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The Accidental Footballer
Pat Nevin never wanted to be a professional footballer.
His future was clear, he'd become a teacher like his brothers. There was only one problem with this - Pat was far too good to avoid attention.
Raised in Glasgow's East End, Pat loved the game, playing for hours and obsessively following Celtic. But as he grew up, he also loved Joy Division, wearing his Indie 'gloom boom' coat and going on marches - hardly typical footballer behaviour!
Placed firmly in the 80s and 90s, before the advent of the Premier League, and often with racism and violence present, Pat Nevin writes with honesty, insight and wry humour. We are transported vividly to Chelsea and Everton, and colourfully diverted by John Peel, Morrissey and nights out at the Hacienda.
The Accidental Footballer is a different kind of football memoir. Capturing all the joys of professional football as well as its contradictions and conflicts, it's about being defined by your actions, not your job, and is the perfect reminder of how life can throw you the most extraordinary surprises, when you least expect it.
His future was clear, he'd become a teacher like his brothers. There was only one problem with this - Pat was far too good to avoid attention.
Raised in Glasgow's East End, Pat loved the game, playing for hours and obsessively following Celtic. But as he grew up, he also loved Joy Division, wearing his Indie 'gloom boom' coat and going on marches - hardly typical footballer behaviour!
Placed firmly in the 80s and 90s, before the advent of the Premier League, and often with racism and violence present, Pat Nevin writes with honesty, insight and wry humour. We are transported vividly to Chelsea and Everton, and colourfully diverted by John Peel, Morrissey and nights out at the Hacienda.
The Accidental Footballer is a different kind of football memoir. Capturing all the joys of professional football as well as its contradictions and conflicts, it's about being defined by your actions, not your job, and is the perfect reminder of how life can throw you the most extraordinary surprises, when you least expect it.
344 pages, Paperback
Published May 20, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 122 reviews
July 4, 2021
As a lifelong-Evertonian and Leftie with an affinity for vaguely ‘alternative’ music, you would think that “The Accidental Footballer” – the autobiography of Pat Nevin – would be right up my street. Nevin has always given the impression of being an all-round ‘good egg’, whose esoteric interests have consistently stood him apart from your typical, two-dimensional professional footballer. So, why did I find “The Accidental Footballer” such an annoying read?
Well, Pat, “It’s not me, it’s you” ... or, rather its your autobiography. “The Accidental Footballer” reads like one long humblebrag. While one could previously have admired Nevin for seemingly being modest, down-to-earth and principled (at least by the standards of professional footballers), having Nevin repeatedly tell you how modest, down-to-earth and principled he is over the course of 360 pages is a wearying experience.
Basically, throughout “The Accidental Footballer”, Pat Nevin comes across as too much of a goody-two-shoes. Frequently over-earnest and priggish, his attempts to show how honourable and ethical he is (for example, how he would not dive during his playing career because he was “too honest”) actually appear conceited. And his efforts to show-off his esoteric intellectual interests sometimes lead Nevin to stumble into self-parody (most absurdly when he turns down an interview with the children’s football magazine ‘Shoot!’ in favour of a meeting with the obscure Scottish sculptor David Mach).
Unlike the vast majority of footballer biographies, “The Accidental Footballer” is not ghost-written. Whereas Pat Nevin might be a good writer by the standards of other footballers, that doesn’t mean he is a good writer. Given its length, this book is crying out for a judicious editor, and Nevin’s prose style is clunky throughout. His description of “the famed teetotaller Morrissey [being] more of a pained artist than a piss artist” is just one excruciating example that had my toes curling like a Beckham cross. Nevin’s bids to appear ‘punk’ come across as convincing as those of Brewdog.
Nevin is sharp and insightful on the perennial topic of racism in football (the chapter on Chelsea’s Paul Canoville is by a distance the most powerful in the book). And there are some good anecdotes dotted throughout about the Poll Tax Riots, Saddam Hussein, and Howard Kendall’s dalliance with a transvestite. But “The Accidental Footballer” serves as a caution that having an eclectic record collection doesn’t necessarily make you an interesting person, and being upright and principled won’t necessarily mean people won’t think you’re a pain in the arse.
Well, Pat, “It’s not me, it’s you” ... or, rather its your autobiography. “The Accidental Footballer” reads like one long humblebrag. While one could previously have admired Nevin for seemingly being modest, down-to-earth and principled (at least by the standards of professional footballers), having Nevin repeatedly tell you how modest, down-to-earth and principled he is over the course of 360 pages is a wearying experience.
Basically, throughout “The Accidental Footballer”, Pat Nevin comes across as too much of a goody-two-shoes. Frequently over-earnest and priggish, his attempts to show how honourable and ethical he is (for example, how he would not dive during his playing career because he was “too honest”) actually appear conceited. And his efforts to show-off his esoteric intellectual interests sometimes lead Nevin to stumble into self-parody (most absurdly when he turns down an interview with the children’s football magazine ‘Shoot!’ in favour of a meeting with the obscure Scottish sculptor David Mach).
Unlike the vast majority of footballer biographies, “The Accidental Footballer” is not ghost-written. Whereas Pat Nevin might be a good writer by the standards of other footballers, that doesn’t mean he is a good writer. Given its length, this book is crying out for a judicious editor, and Nevin’s prose style is clunky throughout. His description of “the famed teetotaller Morrissey [being] more of a pained artist than a piss artist” is just one excruciating example that had my toes curling like a Beckham cross. Nevin’s bids to appear ‘punk’ come across as convincing as those of Brewdog.
Nevin is sharp and insightful on the perennial topic of racism in football (the chapter on Chelsea’s Paul Canoville is by a distance the most powerful in the book). And there are some good anecdotes dotted throughout about the Poll Tax Riots, Saddam Hussein, and Howard Kendall’s dalliance with a transvestite. But “The Accidental Footballer” serves as a caution that having an eclectic record collection doesn’t necessarily make you an interesting person, and being upright and principled won’t necessarily mean people won’t think you’re a pain in the arse.
November 30, 2024
Almost always interesting but a) indifferently written, b) occasionally very monotonous and c) afflicted with an acute sense of humblebrag.
May 28, 2021
I don’t read a lot of autobiographies and biographies but when I do, I like to read ones of people I admire and also of more unconventional characters and Pat Nevin is certainly not typical of you average professional footballer. In this autobiography Pat tells us of his upbringing in the east end of Glasgow during the 70’s and the numerous school teams and boys teams he played for in his youth, including Celtic Boys Club. When he’s released by them he doesn’t envisage a career in football but commences his studies and expects to become a teacher like his siblings. However he signs part time for Clyde basically as a means to supplement his meagre student grant but his football career takes off from there and he finds himself giving up his studies to move to London to play for Chelsea, with the proviso that if it doesn’t work out he can resume his degree course. Suffice to say he never returned to complete the course !
