Napoleon

27 Oct 2012, 01:06 PM

Fantastic news that DP's book on Jimmy McMenemy is now shipping from Amazon !

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(from RepublicFootball.net)
Source: http://republicfootball.net/reviews/

I’ll tell you what I think is the first rule for writing, blogging and tweeting about Celtic. Make sure you actually write about Celtic and don’t make it all about yourself and you won’t go far wrong. The second rule for writing about Celtic is that there are no rules.
Paul Larkin’s new book ‘By Any Means Necessary – A Journey With Celtic Bampots’ flagrantly breaks the first rule and just about every other rule that you can conceive of, including the whole grammar shebang, and yet has a structure and an authentic voice that makes it a Tony Watt netbuster of a read. It’s the structure that makes it work.
There’s a central narrative of Paul’s struggles with life in and away from New York City.Sometimes disturbing, sometimes brutal and yet surprisingly honest and uplifting, and yes there is a real-life run in with the law and some brave and illuminating admissions. You are left to draw your own conclusions about Paul’s struggles with his life and everything in it, but there is always Celtic in the background to add further grief and occasional joys.
But you also get interwoven testimonies from selected players from the Celtic new media revolution, some ‘bampots’ of various levels of influence and none, including a poorly conceived and self-aggrandising piece from me (remember rule number one?)
Some of these are very insightful and leave you wanting more. There’s a tantalizing piece from an incognito former SFA official that leaves you wanting to know an awful lot more. Further developed it would blow the lid on the operations of current and former SFA officials and their not-so-hidden agendas. This alone is worth the price of the book.
As well as exposing himself and the inner workings of Scottish football officials, Larkin also shines a light on the great work people like David Harper and Graham Wilson do in making Celtic fan groups so strong and influential and how there’s much to be learned from following their example.
There are omissions of course, some of the great and the good of Celtic bampotery are absent, but the most high-profile of those really need to be writing their own books and telling their own story using their own means of production. But to give you a taste of Paul’s view of the past few years I leave you with this:
‘In 2008 they tried to make us feel unwelcome again and we got their song outlawed. In 2010 they tried to cheat us and lie to our manager and we got them out. In 2012 they tried to tell us it was Armageddon and we showed them it was, but just for one club.’ ‘Things will never be the same again.’
So this book offers an authentic means of summing up recent events and a very involving way of telling the writer’s own version of the story. My advice if you want it is to get yourself a copy of this book by any means necessary and enjoy the journey.

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Synopsis
This is an autobiography of former Morton and Celtic footballer and all round fans favourite, Andy Ritchie. Retired by the age of 28, Ritchie still managed to make his mark on Scottish football, not only for his amazing ball skills but also for his larger than life personality and colourful personal life.

At 22 Andy Ritchie had the footballing world at his feet. Scotland's disastrous World Cup campaign in Argentina left the nation crying out for an entertainer and Morton's 'Idle Idol' filled the void.

A former Celtic prospect, his spectacular goals, close control, dead ball genius and dazzling skills made him Scotland's player of the year and the nation's top goalscorer three years running. But by the age of 28 Ritchie dumped his boots in a bin and quit football for good.

Plagued by depression, panic attacks and attitude problems one of the Scottish game's biggest ever characters tells with brutal honesty of the match-day drinking, the gambling, the indiscipline and the casual drug abuse which cut short his playing days and drove the late Jock Stein to despair.

Celtic's chief scout under Tommy Burns, he expresses his regrets at the failure to patch up a rift with his lifelong friend before he died and of the spell of homelessness he survived following a breakdown and the break-up of his marriage.

Review by THT

 

There are few sadder sights in football - indeed in life - than witnessing a man seemingly waste his talent. From it's very earliest days the history of the beautiful game has been littered with such casualties. Yet lessons are never learned. Too often potential is poured away like a bad pint or nonchalantly discarded like another losing line at the bookies.

To the casual observer these are men with the world at their feet and a beautiful woman on their arm. But what is seldom observed is the demons on their shoulders.

