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Secret Diary of a Liverpool Scout
HANSEN, Rush, Souness, Keegan, Clemence, McDermott, Neal, Kennedy, Heighway, Nicol - the list of great Liverpool players scouted by Geoff Twentyman goes on and on. Now, for the first time, the family of the club's former Chief Scout between 1967 and 1986 has unearthed the diary that exposes the fascinating secrets behind the signings that helped the Reds dominate football at home and abroad in the 1970s and 1980s as well as revealing some of the famous names that Liverpool never signed. Secret Diary of a Liverpool Scout tells Twentyman's remarkable story and gets the players' modern day take on how British footballing history could have been very different.
- GenresFootballSoccerNonfiction
320 pages, Hardcover
First published August 6, 2009
About the author
Simon Hughes
55 books29 followersSimon Peter Hughes is an English cricketer and journalist. He is the son of the actor Peter Hughes, and the brother of historian Bettany Hughes.
Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 25, 2022
A nice read for Liverpool fans old enough to remember the 1970's teams of Shankly and then Bob Paisley. The book looks at some of the players scouted by Geoff Twentyman, the long-time former Liverpool player, and scout, who was responsible for the likes of Kevin Keegan, Steve Heighway, Ray Clemence, and Alan Hansen, Steve Nicol etc. The book also looks at some players watched by Twentyman who did not end up at Liverpool, such as Gerry Francis, Andy Gray, Martin Buchan etc.
March 8, 2024
A proper look at the history of Liverpool cannot pass over the importance of Geoff Twentymans eye for scouting some of the most essential players from 1967-1986.
Its smooth for a sports book, filled with many 1st person accounts of ex players.
Some of it gets repetitive, but its a nice and loving tribute to Twentyman by the author and bookend chapters from Geoffs son.
Its smooth for a sports book, filled with many 1st person accounts of ex players.
Some of it gets repetitive, but its a nice and loving tribute to Twentyman by the author and bookend chapters from Geoffs son.
August 21, 2021
Great book about a bye gone era
Would definitely recommend this book about a Liverpool legend.
Liverpool owes a lot to this unassuming hero.
Interesting to know about the scouting side of the game pre television.
Would definitely recommend this book about a Liverpool legend.
Liverpool owes a lot to this unassuming hero.
Interesting to know about the scouting side of the game pre television.
May 7, 2020
Worth a read
This is an interesting book and a very fascinating insight into the role played by scout under the direction of Shankley and Paisley at Liverpool football club
This is an interesting book and a very fascinating insight into the role played by scout under the direction of Shankley and Paisley at Liverpool football club
March 8, 2014
S'a funny thing - write a book about a club legend, and fans of said club will buy it up by the bucket load.
I'm pretty sure this was the logic behind Secret Diary Of A Football Scout. Club legend (Geoff Twentyman, discoverer of many a Liverpool star), tales from the famous faces he discovered... open the til, watch the cash roll in, no?
Well, possibly.
But some quality control might have been nice along the way.
Things start off well enough, with the history of how one of the most famous scouts in the game got to the position of Chief Scout at - at that point at least - England's most successful club.
Sadly, come chapter three, the wheels come off.
Things start badly with the interview with Michael Robinson - a man who is unclear what role Twentyman played in his eventual arrival at Anfield.
Well, that was worth the price of a flight to Spain and a breakfast up at the golf club.
A cynic might suggest author Simon Hughes was more focused on a quick break in the sun with a former Liverpool 'legend' (if one can be called such a thing after a single season at the club) rather than what Robinson might actually add to the tale.
Sadly, from here, things go down hill.
A tale of Shankley chastising someone over the wrong call in a coin toss (which is either inaccurate, as it happened to Ron Yeats on a European night, or is similar and thus warrants the Yeats' incident being mentioned), slides downhill into a patchwork of tales from players once scouted by the great man.
Some of these, like Alan Hansen, are Liverpool greats.
Some, like Gordon McQueen and Kevin Beattie, are not.
Now, given that he spent a lot of his time (in fact, most of it) watching football matches, I'm pretty sure you'd be hard-pressed to find a player in the 70s he didn't watch and note at some stage.
But the selling point of this book - emphasised by the cover - is the fact he unearthed Red heroes like Phil Neal, Kevin Keegan and Ray Clememce.
What Manchester City star Francis Lee thinks about the fact he never signed for the L4 club is, from a Liverpool perspective, pointless and banal.
If for no other reason, it's been well documented elsewhere.
And the story goes on, with more names from other clubs featuring than those from Liverpool's proud history.
Which makes it all the more baffling that this is being marketed as a Liverpool book.
Somewhere in this is a fine book about the players Twentyman found that led to the years of dominance for Shanks, Paisley, Fagan and King Kenny.
Instead, we're left with a bunch of anecdotes from players the author fancied chatting to, loosely tied together and poorly edited.
As missed an open goal as Ronnie Rosenthal managed...
I'm pretty sure this was the logic behind Secret Diary Of A Football Scout. Club legend (Geoff Twentyman, discoverer of many a Liverpool star), tales from the famous faces he discovered... open the til, watch the cash roll in, no?
Well, possibly.
But some quality control might have been nice along the way.
Things start off well enough, with the history of how one of the most famous scouts in the game got to the position of Chief Scout at - at that point at least - England's most successful club.
