The Complete Centre Forward: The Authorised Biography of Tommy Lawton: The Story of Tommy Lawton - Hardcover

McVay, Dave; Smith, Andy

9781899807093: The Complete Centre Forward: The Authorised Biography of Tommy Lawton: The Story of Tommy Lawton

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1899807098 ISBN 13: 9781899807093

Publisher: SportsBooks Ltd, 2003

We will never know if Tommy Lawton was truly the greatest centre-forward ever produced by England but we do know that he played in an era totally different from today. It is probably that Lawton never earned in a 20-year career what Steve McManaman earns in a week! Certainly in 1955 when Lawton was in his mid-thirties and playing for Arsenal he was on #17 a week. He was approached by the brewers Guinness to head a poster campaign for a fee of #10,000. But he had to turn it down as no Arsenal player was allowed to be associated with alcohol. Times were certainly different! Lawton recalls the penny-pinching days when playing for England when his expenses then were challenged because they were twopence too much. His answer: "I spent a penny on the way to the match and another on the way back." The book chronicles Lawton's days from his birth in the back streets of Bolton to being signed at 17 by Everton to replace the legendary Dixie Dean, who despite knowing the youngster was bought to take over from him, helped him all he could. Next he went to Chelsea, where after a falling-out he ended up, astonishingly, with Notts County, a Third Division club, despite being in his prime. Then came Brentford and finally Arsenal, the club who tried to sign him as a teenager. The book also touches on the darker side of Lawton's life. The court appearance for passing dud cheques, his failed marriage and the dodging of bailiffs before he was re-discovered as a pundit and journalist. Tommy Lawton died in 1996 but he lives in the memory of all the fans who idolised him. The authors David McVay and Andy Smith, were among the latter, although they never saw him in his prime. They spoke to Lawton on several occasions and received his full co-operation. They also traced many of his contemporaries, who provided a fascinating insight into the pre-and post-war football. McVay is a former professional who made more than 200 League appearances, 128 of them for Notts County, before he became a journalist. He writes on football for The Times. Smith was former Sports Editor at Radio Trent, 16 years a sports reporter for the BBC Radio Today programme. He is now freelance and presents programmes such as Futbol Mundial for Sky Sports.

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Product Description:

1st Sportsbooks 1st print 2000 edition hardcover fine in fine dw In stock shipped from our UK warehouse

Review:

Fascinating reading -- Richard Frost, Manchester Evening News

Lovingly crafted -- Bryon Butler, The Daily Telegraph

Read this outstanding book -- Gary Brie, Total Football

The contrasting images of then and now keep hitting you as you turn each page -- Ken Roberts, Liverpool Echo

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