The Glory Game (Mainstream Sport)

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The book moves across one season through chapters on the players, manager, staff, directors, and even fans. Almost anyone connected with the team who would talk to him, and even a few who were reluctant to, are profiled. In the chapter ‘Bill Goes to Bristol ‘, Davies takes a trip with manager Bill Nicholson to watch a reserves match. For all of the difficulties in getting the manager to open up, the conversation that they share in this chapter reveals Nicholson as a man whose life is as measured and considered as the answers he gives. “I get no pleasure out of being a manager,” he tells Davies. “It’s a job.” Football is at the heart of every chapter here, but witnessed through the prism of the Sunday Telegraph football reporter’s experiences and life journey along the way. From a childhood spent face-down in the dirt at a rugby school –“I stared at the grass below and, as a heel lashed into my nose, I dreamt of the fruits of the outside world, Association Football”– to watching Pele and Garrincha light up the 1958 World Cup Final over a lovelorn female companion’s shoulder in a Paris café, Moynihan’s focus on events and fandom make this come alive.

Glory Game by Hunter Davies - World Soccer Talk The Glory Game by Hunter Davies - World Soccer Talk

There is no way that a writer these days could possibly do what I did in The Glory Game,” explains Hunter Davies. “He or she wouldn’t be able to get past the minefield of agents, lawyers and officials.”

In the 1971/72 season, Davies was granted unprecedented access to Tottenham boss Bill Nicholson and his 19-man first-team pool. With no official contract behind him, he admits to “worming my way in” at White Hart Lane, and convincing all those concerned that an “inside story” book charting Spurs’ season would be a worthwhile project. 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. Davies’ 1972 book offered incredible insight of life at a football club as he was granted unprecedented access to Tottenham Hotspur’s 1971-72 as they went on to win that season’s UEFA Cup and challenging at the sharp end domestically.

Glory Game: The New Edition of the British Football Classic The Glory Game: The New Edition of the British Football Classic

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.Forgotten the title or the author of a book? Our BookSleuth is specially designed for you. Visit BookSleuth The format. A season makes for a good story. The opportunity to explore different aspects of the club and the characters therein. You get to know people and care a little about them in human terms. I've enjoyed a few books that have taken this approach and this challenges my favourite which up until now has been I Lost My Heart to the Belles by Pete Davies where Davies once again showed himself to be a generation ahead of his time. Davies, Hunter (9 November 2003). "Posher than Hampstead?". The Sunday Times. London. (subscription required) 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.

The Glory Game by Hunter Davies | Waterstones

First released four months before the 1966 World Cup, John Moynihan’s The Soccer Syndrome is more a personal ode to post-war football, Brylcreem and all, rather than any kind of assessment of England’s chances at the upcoming tournament. And it’s all the better for it. In children's literature, he has written the Ossie, Flossie Teacake and Snotty Bumstead series of novels.Half a century since Hunter Davies’ seminal book, The Glory Game, was first published, it remains one of football’s most revered tombs. During the Beatles sessions for the Let It Be album , the Beatles recorded a song called "There You Go Eddie" about Hunter Davies that appears on bootlegs. It was not officially released. [9] I am a fan of Hunter Davies having read Sunday Times column for many years abd seeing him speak at British library. Nantes: “All they have to do is play it simple. That’s the answer, but they won’t do it. When you get into difficulties, when the opposing team are doing well and not letting you do anything, all you do is play it very simple and things go your way.” In 1972, Davies wrote a book about football, The Glory Game, a behind-the-scenes portrait of Tottenham Hotspur. Davies also wrote a column about his daily life in Punch called "Father's Day", presenting himself as a harried paterfamilias. In 1974, he was sent by The Sunday Times to look at a comprehensive school in action. He wrote three articles and then stayed on at the school – Creighton School in Muswell Hill, north London, now part of Fortismere School – to watch and study through a year in its life. The result was a book, the Creighton Report, published in 1976. [5]