At the age of 22 years Andy Ritchie was the Scottish Premier League's top scorer and the Scottish Football Writers Player of the Year. It was a incredible personal feat, made all the more remarkable by the fact that Ritchie - a 'Celtic reject' - had walked off with these honours while a part-time player withunfashionable Morton.

Having started his professional career at Parkhead, Ritchie would make only a handful of appearances for the Hoops before he was sold to the Greenock side. But by 1979 he was without doubt Scottish football's "next big thing". Yet just six years after being crowned Player of the Year his days as a footballer was over - the 'Price of Vice' would cost Ritchie his career and so much more. It would be a price he continued to pay for decades afterwards.

Those who saw Andy at his peak will reverentially recall a player of sublime talent. A great goalscorer and a man who on even the most sullen and sodden of Greenock winter afternoons was capable of producing moments of magic. Legendary defensive partnerships such as Miller & McCleish and Heggarty & Narey were frequently tormented by the languid genius of Ritchie.

But in this compelling biography Ritchie reveals another side to the man christened 'The Idle Idol' by the Cappielow faithful. The path the player took may be one well traveled by George Best and other more high profile wayward stars. But Ritchie's tale is unique and his story an intriguing read.

Ritchie's demons are the same three devils which have troubled many footballers. Gambling, drink and drugs. But unlike the frequently told tales of Best there are no Miss World's in this story. Ritchie's self-destruction occurred not against a backdrop of celebrity parties and London's west end. Instead his excesses were indulged in the altogether more gritty surroundings of the bookies, pubs and clubs of Greenock, Glasgow and Lanarkshire.

Glamour is in short supply. Sharing a curry and a spliff with a member of Showaddywaddy was as 'showbiz' as it got for Andy.

A sense of regret runs through every page. Ritchie's pain is palatable. From his departure as a player from Celtic Park to a latter unhealed rift with longtime close friend Tommy Burns there is no disguising his hurt. His affection for Tommy in particular shines through and the pain at his passing is obvious.

Ritchie candidly describes his youthful self as "a cheeky, arrogant pumpkin" and a man with "a chip on both shoulders". By the time of his departure from Celtic Park he had developed "a bad attitude with bells on it". In recalling those days as a youngster at Parkhead Ritchie reveals a fascinating insight into the post-Lisbon Stein and Celtic.

The player recalls how he was sold on a move to Morton by the club's chairman Hal Stewart - a man Ritchie describes as having "a first class degree in ********". His days at Cappielow would become the stuff of legend for fans of the Greenock club. But Ritchie's delight at his scoring exploits is countered by an anguish that the move was never the stepping stone to return to football's top table that he had originally envisaged.

He would spend the best years of his career as a part-timer. Supplementing his modest football wages with jobs in meat factories and on road gangs. Indeed on the very day he would collect his Player of the Year trophy Ritchie spent a shift digging ditches.

As the years passed it seemed that whenever he approached a crossroads in his life he would chose the wrong path. He undoubtedly had his share of bad luck. But unlike other footballer biographies Ritchie does not use the book to seek a get out clause for his own responsibility. Time after time he points the finger of blame for his downfall squarely at himself. There are no 'ifs' and 'buts' in this blame game.

It's a welcome honesty and one which seems to have allowed Ritchie to avoid the bitterness which has enveloped many a former pro.

Ritchie's account of his years as a scout at Celtic Park are also a noteworthy record of another interesting period in Hoops history. His spell as a talent spotter at the club would last from the reign of Tommy Burns through to the John Barnes debacle and his judgment on the characters and politics of these turbulent times seems as honest as any. It certainly makes for a fascinating read.

As a man and a footballer Andy Ritchie had his flaws. In the 'Price of Vice' he is the first to admit them. But he is also a man with many qualities. He was a footballer of supreme talent. It is impossible to read his story without feeling a tinge of sadness and frustration at what might have been - what should have been.

But more than anything the 'Price of Vice' leaves the reader with a renewed sense of respect for Andy Ritchie. Respect for his continued fight with the addictions which have haunted him long past his playing days. Respect for his honesty. His was a story worth telling. It couldn't have been easy, but he has told it well.

