Real Madrid and all that.

[Hot Shot Hamish.]

Bob. Just a quick line to say how much I enjoyed the your book.

1970/71 was the first season this 6 year old went to Ninian Park, and I’been hooked ever since.

A wonderful read and so well researched. Your summing up at the end fits very much with my take of how that season defined our problems of the next 30 years.

You really did miss your vocation as a sports journalist.

Many thanks for such a wonderful book.

[the other bob wilson]

Bob. Just a quick line to say how much I enjoyed the your book.

1970/71 was the first season this 6 year old went to Ninian Park, and I’been hooked ever since.

A wonderful read and so well researched. Your summing up at the end fits very much with my take of how that season defined our problems of the next 30 years.

You really did miss your vocation as a sports journalist.

Many thanks for such a wonderful book.

Thanks very much Hamish, I’m glad you enjoyed it. I’ve finally started to see some royalties from Amazon coming through now and, so far, I’d say sales are slightly better than I was expecting. Hopefully, it will not be a book where the sales completely dry up after Christmas because there’s still the fiftieth anniversary of the game to come in a couple of months time, so I’m going to be concentrating on trying to get some media outlets aware of it in January and, hopefully, they’ll do a feature on it.

[splott parker]

Finished it this morning, fantastic nostalgic read. When you write the screenplay could you take a bit of poetic licence and make the film have a happy ending? We’ve all seen true life films veer from the truth. A Cup Winners Cup Final and promotion would cheer up a year that rivalled 2020 for anguish

[the other bob wilson]

Finished it this morning, fantastic nostalgic read. When you write the screenplay could you take a bit of poetic licence and make the film have a happy ending? We’ve all seen true life films veer from the truth. A Cup Winners Cup Final and promotion would cheer up a year that rivalled 2020 for anguish

Toshack turns Liverpool down, stays with us through his playing career, takes over as manager and does the same sort of thing with us as he did with the jacks (except for his last couple of years there!) - that sort of thing?

Glad you enjoyed it, still can’t correct that mistake I made about the League Cup though.

[Majorblue]

It’s a great read but the glorious European ending has been done in another book about my second favourite team , Llantwit Major, the author of this book also used to post on here for years under the name Dudders if memory serves.

[splott parker]

Toshack turns Liverpool down, stays with us through his playing career, takes over as manager and does the same sort of thing with us as he did with the jacks (except for his last couple of years there!) - that sort of thing?

Glad you enjoyed it, still can’t correct that mistake I made about the League Cup though.

It was great Paul and part of reading such books, books about time that you lived through, is facts correcting your ‘in your mind’s eye’ recollections. Your Wembley error was small potatoes compared to the ‘Oh, f*ck, of course it was’ moments I had reading it. It truly was a defining season for the City

[Hot Shot Hamish.]

It was great Paul and part of reading such books, books about time that you lived through, is facts correcting your ‘in your mind’s eye’ recollections. Your Wembley error was small potatoes compared to the ‘Oh, f*ck, of course it was’ moments I had reading it. It truly was a defining season for the City

I know what you mean. 50 years later I was convinced that Ronnie Bird scored the winner against Bristol City and Tom Whalley scored the winner for Watford.
It doesn’t mention it but was Carlisle game an 11am kick off? I remember one very early kick off against
them not to clash with the rugby. I seem to remember their keeper Ross being penalised a few times for handling the ball outside the area when punting it upfield. I’m not sure if this was in the 4-0 Warboys match though.

[the other bob wilson]

I know what you mean. 50 years later I was convinced that Ronnie Bird scored the winner against Bristol City and Tom Whalley scored the winner for Watford.
It doesn’t mention it but was Carlisle game an 11am kick off? I remember one very early kick off against
them not to clash with the rugby. I seem to remember their keeper Ross being penalised a few times for handling the ball outside the area when punting it upfield. I’m not sure if this was in the 4-0 Warboys match though.

No, it wasn’t the Warboys match Hamish, It was two, maybe three, seasons later - it was the year Carlisle got promoted and finished up 2-2. You’re right about it being on the morning of a rugby international - Wales beat Scotland, but only by 6-0, thanks to a try by Terry Cobner.

[Bobby Dandruff]

Bob. Just a quick line to say how much I enjoyed the your book.

1970/71 was the first season this 6 year old went to Ninian Park, and I’been hooked ever since.

A wonderful read and so well researched. Your summing up at the end fits very much with my take of how that season defined our problems of the next 30 years.

You really did miss your vocation as a sports journalist.

Many thanks for such a wonderful book.

I had it for Christmas - part way through.

I love the anecdotes e.g. the references to The League Review free magazine given away inside the match day programmes - I remember them! And also David Tomlin - I am tempted to message Lee myself to ask him but TOBW has probably already asked him....

[the other bob wilson]

I had it for Christmas - part way through.

I love the anecdotes e.g. the references to The League Review free magazine given away inside the match day programmes - I remember them! And also David Tomlin - I am tempted to message Lee myself to ask him but TOBW has probably already asked him....

No, that never even occurred to me - I’d decided that it was unlikely that they were close relatives because I figured it would have been on Wikipedia.

[the other bob wilson]

It’s a great read but the glorious European ending has been done in another book about my second favourite team , Llantwit Major, the author of this book also used to post on here for years under the name Dudders if memory serves.

Got some very good reviews I see;-

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/...-not-llandudno

[Tuerto]

Got some very good reviews I see;-

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/...-not-llandudno

I've been meaning to buy it, will get on it this week, then you can do a book about the eighties and nineties please

[life on mars]

Writing a book of any content is a notable achievement, I do admire your unchallenged skill in this arena, specifically your knowledge of the City, it must take a great effort and memory to pull it all together.

