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Never Stop Dreaming: My Euro 96 Story
Stuart Pearce became the face of England's bid to win the 1996 European Championships when his maniacal explosion of joy and relief at scoring a penalty in the quarter-final shoot-out against Spain captured the mood of a nation.
England did not win the tournament, but, against a backdrop of the Three Lions song that played from every pub, every bar, every car radio and every open window in that summer, it cemented the renaissance of the game in this country.
Alongside his friendships with Paul Gascoigne and Gareth Southgate - including the time the trio were invited on stage by the Sex Pistols - the book details the semi-final against Germany, more heartbreak in the penalty shootout when Southgate missed England's sixth penalty and what the tournament meant to Pearce and to Southgate and to the rest of the country.
It is a first-hand account of the summer when football came home for England fans, and when the country lost itself in the joy of a home tournament.
England did not win the tournament, but, against a backdrop of the Three Lions song that played from every pub, every bar, every car radio and every open window in that summer, it cemented the renaissance of the game in this country.
Alongside his friendships with Paul Gascoigne and Gareth Southgate - including the time the trio were invited on stage by the Sex Pistols - the book details the semi-final against Germany, more heartbreak in the penalty shootout when Southgate missed England's sixth penalty and what the tournament meant to Pearce and to Southgate and to the rest of the country.
It is a first-hand account of the summer when football came home for England fans, and when the country lost itself in the joy of a home tournament.
- GenresFootball
240 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 15, 2020
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16 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 28, 2024
Nice trip down memory lane to a different era of football. Personal insights were interesting - especially with the benefit of so much hindsight
February 15, 2021
I read this for an office book club and it was not the sort of thing that I would normally pick up by choice. Sometimes this can result in the discovery of a real gem and the widening of one's literary horizons. Sadly, that was not that case with Never Stop Dreaming.
Pearce seems like a nice bloke but he's not an amazing writer. Some of his observations about other players and the attitudes of the nineties were interesting (hence the 2 stars), but I didn't come away feeling wowed by what I had read. I can only assume that if you like football you'll probably like this book, but it's certainly got nothing else going for it.
Pearce seems like a nice bloke but he's not an amazing writer. Some of his observations about other players and the attitudes of the nineties were interesting (hence the 2 stars), but I didn't come away feeling wowed by what I had read. I can only assume that if you like football you'll probably like this book, but it's certainly got nothing else going for it.
June 14, 2021
Can remember the events described in the book like it was yesterday.
Psycho is my all time footballing hero so it was never going to be anything less than 5 stars from me!!
Psycho is my all time footballing hero so it was never going to be anything less than 5 stars from me!!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews