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Sir Alf
Since England’s famous 1966 World Cup victory, Alf Ramsey has been regarded as the greatest of all British football managers. By placing Ramsey in an historical context, award-winning author Leo McKinstry provides a thought-provoking insight into the world of professional football and the fabric of British society over the span of his life. Ramsey’s life is a romantic story of heroism. Often derided by lesser men, he overcame the prejudice against his social background to reach the summit of world football. The son of a council dustman from Essex, Ramsey had been through a tough upbringing. After army service during the war, he became a professional footballer, enjoying a successful career with Southampton and Tottenham and winning 32 England caps. But it was as manager of Ipswich Town, and then the architect for England’s 1966 World Cup triumph, that Ramsey will be most remembered. The tragedy was that his battles with the FA would ultimately lead to his downfall. He was sacked after England failed to qualify for the 1974 World Cup and was subsequently ostracised by the football establishment. He died a broken man in 1999 in the same modest Ipswich semi he’d lived in for most of his life. Drawing on extensive interviews with his closest friends and colleagues in the game, author Leo McKinstry will help unravel the true character of this fascinating and often complex football legend.
560 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
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About the author
Leo McKinstry
23 books15 followersLeo McKinstry writes regularly for the Daily Mail, Sunday Telegraph and Spectator. He has also written nine books including a life of Geoff Boycott, which was recently named one of the finest cricket books written in a Wisden poll. His best-selling biography of the footballing Charlton brothers was a top-ten bestseller and won the Sports Book of the Year award, while his study of Lord Rosebery won Channel Four Political Book of the year. Most recently he has written a trilogy about the RAF in the Second World War, including Spitfire, Lancaster and Hurricane.
Born in Belfast he was educated in Ireland and at Cambridge University.
Born in Belfast he was educated in Ireland and at Cambridge University.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 1, 2023
Social climbing is one of the main characteristics of millions of Britons who were born and grew up roughly after the First World War. They may not include those at the very top for whom privilege has been maintained throughout or for those at the very bottom who continue to struggle from generation to generation in poverty.
But for those in between, it can be argued that both in a lifetime and from father to son and mother to daughter, aspirations have been realised, living conditions transformed, longevity up, yesterday's luxuries today's necessities. Though there may be hiccoughs like cost of living crises, if you compare life now to what it was, the improvement is vast.
For example in my own family, as the fourth of six children, I became the first Gillett in our ancestral branch of the surname to go to university. My younger brother and sister followed, as state education attainments improved. So it continued with my children, successfully studying at far more prestigious universities than the college I went to.
Upward social change is one of the themes of Leo McKinstry's Sir Alf. Of course, football and pop music have always been express highways for those chosen few talented working class children to escape humble beginnings for fame and fortune. McKinstry reveals that in Alf Ramsey's case it wasn't just his skill as a footballer or manager that propelled him. It's fascinating to learn that early on, he worked hard to rid himself of his Dagenham accent. Witness after witness tells how, over the course of a few years, Alf sounded different and the conclusion is because he felt hampered by it. Terry Venables goes as far as suggesting that he fell out of favour as an England player after talking publicly about Ramsey's Dagenham past, with the manager. Others claim he took elocution lessons long into his life, despite his own assertion that he didn't. He does admit that he took his cue to improve the way he spoke from the BBC radio announcers. Good for him I shout. I did exactly the same. The result, writes McKinstry, was a very hesitant, cautious and peculiar way of talking that Sir Alf developed. The more trained ear could catch him out - the author cites the case of a train traveller with Alf as they were being served in the buffet car and Ramsey responding to the waiter's request, "No thank you, I don't want no peas!" The Dagenham was still peeping through.
It could explain, along with his extreme shyness that so many interviewees describe, why he hated public speaking and gave short shrift to journalists, often curtly dismissing them with one liners which, as McKinstry describes, hampered his chances of employment after he was sacked as England manager, as the demand for good PR in such positions began to be called for.
It's fascinating how such a shy and reserved man became the most successful leader in English sport of the twentieth century. I'm not that surprised as I've come across people in other fields who are introverts and humble and yet have shown great leadership and attracted warm following. Warmth and gratitude is something that certainly shines in McKinstry's book from the countless footballers who Alf Ramsey managed. His commanding leadership not only of the 1966 World Cup winning England squad but of the subsequent 1970 squad is expertly described by McKinstry but twinned with the devotion that his players showed to their leader. Yet he was a disciplinarian. The players would be told when to go to bed, when to get up. McKinstry tells how Alf would decide what they would do during their squad leisure time, often taking them all off to the cinema to watch a John Wayne western, his favourite films.
