"Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play…it is war minus the shooting."
Stan Anderson, captain of the north
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Stan Anderson, Cheltenham, Sports Books, 2010: ISBN 9781899807 98 7
I have to declare an interest. I got Stan Anderson’s autograph in 1963. I read his book with interest.
The differences between then and now are very striking: Anderson played schools internationals before crowds of 43,000 and 52,000. In October 1954 Sunderland averaged nearly 57,000 a game.
Our things which jump of the page included:
•How little money players earned. Anderson’s benefit of £4000 was a fortune.
•Players at the top of their career would have to go off and do National Service.
•How many teams could win trophies – no big four.
•Anderson’s experience of going to the World Cup - so different from modern era;
•Chris Balderstone playing first-class cricket and league football on the same day.
When Fabio Capello stripped John Terry of the England captaincy, it started a debate as to whether the role of a captain in football was important. The title of the book gives Anderson's views - as does the following quote: "I consider the role of captain to be vital in football. A good one needs to possess a number of qualities, including commanding respect for what he says. He must also be able to show by example that he is determined to lead the side to victory. He doesn’t have to be the team’s best player; that’s not always possible anyway because it’s not a good policy to have a forward as captain, certainly never a centre-forward. They are often isolated from the action and a captain needs to be in the thick of things. I am also not too keen on goalkeepers as captains. It’s best left to a midfield player as they are a link between defence and attack".
He sums up his life like this: “I consider I have been very fortunate in life. It’s true that I would have liked to have won the League in 1955, gained more caps for England and been better paid. But it was still great to play hundreds of games at the highest levels of English football. There is nothing like playing in front of huge crowds, especially when you play well and your side wins...
Not bad for a colliery lad from Horden”.
An excellent read. My one quibble is that the book lacks statistics. A career summary with dates and playing records would have been useful