Pat’s unconventionality comes from the fact that he was a bit more intelligent than the majority of his fellow professionals in that he read, was into ‘indie’ music and the arts in general and didn’t drink alcohol in huge quantities. He also looked after himself physically too, by training long after the other players had departed and he also enjoyed distance and hill running. Pat describes he football career with the usual tales of both the on and off field antics of his fellow professionals and the various managers and coaches he worked under. What makes Pat’s book a bit different is that he also goes onto tell us of his attitudes towards racism and homophobia which he witnessed first hand, in the sport and in society in general. He also writes about the abuse that went on at Celtic Boys Club, which he wasn’t aware of at the time, but reflects on the individuals he knew at the time. On a lighter note Pat also reflects on his love of indie music and his friendship with John Peel and as a note of interest, the chapter titles are all song titles which can be compiled into a playlist too, if you’re so inclined.
A thoroughly entertains and thoughtful biography that concludes with the end of Pat’s playing career but I do hope there is a future volume forthcoming which deals with Pat’s post playing career ?
Pat’s unconventionality comes from the fact that he was a bit more intelligent than the majority of his fellow professionals in that he read, was into ‘indie’ music and the arts in general and didn’t drink alcohol in huge quantities. He also looked after himself physically too, by training long after the other players had departed and he also enjoyed distance and hill running. Pat describes he football career with the usual tales of both the on and off field antics of his fellow professionals and the various managers and coaches he worked under. What makes Pat’s book a bit different is that he also goes onto tell us of his attitudes towards racism and homophobia which he witnessed first hand, in the sport and in society in general. He also writes about the abuse that went on at Celtic Boys Club, which he wasn’t aware of at the time, but reflects on the individuals he knew at the time. On a lighter note Pat also reflects on his love of indie music and his friendship with John Peel and as a note of interest, the chapter titles are all song titles which can be compiled into a playlist too, if you’re so inclined.
A thoroughly entertains and thoughtful biography that concludes with the end of Pat’s playing career but I do hope there is a future volume forthcoming which deals with Pat’s post playing career ?
August 25, 2024
I enjoyed this one and it was very well written and intriguing to see the inside story of what was going on at the clubs that he played for and in the international team.
He is a bit like the Bono of the football world in how sanctimonious he is though.
He is a bit like the Bono of the football world in how sanctimonious he is though.
October 17, 2022
I like Nevin's radio and written commentary and it is worth pointing this out before addressing this book. There are lots of interesting topics and Nevin's heart is clearly in the right place, but he is the hero of every anecdote and there is a real lack of humility.
Nevin doesn't use a ghost writer and apart from being a bit too liberal with the footnotes, it's easy to read despite being relatively long for a footballer's autobiography, and that's without lists of results and barely touching his post-playing career. There is possibly a bit too much on which bands he's listening to at a given time but in the main it gives a profile of Nevin beyond his onfield exploits.
His artistic tendencies are reflected in the chapter titles of mostly indie bands, but the most appropriate would have been Knowing Me, Knowing You - too much of this book is pure Partridge. Needless to say, he has the last laugh on many occasions, such as when confronted by a knife-wielding Spurs fan on the tube and doing a Steve Barnes/Bruce two-footed lunge to buy time and escape, or this strangley eloquent voice he puts on when reporting speech to outdo Ken Bates or some other foe. There are also too many footnotes or anecdotes that are included only to make him look good, such as the knowing nods he gets from black men on the tube because he stood up to racist chanting in the 80s, or compiling a highlights package of a late teammate to deliver to their family in Glasgow. Even if faithfully true, it's just too self-indulgent.
For me there weren't enough ups and downs - he was clearly a good player but he barely admits to having a bad match and the on-field descriptions are mainly about his great dribbles or goals and assists - there are no reflections on times he struggled unless the pitch was frozen or the team weren't playing a style that suited him. He was always fit because he did long runs in pre-seasons, and was so fast he was told to slow down by his manager! Howard Kendall just didn't like him and played a foreigner on the wing instead because otherwise he'd lose his work permit! He is so relentlessly hard done by in so many of these situations that it becomes a bit wearing, along with his insistence that he didn't care about celebrity despite name dropping wherever he could as long as it was the right type of celebrity such as Morrissey, John Peel or someone in a cool band.
He was willing to talk about political topics, had an interest in the arts and didn't conform to the stereotypical idea of a footballer, nor the actual ones he had as teammates. I should have liked his willingness to be different, and his public stance against racism was brave and admirable. But the cumulative effect of being brilliant at football despite not caring, hanging out with famous figures despite not caring and being player of the season despite being out of favour with the manager wore me down and Nevin needed to be more willing to come off badly. The wordy style of some of his exchanges also sounded too witty and while I am sure much of it was based on real events, it didn't come across to me as authentic enough, with too much positive spin on the part of the author.
Nevin doesn't use a ghost writer and apart from being a bit too liberal with the footnotes, it's easy to read despite being relatively long for a footballer's autobiography, and that's without lists of results and barely touching his post-playing career. There is possibly a bit too much on which bands he's listening to at a given time but in the main it gives a profile of Nevin beyond his onfield exploits.
His artistic tendencies are reflected in the chapter titles of mostly indie bands, but the most appropriate would have been Knowing Me, Knowing You - too much of this book is pure Partridge. Needless to say, he has the last laugh on many occasions, such as when confronted by a knife-wielding Spurs fan on the tube and doing a Steve Barnes/Bruce two-footed lunge to buy time and escape, or this strangley eloquent voice he puts on when reporting speech to outdo Ken Bates or some other foe. There are also too many footnotes or anecdotes that are included only to make him look good, such as the knowing nods he gets from black men on the tube because he stood up to racist chanting in the 80s, or compiling a highlights package of a late teammate to deliver to their family in Glasgow. Even if faithfully true, it's just too self-indulgent.
For me there weren't enough ups and downs - he was clearly a good player but he barely admits to having a bad match and the on-field descriptions are mainly about his great dribbles or goals and assists - there are no reflections on times he struggled unless the pitch was frozen or the team weren't playing a style that suited him. He was always fit because he did long runs in pre-seasons, and was so fast he was told to slow down by his manager! Howard Kendall just didn't like him and played a foreigner on the wing instead because otherwise he'd lose his work permit! He is so relentlessly hard done by in so many of these situations that it becomes a bit wearing, along with his insistence that he didn't care about celebrity despite name dropping wherever he could as long as it was the right type of celebrity such as Morrissey, John Peel or someone in a cool band.
He was willing to talk about political topics, had an interest in the arts and didn't conform to the stereotypical idea of a footballer, nor the actual ones he had as teammates. I should have liked his willingness to be different, and his public stance against racism was brave and admirable. But the cumulative effect of being brilliant at football despite not caring, hanging out with famous figures despite not caring and being player of the season despite being out of favour with the manager wore me down and Nevin needed to be more willing to come off badly. The wordy style of some of his exchanges also sounded too witty and while I am sure much of it was based on real events, it didn't come across to me as authentic enough, with too much positive spin on the part of the author.
August 15, 2022
Actually 3.5*
The opening of this enjoyable autobiography, sets the tone for much of what is to follow. Being rejected by Celtic at 16, Nevin saw this as something to be celebrated, rather than be upset about. After all it removed the prospect of him having to follow a career as a professional footballer and let him go to Higher education and develop his love of indie music. However, as another reviewer stated there is a bit of the "humblebrag" about this, and indeed one or two other stories related over the course of the book. There can be little doubt that Nevin is a highly intelligent, insightful, thoughtful, and caring man, genuinely unaffected by the trappings of money and celebrity. It's just that perhaps he tells us this a little too often. It did not impinge upon my enjoyment as much as it did others, for the simple reason that the actual anecdotes themselves are highly engaging and humorous. As someone with no allegiance to any of the teams discussed, it perhaps allows a slightly more objective view of some of the characters. I particularly enjoyed the contract "negotiations" with Ken Bates at Chelsea, and the description of the culture at Everton under Howard Kendall.
