Last Boy of '66: My Story of England's World Cup Winning Team

by Geoff Hurst

Genres: Football, Biography, Nonfiction, Autobiography, Memoir

320 pages, Hardcover

Published October 24, 2024

Reviews

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed this book looking at the 1966 team and sir Geoff as he discusses the team and his life in reflection

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bit of a trip down memory lane. I was 18 and had left our modest suburban house in the South of England to a terraced pit house in Annesley, Notts. The view out of the front window was the marshalling yards, Annesley colliery, then the pit tip. I was doing my 20 days training for underground.

The book itself is a bit plodding and didn’t reveal much about the team that you didn’t know already. One surprise was that three of the team were sons of professional footballers, including the author. Also didn’t realist that he played cricket at County class standards, how do some people have all the luck, or is it skill.
§
Last chapter about the final was well worth reading.

[Graham Watts · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was a child in 1966 and England winning the World Cup is one of my fondest early memories. So, reading Geoff Hurst’s poignant memoir as the last of the 11 English players who competed in the Final left alive was a real trip down memory lane.

How those players were treated (especially in comparison with today’s footballers) was unbelievable - a £1000 win bonus (the West Germans got £10K each for losing) and each member of the squad was loaned a car for the duration of the tournament, which they had to give back (or buy) when it was over!

The saddest epitaph is that 6 of the team (plus Alf Ramsay, the manager) died with dementia, which is a staggering statistic.

Thankfully, Hurst is still with us and although he has had his own health scares and suffered the loss of a daughter and the suicide of his younger brother the book displays a level of fortitude and humility that is enriching. After his playing and managerial career, Hurst became an insurance salesman - cold-calling people to sell them insurance policies. This is the only man to have scored a hat trick in a World Cup Final in open play (Mbappe scored one that included two penalties) and he became an insurance salesman! Can we imagine that career development for Rooney or Kane?

Hurst is rightfully one of my sporting heroes and the book only reinforces that belief - he achieved something in sport that no-one else has ever achieved and yet he waited over 30 years to be knighted for it!

This is a thoroughly readable book, written in association with Jasper Rees, that will appeal to anyone in the generation that remembers 1966 and to football fans of any age.

[Simon Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was published in 2024, when Geoff Hurst was the only surviving England player of the eleven who took the field against West Germany in the World Cup final on July 30th 1966. Hurst notes that it's his sixth book. It feels like the definitive one.
The theme throughout the book is that those eleven players were a team. The manager, Sir Alf Ramsey, eschewed flair players and - famously - wingers, preferring honest, hard-working pros who would do the job assigned to them. Hurst devotes a lot of this book to warm, detailed descriptions of his ten team mates and Sir Alf, as well as his family life and the tragedy of losing his daughter to a brain tumour.
It's a book about that hat-trick (of course) but also about loss and how to live a life defined, to a great degree, by the events of one day many decades ago.

[Brian Haining · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It covered details of the 1966 World Cup competition, Geoff's teammates and their relationship, and some details of his family life.
I have a keen interest in football and found the subject matter insightful, interesting, and enlightening from someone who was on the inside and whose goals won us the competition.
The book was written in an engaging style that made it an easy and interesting read.
Nice one Geoff

[Martin Butcher · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice story that Geoff tells you about his teammates and peoples he became friends with, about winning the World Cup in 1966,you don't need to be a football fan to enjoy/understand the book,you learn not just what type of player each one was but them has normal peoples,it is written from the heart when he talks about their many met-ups and them passing away from different illnesses

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not just a retelling of the football events of 1966. A very interesting account of what the players and manager were really like as people. Including a very moving account of the tragic death of his oldest daughter. A lovely book by an an honest and modest man.

[Richard Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book very well written, informative and captivating. All England fans should read this about a time when we were the best in the world at the beautiful game and when footballers were closer to the fans in wages and social class.

[Les · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for anyone who remembers that day at Wembley in 1966.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 10 November 2024 COPY TO COME

[Neil Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of personal reflections and anecdotes from a decent and modest man, was highly courageous to relate his feelings concerning the tragic loss of one of his daughters.

[Emma Brooks]

Loved it

[Philip Carman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book as although have already read his autobiography- this is about 1966 - and the fact he is the last of winning team

[Gary K · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good account of the 1966 World Cup win intertwined with details of his personal life. A good read for football fans.

[Stuart Ovington · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting read. Sad that so many of the players are no longer with us. Great insight into a great time for English football.

[Vanessa Rooke · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading about the boys of 66

[Keith Oliver · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed his insight into an amazing achievement which sits in my memory from almost 60 years ago. Will it be repeated, and will we be world cup winners again ?

[Graham Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great easy to read book following Geoff’s football career and personal life. It’s sad how little the “suits” at the FA thought of their footballing legends