Game Changers: Inside English Football: From the Boardroom to the Bootroom. Alan Curbishley
Читать онлайн.| Название | Game Changers: Inside English Football: From the Boardroom to the Bootroom |
|---|---|
| Автор произведения | Alan Curbishley |
| Жанр | Биографии и Мемуары |
| Серия | |
| Издательство | Биографии и Мемуары |
| Год выпуска | 0 |
| isbn | 9780008158163 |
HarperSport
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London SE1 9GF
First published by HarperSport 2016
FIRST EDITION
© Alan Curbishley 2016
Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers 2016
Cover illustrations © Catherine Ivill AMA/Getty (Harry Kane); Andrew Yates/Getty (Ryan Giggs); Chris Williamson/Getty (Roy Hodgson); Julian Finney/Getty (David Sullivan); Andrew Powell/Getty (Steven Gerrard); Michael Regan/Getty (Jamie Carragher); EPA European Pressphoto Agency b.v./Alamy (Arsène Wenger); Jamie Garbutt/Getty (stadium background)
A catalogue record of this book is
available from the British Library
Alan Curbishley asserts the moral right to
be identified as the author of this work
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Source ISBN: 9780007247646
Ebook Edition © August 2016 ISBN: 9780008158163
Version: 2016-06-22
To all football fans up and down the country who support their teams through thick and thin. I hope this book gives you an insight into the game we all love.
Contents
15 Executive Director of Football
I can’t remember exactly when I became hooked on football, but I’m sure like many other kids it happened at a very young age. In fact I don’t recall a time when football wasn’t part of my life. It just seems to have always been there.
I’ve been lucky enough to have been able to play the game professionally and continue in the sport as a coach and manager, but before all of that came along I was first and foremost a football fan. I still am. I was born and brought up close to Upton Park, and becoming a West Ham fan was never really in question for me or any of my mates. It was the club we all supported and the one we all hoped to be able to play for one day. I was fortunate to be considered good enough to train with them when I was a youngster, and privileged enough to be given match tickets to their home games. These were little green vouchers that allowed us to stand just behind where the dugouts were later positioned at the stadium. I would always try to make my way to the North Bank behind one of the goals and watch the matches from there. I remember some memorable matches looking on from those terraces, like the day Geoff Hurst scored six goals, including the first one, which he punched into the net, in an 8–0 win against Sunderland in 1968. I also watched on in despair as a great Manchester United side inflicted a 6–1 defeat on the Hammers in 1967, the season the visitors went on to win the league. So later on in my life being able to actually play for the club and manage – it was something special.
Having the good fortune to be professionally involved in the game for most of my life has given me an insight into the