Thinking of getting Lennie Lawrence's autobiography for my charlton supporting brother in law for christmas. Assuming someone on here may have read it, Is it an interesting read and worth the purchase?
Keith Peacock's 'No Substitute. and Gary Nelson's books are far better. 'Lennie', fr0m a CAFC point of view, was very disappointing but it did make Curbs' book look like a Mann- Booker prize winner.
autobiographies shouldn't be imo. "A lot of hard yakka" is possibly my favourite sportsman autobiography and that's as controversial as a packet of crisps. Still a brilliant and insightful read into the world of county cricket at the time.
There are two types of autobiographies, those that are a bloody good read and offer an insight into specific moments in a man's life, and others that simply re-tell what happened. This one fell into the latter.
Publishers totally mis-judged the market by focusing on too much on Boro and poorly ghost wriiten.
If you can get it cheap on Amazon then fine but a most disappointing book.
Agree it was a disappointing book particularly as for years Lennie had spoken about what a great book he could write about what really went on when he was manager with us.
However it was not all surprising we do not get the primary focus when you consider how little recognition the club have given him in recent times. For example:
No bust of him in the main stairway when the other 2 great managers have one
No naming of a stand after him despite 1 of the other 2 great managers have one
No suite named after him
No announcement from the clubs tannoy announcer when he has entered the arenas on his past 4 visits with Bristol Rovers/Palace/Bolton. Unlike Kins with Colchester in August and no doubt Powelly (quite rightly) will get in February
Might have something to do with running off with Middlesbrough and nicking a couple of our players for peanuts. Don't think some at the club that have been around a while think very much of him, despite his Houdini actions.
At the end of the day, his time with us would be the most interesting part of his career for a neutral to read about. He did a decent job at Boro, but got dumped before things got interesting with Robson's big name signings, and his career after that was like lots of other journeyman managers.
His time with us saw Simonsen, bankruptcy ground sharing, promotion to the 1st Division and an extraordinary period of keeping us up (including the play off win, that win over Man U and the Battle of the Bridge). There should have been a good book in that lot...
Might have something to do with running off with Middlesbrough and nicking a couple of our players for peanuts. Don't think some at the club that have been around a while think very much of him, despite his Houdini actions.
Not forgetting the derisory insulting initial bid of £250k for Robert Lee when he knew how we needed the cash to get back to the Valley cos he'd just left us Totally understand he's gotta do what's best for his new club but his fannying fucked it up with regards Lee and he missed out on a gem
At the end of the day, his time with us would be the most interesting part of his career for a neutral to read about. He did a decent job at Boro, but got dumped before things got interesting with Robson's big name signings, and his career after that was like lots of other journeyman managers.
His time with us saw Simonsen, bankruptcy ground sharing, promotion to the 1st Division and an extraordinary period of keeping us up (including the play off win, that win over Man U and the Battle of the Bridge). There should have been a good book in that lot...
Absolutey this^. Not forgetting the fall out he had with Walshie whom he sent out on loan to Boro and then shortly ended up following him there as manager! Thankfully Walshie didn't get much choice and came back home otherwise history would have been rewritten on our return to the 'Shrine'.
I will always have good memories of Lennie Lawrence and Eddie May. How he got us out of the 2nd Division and into the top division on very little money spent was miraculous. Bringing in the likes of Humphrey, Reid, Pender, Thompson, Shirtliff Williams etc showed not only a deep knowledge of the players out there, but he also brought in the right characters. We nearly went out of existence and also left the Valley under his stewardship, two huge events in the Clubs history, but Lennie just seemed to take it in his stride.
Might have something to do with running off with Middlesbrough and nicking a couple of our players for peanuts. Don't think some at the club that have been around a while think very much of him, despite his Houdini actions.
Andy Peake (30 years old) was the only player Lennie signed from Charlton during his time at Boro.
Might have something to do with running off with Middlesbrough and nicking a couple of our players for peanuts. Don't think some at the club that have been around a while think very much of him, despite his Houdini actions.
Not forgetting the derisory insulting initial bid of £250k for Robert Lee when he knew how we needed the cash to get back to the Valley cos he'd just left us Totally understand he's gotta do what's best for his new club but his fannying fucked it up with regards Lee and he missed out on a gem
At the same time we sold Barness for £350k, These sales were desperately needed to pay off tax bills and other debts. Without them, our club would have been finished
Can you imagine if Lord Alan had tried to pull as low a stunt as Lawrence's at such a critical point in Charlton's survival.
Might have something to do with running off with Middlesbrough and nicking a couple of our players for peanuts. Don't think some at the club that have been around a while think very much of him, despite his Houdini actions.
Andy Peake (30 years old) was the only player Lennie signed from Charlton during his time at Boro.
i remember him putting a couple of bids in at the time which were very low because he knew we were in trouble, but i stand corrected.
Publishers totally mis-judged the market by focusing on too much on Boro and poorly ghost wriiten.
If you can get it cheap on Amazon then fine but a most disappointing book.
i knew Lennie relatively well before his spell with Charlton and his character doesnt come through as well as it could do in the book .As other posters have put peacocks and especially Gary Nelsons book are well worth a read .
I d certainly buy a Derek Hales autobiography if ever there was one ...think hed have some great stories
I will always have good memories of Lennie Lawrence and Eddie May. How he got us out of the 2nd Division and into the top division on very little money spent was miraculous. Bringing in the likes of Humphrey, Reid, Pender, Thompson, Shirtliff Williams etc showed not only a deep knowledge of the players out there, but he also brought in the right characters. We nearly went out of existence and also left the Valley under his stewardship, two huge events in the Clubs history, but Lennie just seemed to take it in his stride.
Lennie Lawrence is legend.............could not give a f*** about what negatives may be aimed at him.
If we had lost at St Andrews in '87 we would have been finished(thank you Mr Shirtliff also).
Comments
Publishers totally mis-judged the market by focusing on too much on Boro and poorly ghost wriiten.
If you can get it cheap on Amazon then fine but a most disappointing book.
Considering he managed his highest percentage of games with us.
Should have won something.
However it was not all surprising we do not get the primary focus when you consider how little recognition the club have given him in recent times. For example:
No bust of him in the main stairway when the other 2 great managers have one
No naming of a stand after him despite 1 of the other 2 great managers have one
No suite named after him
No announcement from the clubs tannoy announcer when he has entered the arenas on his past 4 visits with Bristol Rovers/Palace/Bolton. Unlike Kins with Colchester in August and no doubt Powelly (quite rightly) will get in February
His time with us saw Simonsen, bankruptcy ground sharing, promotion to the 1st Division and an extraordinary period of keeping us up (including the play off win, that win over Man U and the Battle of the Bridge). There should have been a good book in that lot...
Totally understand he's gotta do what's best for his new club but his fannying fucked it up with regards Lee and he missed out on a gem
Can you imagine if Lord Alan had tried to pull as low a stunt as Lawrence's at such a critical point in Charlton's survival.
I d certainly buy a Derek Hales autobiography if ever there was one ...think hed have some great stories
If we had lost at St Andrews in '87 we would have been finished(thank you Mr Shirtliff also).