McKinstry analyses the relationship between manager and captain, revealing that Ramsey and Bobby Moore weren't as close as fans may have thought. The author gets close to revealing what Ramsey really felt about prolific goalscorer Jimmy Greaves, and you get a sense that Ramsey thought he was too much of a showy, slightly selfish player who didn't work hard enough all the time for all the team. It's a similar relationship to the later one with Rodney Marsh. It's almost as if there's little place for the real show off, flamboyantly gifted player in Alf's teams, plus any player who poses a threat to his authority has little future in his set up.
Bobby Charlton followed closely by Nobby Stiles and Alan Ball appear to his favourite players, those who became automatic choices in his England XI.
McKinstry clearly portrays Alf as a man who very rarely admitted any errors. However he does admit the major howler which it's widely agreed led to world champions England going out of the 1970 World Cup. They were two nil up against West Germany. Sir Alf took off Bobby Charlton to save his legs for an inevitable semi final. But, released from Charlton's shackles, Franz Beckenbaur took over the midfield and the match and led a German revival, sending England back home early. Ramsey was widely criticised. He admitted afterwards it was the wrong decision. It was the beginning of the end of his management reign with the ignominy of failing to qualify for the 1974 World Cup and that dreadful night at Wembley against Poland still to come.
McKinstry is stark in painting the picture for the reader of when the abrupt change occurred, when Ramsey's management style began to be tested by his players. His description of Frank Worthington turning up in outlandish fashion to join the squad to fly off on a tour is wonderful, along with the reaction from Ramsey. McKinstry then launches, quite correctly, into how football was beginning to change. Footballers were becoming stars, earning big money, demanding different treatment and he touches on that eternal problem for England managers - the player's club manager refusing to release his player for international duty.
McKinstry paints a picture of two Alfs. One, the inspirational football manager, and before that a pretty decent passing footballer, who is dominated by the game, who can talk and chat endlessly about the game. The second is a very private, awkward man who, writes McKinstry, would fall silent, get up and walk out when a conversation turned from football to something else, who would avoid sitting with FA Committee suits, and who, sometimes cruelly, dismissed journalists' questions and interview requests.
There's also a stark contrast between his private and public emotions. McKinstry describes how in both the moments his England team won the world cup and eight years later failed to qualify, Ramsey sat motionless and straight faced on the touchline bench. However, he reveals that inside Sir Alf was full of emotion.
McKinstry paints a sombre narration of Sir Alf's sad end. Indeed it's enough to moisten your eyes as you read the testimony of his devoted wife about the abandonment by the FA and the football world of her husband, the only man ever so far to lead England to World Cup victory. He was presented with a tiny FA pension, his World Cup winning management skills and vast football knowledge ignored and wholly overlooked in the Euro 96 celebrations when he should have been right, left and centre, exactly thirty years after his historic win.
I'm fascinated yet saddened by his bitter relationship with his successor at Ipswich Town and England, Sir Bobby Robson, who remarkably McKinstry reveals, lived just round the corner to Ramsey in Ipswich. They'd see each other walking their dogs, but avoid talking to each other. How tragically sad.
As MacKinstry concludes, there was no Westminster Abbey funeral for England's greatest manager. Instead, it was held in a small Ipswich church, attended by very, very few of the scores of footballers Sir Alf had made stars.
It was no way to treat Sir Alf.
This is a superb read.
But for those in between, it can be argued that both in a lifetime and from father to son and mother to daughter, aspirations have been realised, living conditions transformed, longevity up, yesterday's luxuries today's necessities. Though there may be hiccoughs like cost of living crises, if you compare life now to what it was, the improvement is vast.
For example in my own family, as the fourth of six children, I became the first Gillett in our ancestral branch of the surname to go to university. My younger brother and sister followed, as state education attainments improved. So it continued with my children, successfully studying at far more prestigious universities than the college I went to.
Upward social change is one of the themes of Leo McKinstry's Sir Alf. Of course, football and pop music have always been express highways for those chosen few talented working class children to escape humble beginnings for fame and fortune. McKinstry reveals that in Alf Ramsey's case it wasn't just his skill as a footballer or manager that propelled him. It's fascinating to learn that early on, he worked hard to rid himself of his Dagenham accent. Witness after witness tells how, over the course of a few years, Alf sounded different and the conclusion is because he felt hampered by it. Terry Venables goes as far as suggesting that he fell out of favour as an England player after talking publicly about Ramsey's Dagenham past, with the manager. Others claim he took elocution lessons long into his life, despite his own assertion that he didn't. He does admit that he took his cue to improve the way he spoke from the BBC radio announcers. Good for him I shout. I did exactly the same. The result, writes McKinstry, was a very hesitant, cautious and peculiar way of talking that Sir Alf developed. The more trained ear could catch him out - the author cites the case of a train traveller with Alf as they were being served in the buffet car and Ramsey responding to the waiter's request, "No thank you, I don't want no peas!" The Dagenham was still peeping through.
