Too Good To Go Down: The Inside Story of Manchester United's Relegation

by Wayne Barton

When Manchester United were relegated in 1974, just six years after winning the European Cup, it was front page news. How could such a thing happen to the biggest club in Britain? Such a scenario would be even more unthinkable today than Leicester City winning the league.The story is one of the most dramatic in football history and, yet, still, largely unexplored. Based on a BT Sport film being developed alongside the book, TOO GOOD TO GO DOWN examines the demise of Manchester United, from the moment Bobby Charlton described the club not winning Division One in 1968 as ‘the best thing that could have happened’, through the turbulent reigns of Sir Matt Busby’s successors, to the crushing blow of relegation; which, ironically, came at a time when the club’s young team were just about to bloom and win over a whole new generation.With brand new, in-depth and exclusive interviews with Tommy Docherty, Sammy McIlroy, Alex Stepney, Stuart Pearson, Lou Macari, Pat Crerand, Willie Morgan, Gordon Hill, Martin Edwards and Paddy Barclay, the most controversial story in the history of football’s biggest institution is finally told in full detail.TOO GOOD TO GO DOWN is the latest in BT Sport Films’ critically acclaimed documentary series following The Football Italia Story, No Hunger In Paradise and Rocky & From Brockley to the Big Time. It is directed by Tom Boswell and written and produced by Tom Boswell and Wayne Barton.

Genres: Football, Nonfiction, History, Sports

251 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 7, 2018

Reviews

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyable read around a period of United I wasn’t that familiar with before hand. Also interesting to see some parallels with the post SAF ear of the club

[Mohamed Nazirudeen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliantly written. Not often that you find a football book that is a page turner like this.

[Conor McInerney · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read into a not much spoken about era of Manchester United. The first hand accounts from Tommy Docherty, Paddy Crerand, Sammy McIlroy etc make the book a good reflection on a tumultuous era for United.

The stories of the break up of the trinity, Best going AWOL and Matt Busbys unwillingness to let go does add a lot of context to seeing how United got relegated and hearing about how this was all handled from a board level is compelling!

As a younger United fan it was definitely worth picking up as not much gets spoken about the post Busby era and was certainly fascinating to learn more about the downfall. The author does a great job aswell at fleshing out how different football culture was in the early 70s compared to now and setting out what was acceptable on a football pitch back then when compared to now.

Definitely worth a read for any a United fan and a great companion to the BT Sport documentary of the same title!

[Mona · Rating 4 out of 5]

Got this book as a gift from the author. Being a Manchester United fan, I am always interested in reading more about their history, and since all of these events happened before I was born, I wanted to know more details. The similarities after Busby retired and Ferguson are uncanny, same way of dealing with it, and again a couple of failed managers; history repeating itself.
Although, I read some stuff along the years online or on social media like knowing about the relegation and Law, multiple managers post Sir Matt and Docherty's affair; this book added more details to what I knew along with some new information. I watched some of the documentaries as well.
Bought Eternal and will hopefully read it soon.
May revisit this to add more content

[David Kemple · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good summary with interesting insights, however editor did a shocking job. Frequent mistakes make it an unpleasant read.

[Moza Adidharma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Meticulously Studied

[Des Cullen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic read. Brilliantly written.

[Mark Maddock · Rating 3 out of 5]

Story of United from Busby to Docherty. Only for United fans of that era. I thoroughly enjoyed it but a basic book. 4* only for the nostalgia.

[Lawan Hawizy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating deep dive about a part of our history that I've only been aware of fleetingly. Transpose that with what is going on currently at the club and it's quite worrying to see how history is repeating itself. Can't wait to watch the documentary about this.

The one negative I have about this book is that there are quite a few spelling and grammatical errors dotted about. Doesn't really take you out of the reading experiencebut it is a tad jarring.

[William Horan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent account of the post Busby era under the stewardship of Wilf McGuinness, Frank Ó Farrell and Tommy Doherty. Well written and includes alot of first hand accounts from the player. The book let's you draw your own analysis of the time rather than shaping a pre conceived one. A must read for any football fan