Big Ron: A Different Ball Game Book

Ron Atkinson lives up to his irreverent, opinionated and flash image in this hugely entertaining journey down memory lane. His career from thuggish central defender to 'the last fancy Dan' manager in town is a wonderfully picaresque tale full of evil club chairmen, dodgy footballers and, of course, Big Ron's very own philosophy on life, football, and everything. Most controversially he makes allegations - admittedly rather vague allegations - about drug use in professional football, but the real interest in this story is the behind the scenes shenanigans at football clubs; negotiating transfers with Brian Clough ("old barmpot himself"), his description of 'Deadly' Doug Ellis, the Aston Villa chairman who sacked him ("it doesn't take long and you need a knowledge of Anglo-Saxon") and the list of people from the game '"he wouldn't go on holiday with" (not many surprises here with Tommy Docherty and Malcolm Allison heading the list). Anyone who has heard Atkinson in his latest incarnation as a television summarizer will be aware of his imaginative use of the English language. It is to the huge credit of his ghost writer that these idiosyncrasies have survived to magnificently bounce off these pages. So is this Ron's last hurrah? Maybe. But as he would be quick to note, "it's still early doors yet". --Nick WroeRead More