It could explain, along with his extreme shyness that so many interviewees describe, why he hated public speaking and gave short shrift to journalists, often curtly dismissing them with one liners which, as McKinstry describes, hampered his chances of employment after he was sacked as England manager, as the demand for good PR in such positions began to be called for.
It's fascinating how such a shy and reserved man became the most successful leader in English sport of the twentieth century. I'm not that surprised as I've come across people in other fields who are introverts and humble and yet have shown great leadership and attracted warm following. Warmth and gratitude is something that certainly shines in McKinstry's book from the countless footballers who Alf Ramsey managed. His commanding leadership not only of the 1966 World Cup winning England squad but of the subsequent 1970 squad is expertly described by McKinstry but twinned with the devotion that his players showed to their leader. Yet he was a disciplinarian. The players would be told when to go to bed, when to get up. McKinstry tells how Alf would decide what they would do during their squad leisure time, often taking them all off to the cinema to watch a John Wayne western, his favourite films.
McKinstry analyses the relationship between manager and captain, revealing that Ramsey and Bobby Moore weren't as close as fans may have thought. The author gets close to revealing what Ramsey really felt about prolific goalscorer Jimmy Greaves, and you get a sense that Ramsey thought he was too much of a showy, slightly selfish player who didn't work hard enough all the time for all the team. It's a similar relationship to the later one with Rodney Marsh. It's almost as if there's little place for the real show off, flamboyantly gifted player in Alf's teams, plus any player who poses a threat to his authority has little future in his set up.
Bobby Charlton followed closely by Nobby Stiles and Alan Ball appear to his favourite players, those who became automatic choices in his England XI.
McKinstry clearly portrays Alf as a man who very rarely admitted any errors. However he does admit the major howler which it's widely agreed led to world champions England going out of the 1970 World Cup. They were two nil up against West Germany. Sir Alf took off Bobby Charlton to save his legs for an inevitable semi final. But, released from Charlton's shackles, Franz Beckenbaur took over the midfield and the match and led a German revival, sending England back home early. Ramsey was widely criticised. He admitted afterwards it was the wrong decision. It was the beginning of the end of his management reign with the ignominy of failing to qualify for the 1974 World Cup and that dreadful night at Wembley against Poland still to come.
McKinstry is stark in painting the picture for the reader of when the abrupt change occurred, when Ramsey's management style began to be tested by his players. His description of Frank Worthington turning up in outlandish fashion to join the squad to fly off on a tour is wonderful, along with the reaction from Ramsey. McKinstry then launches, quite correctly, into how football was beginning to change. Footballers were becoming stars, earning big money, demanding different treatment and he touches on that eternal problem for England managers - the player's club manager refusing to release his player for international duty.
McKinstry paints a picture of two Alfs. One, the inspirational football manager, and before that a pretty decent passing footballer, who is dominated by the game, who can talk and chat endlessly about the game. The second is a very private, awkward man who, writes McKinstry, would fall silent, get up and walk out when a conversation turned from football to something else, who would avoid sitting with FA Committee suits, and who, sometimes cruelly, dismissed journalists' questions and interview requests.
There's also a stark contrast between his private and public emotions. McKinstry describes how in both the moments his England team won the world cup and eight years later failed to qualify, Ramsey sat motionless and straight faced on the touchline bench. However, he reveals that inside Sir Alf was full of emotion.
McKinstry paints a sombre narration of Sir Alf's sad end. Indeed it's enough to moisten your eyes as you read the testimony of his devoted wife about the abandonment by the FA and the football world of her husband, the only man ever so far to lead England to World Cup victory. He was presented with a tiny FA pension, his World Cup winning management skills and vast football knowledge ignored and wholly overlooked in the Euro 96 celebrations when he should have been right, left and centre, exactly thirty years after his historic win.
I'm fascinated yet saddened by his bitter relationship with his successor at Ipswich Town and England, Sir Bobby Robson, who remarkably McKinstry reveals, lived just round the corner to Ramsey in Ipswich. They'd see each other walking their dogs, but avoid talking to each other. How tragically sad.
As MacKinstry concludes, there was no Westminster Abbey funeral for England's greatest manager. Instead, it was held in a small Ipswich church, attended by very, very few of the scores of footballers Sir Alf had made stars.
It was no way to treat Sir Alf.
This is a superb read.
July 7, 2021
A must for all football fans particularly those who grew up through the 60s and 70s when football was totally about Saturdays, live matches on TV confined to the Cup Final and internationals and money was scarse.
This books tells the story of an amazing manager, the only manager to deliver England a World Cup. However, it delivers much more than that. The author through contributions and comments throughout weaves a story filled with excitement, surprsise, disappontment and tremendous sucessess. One is left to wonder how a true English legend and hero was treated so badly when he was relaced as England's manager.
