Mark Ward: Right Wing to B-wing...Premier League to Prison - Hardcover

Ward, Mark

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0955934028 ISBN 13: 9780955934025

Publisher: Football World, 2009

Synopsis

MARK WARD was a former high-profile Premier League footballer until his life was turned upside down in May 2005, when he was arrested and charged with possessing a class A drug with intent to supply.

He was jailed for eight years for dealing in cocaine and sent to Liverpool's Walton Prison, where he spent fearfully unforgettable nights among the category `A' prisoners on lifers' wing and a further eight months on remand in the mayhem of B-Wing - among murderers, rapists, smack-heads and other career criminals. His life would never be the same again.

Scouser Mark, who starred on the right-wing for West Ham United, Everton, Manchester City and Birmingham City in the late 80s and early 90s after beginning his pro career with Oldham Athletic, rented a house near his home city of Liverpool on behalf of a contact. Police raided the property and found a stash of drugs with a street value of £645,000 and what was described in court as "a drugs factory."

`Wardy' refused to grass on his associates who put him up to the deal and has consequently spent the last four years behind bars, haunted by the shame of letting down his family and friends.

In From Right-Wing to B-Wing . . . Premier League to Prison he bears his soul and tells in compelling graphic details how he once had it all and then lost it . . . his career (400-plus games over 13 years), his marriage and, ultimately, his dignity and his freedom. How it all went so horribly wrong, what prison life was like from the inside, how he coped with being locked up and completing the longest jail sentence served by any former professional footballer.

He tells of the prison gangs, the scams, the fights . . . and the suicides.

Now 46, he relives the highs and lows of his turbulent career . . . the heartbreak of rejection by his beloved Everton at 18 and the thrill of returning to Goodison 10 years later in a £1m deal to score brilliant goals that defeated Arsenal and then Liverpool; playing a key role in West Ham's most successful league team; helping to save Man City from relegation; and, as player/coach, being at the centre of political turmoil involving Birmingham's fiery manager Barry Fry, MD Karren Brady and owner David Sullivan.

We learn of his many off-the-field scrapes and his frightening brushes with the criminal underworld. Being beaten up and later subjected to blackmail threats during a nightmare six-month reign of intimidation at the hands of one of Liverpool's most notorious crime figures.

He recalls how he innocently became embroiled in the drugs trade and his friendship with a man who turned out to be one of Birmingham's biggest dealers . . . before the man in question was shot dead in a city centre pub.

This book is so much more than a `warts and all' portrayal of a professional footballer and is certainly not the usual run of the mill ex-footballer's story. No other former Premier League player has been through the nightmare experienced by Mark Ward.

About this title

From the Back Cover

MARK WARD was a former high-profile Premier League footballer until his life was turned upside down one morning in May 2005, when he was arrested by Merseyside Police and charged with possessing cocaine with intent to supply.
He was jailed for eight years (serving four) and sent to Liverpool's notorious Walton Prison, where he initially spent unforgettable nights among the category `A' prisoners on lifers' wing and a further eight months on remand in the hellish B-Wing - banged up 23 hours a day with murderers, rapists, smack-heads and other criminals.
In From Right-Wing to B-Wing . . . Premier League to Prison, Scouser `Wardy' bears his soul and, with the aid of his diaries, tells in compelling detail how he once had it all and then lost it . . . his career - 400-plus games over 13 years for Oldham Athletic, West Ham United, Manchester City, Everton and Birmingham City - his marriage and, ultimately, his dignity and his freedom.
How it all went so terribly wrong, what prison life was really like from the inside and how he coped in serving the longest jail sentence ever handed down to a former top flight footballer.
No other former Premier League player has been through the horrific nightmare experienced by Mark Ward, which is what makes his story so unique.

