"there has only ever been one perfect man, the Lord Jesus, and we killed him. I only missed a putt."
Cyrille Regis, my Story
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Andre Deutsch, London 2010 - 257 pages ISBN 978 0 233 00311 5
The long awaited autobiography of Cyrille Regis is a good read. The book’s subtitle is “The autobiography of the first black icon of British Football” and the book gives a candid account of the challenges Cyrille faced as a black player in an effectively white world of professional football in the 1970s and 80s. As he puts it “I wouldn’t say racism made me a better player, but it gave me extra motivation” (Page 100)
The book tells a compelling story of how an apprentice electrician playing semi-pro football for non-league Hayes made an apparently seamless transition to the top level of professional football with West Bromwich Albion.
Cyrille is honest about his mistakes, the loss of his first marriage because of his own selfish behaviour, “the womanising, the cheating and the drinking” (Page 189). “Beverley was a wonderful woman. The fact that everything fell apart was totally and utterly my fault and the direct result of my behaviour”. (Page 169)
He gives a further insight “Professional football can be an innately selfish world. It is all about you, the team, its success and earning money to fund a good lifestyle”. (Page 171) adding that when he recently met up with some former colleagues he found that 90% of them were no longer married to their original partner.
He shares engagingly the answers he has found. He writes in the acknowledgements “Most of all I thank God for always being with me, never leaving me, loving me unconditionally and changing my life around”.
It was the death of his friend Laurie Cunningham that left him with questions that he could not answer: “Where is Laurie now? What would have happened if I had died – where would I be?” (Page 186)
Chapter 13 “Playing with God on my side” describes the process – and the discovery “It blew me away that God loved me so much that he sent his son to die a death that would cancel all of my many sins, once I asked for forgiveness” (page 189).
In the subsequent chapters, the difference that Jesus makes in his life comes across clearly – even in the disappointment of not being able to save his marriage.
“Back to the Baggies…and out again” (Page 210ff) gives an honest account of how he struggled with the end of his career, being unemployed, becoming a coach at West Brom and ultimately an agent. His passion for Water Aid comes across too.
It is an excellent read, this story of “that little boy whose first memory was staring down a dusty dirt track in Maripasoula to be the mature and contented man striding forward to be decorated by Her Majesty the Queen at Buckingham Palace – and all that has been inbetween”. (Page 248)