“Knowing Christ is the best thing that has ever happened to me, although winning the US Open was a pretty good second.”
Revelations of the football manager
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Terry Neill, Sidgwick and Jackson, 1985. ISBN 0-283-99222-0
Terry Neill played 240 times for Arsenal and 59 times for Northern Ireland. He was manager of Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur as well as Northern Ireland. He scored two goals for Northern Ireland, one of them at Wembley in 1972 when Northern Ireland pulled off a shock 1-0 win over England.
The book gives a real insight into how football was organized in the 1970s and 1980s since when it has changed out of all recognition - for example when Neill writes that he would not negotiate a transfer with an agent! Similarly his comment that the record transfer fee of £1.5M for Bryan Robson might never be broken.
He was ahead of his time in trying to sign Maradona and Platini. Similarly he was ahead of his time in arguing for freedom of contract for players.
Things that strike us as odd not include:
The need to do pre or post season trips to raise money for the club.
His comment on the difficulty of signing overseas players who would want salaries for in excess of what English clubs could pay – how the premier league has changed everything!
On the other hand there are some timeless truths like: “Handling players and getting the best out of them is the major task for football manager.
His comment: “history shows that the clubs who continually change their managers are the least successful ones” may still have some credence. It is interesting that back in the 1980s, Neill was arguing that there was too much football, players playing too often and too many clubs in the top division. History has proved him right but it took a long time to see any changes.
A very readable book particularly for anyone with an interest in the history of football and how it has developed.