. He’s not Jason anymore either; now he’s Noah. But Kerry has never forgotten him, whatever his name might be these days.

Kerry and Jason were separated as children when their mother admitted defeat in her quest to bring them up and had them taken into care. Kerry was ten and Jason almost two and while Kerry would go on to live through the system with chidlren’s homes and foster care, Jason was quickly adopted by a well to do family who not only saved him from what could well have been a troubled childhood, but change his name to something that they thought more fitting.

‘Half A World Away’ is in part the happy tale of how sister and brother are finally reunited. Sadly though, nothing of this magnitude could ever be simple and so there’s sure to be trouble and sadness along the way. I mean, being contacted by anyone out of the blue after 32 years without a word would be at the very least a little strange. But a sibling that you never knew you had? As Noah himself says, ‘it’s impossible to describe the range of emotions I felt upon reading the letter’.

Despite the fact that at first Noah believes that Kerry’s letter might be a scam of some sort, the two are eventually reunited. But it was never going to be straightforward.

What we end up with though, is just a brilliant story. I’ve read a few Mike Gayle books before but oddly not picked one up for years without really ever knowing how or why that had happened. In fact, this one was found in a box of books that I’d mislaid in the loft. I’m so glad I found it though. Gayle is a brilliant writer when it comes to relatable characters and emotions. And although nothing like this has ever happened to me, I found that not only could I just not put the book down, but that I was quickly invested in the relationships and the characters, which of course is always a good sign.

Covering themes such as love, family, race and class, ‘Half A World Away’ is a real page turner. It’s beautifully written with characters that you’ll instantly care about and feel like you almost know. Equal parts funny and heart warming, this is a story that is also gut-wrenchingly sad, so you might need a pack of tissues. Ultimately though, ‘Half A World Away’ is just a fantastic story and I’d urge you to give it a go.

I give ‘Half A World Away’…

Book Review: ‘The Rise of The Ultra Runners’ by Adharanand Finn

For a while now, ultra running has both appalled and fascinated me. We’re talking ridiculous distances and conditions – running 100 mile races is fairly typical and often involving mountains and other such treacherous terrain. The idea of putting myself through such torture, despite my love of running, appalled me, but the idea that people chose to test themselves to the limits in such events absolutely fascinated me.

‘The Rise of The Ultra Runners’ had been on my ‘to read’ list for a while. It had sat there in one of my book boxes idle, occasionally popping its head up and briefly grabbing my attention before losing out to something shinier. And then one day, I decided that the time was right. It turned out that I really should have picked it up earlier!

The book plots the rise in popularity of ultra running; basically the pursuit of running ridiculous distances over many hours, sometimes days and often in ridiculous conditions. It would seem that there are now plenty of perfectly sane humans getting bored of the shorter distances, you know, like a marathon! For the uninitiated this means that ultra runners are taking on anything from 50k to 160k. In fact, the longest ultra is actually 3100 miles!

As with the last book of his that I read, ‘Running with the Kenyans’, Finn immerses himself in the world of endurance running. In order to write the book, he doesn’t just search out ultra runners, he becomes one and it’s an interesting read. Finn not only runs the races, at one point he even moves in with one of the world’s best ultra runners living in a cabin on a mountain, training with him and generally just trying to absorb everything he can about this world that he’s joined in with.

The adventures of ‘The Rise of the Ultra Runners’ take us all over the world in the pursuit of the ultimate test. Finn talks us through each agonising step in a world where things can change from one minute to the next. It seems that as an ultra runner you never quite know when disaster might strike.

However, these athletes, Finn included, are ridiculously dedicated to their craft. So whether, it’s an injury, the terrain, the weather or just the fact that the climb just doesn’t seem to want to end, these people just don’t seem to ever want to give up. Given that the distances can stretch into the hundreds and sometimes thousands of miles, this is an illuminating read, to say the least. And there was me congratulating myself on keeping going for the final mile of a particularly tough uphill 5k the other night!

‘The Rise of the Ultra Runners’ is a fantastic read whether you’re a runner or not. If you run, it’s about our world, but multiplied by 100 in most cases. If, like me, you often struggle to drag yourself around a 10k then you’ll be amazed at the physical and mental feats described here. The fact that not only can humans push themselves to their physical and mental limits over what feel like obscene distances, but also while they’re literally climbing mountains or battling with ridiculous extremes of temperature will never not fascinate me. But it’s not just that that’s so interesting. With this book, the devil is really in the detail in terms of exactly what we’re capable of.

The further I got through the book, the more fascinated I got. And the more fascinated I got, the more I thought about trying an ultra marathon myself. The reality is that I most likely won’t ever have the time, but it’s an idea that I still can’t shake and I’d love for there to be a time where I was able to train for one and make it happen.

