Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: Dazvillain on December 05, 2022, 11:52:57 PM
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Just looking for a few Villa related books or books written about/by ex Villa employees
Last couple of years have bought euros and Villans, Ron Saunders odd man out, Ticket to the moon, Brian Littles’s My Aston Villa and of course AV the complete record.
Just considering Back from the brink, Paul McGrath and The manager, Ron Atkinson
Any other recommendations please ?
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You mean you haven't read the Paul McGrath one?! Daz, you're slipping. Thought you were the king of the football memoirs!
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You mean you haven't read the Paul McGrath one?! Daz, you're slipping. Thought you were the king of the football memoirs!
Wrong Darren.
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I've got over 100 Villa related books on my shelf I would highly recommend Back From The Brink and one you should definitely get is Children Of The Revolution by Richard Whitehead that's an excellent read.
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I have a few I can send you if you like.
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I've put the signed Dennis Mortimer one on my birthday wish list. So my missus will get me that for January.
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I've got over 100 Villa related books on my shelf I would highly recommend Back From The Brink and one you should definitely get is Children Of The Revolution by Richard Whitehead that's an excellent read.
Thanks will give them a look up
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I have a few I can send you if you like.
Very kind offer thanks but really no need to disrupt your collection , perhaps just highlight a couple of the better reads for me to search for would be much appreciated . Thank you
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I'm downsizing. Would like them to go to a welcome new home.
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I'm downsizing. Would like them to go to a welcome new home.
Will DM you
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I've got over 100 Villa related books on my shelf I would highly recommend Back From The Brink and one you should definitely get is Children Of The Revolution by Richard Whitehead that's an excellent read.
Blimey the Whitehead one is between £37-50 ! Wow
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I've got over 100 Villa related books on my shelf I would highly recommend Back From The Brink and one you should definitely get is Children Of The Revolution by Richard Whitehead that's an excellent read.
Blimey the Whitehead one is between £37-50 ! Wow
Is that all? I would have expected it to be more as I thought it was v hard to source nowadays.
Excellent book mind….up there with Dave W’s books (don’t want to get banned lol)
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I've put the signed Dennis Mortimer one on my birthday wish list. So my missus will get me that for January.
Where do you get a signed one from?
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I've put the signed Dennis Mortimer one on my birthday wish list. So my missus will get me that for January.
Where do you get a signed one from?
The one I ordered online came in the post signed (didn't know that when I bought it).
Edit . .. from here
https://av40tribute.com/shop/ols/products/the-full-morty-the-autobiography-of-dennis-mortimer
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I've put the signed Dennis Mortimer one on my birthday wish list. So my missus will get me that for January.
Where do you get a signed one from?
The one I ordered online came in the post signed (didn't know that when I bought it).
Edit . .. from here
https://av40tribute.com/shop/ols/products/the-full-morty-the-autobiography-of-dennis-mortimer
Cheers, bud 👍
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I lent my entire Villa book collection to a chap in our village - about eight years ago.
Some valuable ones in there too.
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I've put the signed Dennis Mortimer one on my birthday wish list. So my missus will get me that for January.
Where do you get a signed one from?
The one I ordered online came in the post signed (didn't know that when I bought it).
Edit . .. from here
https://av40tribute.com/shop/ols/products/the-full-morty-the-autobiography-of-dennis-mortimer
Yep that's where I've seen it.
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Last time I was in the club shop before Southampton at home they had in the pile a book by I think either a fan or perhaps former club employee, can't remember his name but looked interesting just flicking through.
Used to love the 90s season reviews, still got a few of them in the loft.
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👋
Star-spangled Villans
And:
https://www.olddogbooks.net/shop/olddogbooks/gangsters-geezers-and-mods/
Both by erm… me.
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SSV was a great read.
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SSV was a great read.
Cheers Lee.
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I lent my entire Villa book collection to a chap in our village - about eight years ago.
Some valuable ones in there too.
That reminds me that I lent my VHS box sets of the Complete Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister to a colleague - in 1999, and haven't seen them since.
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Big Ron's first biography was better than "The Manager."
Paul McGrath, Brian Little and Garry Thompsons bios are very good. I found Tony Daleys a little dull.
Mr Woodhall's From One Season to the Next is a great book. The review books are very good as well.
Ticket to the Moon is great.
Rob Bishops 10 Greatest Premier League Villa Players is a good book.
