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sethlynch's review
2.0
I became a united fan aged 5 in '75, the year we got promoted back to Div 1. The aura of Best, seeing a few bits of film of him on Saturday sports shows was the main reason for picking utd. Soi this book wouldn't have had to try too hard to hook me in but it failed to do so.
In fact the bits about Best were the most interesting. It covered a lot of his period after Utd, the drunkenness, the abuse, the parts that are usually glossed over in a short chapter called decline. For those parts I've given this book its two stars as opposed to none.
I know nothing about Duncan Edwards. I know a lot about the statue built to him in Dudley. Who came to the unveiling, who built it, what people in the area thought about it, how many rods of iron it took to hold it up. But nothing about Duncan Edwards. Except, he was mad on football as a kid and supported Wolves until one day switched that allegiance to United. I know there was a great potential in Edwards, all lost at Munich. But I knew that before I started the book.
I know the author doesn't like the shallowness of modern media culture. At least ten pages were devoted to that. I know he doesn't like the people who now live in the area where Edwards was born. That dislike seems to boil down to the fact that they're common. May be those pages could have been spent telling me something about Duncan Edwards. Or what it was like to play for united in the fifties, or be a fan going to Old Trafford, or any ground.
We did learn a bit about the shoddiness of the facilities at United, for both players and fans. But there was probably more ink split describing the pubs Bestie used to drink in.
This book had a lot of potential. If it had missed out the football memorabilia collections. the rants about modern fame, the passages about Gazza, and focused on Edwards, Best on what fame meant to both of them (or players in the '50s and '60s in general) it would have been a much more interesting book. As it is I was disappointed.
In fact the bits about Best were the most interesting. It covered a lot of his period after Utd, the drunkenness, the abuse, the parts that are usually glossed over in a short chapter called decline. For those parts I've given this book its two stars as opposed to none.
I know nothing about Duncan Edwards. I know a lot about the statue built to him in Dudley. Who came to the unveiling, who built it, what people in the area thought about it, how many rods of iron it took to hold it up. But nothing about Duncan Edwards. Except, he was mad on football as a kid and supported Wolves until one day switched that allegiance to United. I know there was a great potential in Edwards, all lost at Munich. But I knew that before I started the book.
I know the author doesn't like the shallowness of modern media culture. At least ten pages were devoted to that. I know he doesn't like the people who now live in the area where Edwards was born. That dislike seems to boil down to the fact that they're common. May be those pages could have been spent telling me something about Duncan Edwards. Or what it was like to play for united in the fifties, or be a fan going to Old Trafford, or any ground.
We did learn a bit about the shoddiness of the facilities at United, for both players and fans. But there was probably more ink split describing the pubs Bestie used to drink in.
This book had a lot of potential. If it had missed out the football memorabilia collections. the rants about modern fame, the passages about Gazza, and focused on Edwards, Best on what fame meant to both of them (or players in the '50s and '60s in general) it would have been a much more interesting book. As it is I was disappointed.
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