The tale does end rather abruptly and his time at Tranmere could have been expanded. However perhaps it will be in the next part when hopefully he'll write further about his time at the third club in Liverpool as well as his experiences at Motherwell and as a pundit.
A perfect holiday read for anyone with an interest in football.
The opening of this enjoyable autobiography, sets the tone for much of what is to follow. Being rejected by Celtic at 16, Nevin saw this as something to be celebrated, rather than be upset about. After all it removed the prospect of him having to follow a career as a professional footballer and let him go to Higher education and develop his love of indie music. However, as another reviewer stated there is a bit of the "humblebrag" about this, and indeed one or two other stories related over the course of the book. There can be little doubt that Nevin is a highly intelligent, insightful, thoughtful, and caring man, genuinely unaffected by the trappings of money and celebrity. It's just that perhaps he tells us this a little too often. It did not impinge upon my enjoyment as much as it did others, for the simple reason that the actual anecdotes themselves are highly engaging and humorous. As someone with no allegiance to any of the teams discussed, it perhaps allows a slightly more objective view of some of the characters. I particularly enjoyed the contract "negotiations" with Ken Bates at Chelsea, and the description of the culture at Everton under Howard Kendall.
The tale does end rather abruptly and his time at Tranmere could have been expanded. However perhaps it will be in the next part when hopefully he'll write further about his time at the third club in Liverpool as well as his experiences at Motherwell and as a pundit.
A perfect holiday read for anyone with an interest in football.
July 17, 2022
Pat Nevin was a hero to me growing up as a New Musical Express-reading leftie, a rare case indeed among a footballing fraternity that would provide answers such as ‘The Taxman’ or ‘The Wife’ when asked the name their most difficult opponent in Shoot!magazine’s weekly Focus feature. Hence, this is an entertaining read and Nevin is clearly a very decent guy indeed – his interests extend well beyond The Cocteau Twins and The Blue Nile and he reveals himself to be ever the enquiring mind when it comes to the arts and literature. That said, one other reader on here has highlighted Nevin’s tendency towards the humblebrag and it should be acknowledged that the kind of fiftysomething guy who hangs grimly on to a love of Billy Bragg, hails Tony Benn as a hero and affords Ken Loach the title of the greatest filmmaker of all time (I broadly belong to this category myself) is looking very superannuated these days as society has splintered politically and culturally. So, ultimately, the book’s most enticing parts deal with the gossip of the time – the extraordinary drinking culture in football (Nevin’s manager at Everton, Howard Kendall was a high priest of this), the nastier side of player rivalry (stand up David Speedie) and dressing room splits. Nevin does stand up against racism and homophobia but doesn't name names, despite the presence at Chelsea of staff members who have subsequently been brought to book on this.
October 4, 2021
Good fun and not your typical football book, as it's in part about music as well. Tales of hanging out with John Peel are intertwined with cup matches in Eastern Europe. His writing style is very readable, and in the audio version, he reads it himself to great effect.
The book covers his childhood in Glasgow, the Chelsea and Everton years and a little beyond. With his eclectic music taste, we get a look at the indie scene of the time too. He was ahead of his time (for that period at least), particularly with his forthright views and support of black players. Along with Marcus Rashford and Neville Southall, he comes across as a rare voice of sanity in this crazy world.
Not that he comes across as worthy or too serious, it's just a nice easy read. I, for one, am looking forward to the next part.
The book covers his childhood in Glasgow, the Chelsea and Everton years and a little beyond. With his eclectic music taste, we get a look at the indie scene of the time too. He was ahead of his time (for that period at least), particularly with his forthright views and support of black players. Along with Marcus Rashford and Neville Southall, he comes across as a rare voice of sanity in this crazy world.
Not that he comes across as worthy or too serious, it's just a nice easy read. I, for one, am looking forward to the next part.
February 10, 2022
3.5 Stars!
Wee Pat Nevin, to those who are familiar with the name, will know him as the measured, considered football pundit, who is one of those guys who has always been regarded as smarter and more cultured than your average player, a sort of thinking man’s footballer if you will. And of course he was also a bit of a player back in the day too.
One maddening feature of this book was the lack of dates and years, particularly in the early stages, he doesn’t even tell you when he was born?...(It was 1963). It really plays havoc with the flow and reference points and it does taint your enjoyment. There are some really enjoyable photos, and fortunately these at least come with dates.
Nevin's story is largely centred in the old English First Division of the 80s. And of course English football in the 80s was another world, it was a landscape scarred with hooliganism, racism and homophobia, added to this the various stadium tragedies like Bradford, Heysel and Hillsborough, this started to raise many questions and demand many answers. On the field the footballer was dirtier and more physical with the majority of teams favouring the long ball over more creative and entertaining play. Gentrification and hyper-commodification soon put paid to all of that as the league sold out to Rupert Murdoch and the EPL was formed in 1992 and the product has never looked back as it embarked on selling its product globally, making it the most watched league in the world.
He chose to be his own agent, which was pretty impressive. He tells a great story about negotiating his renewed contract with Ken Bates at Chelsea, (he gave the players a pen for winning the league and getting promoted). Bates had already reneged on other previous assurances and agreements (verbal contracts etc) with Nevin’s previous contract, so he was extra vigilant second time round. For a promotional trip to the Middle East, sometime in the 80s (again Nevin chooses to not reveal the year?). Chairman Bates paid the players a measly £6 a day, the players were kept waiting for the guest of honour to arrive and sure enough 45 mins later one Saddam Hussein arrived to watch his team take on Chelsea (It finished 1-1, but the media in Iraq reported it as a 2-1 win for the home side).
I enjoyed the story of Alex Ferguson choosing not to take him with Scotland to Mexico for the 86 World Cup. Apparently Ferguson called him up and insisted, “I am not going to take you to Mexico, but you are first reserve if any forward pulls out.” The next morning he met team mate David Speedie at training, who asked him if he made the squad. After he told him no, he asked Speedie, who said that Ferguson assured him that “I am not going to take you to Mexico, but you are first reserve if any forward pulls out. In the end Kenny Dalglish pulled out of the squad. Ferguson chose Steve Archibald.
I have to say his dedication to being an anti-celebrity over his career is definitely impressive. He often went to great lengths to avoid the limelight and shunned celebrity and what it stood for. He was and still is clearly a highly principled and fair man, though as he admits, that sometimes such integrity can result in being humourless or overly judgmental, and there are times when his moral high stance can be grating and the humble bragging gets old and often his stance tips deep into virtue signalling. Though on the other hand it is refreshing to see someone in such a position, within the union and football bureaucracy, seemingly immune to corruption and personal advancement. Especially when compared to someone like Michel Platini and his post-footballing career.
I apologise for being so pedantic, but those responsible for proof reading may wish to know for future editions that it is, Aran not Arran jumper, Jim McLean not Jim McClean. Nevin describes coming across the 38 year old Sandy Jardine, when he would probably be no more than 34. Oh and the version of the song “Let’s Stick Together” referenced was actually done by Bryan Ferry and not Roxy Music.