And for me, that’s the genius of the book. It tackles something that will seem utterly ridiculous for the majority of us and yet, we’re still compelled by what we read. This reader, despite the onset of middle age, a pacemaker, asthma and a terrible habit of eating crisps and chocolate and drinking red wine read it and genuinely thought he’d be able to run a 50k race. And let’s not get started on my genuine fascination with a 100 miler in South Africa!

I give ‘The Rise of The Ultra Runners’

Book Review: ‘I Wanna Be Yours’ by John Cooper Clarke

If you know of him, John Cooper Clarke comes under a number of aliases. The Poet Laureate of Punk, the Bard of Salford, the punk poet…he’s even sometimes referred to as Dr. John Cooper Clarke. If you don’t know of him, well it’s best you start with the viewpoint that the man is a star. A poet, a raconteur and an entertainer. And as we find out in ‘I Wanna Be Yours’, he can’t half tell a story!

As such, you’d expect his autobiography to be quite the read. And you wouldn’t be disappointed. Having read it recently in fact, I was actually pleasantly surprised at just how ‘eventful’ his life has been, as the book went way beyond my expectations. I thought I knew a few things about the man who’s considered a bit of a national treasure these days, but on reading the book I found that there are layers upon layers to this fella’s life story. What a treat!

Now aged 75, Cooper Clarke is best known as a poet, although in recent years he’s managed to light up several TV panel shows with his wit, humour and way with words. And it’s his gift for language that makes ‘I Wanna Be Yours’ so eminently readable. The sharp delivery meant that I read the whole thing hearing Cooper Clarke’s voice in my head, which for me made the whole thing all the more memorable.

The book takes us through his early years as a sickly child in Manchester where in fact, a dose of tuberculosis meant that he was moved to the North Wales coast to live with relatives in the hope that the sea air would aid his recovery. Once back in Manchester, we hear of a multitude of adventures as Cooper Clarke grows up and eventually begins to get into clothes and music, slowly honing the look for which he’d become famous in later life.

Eventually, with a bit of luck, a good deal of hard graft and not without one or two setbacks along the way, John finds that he has a gift for entertaining people. And so begins quite the extraordinary tale of a bit of a legend.

This is a brilliant book with any number of twists and turns, a whole host of bizarre and incredible tales and no shortage of surprises. So while I was fully aware of Cooper Clarke’s influence on bands such as The Arctic Monkeys, I certainly wasn’t expecting the likes of Bernard Manning to put in an appearance! And then as I carried on reading and found out about his close associations with the likes of Nico and Linton Kwesi Johnson, I was more than a little bit blown away! But that’s the thing about a life like Cooper Clarke’s and in turn this book; there’s never a page wasted, there’s always something curious or funny or just downright mindblowing around the corner.

A genuinely funny man, with a great turn of phrase, Cooper Clarke’s words will inevitably raise a smile and leave you in fits of laughter at times too. But for all of the light there are many moments of shade and the book – and John’s life – has sad moments too alongside many murky tales of Cooper Clarke’s own drug addictions. But even here, it’s all told with such candour and black humour that I found myself not really batting an eyelid and simply accepting that it had all added to the rich tapestry that I’d been reading about.

In the end, I was left wondering if at times, I’d been had. Surely there are more than a few tall tales and embellishments along the way in the book? However, on reflection I decided that either I didn’t really care – I mean wherever the truth lies, this was an amazing read – or more likely, it was all probably very much true. Because, whether it be looking after somebody’s monkey in Amsterdam and just ducking and diving while looking for your next fix of heroin, it could well have all happened to only one man; John Cooper Clarke.

Whether you know of his legend or not, this is a book I’d thoroughly recommend.

I give ‘I Wanna Be Yours’

Book Review: I Blame Morrissey by Jamie Jones

Music and sport can do funny things to a person. Those of us who take an interest in either or both can become unhinged, erratic, obsessive and just plain odd because of how they make us feel. In fact, if you’re a fan of both, you may well get to a certain age and look back in wonder, unable to fathom out some of your decisions, while simultaneously still believing that they were right all along. People won’t understand you and you won’t understand what there is to understand, but quietly you’ll be fully aware of just what a weirdo you probably are.

Jamie Jones is one such weirdo and ‘I Blame Morrissey’ is his attempt to explain his obsessions with music and to a lesser extent, football.