From the Inside Flap

MARK WARD was a high-profile footballer around 25 years ago, enjoying the trappings of success as one of the most popular and highly rated right-wingers in the top flight.
Born October 10, 1962 and brought up on a tough council estate in Huyton, Liverpool, he emerged from a large working class family to fulfil a schoolboy dream by signing for his beloved Everton as a 16-year-old. Two years later he had to accept the heartbreaking news that he was being released by his club and told that he would not make it in top-class football because he was "too small".
They were wrong. A decade later, Everton would pay £1m to bring him back to Goodison.
From a young age Mark showed the dedication and resilience that came to characterise not only his career, but his turbulent life away from the game. He dropped into non-league with Northwich Victoria and combined playing part-time with a job in a bakery. Mark, the little player with the massive heart, was so impressive for `Vics' that Oldham Athletic boss Joe Royle took a gamble by signing him for £9,500 in 1983.
`Wardy' proved an overnight sensation at Oldham and after two seasons they cashed in on him by selling him to West Ham for £250,000. He went on to star on the right-wing and in midfield for the Hammers, Manchester City and Everton before inspiring Birmingham City to Wembley glory and promotion as first team player-coach.
He became very popular among fans for his skill and never-say-die attitude he took into every match. In 1986, Brian Clough urged England boss Bobby Robson to take the West Ham winger to the World Cup, while Cloughie's legendary Nottingham Forest and England full-back Stuart Pearce named Mark as the most difficult opponent he ever faced for either club or country.
Bitterly disappointed when Birmingham failed to renew his contract, a victim of internal club politics as much as anything else, Wardy was desperate to prolong his playing days and briefly appeared for Huddersfield Town, Wigan Athletic and had trial games in Scotland for Ayr United and Dundee.
But he had to accept that his Football League days were over.
He was offered a way back into non-league football as a player for Leigh RMI and then as player-manager of Altrincham, but that ended in bitter disappointment and acrimony. The cash-strapped club forced him to slash the wage bill and sell his best players to survive before he was very harshly sacked himself early in 2001. Devastated by this experience, Mark believes this was one of the most significant factors in his ultimate downfall.

After failed business ventures - he wasted money on a bookies and a pub - and the collapse of his marriage to childhood sweetheart Jane after 14 years, he ended up on the dole and became increasingly desperate.
In May 2005 he finally hit rock bottom.

Mark had put his name to a rental agreement on a property in Prescot, near Liverpool, that was used by an associate as a stash, although Wardy never lived there himself and rarely visited the house. Police who raided the place as part of a surveillance operation described it as a "drugs factory".
Initially jailed for eight years after pleading guilty for dealing in cocaine, he was sent to Liverpool's notorious Walton Prison. His world had been turned upside down and it would never be the same again.
But Mark is not a grass and while the main co-conspirators in the crime continued to enjoy their freedom - for a year or so anyway - he was sent down. He's taken this punishment squarely on the chin, serving a four-year stretch before being released on licence on May 11, 2009.

He used the time spent behind bars constructively - to keep himself fit and to write his story. With the aid of diaries he maintained throughout his spells in Walton jail and the category C and D prisons at HMP Buckley Hall and HMP Kirkham, he has been able to reflect in heart-wrenching detail on the highs and lows of his career and his equally eventful life before and after football.

We learn of his many off-the-field scrapes, including terrifying brushes with the criminal underworld. Being beaten up in a nightclub and later subjected to blackmail threats during a nightmare six-month ordeal of intimidation at the hands of one of Liverpool's most notorious crime figures.

He explains how he became embroiled in the drugs trade and reveals his friendship with a man who turned out to be one of Birmingham's biggest drug-dealers . . . before he was shot dead in a busy city centre pub.

In Right-Wing to B-Wing . . . Premier League to Prison, Mark Ward owns up to his past mistakes and tells it like it is with the same honesty that epitomised his playing career. Now 46 and full of remorse for his crime, he's hoping for a second chance in life, an opportunity to rebuild his career in the game he still loves with a passion.

Edition details

• Publisher: Football World
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0955934028
• ISBN 13: 9780955934025
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 296