You won't be disapponted.
Deserves 6 stars
This books tells the story of an amazing manager, the only manager to deliver England a World Cup. However, it delivers much more than that. The author through contributions and comments throughout weaves a story filled with excitement, surprsise, disappontment and tremendous sucessess. One is left to wonder how a true English legend and hero was treated so badly when he was relaced as England's manager.
You won't be disapponted.
Deserves 6 stars
October 6, 2024
A decent biography of Sir Alf but the odious McKinstry once again has to spoil his work with his disparaging remarks regarding fellow journalists and anyone else who doesn't share his ultra right-wing views.
August 28, 2024
A hugely in depth book which gives a fascinating insight into the great man and how the FA should hang their heads in shame.
December 23, 2016
I just wish this book had come out 25 years earlier - that's when it really should have been written - for in that period between Ramsey's sacking in 1974 and his death in 1999, the man had either been savaged by the media, or just plain forgotten by the public. This book shows Sir Alf for what he really was - a fabulous manager and a winner. So to me this book is certainly long overdue but very welcome.
In deciding to cover Ramsey's lifespan - as opposed to just his time in football - the author has taken on quite a task. But in doing so he has done a great job by unearthing plenty of anecdotes and by reaching some of the man's long-forgotten contemporaries. The result is 500 pages of superb reading.
Quite clearly, Leo McKinstry has aimed to set the record straight, and to redress the imbalance created by a negative, media-led campaign which dogged Ramsey's time in management and beyond. And I think he achieves this aim. I just hope that some of Ramsey's severest critics read this book and have a serious rethink about what they said and wrote about him.
Although the book covers Sir Alf's life, the book really centres on his two finest achievements - that of turning a struggling, unfashionable second division outfit into First Division Champions, and taking his country to the top of world football. Needless to say, that extraordinary double-feat has never been, and probably never will be, emulated.
So, given those fabulous achievements, just why was he so unpopular with the media? Because he was a quiet, modest man? Because he appeared cold and reticent at press conferences? If he was snappy on those occasions, who can blame him? Surely it was an entirely justified mistrust of the tabloid press.
Finally, when I read of the FA's decision to commemorate a horse for the new Wembley rather than their finest-ever manager, I was just incredulous. Once again the FA did not exactly cover themselves in glory. This was the final kick in the teeth.
There's just one small criticism I have about his book. The author, I feel, makes too much use of quotes from people who knew Sir Alf. Throughout the book, long after a broad concensus about Sir Alf is reached, McKinstry continues to take quotes - almost exhaustively.
But depite that mere foible, I have no hesitation in giving this book five stars. It's an excellent read - albeit long, long overdue.
In deciding to cover Ramsey's lifespan - as opposed to just his time in football - the author has taken on quite a task. But in doing so he has done a great job by unearthing plenty of anecdotes and by reaching some of the man's long-forgotten contemporaries. The result is 500 pages of superb reading.
Quite clearly, Leo McKinstry has aimed to set the record straight, and to redress the imbalance created by a negative, media-led campaign which dogged Ramsey's time in management and beyond. And I think he achieves this aim. I just hope that some of Ramsey's severest critics read this book and have a serious rethink about what they said and wrote about him.
Although the book covers Sir Alf's life, the book really centres on his two finest achievements - that of turning a struggling, unfashionable second division outfit into First Division Champions, and taking his country to the top of world football. Needless to say, that extraordinary double-feat has never been, and probably never will be, emulated.
So, given those fabulous achievements, just why was he so unpopular with the media? Because he was a quiet, modest man? Because he appeared cold and reticent at press conferences? If he was snappy on those occasions, who can blame him? Surely it was an entirely justified mistrust of the tabloid press.
Finally, when I read of the FA's decision to commemorate a horse for the new Wembley rather than their finest-ever manager, I was just incredulous. Once again the FA did not exactly cover themselves in glory. This was the final kick in the teeth.
There's just one small criticism I have about his book. The author, I feel, makes too much use of quotes from people who knew Sir Alf. Throughout the book, long after a broad concensus about Sir Alf is reached, McKinstry continues to take quotes - almost exhaustively.
But depite that mere foible, I have no hesitation in giving this book five stars. It's an excellent read - albeit long, long overdue.
April 14, 2016
A fascinating insight into the man and manager who won us the World Cup. It seems he was often misunderstood but adored by the 66 team. An enjoyable read but saddened by the way he was treated by the FA.
August 9, 2013
One of the best if not the best sporting biography I have read. You get all sides of Alf Ramsey the footballing insight and a three dimensional picture of him as a man. Good read
September 5, 2013
You have to be interested in football and if you are old enough to remember 1966 you will be fascinated. Otherwise it can be a bit of a drag.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews