The Three Degrees: The Men Who Changed British Football Forever - Softcover

Rees, Paul

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1472119266 ISBN 13: 9781472119261

Publisher: Constable, 2015

Synopsis

When Cyrille Regis became one of the first black players to be selected for the full England team, he was sent a package in the mail. Inside it was a silver bullet and a note that read: ‘You’ll get one of these through your knees if you step on our Wembley turf.’

In the 1978/79 football season Regis' club West Bromwich Albion, an unglamorous and little publicised club from the West Midlands, became the first British football team to field three black players: Cyrille Regis, Laurie Cunningham and Brendon Batson. They did so against the backdrop of the most divisive and poisonous racial tension in the UK’s history – a time when the National Front movement was at its most virulent.

This book will tell the story of a defining and groundbreaking chapter in the history of British football and the country as a whole. The story is one about sport but also as much one about social change.

About this title

About the Author

Paul Rees is a former award-winning Editor of the fabled British rock weekly Kerrang! and was Editor-in-Chief of Q magazine for ten years. His work has also appeared in such publications as the Sunday Times Culture, the Observer, the Sunday Times Magazine, the Telegraph, the Sunday Express and Classic Rock.

He is the author of six previous books, among these the best-selling Robert Plant: a Life, The Three Degrees: the Men Who Changed British Football Forever, which was long-listed for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year, and The Gospel According to Luke.

From the Back Cover

[quotes to come]

When Cyrille Regis became one of the first black players to be selected for the full England team, he was mailed a silver bullet and a note that read: 'You’ll get one of these through your knees if you step on our Wembley turf.'

In the 1978/9 football season, Regis’ club, West Bromich Albion, had become the first British football team to field three black players, at a time when Britain was experiencing the greatest racial tensions in her history. Under the maverick management of Ron Atkinson, Regis and his teammates Laurie Cunningham and Brendon Batson, were christened The Three Degrees and soon became symbols of the revolutionary social change sweeping across the country.

Set against the backdrop of Margaret Thatcher’s Britain, The Three Degrees is a captivating account of three footballers, their manager, and the sport and country they changed forever.

Edition details

• Publisher: Constable
• Publication date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1472119266
• ISBN 13: 9781472119261
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320