I've just nearly finished Keith Peacock's book "No Subsitute", which I've found really interesting. I've read a few other general Charlton books in the past, but this has been the first CAFC related biography.
As I travel about 4 hours each day on the train/tube, I've got plenty of time to read!
So, which titles do others recommend? I've got a vague memory of Gary Nelson (I think) writing one. And Curbs. Who else? Thanks in advance.
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I found both Curbs and Lennie Lawrence biographies a bit dull and told us nothing we already knew.
Left Foot Forward got voted Sports Book of the Year when it was released so definitely worth a read.
Robert Lee did a biography, but he seems to forget he played for Charlton for much of it.
It told hardly anything, that I didn't already know. The book had "no personality" :-)
Nelson's were very good.
bought in one of shirtys auctions
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sam-Bartram-Goalkeeping-Legend-ebook/dp/B00DM8JZA8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1379505087&sr=8-1&keywords=Sam+Bartram
i actually thought the 2nd was even better (although less CAFC content). really gave a good insight into the trials and tribulations of lower league management. since been copied many times but the original remains the best.
By far the best I have read is Eamonn Dunphy's 'Only a Game?'. Don't be put off by his Millwall connections - he played for us too, from 1973-75. It is a diary of a season at The Den in the late 1960s: a brutally honest account of his hopes and frustrations, and about how experienced players were casually patronised by puffed-up chairmen and treated like children by ignorant coaches.
Dunphy went on to make a successful career in quality journalism and write biographies of rock musicians. 'Only a Game?' is still in print and widely available.
In some ways 'Only a Game' counts as Charlton related.
It opens with his hopes that in his late 20's that he might still play in the old First Division (now Premiership) by the end of the book he joins us mid season when we were in the Third Division (now League 1) and a division below the Spanners,so on a personal level it describes a time in his career when his hopes and dreams get smashed.
I warn you he is not complementary about us and describes our beloved Valley as 'soulless'.It is interesting that his description of our early 70's team as a bunch of 'Nancy boys' and that they loved playing against us because it was 'easy' could have equally been written 30 years later and possibly goes some way to explain our record against them.
Let's hope the modern Addicks prove Eamon wrong on Saturday !
If you can get past his obvious ambivalence to Charlton , Viewfinder is right it is a very good book.
The Greatest Footballer You Never Saw: The Robin Friday Story
Not Charlton but great read. Met his ex in a boozer in Reading recently and had a chat about him. Lovely lady. Sad story.
If you expect an autobiography to capture the essence of the person this one does and to give one example his description of the tragedy of Pierre Bolangi is particularly moving.
The book is written in his bland, understated style and you almost expect to see "p'raps" written somewhere in every paragraph but for those used to interpreting "Curbs speak" the book reveals rather more than appears at first sight,
That last comment is perhaps my one criticism. You have to be something of an "insider" to fully appreciate it and a non- Charlton fan probably would find it bland and boring because of the way it is written.
That said are many non- Charlton fans going to read Charlton autobiographies? Our chaps don't have the profile of Man U, Liverpool, Chelsea etc,etc.
As for the other suggestions I'd agree that they are all worth a read and what you get out of them probably depends on how long you have supported the Club and how interested you are in its history.
I particularly enjoyed 'No Substitute' largely because Keith Peacock's span with the Club almost exactly mirrors my own time. It is inevitably a personal thing of course.