October 31, 2024
Great present from big sister and a good read too.
July 31, 2025
Some good stories and a lot of humble bragging
December 9, 2022
Great read - really different take on the football in the 80s, especially if you like Chelsea, Everton and/or great alternative music like The Fall and The Smiths.
Nevin is well aware, as a narrator, that he's a singular individual - principled, articulate and unwilling to bend to be whateever anyone else thinks he should be. At heart he's a hard little bastard - all right, diamond - brought up in Glasgow and always, somehow, part of it.
As an Everton fan, once I got used to Nevin's driven style I really enjoyed the story of his upbringing and his Chelsea years but when he got to Everton - the famous underachieving Colin Harvey team which featured Nevin and Tony Cottee as new signings - I realised I was nervous. Here was someone who wasn't going to sugar coat what happened...what the hell was he going to say?
Well, to find out you'll have to read the book - but it's all there and I think he actually does sugar coat a few things, though the broad strokes he uses to paint certain incidences are fairly easy to fill in. Much of that time is rumour and respect for those who have passed on and it's doubtful there'll be full disclosure in our lifetimes, but this shines a fairly strong light into some dark corners.
If there's a complaint to make about the book, it's that it ends fairly abruptly - when Nevin decides, in true style, to join Tranmere Rovers instead of Galatasaray and finish his career there. There just seems so much more to tell - including life in the lower division, his own personal life and what happened next. Hopefully future editions may be 'enlarged'.
Nevin is well aware, as a narrator, that he's a singular individual - principled, articulate and unwilling to bend to be whateever anyone else thinks he should be. At heart he's a hard little bastard - all right, diamond - brought up in Glasgow and always, somehow, part of it.
As an Everton fan, once I got used to Nevin's driven style I really enjoyed the story of his upbringing and his Chelsea years but when he got to Everton - the famous underachieving Colin Harvey team which featured Nevin and Tony Cottee as new signings - I realised I was nervous. Here was someone who wasn't going to sugar coat what happened...what the hell was he going to say?
Well, to find out you'll have to read the book - but it's all there and I think he actually does sugar coat a few things, though the broad strokes he uses to paint certain incidences are fairly easy to fill in. Much of that time is rumour and respect for those who have passed on and it's doubtful there'll be full disclosure in our lifetimes, but this shines a fairly strong light into some dark corners.
If there's a complaint to make about the book, it's that it ends fairly abruptly - when Nevin decides, in true style, to join Tranmere Rovers instead of Galatasaray and finish his career there. There just seems so much more to tell - including life in the lower division, his own personal life and what happened next. Hopefully future editions may be 'enlarged'.
March 14, 2022
Engrossing autobiographical tale of Pat Nevin. His quiet charisma, anti-commercial ethos, belief that a love of football and left-field music could co-exist dominate these pages. We travel from working class Glasgow to 1980s London, and then a declining Everton on the cusp of the Premier League era.
He's always so interesting, and this made for an enjoyable read. My gripe is that it felt like the handbrake was pulled up. Tranmere Rovers was rushed and nothing on 5 Live and the subsequent media career.
He's always so interesting, and this made for an enjoyable read. My gripe is that it felt like the handbrake was pulled up. Tranmere Rovers was rushed and nothing on 5 Live and the subsequent media career.
May 28, 2021
As a Chelsea fan who grew up in the eighties Nevin loomed large for me. He bucked convention, was a footballing artist and ploughed his own furrow. This honest and engaging assessment from the man himself charts his drift into professional football right to the top of the professional while retaining an ambivalence with fame and fortune and instead a focus on enjoyment of the beautiful game. One is left thinking the wee Scot had it figured out all along...
August 14, 2024
Good sports biography. I warmed to Nevin. It’s a shame the book stopped so abruptly. Not sure why.
May 5, 2025
Pat seems like a really nice bloke who never got sucked into the fame side of the game. I really enjoyed it.
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April 21, 2022Some years ago, when I was walking across the concourse of Victoria railway station with the late football agent and broadcaster Eric Hall, three men came shooting across to us and in broken English said to Eric - “Eric will you be our agent. We’ve just arrived from France and we need you to help us get signed.” I was amazed that Eric Hall was so well known, particularly to foreign footballers, but it was an illustration of the importance of the agent in the modern game. That was about 2009.
In his book The Accidental Footballer, Chelsea, Everton and Scotland former footballer Pat Nevin writes about football in the 1980’s and 1990’s, the period where footballers were beginning to seek agents or being snapped up by agents, apart from him. Throughout his career he writes how he refused to have one, preferring to sort out his own contracts, transfers, pay deals, sponsorship deals and any other spin offs. From his description of the various boardroom negotiations he took part in, despite being well mannered and courteous, he comes across as someone who can well look after himself.
For example, the former owner of Chelsea Football Club, the giant character Ken Bates, asked Nevin at the end of a season, to go and see him in his office because he wanted to offer the player a new contract. When they met, Nevin asked Bates how much he was offering. Bates replied, “that’s not how it works – you have to make demands and then we can come to an agreement.” So, without an agent, and with little idea what other Chelsea stars were on, Nevin spoke to a few colleagues to get an idea, and wrote out on a piece of paper, his wish for a two year contract of £450 a week for the first year, £500 a week for year two, £5000 signing on fee per annum, 5 return flights to Scotland per season and a 20% increase in wages if I become a full Scottish international.” Nevin’s description of Bates’ reaction is wonderful and sums up the chairman's abrasive nature. Basically, he came in, didn’t say a word, read the paper, screwed it up, threw it in the bin, walked out, slamming the door, and left the ground! “Well, that didn’t go too well,” writes Nevin “he didn’t even say hello.” He realises that Bates’ reaction was to intimidate him and just a few days later, the chairman had agreed to the Chelsea Player of the Year’s demands. As a reader you do get the feeling that as well as having its advantages, being agent-less has its downside too. Towards the end of his career at Everton, it’s noticeable that there’s a shortage of clubs lining up to sign Nevin and he ends up, quite happily, at Tranmere Rovers. One thinks though - here’s a player still in his prime – shouldn’t he still be in the top division?
I’ve been a Chelsea football fan since the mid sixties. One of my childhood memories is my dad taking my younger brother and I to Stamford Bridge for a derby with Crystal Palace. We were in the Shed, and in those days it was terracing all round with the odd iron bar to lean against. You couldn’t see the bar, and you had to struggle to see where each concrete step started, it was so packed. My dad became quite concerned when the crowd started swaying in their excitement and I remember him turning round and at the top of his voice shouting, “will you stop swaying – I’ve two young children down here.” The immediate sway stopped for a short while, only to start up again minutes later. It made the match, which was of no interest to my dad, a worry. In those days the stewards were few and far between and if the sway had turned to a crush, my brother and I would have been squashed.