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Synopsis
Paradise Road is the story of Kevin McGarry a young man from the West of Scotland, who as a youngster was one of the most talented footballers of his generation in Scotland. Through a combination of injury and disillusionment, Kevin is forced to abandon any thoughts of playing the game he loves, professionally. Instead he settles for following his favourite team, Glasgow Celtic, as a spectator, while at the same time resignedly and with a characteristically wry Scottish sense of humour, trying to eke out a living as a joiner.

It is a story of hopes and dreams, idealism and disillusionment, of growth in the face of adversity and disappointment. Paradise Road examines some of the major themes affecting football today, such as the power and role of the media, standards in the Scottish game and the sectarianism which pervades not only football in Glasgow but also the wider community. More than simply a novel about football or football fandom, the book offers a portrait of the character and experiences of a section of the Irish Catholic community of the West of Scotland, and considers the role of young working-class men in our modern, post-industrial society.


The road Kevin travels towards self discovery, fulfilment and maturity leads him to Prague, enabling a more detached view of the Scotland that formed him and the Europe that beckons him.

joebloggscity

4 Dec 2012, 07:42 PM

Paradise Road



Details
Title: Paradise Road
Author: Stephen O'Donnell
Published: 1 Oct 2012

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Synopsis
Paradise Road is the story of Kevin McGarry a young man from the West of Scotland, who as a youngster was one of the most talented footballers of his generation in Scotland. Through a combination of injury and disillusionment, Kevin is forced to abandon any thoughts of playing the game he loves, professionally. Instead he settles for following his favourite team, Glasgow Celtic, as a spectator, while at the same time resignedly and with a characteristically wry Scottish sense of humour, trying to eke out a living as a joiner.

It is a story of hopes and dreams, idealism and disillusionment, of growth in the face of adversity and disappointment. Paradise Road examines some of the major themes affecting football today, such as the power and role of the media, standards in the Scottish game and the sectarianism which pervades not only football in Glasgow but also the wider community. More than simply a novel about football or football fandom, the book offers a portrait of the character and experiences of a section of the Irish Catholic community of the West of Scotland, and considers the role of young working-class men in our modern, post-industrial society.


The road Kevin travels towards self discovery, fulfilment and maturity leads him to Prague, enabling a more detached view of the Scotland that formed him and the Europe that beckons him.

Review
Anyone able to help? Need one for the wiki..

ChristyMoore

17 Dec 2012, 06:59 PM

Seen there is a new big book out for 125th Anniversary. Anyone got it, worth getting?

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Synopsis
This is a massive tome of over 500 pages and well worth its £19.99 with great in-depth research. The season by season layout is a great success and makes it very easy to locate a favourite season.

Obviously everyone makes a bee-line for 1966/67, but every season is there - other great ones e.g. 1907/08, 1937/38, 1968/69 and 2000/01, and less successful ones like 1896/97, 1947/48, 1962/63 and 1993/94.

The book has great games and player profiles which encourage one to read more, and lesser known but still significant club servants are given their true value alongside the truly greats like McGrory, Gallacher, Johnstone and Larsson.

It is a well balanced view of Celtic's competitive history, and will be used time and time again as a reference book.

[Note: This is an updated of an older book by Paul Lunney, but the update is done by the much respected David Potter & Marie Rowan.]

boretim

4 Jan 2013, 12:25 AM

here two books in italian about the bhoys. hail hail

http://celticforeverbook.blogspot.com/

http://www.urbone.eu/obchod/i-leoni-di-lisbona-quando-il-celtic-vinse-la-coppa-dei-campioni_1

joebloggscity

4 Jan 2013, 10:17 AM

boretim

4 Jan 2013, 12:25 AM

here two books in italian about the bhoys. hail hail

http://celticforeverbook.blogspot.com/

http://www.urbone.eu/obchod/i-leoni-di-lisbona-quando-il-celtic-vinse-la-coppa-dei-campioni_1

first link didn't work