FOOTBALL BOOK REVIEWS

A LIFE WELL RED – A MEMOIR EDGED IN BLACK – A TRUE STORY OF FAMILY, FRIENDS AND FOOTBALL

WHERE HE CAME FROM AND HOW THE SPORT OF FOOTBALL GAVE HIM AND HIS FAMILY MEMORIES THAT HAVE SUSTAINED THEM AND HELPED OTHERS TO GET THROUGH A TRAGEDY THAT IS TRULY HEART-BREAKING.

I HAVE READ BETTER WRITTEN TALES AND I HAVE ABANDONED WORST MISERY MEMOIRS, BUT BY THE END OF THIS I KNEW A TOM WHO WAS FULL OF LIFE, DEDICATED TO HIS CLUB AND WHO WAS PASSIONATELY REMEMBERED AND MISSED BY A LOVING FAMILY. AS AN EMOTIONAL TRIBUTE FROM A FATHER, THIS WAS CLEARLY – JOB DONE.

I CONFESS THAT I DIVED STRAIGHT INTO THIS WITHOUT READING ANY OF THE BACK PAGE. I BEGAN TO READ ABOUT A TIME FORGOTTEN BUT WELL REMEMBERED, A WRITTEN BIOGRAPHY OF AN ORDINARY FAN, IN AN ORDINARY LIFE. IT’S ALL ABOUT THE VALUE OF FAMILY, GROWING UP AND THE ATTRACTION THAT FOOTBALL HOLDS FOR ITS COMMUNITY. IT FELT COMFORTABLE AND COMFORTING, BUT AFTER A WHILE I HAD TO ASK MYSELF WHY SOMEONE WOULD WRITE THIS, AND A PUBLISHING HOUSE WOULD PUBLISH IT, SO I CONSULTED THE CHAPTER HEADINGS.

A SINGLE CHAPTER WITH A SINGLE DATE.

AS SENSE OF FEAR AND FOREBODING DWELLED. BUT IT WAS A LIVERPOOL FAN AND THERE ARE TWO DATES WHICH RESONATE. NEITHER CHIMED WITH THE DATE IN THE BOOK. AND THEN I READ THE BACK PAGE AND DISCOVERED WHY IT HAD BEEN WRITTEN.

TOM JACKSON, LES AND SAN’S ELDEST BOY WAS MURDERED IN AUSTRALIA. A RED THROUGH AND THROUGH FROM A RED FAMILY, THIS IS THE STORY OF

THOUGH THE PANDEMIC GAVE LES AN OPPORTUNITY TO WRITE IT, AND THE REASON FOR PUTTING FINGERS ON KEYS IS TRAGIC, IT IS NOT WITHOUT HUMOUR. THERE ARE MANY MOMENTS OF LIGHT RELIEF AND WHEN I NOTED THE KEY TO A POTENTIAL TRIVIA QUESTION, NO SPOILERS HERE, I AM USING IT, I REALISED NOT THAT THIS WAS SOMEONE WHO HAD GOT OVER THEIR TRAGEDY, BUT WHO HAD FOUND PERSPECTIVE AND WAS NOW SHARING IT. SO LET ME, IN THAT SPIRIT POSE ANOTHER. WHICH FOOTBALLING LEGEND WAS PRESENT AT THREE OF THE BIGGEST TRAGEDIES IN BRITISH FOOTBALL AND WHAT WERE THEIR ROLES AT EACH? HEYSEL, IBROX AND HILLSBOROUGH. (ANSWER AT THE END.)

AS A SCOT, YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH ENGLISH FOOTBALL CAN BE BASED UPON QUITE ARBITRARY DECISIONS. I FOLLOWED LIVERPOOL FOR A VARIETY OF REASONS IN THE EIGHTIES. FIRSTLY, AS AN AYRSHIRE MAN, I WAS MADE AWARE OF THE GLENBUCK MAN WHO HAD REVOLUTIONIZED THE FORTUNES OF A SECOND DIVISION TEAM HE THEN LED TO LEAGUE GLORY. I STILL PASS BOTH THE TURN OFF TO THE VILLAGE AND THE NEW COLOURFUL MEMORIAL IN MUIRKIRK TO BILL SHANKLY ON A REGULAR BASIS. SECONDLY, HAVING WATCHED WITH AWE THE DEVELOPMENT OF A YOUNG