I was reminded of this while reading Pat Nevin’s memories of the Hillsborough disaster in the FA Cup semi final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in 1989. He had left Chelsea by then and was playing for Everton and was playing in the other semi final against Norwich City, scoring the winner that put the Toffees in the final. Straight after that match he was lined up to be interviewed on BBC radio. He writes that interviewer Mike Ingham warned him before they went on air “something awful has happened at Hillsborough – the details are unclear but there are certainly dozens of dead Liverpool fans inside the ground.” Pat Nevin did the interview, but during it, realising the scale of the unfolding horror, tells how his voice changed from being happy to devastated within a few seconds and him ending the interview with “actually I really don’t want to talk about playing football right now – it feels totally wrong.” He paints a vivid picture how, while driving through Liverpool to training the next day, “there were so many people walking around aimlessly on their own, standing on bridges...at the side of the road...on waste ground...staring vacantly, desolately, at nothing.” It says something of the community of Liverpool and of football itself that rivalries were cast aside and the Everton players were put on rotas to attend the funerals of the Liverpool victims. “I was completely emotionally broken by the end of the week and I didn’t even know any of these kids personally.”
I’ve read a few stories about some footballers’ alcohol problems. Pat Nevin reveals that he’s never drunk beer in his life, though is partial to red wine and whisky but never before a match or if its going to affect his build up to a match. It’s shocking to read how while at Everton, the manager Howard Kendall “seemed perfectly happy” to see “many bottles of wine on the lads’ tables” the nights before away games. He reveals before a vital game against West Ham United at Upton Park, even the manager himself may have been the worse for wear “when he read out the team, he actually named the same player, Stuart McCall, at least twice in two different positions.” It’s clear that the drinking culture among footballers is awkward for Nevin. He writes that he uses the excuse of being on antibiotics for a bad foot to get out of a night’s drinking session.
He also talks about the availability of women to footballers. Good looking girls, he writes, were able to go to club Christmas parties for free while the players had to buy their tickets. But the players could be assured there were ten girls for each guy. Pat Nevin has nothing to do with the debauchery, writing “my trick was to bring my brother in law along to make sure nothing untoward happened with me or more importantly was said to have happened.” It makes me wonder how in these days of the Me Too movement whether the lad woman culture still exists. I’m also somewhat amazed that we don’t hear of more cases of past female abuse in football, although I guess that most women who partook, did it for money or with willing consent.
Pat Nevin describes himself as different in other ways to most other footballers. He reads the classics, he’s interested in a whole different culture rather than to just football the whole time, he likes long distance running and training by himself. He describes his physique as also different - small and lean rather than big and broad.
He was seen as being different by football fans too. Sometimes wrongly. West Ham United fans used to call him a “little Scotch poof,” just feet from where he was running up and down the wing. He brushed it off, sometimes blowing them kisses! He says fans often resorted to calling a footballer gay, if they sensed they were different from other footballers.
It leads Nevin into asking why, if between two and five per cent of men are gay or bisexual, why there are no openly gay footballers. He argues that in other professions being openly gay isn’t a problem, and reckons that in men’s football, “I am convinced that a top level gay player would not now have an insurmountable problem coming out in this country.” He reckons just as racists now know their stance is unacceptable, homophobes do too.
Nevin cites that in women’s professional football, there are many who are openly lesbian and do not receive abuse. He has a point but I wonder whether there are the number of gay footballers still in the closet as Nevin maintains. If one thinks of a man or woman with both masculinity and femininity within them, women’s professional football is par for the course. Football is essentially a game of masculine strength and stamina, things not comparable with one hundred per cent femininity and probably found most in women who have a strong masculine side to them. Likewise, men strongly in tune with their feminine sides are unlikely to be attracted to the masculinity of football, and therefore not play it in great numbers.
Pat Nevin’s writes about his love of what I would call mid to late eighties indie music. Each chapter of his book is named after a song title. In the chapter This Charming Man, there’s a very entertaining sequence where he writes about being invited around to Morrissey’s house, who happened to live in the very same street as one of his player colleagues Norman Whiteside. Nevin says Morrissey’s house was “ huge, imposing, turreted Victorian affair that his success with The Smiths had earned him.” There’s one room Morrissey doesn’t want Nevin to go in, but with some gentle persuasion allows him to see “the very last thing I expected to see: a fully kitted–out multi gym with all the most modern equipment.” Nevin says he likes a Morrissey “ a good deal... although nowadays we might not see eye to eye politically.”
Nevin also reveals how became a good friend of former Radio One veteran broadcaster John Peel, to the point where Peel would invite Nevin into his late night Radio 1 studio. Nevin says he never appeared on air nor was his name ever revealed on air by Peel. That feel for broadcasting probably gave him a good grounding for post playing work on radio.
Throughout his book, Pat Nevin comes across as a thoroughly decent man, someone who is not afraid to stand up and be counted for what he believes in, for fairness and for what is right; and someone who wants to continue living a life away from football while being a professional footballer. I wonder whether, at the top level, that is possible forty years on.
In his book The Accidental Footballer, Chelsea, Everton and Scotland former footballer Pat Nevin writes about football in the 1980’s and 1990’s, the period where footballers were beginning to seek agents or being snapped up by agents, apart from him. Throughout his career he writes how he refused to have one, preferring to sort out his own contracts, transfers, pay deals, sponsorship deals and any other spin offs. From his description of the various boardroom negotiations he took part in, despite being well mannered and courteous, he comes across as someone who can well look after himself.
For example, the former owner of Chelsea Football Club, the giant character Ken Bates, asked Nevin at the end of a season, to go and see him in his office because he wanted to offer the player a new contract. When they met, Nevin asked Bates how much he was offering. Bates replied, “that’s not how it works – you have to make demands and then we can come to an agreement.” So, without an agent, and with little idea what other Chelsea stars were on, Nevin spoke to a few colleagues to get an idea, and wrote out on a piece of paper, his wish for a two year contract of £450 a week for the first year, £500 a week for year two, £5000 signing on fee per annum, 5 return flights to Scotland per season and a 20% increase in wages if I become a full Scottish international.” Nevin’s description of Bates’ reaction is wonderful and sums up the chairman's abrasive nature. Basically, he came in, didn’t say a word, read the paper, screwed it up, threw it in the bin, walked out, slamming the door, and left the ground! “Well, that didn’t go too well,” writes Nevin “he didn’t even say hello.” He realises that Bates’ reaction was to intimidate him and just a few days later, the chairman had agreed to the Chelsea Player of the Year’s demands. As a reader you do get the feeling that as well as having its advantages, being agent-less has its downside too. Towards the end of his career at Everton, it’s noticeable that there’s a shortage of clubs lining up to sign Nevin and he ends up, quite happily, at Tranmere Rovers. One thinks though - here’s a player still in his prime – shouldn’t he still be in the top division?
I’ve been a Chelsea football fan since the mid sixties. One of my childhood memories is my dad taking my younger brother and I to Stamford Bridge for a derby with Crystal Palace. We were in the Shed, and in those days it was terracing all round with the odd iron bar to lean against. You couldn’t see the bar, and you had to struggle to see where each concrete step started, it was so packed. My dad became quite concerned when the crowd started swaying in their excitement and I remember him turning round and at the top of his voice shouting, “will you stop swaying – I’ve two young children down here.” The immediate sway stopped for a short while, only to start up again minutes later. It made the match, which was of no interest to my dad, a worry. In those days the stewards were few and far between and if the sway had turned to a crush, my brother and I would have been squashed.