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When is Julian Joachim bringing out his? I mean they're all at it at this stage, but this fella would have some stories to tell. He was still banging them in for Aslockton & Orston as recently as 2019 #theloveofthegame #watchandlearnflabbyagbonlahor
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One I found difficult to read because of the way is was written was 'Encounters Of The Third Kind'.
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The Lerwill Chronicles was the difficult one for me.
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Villa Park : 100 Years by Simon Inglis.
Published in 1997, so obviously in need of an update.
Possibly after the North Stand rebuild?
A great read about our home from Victorian times to the end of the 20th Century.
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👋
Star-spangled Villans
And:
https://www.olddogbooks.net/shop/olddogbooks/gangsters-geezers-and-mods/
Both by erm… me.
Nice one Percy
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Big Ron's first biography was better than "The Manager."
Paul McGrath, Brian Little and Garry Thompsons bios are very good. I found Tony Daleys a little dull.
Mr Woodhall's From One Season to the Next is a great book. The review books are very good as well.
Ticket to the Moon is great.
Rob Bishops 10 Greatest Premier League Villa Players is a good book.
Great options, I’ll look into. Ordered McGrath back from the brink for £3 today .
Based on a mates review, although not AV, I’ve also ordered Pat Murphy’s BBC sports review book today as a pressie off family . Under £12 on Amazon.
The Dennis Mortimer signed book also tempting even at £25…… anyone read that yet ?
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I have numerous items available if anyone is interested in adding to their collection.
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There might be another one soon.
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When is Julian Joachim bringing out his? I mean they're all at it at this stage, but this fella would have some stories to tell. He was still banging them in for Aslockton & Orston as recently as 2019 #theloveofthegame #watchandlearnflabbyagbonlahor
It's already out
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Got to say so many good books which have come out in the last 10 years, Book of the 70's and Book of the 80's - the European one which Colin Abbott has brought out not so long ago, the 3rd Division book, a couple of European ones, Brassnecks one and Andy Dale's story of the 1981 season. That is before some really good former players books.
We are really spoilt for choice book wise.
I know the publication is starting to get rarer but one book I would always look out for is the First Hundred Years you can still pick a copy up ad hoc on email or amazon - was my first Villa Book and a really good read. - off the top of my head and I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong (can't be bothered going next door to check) but the author is Peter Morris. Book was published in 1974
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Big Ron's first biography was better than "The Manager."
Paul McGrath, Brian Little and Garry Thompsons bios are very good. I found Tony Daleys a little dull.
Mr Woodhall's From One Season to the Next is a great book. The review books are very good as well.
Ticket to the Moon is great.
Rob Bishops 10 Greatest Premier League Villa Players is a good book.
From One Season To the Next it's a brilliant read.
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My comments on the Arsenal Santa Claus game are included in From one season to the next. My family have never allowed me to forget the grammatical error at the start of my contribution. Still, nice to published.
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I know the publication is starting to get rarer but one book I would always look out for is the First Hundred Years you can still pick a copy up ad hoc on email or amazon - was my first Villa Book and a really good read. - off the top of my head and I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong (can't be bothered going next door to check) but the author is Peter Morris. Book was published in 1974
The Peter Morris book I own (it was a gift from one of the aforementioned family members) was published in 1962 and has the title "Aston Villa- The history of a great football club 1874-1961"
I think the original version was published in 1960 but there have been updates since, presumably up to 1974 like your copy. Whichever version you can get hold of, it is an essential record of our glory years when they were just about in living memory. Albert Evans from the double side was still alive when my copy was published.
The Complete Record books are also essential, although I don't think the latest version is as good a production as the previous one.
A book I enjoyed in my childhood was "The Great Years of Aston Villa" which gave game by game statistics of seasons when we won honours. Included 81 and 82 I think.
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Tony Daley has his autobiography out as well. I met him in Truro a month ago and he was such a nice genuine chap.
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Tony Daley has his autobiography out as well. I met him in Truro a month ago and he was such a nice genuine chap.
Book I am reading at the moment.
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When is Julian Joachim bringing out his? I mean they're all at it at this stage, but this fella would have some stories to tell. He was still banging them in for Aslockton & Orston as recently as 2019 #theloveofthegame #watchandlearnflabbyagbonlahor
It's already out
Shut the front door! Hook me up, bruh'.
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Got to say so many good books which have come out in the last 10 years, Book of the 70's and Book of the 80's - the European one which Colin Abbott has brought out not so long ago, the 3rd Division book, a couple of European ones, Brassnecks one and Andy Dale's story of the 1981 season. That is before some really good former players books.