Jones grew up in the 90s – like me – and was obsessed by music and football – like me. However, while I made some ridiculous decisions while following bands and Newcastle United, I managed to allow life to get in the way and eventually grew into a reasonably well adjusted adult. Sort of. Jamie Jones – and I can’t disguise some kind of jealousy – got more and more obsessive until he was allowing his life to be dictated by song lyrics. And as crazy as that might sound to some of you, it all makes for some incredible stories.

‘I Blame Morrissey’ tells the tale of a young man growing up and trying to navigate the world around him while also dedicating himself to following music and Peterborough United. And for most of the time, music and Peterborough win out, meaning that relationships are doomed because of perceived messages in songs and important dates and occasions missed because Peterborough have a game in some meaningless competition. I mean, we’ve all been there, right? Right?

Jones’s teenage years were dominated by girls, Peterborough United and musicians like Billy Bragg. But like any good music fan his journey takes on various twists and turns, many of them familiar to me and most likely to some of you too. Thus, if you are of a certain age there will be something here for you; a memory to empathise with or the reminder of a song that brings it all flooding back. There are festivals from a time when it was the music that was the most important thing. There are tales of The Charlatans, Morrissey, Ride, the Britpop years, of loves lost and found and of any number of decisions made in the name of whatever the latest obsession happens to be. There’s even some Teenage Fanclub, which obviously resonated with the bloke who writes this blog.

There’s a lot of this book that I feel like I lived myself. A great deal of the rest of it buzzes with a familiarity and a nostalgia that I simply couldn’t get enough of. And for that reason, everything about the book was a joy for me; like stepping back in time.

If you grew up with posters on your bedroom walls that you sometimes talked to, if you ever bought items of clothing because your idols did, if you ever changed your walk or your body language just to be more like your heroes or if you ever endangered a friendship, relationship or even your own life just to go and see a band, then ‘I Blame Morrissey’ will be right up your street!

I give ‘I Blame Morrissey’…

Book Review: ‘Above Head Height’ by James Brown.

Confession time. I had a little bit of a misspent youth. Nothing to panic about. Not committing crimes, not doing a great deal to disrupt others and not going out of my way to be obnoxious. My misspent youth consisted of doing the kinds of things that were important to me for as much as my time as was humanly possible, while neglecting the stuff that seemed boring, but on reflection might have actually done me some good.

My misspent youth largely revolved around football. Naturally, there were girls a bit later too, but I was no Casanova. Mind you, I spent endless hours playing football and I was no Maradona either! But wherever I could and whenever I could, I played football. ‘Above Head Height’ is a book for all of us who have obsessed and continue to obsess about football. ‘Above Head Height’ is what happens when your misspent youth continues through your entire adult life.

If you love football, then ‘Above Head Height’ is a must read. Even if you only have a casual interest in the game it’s still definitely worth a look. Brown – the former editor of the groundbreaking Loaded magazine – takes us through his own personal obsession with football, from days and nights playing any-number-a-side street football right up to his present day situation where he plays football with various social groups about 4 or 5 times a week. It’s an encyclopedic look at the game and why we play it, as well as why we get so obsessed and so for those of you like me and James, it becomes a very interesting read.

Brown’s experience of football as a kid will be familiar to a lot of us and as such, offers a huge slice of nostalgia for simpler football related times. Huge sided, barely organised games in the street, the park or wherever there was space and playing until you were either dragged in by a parent or it was just too dark to see anymore. Sometimes even that wasn’t enough to stop us!

‘Above Head Height’ takes us on Brown’s journey through football in its many guises. It’s a path well trodden for many of us. There are his experiences with school teams, playing with gifted players, playing at college and university, early adult five-a-side leagues and then onto time spent coaching his son’s team (something which a lot of us will have stumbled into inadvertently!).

This is more than just a book about football and a football obsessive. ‘Above Head Height’ starts with the funeral of a fellow player and Brown touching on the fact that, despite having spent years playing with this man, he really didn’t know him. He could pass comment on his playing style and pay tribute to his organisational skills – he was the bloke who organised the league – but what did he really know of the man he’d spent so much time with?

Ultimately, ‘Above Head Height’ is a book about friendship, camaraderie, obsession, health, fitness and the realisation that none of us are getting any younger. Football is just the orange or black and white checkered sun that it all orbits around. Of course, there will be family, careers, births and deaths, but sometimes it will feel like none of it is as serious as our feelings for the beautiful game!

If you remember the Wembley Trophy (or the penny floater if you’re from my neck of the woods), if you’ve ever spent far too long explaining the whys and wherefores of your latest ‘world-class’ goal, if the phrase ‘jumpers for goalposts’ still makes you smile and if you still dream that you might just get the call to play professionally, then ‘Above Head Height’ will be right up your street.

I give ‘Above Head Height’…