I was reminded of this while reading Pat Nevin’s memories of the Hillsborough disaster in the FA Cup semi final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in 1989. He had left Chelsea by then and was playing for Everton and was playing in the other semi final against Norwich City, scoring the winner that put the Toffees in the final. Straight after that match he was lined up to be interviewed on BBC radio. He writes that interviewer Mike Ingham warned him before they went on air “something awful has happened at Hillsborough – the details are unclear but there are certainly dozens of dead Liverpool fans inside the ground.” Pat Nevin did the interview, but during it, realising the scale of the unfolding horror, tells how his voice changed from being happy to devastated within a few seconds and him ending the interview with “actually I really don’t want to talk about playing football right now – it feels totally wrong.” He paints a vivid picture how, while driving through Liverpool to training the next day, “there were so many people walking around aimlessly on their own, standing on bridges...at the side of the road...on waste ground...staring vacantly, desolately, at nothing.” It says something of the community of Liverpool and of football itself that rivalries were cast aside and the Everton players were put on rotas to attend the funerals of the Liverpool victims. “I was completely emotionally broken by the end of the week and I didn’t even know any of these kids personally.”
I’ve read a few stories about some footballers’ alcohol problems. Pat Nevin reveals that he’s never drunk beer in his life, though is partial to red wine and whisky but never before a match or if its going to affect his build up to a match. It’s shocking to read how while at Everton, the manager Howard Kendall “seemed perfectly happy” to see “many bottles of wine on the lads’ tables” the nights before away games. He reveals before a vital game against West Ham United at Upton Park, even the manager himself may have been the worse for wear “when he read out the team, he actually named the same player, Stuart McCall, at least twice in two different positions.” It’s clear that the drinking culture among footballers is awkward for Nevin. He writes that he uses the excuse of being on antibiotics for a bad foot to get out of a night’s drinking session.
He also talks about the availability of women to footballers. Good looking girls, he writes, were able to go to club Christmas parties for free while the players had to buy their tickets. But the players could be assured there were ten girls for each guy. Pat Nevin has nothing to do with the debauchery, writing “my trick was to bring my brother in law along to make sure nothing untoward happened with me or more importantly was said to have happened.” It makes me wonder how in these days of the Me Too movement whether the lad woman culture still exists. I’m also somewhat amazed that we don’t hear of more cases of past female abuse in football, although I guess that most women who partook, did it for money or with willing consent.
Pat Nevin describes himself as different in other ways to most other footballers. He reads the classics, he’s interested in a whole different culture rather than to just football the whole time, he likes long distance running and training by himself. He describes his physique as also different - small and lean rather than big and broad.
He was seen as being different by football fans too. Sometimes wrongly. West Ham United fans used to call him a “little Scotch poof,” just feet from where he was running up and down the wing. He brushed it off, sometimes blowing them kisses! He says fans often resorted to calling a footballer gay, if they sensed they were different from other footballers.
It leads Nevin into asking why, if between two and five per cent of men are gay or bisexual, why there are no openly gay footballers. He argues that in other professions being openly gay isn’t a problem, and reckons that in men’s football, “I am convinced that a top level gay player would not now have an insurmountable problem coming out in this country.” He reckons just as racists now know their stance is unacceptable, homophobes do too.
Nevin cites that in women’s professional football, there are many who are openly lesbian and do not receive abuse. He has a point but I wonder whether there are the number of gay footballers still in the closet as Nevin maintains. If one thinks of a man or woman with both masculinity and femininity within them, women’s professional football is par for the course. Football is essentially a game of masculine strength and stamina, things not comparable with one hundred per cent femininity and probably found most in women who have a strong masculine side to them. Likewise, men strongly in tune with their feminine sides are unlikely to be attracted to the masculinity of football, and therefore not play it in great numbers.
Pat Nevin’s writes about his love of what I would call mid to late eighties indie music. Each chapter of his book is named after a song title. In the chapter This Charming Man, there’s a very entertaining sequence where he writes about being invited around to Morrissey’s house, who happened to live in the very same street as one of his player colleagues Norman Whiteside. Nevin says Morrissey’s house was “ huge, imposing, turreted Victorian affair that his success with The Smiths had earned him.” There’s one room Morrissey doesn’t want Nevin to go in, but with some gentle persuasion allows him to see “the very last thing I expected to see: a fully kitted–out multi gym with all the most modern equipment.” Nevin says he likes a Morrissey “ a good deal... although nowadays we might not see eye to eye politically.”
Nevin also reveals how became a good friend of former Radio One veteran broadcaster John Peel, to the point where Peel would invite Nevin into his late night Radio 1 studio. Nevin says he never appeared on air nor was his name ever revealed on air by Peel. That feel for broadcasting probably gave him a good grounding for post playing work on radio.
Throughout his book, Pat Nevin comes across as a thoroughly decent man, someone who is not afraid to stand up and be counted for what he believes in, for fairness and for what is right; and someone who wants to continue living a life away from football while being a professional footballer. I wonder whether, at the top level, that is possible forty years on.
November 20, 2022
Always enjoy Pat on the radio so good to read his book. Chelsea days a bit before my time but Everton dressing room politics and Euro 92 era were interesting. Abrupt ending, maybe left open for a second volume.
October 15, 2023
Pat was a great talent who I enjoyed watching play for Chelsea back in the day. The main interest in this book is how he was an 'accidental' footballer, great talent but university and a professional career was his chosen path in life. He turned down multiple football opportunities others would have given their right arm for, until life drew him to his destiny. Intriguing how he kept his friendship groups at college so separate that they never knew he played until he appeared in the papers as the hero of the cup winning Scottish juniors national team!
January 26, 2023
An interesting journey through Pat's playing career and of course his music and political background. I enjoyed it, sometimes though the writing feels a little stilted which is odd given how fluent and loquacious Pat is on punditry and any other media he does.
I'd have enjoyed more about his post playing career but hopefully that will be in a future volume?
I'd have enjoyed more about his post playing career but hopefully that will be in a future volume?
September 16, 2022
A lot of us liked Pat Nevin back then, not just because of his footballing prowess but because he seemed to be 'one of us'. That rare thing at the time - a footballer with great taste in music (in our opinions!). So although I don't read too many football autobiographies I thought I'd read this. And though it's not exactly the classic I hoped it would be, it's still more than decent as Pat tells us his story in chapters named after favourite songs*. There are some good football anecdotes as well some musical ones, not least his visit to Morrissey's house. And as a Wrexham supporter it was good to see mentions of some of our former players (Joey Jones, Mickey Thomas and Eddie Niedzwiecki) and lots of praise for our former manager, John Neal, who Pat viewed almost as a second father x
*Pedantic note: Let's Stick Together was a solo Bryan Ferry single, not a Roxy Music one. Shocking!
*Pedantic note: Let's Stick Together was a solo Bryan Ferry single, not a Roxy Music one. Shocking!
June 30, 2022
Pat's irreverent and unusual autobiography of a football outsider.
This isn't your normal football life story. In some ways it reads more like a student manifesto and review of the 80's indie music scene.
There's more than enough tales of playing for Chelsea, Everton and Scotland to satisfy any diehards from those clubs though.
All in all a refreshing change from the usual sports biography blueprint.
This isn't your normal football life story. In some ways it reads more like a student manifesto and review of the 80's indie music scene.