Sadly, come chapter three, the wheels come off.
Things start badly with the interview with Michael Robinson - a man who is unclear what role Twentyman played in his eventual arrival at Anfield.
Well, that was worth the price of a flight to Spain and a breakfast up at the golf club.
A cynic might suggest author Simon Hughes was more focused on a quick break in the sun with a former Liverpool 'legend' (if one can be called such a thing after a single season at the club) rather than what Robinson might actually add to the tale.
Sadly, from here, things go down hill.
A tale of Shankley chastising someone over the wrong call in a coin toss (which is either inaccurate, as it happened to Ron Yeats on a European night, or is similar and thus warrants the Yeats' incident being mentioned), slides downhill into a patchwork of tales from players once scouted by the great man.
Some of these, like Alan Hansen, are Liverpool greats.
Some, like Gordon McQueen and Kevin Beattie, are not.
Now, given that he spent a lot of his time (in fact, most of it) watching football matches, I'm pretty sure you'd be hard-pressed to find a player in the 70s he didn't watch and note at some stage.
But the selling point of this book - emphasised by the cover - is the fact he unearthed Red heroes like Phil Neal, Kevin Keegan and Ray Clememce.
What Manchester City star Francis Lee thinks about the fact he never signed for the L4 club is, from a Liverpool perspective, pointless and banal.
If for no other reason, it's been well documented elsewhere.
And the story goes on, with more names from other clubs featuring than those from Liverpool's proud history.
Which makes it all the more baffling that this is being marketed as a Liverpool book.
Somewhere in this is a fine book about the players Twentyman found that led to the years of dominance for Shanks, Paisley, Fagan and King Kenny.
Instead, we're left with a bunch of anecdotes from players the author fancied chatting to, loosely tied together and poorly edited.
As missed an open goal as Ronnie Rosenthal managed...
November 5, 2010
Now this is an intriguing book. Whilst most of the key architects of Liverpools's lasting success over the four decades after Bill Shankly took over avtively shunned publicity, most were still pushed into the limelight.
Even so, a book looking at Liverpool's chief scout doesn't exactly spring to mind as a plausible idea.
Yet that is what Simon Hughes has done with 'Secret Diary of a Liverpool Scout' in which he takes a look at the life of Geoff Twentyman. A task rendered all the more complex by the facts that Hughes never actually met the man about whom he is writing and Twentyman having died five years ago.
Strangely, however, the book works extremely well. Much of the merit for that is down to Hughes himself who has intelligently threaded together the various aspects of Twentyman's life to ultimately show both how he worked and also his genius.
Fittingly he does so in a manner that mirrors that adopted by the man he is writing about: a large deal of legwork. For Hughes has tracked down not only most of Twentyman's best picks but also those players he looked at but who ultimately ended up elsewhere.
The latter are often revealing as it emerges that most of these players have a genuine respect for Liverpool and most are left wondering about what could have been.
Aside from that, perhaps the most striking aspect of the book is the uncanny similarity in the limitations imposed on both Bill Shankly and Rafael Benitez.
“The brief was to find the best young players Liverpool could afford and with the potential to develop in the future.” Sound familiar? Of course it does: it is what Benitez has been doing in recent years. In reality, however, is that this is what Twentyman had to do at Liverpool where there simply wasn’t enough money to spend to buy the most promising youngsters in the country. So Liverpool and Twentyman had to be sharper than the rest by spotting players with potential rather than those that were clearly set to do very well.
Which raises the question as to whether it is still possible to achieve success in this manner. Possibly but would the fans be as patient with the players as they were back then? Would they accept not seeing the club linked with big names? Somehow, I doubt it.
Even so, a book looking at Liverpool's chief scout doesn't exactly spring to mind as a plausible idea.
Yet that is what Simon Hughes has done with 'Secret Diary of a Liverpool Scout' in which he takes a look at the life of Geoff Twentyman. A task rendered all the more complex by the facts that Hughes never actually met the man about whom he is writing and Twentyman having died five years ago.
Strangely, however, the book works extremely well. Much of the merit for that is down to Hughes himself who has intelligently threaded together the various aspects of Twentyman's life to ultimately show both how he worked and also his genius.
Fittingly he does so in a manner that mirrors that adopted by the man he is writing about: a large deal of legwork. For Hughes has tracked down not only most of Twentyman's best picks but also those players he looked at but who ultimately ended up elsewhere.
The latter are often revealing as it emerges that most of these players have a genuine respect for Liverpool and most are left wondering about what could have been.
Aside from that, perhaps the most striking aspect of the book is the uncanny similarity in the limitations imposed on both Bill Shankly and Rafael Benitez.
“The brief was to find the best young players Liverpool could afford and with the potential to develop in the future.” Sound familiar? Of course it does: it is what Benitez has been doing in recent years. In reality, however, is that this is what Twentyman had to do at Liverpool where there simply wasn’t enough money to spend to buy the most promising youngsters in the country. So Liverpool and Twentyman had to be sharper than the rest by spotting players with potential rather than those that were clearly set to do very well.
Which raises the question as to whether it is still possible to achieve success in this manner. Possibly but would the fans be as patient with the players as they were back then? Would they accept not seeing the club linked with big names? Somehow, I doubt it.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews