|
 |
"THE WHO'S WHO OF MIDDLESBROUGH" REVIEWED 4-12-07
John Culley
From Agnew to Ziege and all in-between, The Who's Who of Middlesbrough is a comprehensive book that contains detailed biographies of every player who has ever worn the famous red shirt.
From five minutes to five hundred apperances, from those who made us cheer in ecstacy to those who made us groan in frustration, every player has been meticulously researched and recorded in this definitive work.
Brimming with stats this book is a compendium of facts and figures that brings the former heroes and legends of Middlesbrough Football Club to life.
We got ComeOnBoro's book reviewer, John Cully, to cast his eyes over it.
The request came from ComeOnBoro.com supremo Steve Goldby: Review The Who's Who of Middlesbrough.
I said my farewells to the family and retired to my reading room (well, garage). My only company was a room full of memorabilia, half a dozen midgie pies and two savaloys (my expenses). Thanks Steve, you make Charlie Amer look like a spendthrift!
Three days later I emerged bleary-eyed, my head buzzing with Boro information overload.
I then realised I had just read 1999's Boro Alphabet virtually word for word plus another eight seasons of panic buys, sorry, new signings on top of it.
The new book is more concise than the Alphabet, with smaller portrait style pictures of the players. This gives it a more formal feel than the previous publication.
At £6 more expensive than the Alphabet, it is definitely for the anoraks but it is essential reference material to settle those pub arguments.
Speaking of pubs, I noticed that virtually every pub from South Bank to Stockton was at one time under the management of an ex-Boro player.
Trawling through the pages, it becomes clear that the hard-drinking image of the town had filtered through to the players. A "livener" with the fans en-route to Ayresome Park was not deemed unusual for a star player, neither was a snifter smuggled in from Shaws Club at half-time.
It's a good job that the likes of Camsell and Cloughie abstained from the drink as back then, six or seven goals were often needed to make sure of a home win.
However many of the stalwarts over the years were a credit to the town and the club, playing an exciting brand of football but always falling just short of winning a trophy. Was that famous gypsy curse to blame for that 128 year wait, or the timing of two World Wars just as we threatened to challenge for the title?
If Southgate starts putting in a challenge for the Premiership then I think the footings for a nuclear bunker will be going in just in case.
Anyway, all the characters are in there from yesteryear up to modern times.
There are no more stalls on the Doggy Market for the players of today and the push-bike rides from Brotton for training have now been replaced by Porsches zooming in from Wynyard.
Well that's progress I suppose.
You Stattos are well-served with the comprehensive career records at the back of the book.
Of course today's players have the unfair advantage of state of the art facilities, masseurs, personal trainers, diet sheets et cetera.
Yet strangely, none of today's players came anywhere near the consecutive number of apperances managed by their predecessors, who had to make do with a wet flannel and a mug of tea after ninety minutes slog on a mud heap.
"Sorry son, metatarsals haven't been invented yet, get on with it".
Come back Tommy Johnson!
Anyway, to cut a long story short, the book is a definite must-have if you can't find the 1999 Alphabet.
I must go, that second savaloy is about to make an appearance.
Come on Boro!
CLICK HERE TO BUY THE WHO'S WHO OF MIDDLESBROUGH FROM AMAZON
BACK TO SPECIAL ARTICLES INDEX
|
|
|
|
