Hammered I Played Football For West Ham Man City And Everton Then The Police Came Calling And My Life Fell Apart

Author : Mark Ward
Publisher : Kings Road Publishing
Page : 331 pages
File Size : 52,8 Mb
Release : 2010-11-01
Category : True Crime
ISBN : 9781857829013

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Hammered - I Played Football for West Ham, Man City and Everton... Then the Police Came Calling and My Life Fell Apart by Mark Ward Pdf

On 11th May 2009, Ward left Kirkham prison in Lancashire, the one-time top-flight winger had spent four years at Her Majesty's pleasure for drugs offences. His crime was renting a property in which cocaine with a street value of ?645,000 was found during a police raid in May 2005. Ward never denied his involvement. Broke and with no permanent home at the time, he had accepted ?400 a week from an acquaintance to rent a house for an unspecified "stash". He was sent down for eight years. He has always acknowledged his "stupid, terrible mistake". A footballer who was once spoken of as England material, Ward was ever-present in the best league season West Ham ever had (1985-86), and a top-flight player with Manchester City and Everton. In the first ever week of the Premier League in 1992, he helped Everton win 3-0 at Old Trafford. Later he was player-coach at Birmingham in a promotion season that saw silverware at Wembley. He had a beautiful wife, now former wife, who Ward jokes was "the original WAG", and part of "the good life of a footballer" which included a big house, flash car, nice clothes, foreign holidays, and a ?2,000-a-week contract, which in the early 1990s still seemed a lot of money in the Premier League. But the playing days ended, and a desperate fight to stay in the game - at lower-league clubs, then in Hong Kong and Iceland- eventually had to be given up. The decline led to crime, and prison. Ward occupied himself by writing his life story, by hand, on prison paper. He says: "I'm proud of my book. It's just an honest account of my life, no bullshit." Ward is outspoken about current players who have achieved notoriety for the wrong reasons. He talks about the escapades and run-ins with numerous well-known names, inside and outside football. In one astonishing chapter, "Shooting the Pope", Ward reveals how, at a 1992 fancy dress Christmas party at Everton, he shot team-mate Barry Horne, dressed as the Pope, at close range, in the chest, with a real gun; this incident was never before made public, nor were many others, until now.

Author : Julie Welch,Rob White
Publisher : Random House
Page : 304 pages
File Size : 52,8 Mb
Release : 2011-03-10
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9781407092294

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The Ghost of White Hart Lane by Julie Welch,Rob White Pdf

'Had John lived, he could have been one of the greatest footballers of all time' Jimmy Greaves When John White was killed by a bolt of lightning in 1964, the football world was rocked by the tragedy. White was just 27 years of age. Nicknamed the 'Ghost' for the way that he could drift into space undetected, White played inside-forward for the great double-winning Tottenham Hotspur side of the early sixties. British football was entering a golden period and Bill Nicholson's free-flowing Spurs side was right at the forefront. White himself was on the cusp of greatness. Even alongside giants of the game like Dave Mackay and Danny Blanchflower, he stood out as a playmaker with incredible vision and touch. White lifted the European Cup Winners' Cup for Spurs (the first European trophy won by any British side) and gained 22 caps for Scotland, but he was also a family man. Six months before he died, his beloved wife Sandra, gave birth to their second child, a son called Rob. Rob White never knew his father. The man who was known by hundreds of thousands of football fans across the country, was a complete stranger to him. The Ghost of White Hart Lane is the result of interviews with his father's teammates, followers, and family members. Within these pages Rob White and Julie Welch have built up a portrait, not only of a brilliant and gifted young man, but also of a lost era.

Author : James Sarfas
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 154 pages
File Size : 42,8 Mb
Release : 2021-10-19
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 1913454576

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Forged From The Docks by James Sarfas Pdf

Born out the docks in the Victorian East End, Millwall and West Ham United's rivalry precedes the formation of both football clubs. The two areas of East London viewed each other with suspicion and discontent - something that only heightened after Millwall's move south of the River Thames in 1910. Meeting over 100 times in their history, this derby, regarded as the fiercest and most violent in England, has been littered with controversy, disorder and foul play - football games have occasionally broke out too. Forged From The Docks tells the story of the social history behind the rivalry and how it's evolved into the derby we all know today.

