Table of Contents

Ronnie AllenJeff AstleJoe BakerAlan BallCliff BastinTed BatesDanny BergaraGeorge BestDanny BlanchflowerJackie Blanchflower Alan BrownBill BrownVic BuckinghamRon BurgessJohnny ByrneNoel CantwellJohnny CareyRaich CarterJohn CharlesBrian CloughStan CullisNorman DeeleyGottfried DienstTed DitchburnJock DoddsBill Dodgin SnrDerek DouganTed DrakeLen DuqueminArthur EllisJustin FashanuNeil FranklinMatt GilliesRon GreenwoodJohnny HancocksGeorge Hardwick Ray HarfordJohnny HaynesTerry HibbittEddie HopkinsonEmlyn HughesIan HutchinsonRobbie JamesAlbert JohannesonBrian LaboneNobby LawtonTommy LawtonBilly LiddellBill McGarryJohn McGrathWilf MannionStanley MatthewsBertie MeeCharlie MittenBill NicholsonBob PaisleyStan PearsonBill PerryHarry PottsFerenc PuskasAlf RamseyJohn RitchieDavid RocastleArthur RowleyJack RowleyJimmy ScoularLes SealeyLen ShackletonHarold ShepherdsonPeter SpringettAlec StockBob StokoeAlbert StubbinsGeorge SwindinRoy VernonDennis ViolletTony WaddingtonCharlie WaymanKeith WellerDennis WilshawWalter WinterbottomRay WoodBilly Wright

About the Author

Ivan Ponting is a football writer with more than 30 books to his credit and since 1991 he has been contributing obituaries to the Independent newspaper. Occasionally he has detoured into the summer game, collaborating with David Foot to produce Sixty Summers - Somerset Cricket Since The War, which won the National Sporting Club's Cricket Book of the Year award in 2007. Married with two children, he lives in Somerset.

Reviews

The fascination in this collection lies not only in the range of the author's deft, detailed and unsentimental cameos, but also that Geoff Bradford, the only Bristol Rovers player to win a full England cap, rubs shoulders with Billy Wright and Raich Carter, and Ron Ashman, a Norwich City titan on the pitch and in the dugout, takes hi place alongside Brian Clough and Bill Nicholson. And every individual tale offers a historical brushstroke to the canvas of our national game, often intriguingly...Dead interesting - Nick Harris, Independent. ...offers such a rich tapestry of writing on some of the game's greats...the writing is rich in detail and sensitively expressed - the negatives, as well as the positives, are never ignored. The book could almost be a 'Who's Who' of British football, the unsung heroes being trumpeted along with the likes of Ball, Charles, Clough, Matthews, Ramsey - as well as Best, arguably the most colourful of them all...gives the reader a fascinating insight into the history and development of the game on these shores, featuring figures who excelled in a different era. Overall it is an excellent offering that should prove perfect to dip in and out of for fans of all ages - Western Mail. This collection of obituaries will be fresh, yet timeless, material for the vast majority of fans...Ponting relies on an encyclopaedic knowledge and a substantial library for detail...combines solid craft, good judgment and factual precision. He always writes well, occasionally sumptuously...a series of elegant and elongated pen pictures - When Saturday Comes. "Ivan Ponting's excellent collection is - akin to celebrating footballer's lives with a minute's clapping rather than with a minute's silence. And what great lives there are to recall and how well Ponting tells their tale. Ponting has done a quite superb job in helping us re-live their achievements which makes this an outstanding book to dip into whenever one becomes frustrated at the shenanigans of the modern game - Peter Sharkey, The Birmingham Post. Absorbing - David Powter, The Football Trader.