My Father And Other Working Class Football Heroes

WINNER OF THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD Stewart Imlach was an ordinary neighbourhood soccer star of his time. A brilliant winger who thrilled the crowd on Saturdays, then worked alongside them in the off-season; who represented Scotland in the 1958 World Cup and never received a cap for his efforts; who was Man of the Match for Nottingham Forest in the 1959 FA Cup Final, and was rewarded with the standard offer – GBP20 a week, take it or leave it. Gary Imlach grew up a privileged insider at Goodison Park when Stewart moved into coaching. He knew the highlights of his father’s career by heart. But when his dad died he realised they were all he knew. He began to realise, too, that he’d lost the passion for football that his father had passed down to him. In this book he faces his growing alienation from the game he was born into, as he revisits key periods in his father’s career to build up a picture of his football life – and through him a whole era. My Father and Other Working-Class Heroes brilliantly recaptures a lost world and the way it changed, blending the personal and the historical into a unique soccer story.

Reviews of My Father And Other Working Class Football Heroes

"The most emotionally charged and moving sports book I think I've ever read – Harry Ritchie, Daily Mail" — Daily Mail Harry Ritchie "One of the most deserving William Hill winners in the award's history … The book of the year" — Christopher Maume Independent "A remarkable book… Imlach is a gifted writer, pungently aware, admirably combative, knowledgeable and compassionate" — Brian Glanville Sunday Times "My Father and Other Working-Class Heroes immediately joins the Football Classic Club – whose members are bonded by using football as a backdrop for something entirely different… A beautiful personal history" — Rick Broadbent Times "If I could have my memories of Stewart Imlach surgically extracted, I would wrap them carefully, put them in a box, and send them to his son. Unlike me, Gary Imlach never saw his father play football… But that has not prevented the son from producing one of the best sports books of recent years. A book to treasure" — Richard Williams Guardian