There's more than enough tales of playing for Chelsea, Everton and Scotland to satisfy any diehards from those clubs though.
All in all a refreshing change from the usual sports biography blueprint.
August 1, 2021
I'm not a great one for football autobiographies - I can only think of one I've read before, which was the comedy gold that was Peter Crouch's - but if ever there was another player's autobiography I was going to read, it was this one.
On the pitch, Pat Nevin was an utter delight who shone like a beacon of light in a dark era of the game. It was a time of hooliganism, racism, crumbling stadia, death on the terraces, a terrible style of play and, for my team, Chelsea, utter mediocrity. Pat's style of play would have lit up any era of the game but in the early 1980s in particular it stands out as having been in huge contrast to the norm. To Chelsea fans above a certain age Pat Nevin, whose trophies with us comprised the Division Two title and the Full Members Cup, holds a place in our affections as high as any of the players who've won Champions Leagues, Premier League titles and FA Cups during the last 25 trophy-laden years.
If Pat was different on the pitch, he was even more so off it, which is really what prompted me to pick up the book. In a time when footballers revelled in their lack of sophistication, Pat dressed like a goth punk, went to the ballet, read proper literature - 35 years later I can still remember him naming Nikolai Gogol's Dead Souls as his favourite book in an interview in a matchday program - and wrote a column (music, not football) for the New Musical Express. Famously, he paused, rather than quit, his degree course in order to join Chelsea.
There was also a political element, with him famously having gone public in criticising his own fans for booing Chelsea's first black player Paul Canoville - another player whose autobiography I will probably read one day - at a time when most people simply accepted it as background noise and said nothing.
Just over 15 years ago I went on a Legends tour of Stamford Bridge with Pat, and he was every bit as friendly, interesting and delightful as I expected, albeit helped by the fact that we had a mutual friend (who appears in the book), and that he'd rented out his flat to a couple of friend of mine (which is also mentioned in the book). In fact, at the end of the tour he came and sat with me and my wife during the buffet lunch, and I suspect that had we not had to leave we might have spent several hours with him while he killed time waiting for his flight back up to Scotland. (I've always felt a tinge of disappointment at having to leave that lunch, but as it was to view a house which we subsequently bought and continue to live in, I can't say that I regret it.)
I suppose that I ought to say something about the book, but really the best thing I can say is that the book simply reflects the man as detailed above: different, entertaining, engaging, open, fun, interesting and as much (if not more) about life off the pitch as life on it. The writing style is a bit clunky for a couple of chapters but settles down after that. Interestingly, he knows how to structure a book. Holding a reader's attention for 10 pages is one thing; holding it for 300 pages, as he does, is more difficult than it looks and, quite aside from the entertainment value of the book, there is literary merit in the fact that he manages to achieve that.
If I have one complaint about the book it's that it doesn't cover his period at Motherwell when he was simultaneously a player and also the club's chief executive, as far as I know the only player in world football history to have combined the two roles. Like I said, Pat is different... The dynamic of being the boss of the manager off the pitch, with the manager being his boss on the pitch, must have been fascinating. I'm hoping that there's another book to come about that.
On the pitch, Pat Nevin was an utter delight who shone like a beacon of light in a dark era of the game. It was a time of hooliganism, racism, crumbling stadia, death on the terraces, a terrible style of play and, for my team, Chelsea, utter mediocrity. Pat's style of play would have lit up any era of the game but in the early 1980s in particular it stands out as having been in huge contrast to the norm. To Chelsea fans above a certain age Pat Nevin, whose trophies with us comprised the Division Two title and the Full Members Cup, holds a place in our affections as high as any of the players who've won Champions Leagues, Premier League titles and FA Cups during the last 25 trophy-laden years.
If Pat was different on the pitch, he was even more so off it, which is really what prompted me to pick up the book. In a time when footballers revelled in their lack of sophistication, Pat dressed like a goth punk, went to the ballet, read proper literature - 35 years later I can still remember him naming Nikolai Gogol's Dead Souls as his favourite book in an interview in a matchday program - and wrote a column (music, not football) for the New Musical Express. Famously, he paused, rather than quit, his degree course in order to join Chelsea.
There was also a political element, with him famously having gone public in criticising his own fans for booing Chelsea's first black player Paul Canoville - another player whose autobiography I will probably read one day - at a time when most people simply accepted it as background noise and said nothing.
Just over 15 years ago I went on a Legends tour of Stamford Bridge with Pat, and he was every bit as friendly, interesting and delightful as I expected, albeit helped by the fact that we had a mutual friend (who appears in the book), and that he'd rented out his flat to a couple of friend of mine (which is also mentioned in the book). In fact, at the end of the tour he came and sat with me and my wife during the buffet lunch, and I suspect that had we not had to leave we might have spent several hours with him while he killed time waiting for his flight back up to Scotland. (I've always felt a tinge of disappointment at having to leave that lunch, but as it was to view a house which we subsequently bought and continue to live in, I can't say that I regret it.)
I suppose that I ought to say something about the book, but really the best thing I can say is that the book simply reflects the man as detailed above: different, entertaining, engaging, open, fun, interesting and as much (if not more) about life off the pitch as life on it. The writing style is a bit clunky for a couple of chapters but settles down after that. Interestingly, he knows how to structure a book. Holding a reader's attention for 10 pages is one thing; holding it for 300 pages, as he does, is more difficult than it looks and, quite aside from the entertainment value of the book, there is literary merit in the fact that he manages to achieve that.
If I have one complaint about the book it's that it doesn't cover his period at Motherwell when he was simultaneously a player and also the club's chief executive, as far as I know the only player in world football history to have combined the two roles. Like I said, Pat is different... The dynamic of being the boss of the manager off the pitch, with the manager being his boss on the pitch, must have been fascinating. I'm hoping that there's another book to come about that.
January 26, 2023
This is no ordinary footballer’s memoir. And this is no ordinary footballer. But if you asked him, I imagine Pat Nevin would say that he was just an ordinary working class Scottish guy who was fortunate to have made a living doing the thing he loved. I say was, “is” would be the correct tense to use, as after reading The Accidental Footballer, you are left with the distinct impression that the principled and thoughtful way he has led his life thus far, still applies. The book tells Nevin’s story in chronological order, detailing his time at various football clubs, but you don’t need to be a football fan to enjoy this memoir. Nevin is an excellent writer (the book is all his own work as has been everything with his name on it throughout his career, as he has always eschewed the ghostwriter’s pen) and he tells his story with verve, humanity, humility, humour, passion and panache. His principled outlook on life shines through, tackling injustice and unfairness wherever he sees it and always being loyally supportive to his workmates. Nevin was always seen as being “a bit different” in the football world and his lifelong passion for music, the arts and culture is just one example of that. The chapters of his memoir are all the titles of songs and he helpfully lists a playlist at the end of the book. While many of his teammates were happy to hit the bars and pubs and clubs in their spare time, Nevin would rather go and see the latest bands or visit galleries or sample the delights of the city or country they happened to be in. Inquisitive, interested, interesting and above all human are just some of the qualities that Nevin displays in this book. Never less than thoughtful, he comes across as just an decent human being who is a credit to his equally principled parents and family on whom he clearly dotes. Following his retirement from playing football, Nevin moved over to writing and broadcasting on the game and anyone who has heard his dulcet tones on the radio or TV will know he brings the same level as interest and insight as he does to this book. I hope he writes another book on his life post-playing as I’m sure it would be a brilliant read. There’s so much more I could mention about the book but I’d rather people just read it to get an insight into the man himself and the game he clearly loves. It’s not his only love and he puts the game in its proper place, as just one (exciting and brilliant) part of a life so far well lived with much more to come. Pat Nevin is a life enhancer and his book does that in spades. It’s an essential read and amongst the very best sporting biographies you are ever likely to read. Get it today!