Author : Martin Roderick
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 236 pages
File Size : 53,7 Mb
Release : 2006-09-27
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781134324903

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The Work of Professional Football by Martin Roderick Pdf

A long-term study providing rare insights into the precarious career and ordinary working culture of professional footballers. Away from the celebrity-obsessed media gaze, the work of a professional footballer is rarely glamorous and for most players a career in football is insecure and short-lived. A former professional, Martin Roderick’s familiarity with the world of football is the foundation for this privileged research into a world that is typically closed to the public gaze and ignored by media reportage and academic research which prefers to focus on a small, unrepresentative group of elite players. Key themes explored within the text include: the culture of work in professional football the changing identity, orientation and expectations of players during their careers the fragile and uncertain nature of professional sport careers the performance and dramatic aspects of a career under public scrutiny the role of relationships with managers, owners, support staff and partners players' responses to the insecurities inherent in professional football such as injury, ageing, performance and transfer. The text deals with a wide range of issues of interest to sports students and academics, particularly those with a focus on the sociology of sport but also including sport development, sport management and coaching studies. The text will also be of interest to researchers in the fields of careers, industrial relations and the sociology of work.

Author : Peter Reid
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 320 pages
File Size : 42,5 Mb
Release : 2017-09
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 1910335746

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Cheer Up Peter Reid by Peter Reid Pdf

Author : Simon Jordan
Publisher : Random House
Page : 420 pages
File Size : 43,8 Mb
Release : 2012-06-07
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9781448113132

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Be Careful What You Wish For by Simon Jordan Pdf

Ever dreamed of owning your boyhood football club? Be careful what you wish for... Simon Jordan grew up a stone's throw from Crystal Palace Football Club. As a boy he used to break into the Palace ground for a kick-about on the hallowed turf. On leaving school he entered the mobile phone business. By the age of thirty-two, he'd built a company from nothing, sold it for £75 million and bought his childhood club. By the age of forty-two Palace was in administration and Jordan had lost nigh on everything. Be Careful What You Wish For lifts the lid on the owner's story and reveals for the first time how the national game really works. Jordan spares no one, least of all himself, as he takes us inside a world where hopes and aspirations sit alongside greed, self-interest, overpriced players, dodgy transfers and top-level incompetence. He doesn't hold back. Breathtakingly honest, highly controversial, humorous and full of jaw-dropping anecdotes, Be Careful What You Wish For is far more than a football book. It is a social commentary on the culture of great wealth and ambition; a Shakespearean tragedy that exposes the dark side of chasing a dream. The perfect Christmas gift for all football fans. 'One of the best football books you will ever read' Birmingham Post

Author : Peter Thorsheim
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 305 pages
File Size : 47,5 Mb
Release : 2015-08-31
Category : History
ISBN : 9781107099357

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Waste into Weapons by Peter Thorsheim Pdf

During the Second World War, the United Kingdom faced severe shortages of many essential raw materials. To keep its armaments factories running, the British government enlisted millions of people in efforts to recycle a wide range of materials for use in munitions production. Recycling not only supplied British munitions factories with much-needed raw materials - it also played a key role in the efforts of the British government to maintain the morale of its citizens, to secure billions of dollars in Lend-Lease aid from the United States, and even to uncover foreign intelligence. However, Britain's wartime recycling campaign came at a cost: it consumed many items that would never have been destroyed under normal circumstances, including significant parts of the nation's cultural heritage. Based on extensive archival research, Peter Thorsheim examines the relationship between armaments production, civil liberties, cultural preservation, and diplomacy, making Waste into Weapons the first in-depth history of twentieth-century recycling in Britain.

Author : Ramón Spaaij
Publisher : Amsterdam University Press
Page : 484 pages
File Size : 48,9 Mb
Release : 2006-01-01
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9789056294458

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Understanding Football Hooliganism by Ramón Spaaij Pdf

Football hooliganism periodically generates widespread political and public anxiety. In spite of the efforts made and resources invested over the past decades, football hooliganism is still perceived by politicians, policymakers and media as a disturbing social problem. This highly readable book provides the first systematic and empirically grounded comparison of football hooliganism in different national and local contexts. Focused around the six Western European football clubs on which the author did his research, the book shows how different clubs experience and understand football hooliganism in different ways. The development and effects of anti-hooligan policies are also assessed. The emphasis throughout is on the importance of context, social interaction and collective identity for understanding football hooliganism. This book will be essential reading for anyone interested in football culture, hooliganism and collective violence.