We are really spoilt for choice book wise.
I know the publication is starting to get rarer but one book I would always look out for is the First Hundred Years you can still pick a copy up ad hoc on email or amazon - was my first Villa Book and a really good read. - off the top of my head and I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong (can't be bothered going next door to check) but the author is Peter Morris. Book was published in 1974
I think it's the 1974 edition that contains that glorious passage about the author meeting Pongo Waring. It should be immortalised somewhere in the stadium for all to see...
The door to the lavishly appointed Guest Room at Villa Park was open and out in the corridor the little boys, dodging the commissionaire, were calling for Brian Little and John Gidman. Quite rightly, they took no notice of myself and the elderly bald-headed man, bespectacled, stooping a little, who was quietly finishing his tea. He looked over at them for a moment, a whimsical look, and moved to the long window overlooking the now deserted playing pitch.
"Every time you come here it must bring back memories Pongo," I said. He stared out for a long while. I thought he'd forgotten I was there. "Aye", he said suddenly "aye, they're a great club...the greatest." I stood and looked with him, this old man whose goals had set the Villa crowds roaring so long ago. It was not quite dusk on that March afternoon and I saw them too...they were out again, the old ghosts...Jack Hughes, scorer just about one hundred years earlier of Aston Villa's first goal (perhaps to the very day)...George Ramsay...the Hunter brothers...Willie McGregor...Denny Hodgetts...legion upon legion of them on parade now, filling the field with claret and blue...the century with pride.
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You're not wrong Eamonn.
That's really quite lovely.
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Tony Daley has his autobiography out as well. I met him in Truro a month ago and he was such a nice genuine chap.
Book I am reading at the moment.
What do you think? I was disappointed. Went on about training more than what went on in games I thought.
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Daley is a fitness coach so he's probably brought too much of that shite into it. I'd prefer to hear his thoughts about how he felt at away grounds tearing down the touchline within earshot of all manner of cvnts hurling abuse at him.
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He could also hear the Villa fans shouting Goo on Tone! Goo on! Goo on! This might have drowned out the ******.
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He could also hear the Villa fans shouting Goo on Tone! Goo on! Goo on! This might have drowned out the ******.
Skin him Tone, skin him!
At the Vila, the ball arriving at his feet was always met with the clatter of seats being cleared of arses in the Trinity Rd.
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I think it's the 1974 edition that contains that glorious passage about the author meeting Pongo Waring. It should be immortalised somewhere in the stadium for all to see...
The door to the lavishly appointed Guest Room at Villa Park was open and out in the corridor the little boys, dodging the commissionaire, were calling for Brian Little and John Gidman. Quite rightly, they took no notice of myself and the elderly bald-headed man, bespectacled, stooping a little, who was quietly finishing his tea. He looked over at them for a moment, a whimsical look, and moved to the long window overlooking the now deserted playing pitch.
"Every time you come here it must bring back memories Pongo," I said. He stared out for a long while. I thought he'd forgotten I was there. "Aye", he said suddenly "aye, they're a great club...the greatest." I stood and looked with him, this old man whose goals had set the Villa crowds roaring so long ago. It was not quite dusk on that March afternoon and I saw them too...they were out again, the old ghosts...Jack Hughes, scorer just about one hundred years earlier of Aston Villa's first goal (perhaps to the very day)...George Ramsay...the Hunter brothers...Willie McGregor...Denny Hodgetts...legion upon legion of them on parade now, filling the field with claret and blue...the century with pride.
There's also this passage from the original version of the Peter Morris book, Eamonn:
"Among the excited thousands who thronged outside Villa Park one Sunday evening in May 1957, there were some who noted how the rays of a setting spring sun caught and held the classic facade of the mighty Trinity Road stand, illuminating in letters of gold the proud title - Aston Villa. They were there, those thousands, to welcome back to Aston the first Villa Cup-winning team for 37 years. For some, the older men, it was a poignant moment of nostalgia and joy. Memories became green again, wandered jerkily back through the years...to other great days...other great Villa teams.
This history must go back with them...and further...to the winter of the year 1874 when 'growlers' rattled along the gas-lit, cobbled streets of 'Brummagem', when black smoke welled out of hundreds of grimy stacks and furnaces belched flame into the skies of Queen Victoria's England.
The city of Birmingham, with sinewy arms and sooty face, was forging its name in brass and iron as the workshop of the world when a few young men stroked their whiskers and bestowed on a newborn football club a name unique in sporting history. It has become a name to conjure with, a name to inspire world wide affection, a name to admire and revere."
