Left Foot in the Grave by Garry Nelson, , 0002187744 Search discount cheap book, Compare Book prices, Find Lowest Price
 Compare book prices at 85 bookstores
Add to Favorite Tell a Friend Link to Us Contact Us Help Home Wish List New!
us online discount book stores United States | canada online books for less Canada | Rare/Out-of-print Books

Left Foot in the Grave, cheap new, used books  Left Foot in the Grave?
Author: Garry Nelson  
ISBN: 0002187744   /   Paperback
Publisher: HarperCollinsWillow   /   1998-08-03
List Price: £7.99
Similar Books   More Details from Amazon.co.uk
Compare new, used book prices

Customer Reviews:
Left Foot in the Grave?.     
Telling the tale of the 1996/97 football season as player/assistant coach of Torquay United, Garry Nelson, the very definition of a journeyman footballer returns to regale us with stories of frozen solid pitches, 8 hour coach journeys to the other end of the country, un-bloodied YTS football trainees being drafted into the first team on a moments notice and the endless juggling of the financial books that a small 3rd division team must go through.

Honest to the point of abruptness Garry pulls no punches when he tells about the day to day life of the lower leagues, there's no champagne lifestyle here for the players as stories of players having to pay their own way to make it for training and for trials are the norm. Poor Torquay, without a training ground of their own, have to strap the goalposts to the top of the team bus and bring them to whatever training pitch the council have allocated that day.

Obviously as opposed to Garry's other book "Left Foot Forward" which told of Garry's playing days, this one focuses on more managerial themes and Garry has to get his hands dirty in the tragic world of suspending players and letting other go from their contracts.

The style of the book does grab you, and whilst football is a entertaining thing to watch, it doesn't quite make the same impact when written about. Garry makes a damn fine go of it though and his prosaic style serves him very well.

The book ends with Garry starting his position at the PFA, can we expect "Left Foot in Lancaster Gate" next?

Recomended to all Championship Manager fans     
A diary of a season in charge of a no hope mid-table side. On the face of it nothing very exciting but once you pick up the book you can't put it down. Sounds very corny I know, but anyone addicted to Championship Manager will be very familiar with that "Oh my god, is that really the time?" feeling. And you learn so much about what it's really like to manage a struggling football club. Definitely not about champagne and cigars.

Not only that but written by the legendary Goldstone Gaz - what more do you want?

From the bottom up     
Million pound transfers, star billing, international celebrity status, media scrums, there is none of this in this excellent book about the minnows of football.

Having found his career at Charlton Athletic at an end Garry Nelson is offered a lifeline by the new manager/coach at Torquay United FC. Its a club that traditionally resides as cellar dwellers of the Football Association. It had finished 24th and only survived relogation to the Conference after beating a High Court Challenge.

The season is one of promise, failure, cost cutting, tough decisions, personal injuries and modest gains. Early on he learns the golden rules of coaching lower divisions, 'just remember the players don't remember anything', and as the season progresses and potentially good players are released or moved on because the budget doesn't fit, or a player goes totally loopy, you feel the grey hairs on Nelson's head multiplying and the pain of the owner and supporters intensifying.

What can such a team and club do to improve? How do you face the challenge of even getting players to come to the club, when simple things like house prices prevent them living anywhere near.

This book taught me more about football than every other football book I have read put together.

Garry Nelson > Jack Welch     
Garry Nelson has written two of the best books on sport I have read.

This gem should be on the class list of every business school in the country. This is about motivation, this is about management skills, this is about guts.

The best managerial talent gets down, gets dirty, and gets on with it. And Garry got down, got dirty, and got on with it.

I'll take it further. This book should be in every boardroom in the country and this man should be running a premiership team.

What are you waiting for, Garry

Nelson does it again     
In the follow up to Left Foot Forward, Nelson has done it again in creating a fine tale of a player coming to the end of his career, and trying the challenging transition into coaching.

Coaching in the lower leagues involves countless hours, scouting the most boring games between teams of nobodies, putting up with aggravation from players, nad having to make life changing decisions on their careers.

A thankless task -- unless you get success.

Nelson's diary of how he takes this task on is insightful and intriguing as always, and given his move after the season to the PFA, it does make you wonder if he will try coacvhing again sometime, or if what he has seen is not for him.

A must for all budding football managers!

View more reviews or product details from Amazon.co.uk


 

            

 

Looking for Rare, Out of Print Books? Click here


About Us
 Recommend Us Bookmark Link To Us Wish List New!


us online discount book stores United States | buy uk books online United Kingdom | canada online books for less Canada

(c) 2004 BookFinder4u UK - Search Cheap new, used, out of print books.


Suggestion Box:
Let us know anything you like or don't like about this website.