Author : Paul Ferris
Publisher : Hodder & Stoughton
Page : 304 pages
File Size : 44,7 Mb
Release : 2018-02-22
Category : Sports & Recreation
ISBN : 9781473666726

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The Boy on the Shed:A remarkable sporting memoir with a foreword by Alan Shearer by Paul Ferris Pdf

Shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award The Sunday Times Sports Book of the Year The Times Sports Book of the Year Telegraph Football Book of the Year 'Ferris's wonderful memoir represents a twin triumph. He has endured every kind of setback in life but has invariably reinvented himself; and his writing is a pure pleasure.' The Sunday Times 'Enough depth and humanity to make your average football autobiography look like a Ladybird book.' Telegraph 'A masterpiece of the genre' Brian McNally 'Football memoirs rarely produce great literature but Ferris's The Boy on the Shed is a glistening exception.' Guardian 'Fascinating and stylishly told.' David Walsh, The Sunday Times The Boy on the Shed is a story of love and fate. At 16, Paul Ferris becomes Newcastle United's youngest-ever first-teamer. Like many a tricky winger from Northern Ireland, he is hailed as 'the new George Best'. As a player and later a physio and member of the Magpies' managerial team, Paul's career acquaints him not only with Kevin Keegan, Kenny Dalglish and Bobby Robson, Ruud Gullit, Paul Gascoigne and Alan Shearer but also with injury, insecurity and disappointment. Yet this autobiography is more than a tale of the vagaries of sporting fortune. It begins during 'The Troubles' in a working-class Catholic family in the Protestant town of Lisburn, near Belfast. After a childhood scarred by his mother's illness and sectarian hatred, Paul meets the love of his life, his future wife Geraldine. Talented and carefree on the pitch, shy and anxious off it, he earns a tilt at stardom. His first spell at Newcastle turns sour, as does his return as a physio, although obtaining a Masters degree shows him what he could achieve away from football. When Paul qualifies as a barrister, a career in Law beckons. Instead, a craving to prove himself in the game draws him back to St James' Park as part of Shearer's management triumvirate - with unfortunate consequences. Written with brutal candour, dark humour and consummate style, The Boy on the Shed is a riveting and moving account of a life less ordinary

Author : Cass Pennant
Publisher : Blake Publishing
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 46,6 Mb
Release : 2003
Category : Hoodlums
ISBN : 1904034853

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Congratulations, You Have Just Met the I. C. F. by Cass Pennant Pdf

"The InterCity Firm ... hard, terrifyingly vicious, brilliantly organised, tremendously feared and highly fashionable. They were the most notorious firm of Seventies and Eighties football hooligans this country has ever seen. For the first time ..., all the faces of the West Ham Firm reveal their memories and thoughts about the violence, the battles, the campaigns, the run-ins with the authorities, and all that came with it"--Back cover.

Author : Guillem Balague
Publisher : Orion
Page : 459 pages
File Size : 51,7 Mb
Release : 2015-11-05
Category : Sports & Recreation
ISBN : 9781409155072

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Cristiano Ronaldo by Guillem Balague Pdf

The definitive award-winning biography of Cristiano Ronaldo - fully updated to include the 2022 World Cup, Ronaldo's explosive exit from Manchester United and his record-breaking transfer to Al-Nassr As the Qatar World Cup opened to worldwide jubilation, Cristiano Ronaldo's second spell at Manchester United reached an abrupt conclusion. It was not to be the fairy tale ending to a glittering career. Instead, over the two seasons, it had snowballed into a toxic standoff between himself, the board and newly appointed manager, Erik ten Hag. The Theatre's dream was over. On 22 November 2022, Ronaldo's contract was terminated. In this compelling account, Guillem Balagué draws on impeccable sources, first-hand interviews and unprecedented access, taking us on a journey from Madeira to Manchester, and onto Spain, Italy and Saudi Arabia. From Ronaldo's tutelage under Sir Alex Ferguson to becoming the biggest galáctico of them all at Real Madrid, and captaining Portugal to the first silverware in their history at the UEFA Euro 2016, Guillem chronicles Ronaldo's career in its entirety. This is nothing less than the definitive portrait of a true icon of modern football, who has reached the very heights of the beautiful game and cemented his place as one of the greatest players of all time.

