Pat Nevin is known as a maverick in the world of football. Though a mercurial winger of great skill, he had no intention of becoming the professional footballer he did. From a working class Glaswegian family passionate about education, he did well at school while playing football for fun and was well into a university course happily playing part-time for Clyde when the big boys, recognising his talent, came knocking.
He would have preferred that it was Celtic, but that never happened and instead he got an offer from Chelsea (then in the English second division) that was too good to refuse. The money was one thing, and the opportunity to experience the London music scene was another draw, and he could always finish his degree later.
He never got back to his studies (an honorary degree was eventually awarded). Though now a professional footballer, he refused to conform to the norm, maintaining his passion for music and the arts in the face of bemusement from most of his teammates. The autobiography, covering his childhood, adolescence, and career at Chelsea, Everton, and Tranmere Rovers, not to mention Scotland, is peppered with visits to gigs and shoulder rubbing with DJs, musicians, and artists.
But the sporting career remains the centrepiece and it is an off-centre look at the world of professional football at a turning point in the game. The Premier League is established, the old drinking and laddish culture is being threatened by more forward-thinking coaches, and the wages are spiralling.
Clearly not ghost-written, Nevin did not even have an agent, this is a genuine first-hand account of those times. What it lacks in polish it makes up for in authenticity; and while there is inevitably a tendency to brag and namedrop, that is offset by the odd dose of self-depreciation.
For those of his
generation, an interesting read.
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