Read 2 really good and non-mainstream sporting autobiographies in the last couple of weeks (thanks to Clifton's one-man crime wave Liam for the lends).
First up was David McVay's Steak...Diana Ross - Diary of a Football Nobody. Not really an autobiography per se, it's really a diary of a young man's first year at work in an alien environment, and how he does and doesn't fit in. The fact that this workplace was the home of football (Meadow Lane for those who don't know) in the 73-74 season, makes it of higher interest to me from the get go. He made a minor impact in this season, and mostly held a place in the first team despite insecurities about not having paid his dues (he joined Notts direct from secondary school, unlike the usual apprentice route) or not being good enough. There are names here that still are revered at the Lane (Bradd, Richards, Stubbs, Needham, Mann and of course Masson), and his prose really fleshes them out well (he became a newspaper journalist after retiring, good use fo the A levels there). You do feel you know them more, although in the case of Masson, you wish you didn't, because he comes across as a bastard in this phase of his career (The Don, according to McVay in the postscript, softened considerably after losing his wife, and now regrets being like this for so long). There are some amusing tales of overgrown kids behaving badly and some real shocking acts are committed to print. The bigger shock is really how much things have changed, hard to imagine a guy playing in his debut season in the Championship getting the bus home to Clifton with the fans who didn't think he was much cop, and having to stand and take their stick all the way home (although he does earn grudging respect from some Effers fans after marking D MacKenzie out of the game late in the season). This aspect makes it readable by fans of any club, it's a light read, but one that really does show how things have changed. For Notts fans it's probably pretty much a must. Oh, and they were saying "the fans should get behind the team" in 73-74 too, still didn't work, we're such a miserable bunch of buggers at Notts. Hehehehe.
Second up is A Lot of Hard Yakka by Simon Hughes (not the MP, the guy in the lorry analysing the play on C4). This covers Hughes whole cricketing career (with Middlesex from 80-91 and Durham from 92-94), and the start of his TV one. He comes across as a nice bloke who doesn't fit in with the 2 poles of cricketer at this time. They're all either gritty working class lads or ex-public schoolboys it seemed to me, and Hughes is neither. This puts him in a good position to be "in" with both camps. Fascinating insights into Mike Brearley's psyche and skills as a captain, and hilarious tales from the boys. Really liked the way he follows his fellow "Group 4" colleagues who joined Middlesex at the same time. Only Hughes stuck at Middlesex, but he follows their careers at other clubs (and out of cricket in one case), and that really brings to life his loyalty to his friends. Generous to do this in your own book. The fact he played for Middlesex means he played with a lot of the big names in 80s English cricket too, so there are plenty of Gatting's diet stories here too. Again a good read, not afraid to tell it like it is and show the warts as well as the rosy tinge.
Update: Forgot to mention (criminally) Mr Notts County, Jimmy Sirrell, is the manager and most outrageous character in McVay's book. His leaving for Sheffield United at the end of the book kinda spells the end for McVay as a first teamer at Notts (replacement Ronnie Fenton eventually farmed him out to Torquay, from whence Sirrell rescued him on his return in [I think] 1980).
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