Author : Roy Keane
Publisher : Penguin Global
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 42,8 Mb
Release : 2011-11-24
Category : Soccer players
ISBN : 0718193997

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Keane by Roy Keane Pdf

A publishing phenomenon in hardback, Roy Keane's autobiography was the biggest selling sports book of the year. The book will include a new chapter covering events that followed the books publication: Keane's vindication by the FAI report; the punishment meted out by the FA and Mick McCarthy's resignation. Brilliantly reviewed, Roy Keane's riveting, brutally honest autobiography has the potential to be one of the year's biggest paperback bestsellers.

Author : Nige Tassell
Publisher : Random House
Page : 320 pages
File Size : 47,6 Mb
Release : 2016-09-01
Category : Sports & Recreation
ISBN : 9781473546189

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The Bottom Corner by Nige Tassell Pdf

‘Not since The Football Man has a book so captured the passion of the game. The Bottom Corner is a wonderful journey through life in the lower reaches of the football pyramid. A fascinating tale of a very different world of football from that of the overpaid stars of the television age’ Barry Davies In these days of oligarch owners, superstar managers and players on sky-high wages, the tide is turning towards the lower reaches of the pyramid as fans search for football with a soul. Plucky underdogs or perennial underachievers, your local non-league team offers hope, drama or at least a Saturday afternoon ritual that's been going for decades. Nige Tassell spends a season in the non-league world. He meets the raffle-ticket seller who wants her ashes scattered in the centre-circle. The envelope salesman who discovered a future England international. The ex-pros still playing with undiluted passion on Sunday mornings. He spends time at clubs looking for promotion to the Football League, clubs just aiming to get eleven players on a pitch every week, and everything in between. One thing unites them: they all inhabit the heartland of the beautiful game.

Author : David Peace
Publisher : Faber & Faber
Page : 370 pages
File Size : 40,8 Mb
Release : 2008-09-04
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9780571246076

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The Damned Utd by David Peace Pdf

One of Mike Atherton's 'Top Ten Best Sports Books' in The Times In 1974 the brilliant and controversial Brian Clough made perhaps his most eccentric decision: he accepted the Leeds United manager's job. As successor to Don Revie, his bitter adversary, he was to last only 44 days. In one of the most acclaimed novels of this or any other year, David Peace takes us into the mind and thoughts of Ol'Big'Ead himself, and brings vividly to life one of post-war Britain's most complex and fascinating characters.

Author : Bill Gardner,Abe Atchia
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 270 pages
File Size : 40,6 Mb
Release : 2020-11-17
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 9798566542201

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Bill Gardner: the Man, the Myth, the Legend by Bill Gardner,Abe Atchia Pdf

Bill Gardner: The Man, The Myth, The Legend ★★★★★ Bill Gardner's childhood in 1950s East London was plagued by chronic vulnerability, due to shocking parental abuse. He endured relentless school bullying, unbearable solitude, mental health problems and homelessness by the age of 14. No value, no self-respect, no self-worth. However, between the late '60s and the early '80s Bill had changed. He was now acknowledged by peers, and the authorities alike, as British football's 'public enemy number one', as the terrace movement reached its most savage. Following his terrace 'retirement', his depiction in acclaimed movies including 'Cass' and 'Rise of the Footsoldier', alongside his citation in books, blogs and social media, fuelled a celebrity status he never craved. Autograph hunters had become selfie-seekers, and his terrace activities the stuff of legend. Yet, until now, only the closest of the close have known the real Bill Gardner, the one-time shy teen who craved acceptance from the 'West Ham family' - in his words, "the only family I ever had". Bill often wore a metaphoric mask in battle, and now even expresses certain degrees of regret. For the first and final time, Bill Gardner: The Man, The Myth, The Legend peels away that mask to reveal how a tragic past led to a ferocious future. As ever, Bill recalls this 'nature vs nurture' struggle in a brutally honest way.