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Nicking your sig for our FB Page.
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Mr Morris sure had a way with words.
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Mr Morris sure had a way with words.
It's a pity he didn't have the same way with the truth, but his writing is unsurpassed.
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Oh...did he embellish beyond belief or worse?
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I've just added another Villa book for my collection Billy Walker's soccer in the blood.
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Oh...did he embellish beyond belief or worse?
Some embellishments (Archie Hunter's deathbed scene featuring his dead brother), some errors (the player he said was killed in World War One then scored in the Scottish cup final) and a bizarre piece where he said Alex Massie left in 1950 and they worked together the following season when Massie left in 1949. The writing is awe-inspiring but the facts are a bit less so.
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Pretty sure Massie left in 1950.
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The one I remember picking up on is Tommy Barber apparently dying in World War One but then living until 1925.
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Pretty sure Massie left in 1950.
Aston Villa the complete record by Rob Bishop and Frank Holt say he left on 31 July 1949.
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👋
Star-spangled Villans
And:
https://www.olddogbooks.net/shop/olddogbooks/gangsters-geezers-and-mods/
Both by erm… me.
Nice one Percy
I can recommend Gangsters Geezers and Mods by Percy of this parish. I'm not an avid book reader usually but I did get into this one and I really enjoyed it. It's not a hoolies book btw although I can imagine Percy being a bit rowdy ;D
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Pretty sure Massie left in 1950.
Aston Villa the complete record by Rob Bishop and Frank Holt say he left on 31 July 1949.
The previous editions have 1950. As do the lists of our managers i've seen online.
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All previous records listed Massie as leaving in 1950. Then someone who was researching a book about managers found, to his surprise, that he had in fact left in 1949. Subsequent tomes carry the correct date. This is typical of the problem with older books, namely they tend to refer to previous ones, with such errors being repeated.
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👋
Star-spangled Villans
And:
https://www.olddogbooks.net/shop/olddogbooks/gangsters-geezers-and-mods/
Both by erm… me.
Nice one Percy
I can recommend Gangsters Geezers and Mods by Percy of this parish. I'm not an avid book reader usually but I did get into this one and I really enjoyed it. It's not a hoolies book btw although I can imagine Percy being a bit rowdy ;D
Another brilliant book by Percy.
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👋
Star-spangled Villans
And:
https://www.olddogbooks.net/shop/olddogbooks/gangsters-geezers-and-mods/
Both by erm… me.
Nice one Percy
I can recommend Gangsters Geezers and Mods by Percy of this parish. I'm not an avid book reader usually but I did get into this one and I really enjoyed it. It's not a hoolies book btw although I can imagine Percy being a bit rowdy ;D
Cheers The Edge. I could be in my younger days, not really up to it now though. Damned carpal tunnel.
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👋
Star-spangled Villans
And:
https://www.olddogbooks.net/shop/olddogbooks/gangsters-geezers-and-mods/
Both by erm… me.
Nice one Percy
I can recommend Gangsters Geezers and Mods by Percy of this parish. I'm not an avid book reader usually but I did get into this one and I really enjoyed it. It's not a hoolies book btw although I can imagine Percy being a bit rowdy ;D
Another brilliant book by Percy.
Nice one big man.
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👋
Star-spangled Villans
And:
https://www.olddogbooks.net/shop/olddogbooks/gangsters-geezers-and-mods/
Both by erm… me.
Nice one Percy
I can recommend Gangsters Geezers and Mods by Percy of this parish. I'm not an avid book reader usually but I did get into this one and I really enjoyed it. It's not a hoolies book btw although I can imagine Percy being a bit rowdy ;D
Cheers The Edge. I could be in my younger days, not really up to it now though. Damned carpal tunnel.
No problem mate. You can call me Edge ;D
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👋
Star-spangled Villans
And:
https://www.olddogbooks.net/shop/olddogbooks/gangsters-geezers-and-mods/
Both by erm… me.
Nice one Percy
I can recommend Gangsters Geezers and Mods by Percy of this parish. I'm not an avid book reader usually but I did get into this one and I really enjoyed it. It's not a hoolies book btw although I can imagine Percy being a bit rowdy ;D
Cheers The Edge. I could be in my younger days, not really up to it now though. Damned carpal tunnel.
No problem mate. You can call me Edge ;D
Excellent, cheers Edge.