Well done that man.

[billy.ronson]

Bob, I bought a copy for my dad and one for myself as 70/71 was my first. season.
Looking forward to reading it

[the other bob wilson]

I've been meaning to buy it, will get on it this week, then you can do a book about the eighties and nineties please

The very good reviews I mentioned are for Dudders’ book mind - someone gave mine one star on Amazon .

I’d like to do more books of a similar type if I can, but I think the priority would be one on 75/76 because it was the first promotion I experienced and it’s one of my favourite seasons - logically, if I did another one after that, it should be on 82/83 which also happens to be one of my favourites for some reason.

[the other bob wilson]

Writing a book of any content is a notable achievement, I do admire your unchallenged skill in this arena, specifically your knowledge of the City, it must take a great effort and memory to pull it all together.

Well done that man.

Thanks a lot, my memory isn’t particularly good on other things, but, for some reason, ask me a question about City in, say, 77/78 and there’s a good chance I’d get it right.

[the other bob wilson]

Bob, I bought a copy for my dad and one for myself as 70/71 was my first. season.
Looking forward to reading it

Thanks Billy, I hope you both get as much enjoyment reading it as I did writing it.

[Tuerto]

The very good reviews I mentioned are for Dudders’ book mind - someone gave mine one star on Amazon .

I’d like to do more books of a similar type if I can, but I think the priority would be one on 75/76 because it was the first promotion I experienced and it’s one of my favourite seasons - logically, if I did another one after that, it should be on 82/83 which also happens to be one of my favourites for some reason.

82/83 was my first season.

[NYCBlue]

Mine is arriving on Thursday.

[Sloop_Jon_Bee]

Bought mine the first day it was available on Amazon and i read it in a few days. Brilliant read. My first game wasn't until the season after. But my older brother used to go and i would look through the programmes etc. I hope the book gets the amount of sales it deserves Paul.
Spedger

[Former Labour leader]

Thanks for a good read Bob. Been reading it gradually over the last couple of weeks.
Whilst I can remember vividly a few of the games, there are others I cant remember a thing about, and I didnt miss a home game all season.
One thing did strike me was the amount of injuries players suffered that did not stop them playing the next game. Warboys with his strapped up hammy which I recall well, is a classic example. Perhaps it accounts for the number of joint and other problems players of that era suffer as they get older.
One final point, the detail and reports were great, but the anecdotes brought the book to life. More of the same please if you do another.
Philip

[the other bob wilson]

My thanks to everyone who has bought the book - I think FLL has a point about players playing through the pain so to speak. There's that amazing stat about the same starting eleven being selected for the first thirteen matches until after the notorious Middlesbrough game in early October - I've just had a quick count up, and I make that we only used eighteen players during what I think was a fifty eight match season.

[splott parker]

Seeing as this is a football book thread, I hope nobody minds me recommending books by another author, Daniel Gray. He’s written a few, they’re books that you can dip in and out of identifying all the little things that characterise a football fan, each chapter covering a different idiosyncrasy that people like us will instantly recognise. I’ve just finished ‘Extra Time, 50 Further Delights of Modern Football’, I’ll give a brief summary of the type of content in each short chapter.. ‘Spotting a ground while on holiday’.. The chapter starts with words which, no doubt, many of us have uttered, “Honestly, I didn’t know it was there, but we might as well have a quick look now we’re here”, Even with no connection, there is veneration if a football ground is encountered while you’re on holiday, you have to peer through fence gaps for a glimpse of turf or a tractor, an old ticket stub that you even think about taking home, a charred memento...... and so it continues, every chapter a delight. Get hold of Paul’s book, Dudder’s book and few of Daniel Gray’s by hook or by crook, you won’t regret it.

[cantonboy]

I finished the book last night, a wonderful read.
I was at the Real Madrid game and it will always be a highlight of being a City supporter.
Thanks so much for writing the book.

[the other bob wilson]

Seeing as this is a football book thread, I hope nobody minds me recommending books by another author, Daniel Gray. He’s written a few, they’re books that you can dip in and out of identifying all the little things that characterise a football fan, each chapter to Fcovering a different idiosyncrasy that people like us will instantly recognise. I’ve just finished ‘Extra Time, 50 Further Delights of Modern Football’, I’ll give a brief summary of the type of content in each short chapter.. ‘Spotting a ground while on holiday’.. The chapter starts with words which, no doubt, many of us have uttered, “Honestly, I didn’t know it was there, but we might as well have a quick look now we’re here”, Even with no connection, there is veneration if a football ground is encountered while you’re on holiday, you have to peer through fence gaps for a glimpse of turf or a tractor, an old ticket stub that you even think about taking home, a charred memento...... and so it continues, every chapter a delight. Get hold of Paul’s book, Dudder’s book and few of Daniel Gray’s by hook or by crook, you won’t regret it.

Well, that brought back memories! A family camping holiday in the Gower where we drove past a football pitch and I insisted we had to stop and have a kick about there because the goals had NETS, an almost unique luxury in those days for what was no more than a parks pitch. A few years earlier there’d been a holiday to the Isle of Wight which was fine, but I came back slightly disappointed that I had not come across a football ground- I later learned that there was a decent side at Newport (the one town on the island we didn’t visit) that had played in the old Southern League. Then my first holiday with mates on the Norfolk Broads when we went to Great Yarmouth for a day. I’d taken a book about non league grounds with me, so I knew the address of the local football club (nicknamed the Bloaters) and made up some lie to get me a free hour to go to have a look at Great Yarmouth Town’s ground. We were all big football fans, but the other three who were with me would have thought I was mad if they had found out what I was doing = it was worth it though, the ground turned out to be well worth the subterfuge!