Book Review : Arsenal, The Official Biography
Nov 18th, 2008 by 'holic
‘Not another book?’ The management thinks I have too many already. ‘Why do you need another book about Arsenal history? You’ve got a bookcase full already. You write about their history!’
She has a point. A book that looks back at Arsenal’s rich and colourful, but well-documented past needs to be different to hold my attention.
Steve Stammers offering does just that though. Arsene Wenger’s foreward whets the appetite and points out why this may be a little bit different from the rest.
“The Biography is the amazing story of a unique football club, much of it told through the characters that have helped make Arsenal one of the biggest clubs in world football.”
Anybody can write what is essentially a series of lists. The managers, the seasons, the trophies won, and lost! Stammers has managed to intertwine the people who made that history with their achievements, and I am surprised to admit I have learned a lot more than I expected as I have journeyed through the 326 pages.
There are the obvious names. David Danskin, a founder, Sir Henry Norris, devious and influential chairman, Herbert Chapman, Bertie Mee, George Graham, Arsene Wenger, great managers all. What about John Humble? If you said ‘who?’ you need to polish up your knowledge of the club turning professional.
The great era from the thirties to the fifties is well documented, as are the changes that swept through those who played, and watched, the game in the sixties.
“…the emergence of a win-at-all-costs society in which the biggest crime of all was to lose…”
Stammers recollections from the seventies become more personal as they coincide with his arrival at the London Evening Standard. They also coincide with the times I was travelling to every game , home and away, and he stirs many memories, good and bad. I had almost forgotten that night at Rotherham!
The author has also had privileged access to the Gunners during the modern successful eras’ under Graham and Wenger. That’s why you should seriously consider this book when you are compiling your Christmas lists.
If you are like my father, eighty-six and steeped in Arsenal tradition, you will be transported back to the golden days when Arsenal were the biggest club in world football. Those of my era will supplement their knowledge of what had passed before, and get a little more insight into what has happened in the last thirty years. The current generation will get a good idea of what it is like to have followed the Gunners in darker days than the last decade has witnessed, as well as how the armoury workers at Dial Square founded a footballing institution.
Arsenal, The Official Biography by Steve Stammers is a Hamlyn title from Octopus Publishing. Cover price is £18.99 but as I write it is available from Amazon for £13.29, and if you have a Gooner in the family, this is the book for them. Trust me, I’ve read most of them, and this is right up there.
12 Responses to “Book Review : Arsenal, The Official Biography”
Cheers ‘holic, maybe worth a read.
No Walcott already for the weekend… i’ll have a glass of your finest red please.
Bought it when you didn’t draw me out as the competition winner, ‘holic. Good stuff too. Can I win the next one?
Just a hot cocoa for me thanks, ‘holic.
Hello boys, a rioja for mustard, I think. Cocoa for my favourite mollusc, and some sour grapes for YNMF 😉
Forgot to mention there are some good pics in the book too!
Now, blow this twenty-four hour opening. I need my sleep. Help yourselves to booze, and leave the money in the honesty box.
G’night.
Evening `holic.
Always like a book recomendation and I shall seek out this one.
I`ve met Steve Stammers a few times in the San Danielle on Highbury
Park and he has an amazing store of football stories.The ones you don`t read in the papers.
I have in my library(front room) the following
“Ure`s Truly” by Ian Ure and “Thats the Way the Ball Bounces”by Frank Mclintock.They are both from the mid-sixties.Old enough to be printed on vellum.
If I could recomend “The Damned United”by David Peace.
It`s about Brian Cloughs fourty four days in charge of Leeds United and is the best book about football I have ever read.
A film is being released next year with Michael Sheen as Brian Clough but please read the book.It really is something else.
Just got in to hear on Sky that Theo could be out for 12 weeks???? How many more players do we have to lose to bloody international friendlies?????? Even if it was in training.
No doubt he will have more than enough time to read the book from cover to cover.
May well check it out myself…..
Just helping myself to a cheeky little red. 10p for the honesty box as it was only a splash???????? Honest.
That shoulder of his is starting to be an ongoing problem, Steve. I don’t think he should be lifting a big heavy book quite yet…
STUPID FUCKING INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLIES!!!!!!!!
Jack, str8, and lots of it!!!
Cool, ‘Holic. I’ll check it out.
Good point. Sure with his dosh he could pay for someone to read it to him.
Just seen our “Great Captain’s” latest utterances.
Surely AW must now strip him of the job, kick him out of the team and be looking for someone stupid enough to take this idiot off our hands in January?
That an Arsenal captain should resort to kiss and tell stories to the media, presumably to disguise/excuse his total lack of any leadership qualities, is an insult to the supporters, the club, the manager and the memory of all the truly great players who have held the position.
Small wonder there’s friction in the camp when it’s lead by an underperforming prima donna. Get him out now.
gallas = bellend prick face knob
THANK YOU