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👋
Star-spangled Villans
And:
https://www.olddogbooks.net/shop/olddogbooks/gangsters-geezers-and-mods/
Both by erm… me.
Nice one Percy
I can recommend Gangsters Geezers and Mods by Percy of this parish. I'm not an avid book reader usually but I did get into this one and I really enjoyed it. It's not a hoolies book btw although I can imagine Percy being a bit rowdy ;D
Cheers The Edge. I could be in my younger days, not really up to it now though. Damned carpal tunnel.
No problem mate. You can call me Edge ;D
Oh give it a rest U2.
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👋
Star-spangled Villans
And:
https://www.olddogbooks.net/shop/olddogbooks/gangsters-geezers-and-mods/
Both by erm… me.
Nice one Percy
I can recommend Gangsters Geezers and Mods by Percy of this parish. I'm not an avid book reader usually but I did get into this one and I really enjoyed it. It's not a hoolies book btw although I can imagine Percy being a bit rowdy ;D
Cheers The Edge. I could be in my younger days, not really up to it now though. Damned carpal tunnel.
No problem mate. You can call me Edge ;D
Oh give it a rest U2.
I don't like U2
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Still got most of mine left if anyone is interested.
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Alex Cropley and Kenny Swain have books out.
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Has anyone mentioned the 1986 classic, "Shades of Gray" ?
Thought not !
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Has anyone mentioned the 1986 classic, "Shades of Gray" ?
Thought not !
Ordered 50….not what I expected
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I got this book for Christmas, has newspaper match reports going back to 1905. Not a conventional book like the others mentioned, but nonetheless I found it interesting.
https://www.historic-newspapers.co.uk/gifts/sports-books/personalised-football-books/aston-villa-football-book/
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Has anyone mentioned the 1986 classic, "Shades of Gray" ?
Thought not !
Ordered 50….not what I expected
Same here. Thought it it would be about Andy or maybe Stuart, not a motley crew of deviated preverts getting jiggy with it and making the beast with two backs.
Caveat emptor!
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I happened upon this as I was browsing the shelves at WH Smiths.
https://www.soccer-books.co.uk/acatalog/The-Armistice-Day-Killing---The-Death-of-Tommy-Ball-and-the-Life-of-the-Man-Who-Shot-Him-10921.html
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Can anyone recommend, or otherwise, Aston Villa - The Complete Record?
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Can anyone recommend, or otherwise, Aston Villa - The Complete Record?
I had the original 2 and they are fantastic. I assume the later Rob Bishop editions will be as well.
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Can anyone recommend, or otherwise, Aston Villa - The Complete Record?
I had the original 2 and they are fantastic. I assume the later Rob Bishop editions will be as well.
Thanks, it's currently £15 plus P&P (£7.99) for the rest of the day.
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Can anyone recommend, or otherwise, Aston Villa - The Complete Record?
I had the original 2 and they are fantastic. I assume the later Rob Bishop editions will be as well.
Thanks, it's currently £15 plus P&P (£7.99) for the rest of the day.
I also have all three complete record books.
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The Complete Record is essential - its our Bible. Solved a few disputes in the past.
First 100 years by Peter Morris - paperback but tremendous.
Fan wise Mark B's (brassneck's) is up there with the best - really tells the story of being a very fan home and away in the 70s and beyond as I remember it. An alternative is Danny B's and Fowl's book isn't bad either.
Just 14 the best "fictional" book
If your looking for photos then Terry Weir's photo book is up with the very best.
I really think we are blessed in this sense.
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Talking of Villa related books Gangsters, Geezers & Mods will be on sale again outside the church tomorrow, via the author and one of the characters in the book (me and Kurtis). Crime, local history, youth culture, football violence and Villa. Or as the publisher puts it: “Mods, Mobsters and Brum-based Football Bovver!”
Please pop over and say hello if you’re on the manor.
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Just saw this. Marvellous.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FqcckiLXoAAb7PJ?format=jpg&name=large)
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Just saw this. Marvellous.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FqcckiLXoAAb7PJ?format=jpg&name=large)
Prose worthy of high praise.
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What's it from?
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Just saw this. Marvellous.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FqcckiLXoAAb7PJ?format=jpg&name=large)
They’ll love that.
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What's it from?
The Complete History of Birmingham City FC
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What's it from?
Sutcliffe & Smith, Birmingham 1939-1970 apparently (it was on twitter)
https://twitter.com/JonNeale/status/1632304809314328576