Writing a best-seller for glory (From Times Series)

Writing a best-seller for glory

5:40pm Friday 31st October 2008

• Print
• Email
• Comments(0)

When I wrote A Pictorial History of Soccer in 1968, with a foreword by George Best, the publishers rang a few days before the book came out to tell me that the advanced sales were 25,000 copies.

My delight at the glory of being author of a book guaranteed to be in the Christmas best-selling lists just edged my dismay at having agreed a modest extra payment to spend three months research duty in Hendon Reference Library and no royalties, as elsewhere, on sales of more than 3,000, 5,000, 7,500 and 10,000. I thought I'd hit the jackpot when my first Tottenham Hotspur book topped that magical five-figure mark.

Three reprints later, revised to include the 1970 World Cup, I had progressed on the cover from 'Signy, married with three children' to a father of five. "It has certainly had a remarkable life", wrote the assistant editor of the general books section of the publishers, the Hamlyn Group. And I recouped some of my lost earnings with a further two reprints.

The UK price for the book in 1971 was £1.50. Amazon Books are advertising a copy on the internet today for £6.

George Best discovered a new "hero-figure" in the Pictorial History - the Hon. Arthur Kinnaird, later Lord Kinnaird, who played in nine FA Cup finals between 1873-83 as a majestic amateur.

He loved the old story I related about the president of the FA calling on Kinnaird's mother. "I'm afraid that one of these days Arthur will come home with a broken leg", she said.

"Never fear, dear madam," said the president, "it will not be his own".

George reckoned that he and his team-mates at Old Trafford could identify the figure in the anecdote with some of their opponents of the day.

I certainly had a roller coaster career as an author. My History of QPR in the late 1960s achieved some sort of world record by being published three managers out of date, a book I wrote with England goalkeeper Peter Bonetti did not sell the 3,000 copies required to receive royalties and Chelsea FC so butchered a book I did with Ron "Chopper" Harris on the week of publication that we had to scrap a planned serialisation in a national paper and rewrite several chapters. I finally received a cheque for £21 for my efforts.

The glory days when A Pictorial History of Soccer was on display in a showcase in the hotel at Guadalajara where the England footballers and Fleet Street's finest were assembled for World Cup duties (and the not so glorious days) came back this week with the publication of Forgive Us Our Press Passes, an anthology of modern football writing.

This time the foreword is written by Gary Lineker and my contribution is restricted to just one chapter - on the history of the Football Writers' Association - alongside 66 other articles by leading football writers. Proceeds are going to the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children.

Something new has been added ... a book with 67 authors.

In an era where the elite football writers spend their lives in the Premier League and getting exasperated with England, it is nice to note that many top writers come down to earth at the final whistle and scramble for the results of their favourite lesser light teams ... Patrick Collins (Charlton Athletic), Bob Cass (Darlington), Paul Hayward (Brighton and Hove Albion), Jeff Powell (Leyton Orient) and so on.

Then there is Jon Brodkin, the night editor on the Guardian's sports desk and one-time co-editor of two Barnet FC club fanzines. Jon's chapter is entitled 'The weird and wonderful world of Barnet', with a sub-heading about the manager who was sacked and reinstated 20 times in a season.

He lists his favourite player as Herbie Smith, who was at Underhill from 1987-89 and his most memorable match as Fisher Athletic 2 Barnet 4.

Jon says that it's never dull supporting "the club that refused to die" and, while the main thrust of his chapter refers to the Stan Flashman-Barry Fry era, his love of life at Underhill shines through.

He cites three promotions in the past two decades, two relegations, a winning cup final, threats of expulsion from the Football League and "an experience no top-flight follower can claim to have shared - standing next to the manager on the terraces at Halifax Town the weekend after he had been sacked".

Hey, that's good. I once did a celebrity report with Michael Grade, who follows Charlton. He reckoned he'd had only two highlights supporting the club over 44 years.

It's good to know that Jon reckons that Barnet in 2008 seems to be in good hands under the chairmanship of "the dedicated Tony Kleanthous".

It's a good read in aid of a good cause.

"Forgive Us Our Press Passes" - Know the Score Books Limited, £19.99.

Footnote: I must take issue with young Gary Lineker in his all-time Footballer of the Year X1 selection. Wot - no Tom Finney?