Left Back in Time: The Autobiography of Len Ashurst - Hardcover

Ashurst, Len

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 184818512X ISBN 13: 9781848185128

Publisher: Know the Score Books, 2009

Synopsis

No outfield player has played more games for Sunderland than Len Ashurst. In his fascinating autobiography Len details the extraordinary ups and downs of his career, including his fall out with Brian Clough, rejection by his home town club Liverpool, drinking with Jim Baxter, taking Newport County to promotion and a European quarter-final, winning promotion with Cardiff City, the pie-selling thief of Ninian Park and surviving a murder attempt whilst manager of an Arabian football team. After 458 games at Left Back for Sunderland, his managerial career took him from Hartlepool through to Gillingham, Sheffield Wednesday, Newport and Cardiff before returning to his beloved Roker Park and taking his team to Wembley. Then it was on to coaching in the Middle East and Malaysia where he met Princes, Tariq Aziz and Yasser Arafat when he took his team to the Gaza Strip. His career wasn t all a bed of roses. The tiff with Clough led to Len refusing to play in Old Big eads testimonial match. He also presided over difficult times at Sheffield Wednesday as the club almost suffered relegation to the Fourth Division and saw Sunderland slide out of the top flight under his tenure. The highs and lows of his career provide an undulating backdrop for tales of the many personalities Len has met and also worked and played with and against, including Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley, Malcolm Allison, Sir Alex Ferguson, Don Howe, Ron Atkinson, Dave Mackay, George Best, Nobby Styles, Billy Bremner, Norman Hunter and John Aldridge. Throughout the latter history of the Premier League Len has been deeply involved in its evolution, including being instrumental in the foundation of the Premier League Academies. As a Premier League Match Delegate he has witnessed many notorious incidents including the fight between Newcastle United team-mates Kieron Dyer and Lee Bowyer. In Left Back In Time , which looks back at a remarkable career which has spanned six decades, Len pulls no punches as he controversially speaks his mind in revealing the many issues which he feels face the FA in righting the wrongs he feels they may have created in the modern game.

About this title

Review

l read this in one go! I have read many football auto/biographies over the years and without a doubt this is the best. Interesting, erudite, amusing, informative, honest and touching in parts - brilliant work. --Kevin Taylor, Former Players photographer

Brilliant - over the years I've read countless autobiographies by former players and this one is up there with the best of them. --Sunderland F.C. Historian

From Merseyside to Newport, [Ashurst s] world is peopled with jokers, bullies and the unscrupulous on the make. Nothing is out-of-bounds: poetry; homophobia; the minimum wage; run-ins with the Stasi; and surreal insights from time managing in the Middle East. Len Ashurst s...bubbling book, full of character studies and vignettes, is recommended. --When Saturday Comes.

Synopsis

No outfield player has played more games for Sunderland than Len Ashurst. In this book, Len details the extraordinary ups and downs of his career including his fallout with Brian Clough, rejection by hometown club Liverpool, drinking with Jim Baxter, taking Newport County to a European quarter-final, winning promotion with Cardiff, failing as manager at his beloved Sunderland, the pie-selling thief of Ninian Park and surviving a murder attempt whilst manager of an Arabian football team. After 458 games for Sunderland, his managerial career took him from Hartlepool through Gillingham, Sheffield Wednesday, Kuwait and Newport to Cardiff before returning to his beloved Roker Park and taking the team to Wembley. But it wasn't all a bed of roses. Len fell out with Brian Clough over his role in the injury which ended Clough's stellar playing career, leading to Len refusing to play in Old Big 'ead's testimonial match.He also presided over difficult times at Sheffield Wednesday as the club almost suffered relegation to the Fourth Division and saw Sunderland slide out of the top flight under his tenure.

The highs and lows of his career provide an undulating backdrop for tales of the many personalities with whom Len has worked, including Tommy Tynan, John Aldridge, Paul Bracewell, Malcolm Allison, Gary and Dave Bennett, Charlie Hurley, Phil Dwyer, Bob Hatton and Jim Montgomery. Throughout the history of the Premier League Len has been deeply involved in its evolution, including being instrumental in the foundation of the Premier League academies.As a Match Delegate he has witnessed many notorious incidents including the fight between Newcastle team-mates Kieron Dyer and Lee Bowyer. In this book Len controversially reveals the many issues which he feels face the FA in righting the wrongs they have created in the modern game. "Left Back In Time" looks back at a remarkable career which has spanned six decades.

Edition details

• Publisher: Know the Score Books
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 184818512X
• ISBN 13: 9781848185128
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304