October 27, 2021
This is a real book by a real footballer. It's a proper autobiography, not just a book about football, and it's certainly not ghostwritten. There's a lot more to Pat Nevin than football, of course, given that his first ambition was to go to university and become a teacher, and he actually completed two years at Glasgow Caledonian. He's also intensely interested in music, especially the alternative music scene, and as a significant figure in the Professional Footballers' Association, his politics are significantly left of centre. (For a start, he's politically aware. Show me a sports star who thinks politics and sport don't mix, and I'll show you a right-wing sport star .)
This book is written in three parts. The first part deals with his childhood and early footballing career in Glasgow; the second centres around his time at Chelsea; and finally deals with his time at Everton. But it deals with the cities of Glasgow, London, Liverpool and Manchester too, the music scenes in each, and of course his personal life. Somewhere along the line, the odd goal gets mentioned, as does the odd frisson with a manager or a team-mate, but this is a great deal more than your average football book.
I have two connected quibbles. At Val McDermid's suggestion during an Edinburgh Book Festival event, I bought this as an audiobook to listen to in the car. (I couldn't register the edition as 'Audiobook', btw, Goodreads.) Nevin's voice is fine, he's a good storyteller, but I found myself slightly frustrated at how long it was taking me to get through the chapters. His voice is very memorable, so I recommend anyone should just buy the book – you can imagine him speaking the text. Also, there were a couple of notes I wanted to take, but that's not possible with an audiobook. Finally, I didn't actually know how far I was in the book until it very abruptly came to an end when he said "Epilogue".
There's more to come, therefore, but when I buy the next volume I'll buy a normal edition. Meanwhile, I only wish I could pass the audiobook on to my son...
This book is written in three parts. The first part deals with his childhood and early footballing career in Glasgow; the second centres around his time at Chelsea; and finally deals with his time at Everton. But it deals with the cities of Glasgow, London, Liverpool and Manchester too, the music scenes in each, and of course his personal life. Somewhere along the line, the odd goal gets mentioned, as does the odd frisson with a manager or a team-mate, but this is a great deal more than your average football book.
I have two connected quibbles. At Val McDermid's suggestion during an Edinburgh Book Festival event, I bought this as an audiobook to listen to in the car. (I couldn't register the edition as 'Audiobook', btw, Goodreads.) Nevin's voice is fine, he's a good storyteller, but I found myself slightly frustrated at how long it was taking me to get through the chapters. His voice is very memorable, so I recommend anyone should just buy the book – you can imagine him speaking the text. Also, there were a couple of notes I wanted to take, but that's not possible with an audiobook. Finally, I didn't actually know how far I was in the book until it very abruptly came to an end when he said "Epilogue".
There's more to come, therefore, but when I buy the next volume I'll buy a normal edition. Meanwhile, I only wish I could pass the audiobook on to my son...
September 26, 2021
Interesting enough read, certainly stirred a bit of interest in me, being a Chelsea supporter, and enjoying his odd bit of input and punditry on Irish radio.
I would never have read the book, to be honest, but for the fact I have a rather large appetite for reading, and when friends read something, they sometimes feel that you need to read it too. Sometimes it is to see what you think, sometimes that it left an impression on them. Funny thing was, it was my mate Dave, all he said was.
"There you go Pete, Pat Nevin, one of your lot, have a read of that!"
One of my lot? I am a Londoner who lives in Dublin, no. He's a Scot who played for Chelsea. Strange book coming from Dave, because he's a Villa supporter.
Lot's of nice little stories going on, but I did get the impression from Pat that he was trying to put himself across as humble, but still trying to stand above all constantly going on about being educated, a little more sophisticated, and a lover of the 'better' things in life. Kind of rubbed me up the wrong way because I had a different opinion of him before I read the book.
A better read than some ABs I have been through, but definitely not one to go back to, I would say he has a follow-up too, which now I have read this one, I'll have to read the further adventures of Pat.
One big letdown, and really worth having a second edition of the book, or sacking the editor and getting a new one for part two. The editing, punctuation, stretched-out sentences, bad choice of individual words, lack of hyphenation in places, and disjointing of words that should have been one word. All adds up to it having the potential of a better read if corrected.
I gave it 3/5 purely on the basis of that, there is nothing worse than knowing that the edit, re-edit, and even a third edit should have been more thorough, just drags a books reading. Especially from Pat who seems to speak about the importance of education/ reading.
I would never have read the book, to be honest, but for the fact I have a rather large appetite for reading, and when friends read something, they sometimes feel that you need to read it too. Sometimes it is to see what you think, sometimes that it left an impression on them. Funny thing was, it was my mate Dave, all he said was.
"There you go Pete, Pat Nevin, one of your lot, have a read of that!"
One of my lot? I am a Londoner who lives in Dublin, no. He's a Scot who played for Chelsea. Strange book coming from Dave, because he's a Villa supporter.
Lot's of nice little stories going on, but I did get the impression from Pat that he was trying to put himself across as humble, but still trying to stand above all constantly going on about being educated, a little more sophisticated, and a lover of the 'better' things in life. Kind of rubbed me up the wrong way because I had a different opinion of him before I read the book.
A better read than some ABs I have been through, but definitely not one to go back to, I would say he has a follow-up too, which now I have read this one, I'll have to read the further adventures of Pat.
One big letdown, and really worth having a second edition of the book, or sacking the editor and getting a new one for part two. The editing, punctuation, stretched-out sentences, bad choice of individual words, lack of hyphenation in places, and disjointing of words that should have been one word. All adds up to it having the potential of a better read if corrected.
I gave it 3/5 purely on the basis of that, there is nothing worse than knowing that the edit, re-edit, and even a third edit should have been more thorough, just drags a books reading. Especially from Pat who seems to speak about the importance of education/ reading.
September 23, 2024
I’ve always felt a bit of an affinity with Pat Nevin. He may be five years my younger, but he attended Glasgow Tech College at the same time I did (we were on distinctly different courses) and I’d often see him around the campus.
At that time, he was a young, up and coming ‘star,’ of Scottish football. Already, great success was being predicted for him, despite him only just breaking into the Clyde FC first team.
Like Pat, I am (or certainly was) a very small and slightly built football player – I must stress, though, nowhere even remotely close to his level! I too had (thankfully, still have) a nose that would frequently be caught by opposition defenders, and I too was also a middle distance runner.
My choice in music, like Pat’s, didn’t conform to the norm, and if asked about my personal ‘heroes’ I too would have listed radio DJ, John Peel.
So it was great interest that I followed his career, and marveled at how he could take the punishment he did from the opposition and still bounce back up to torment his assailants.
This autobiography is a great read. It’s engaging and charming, but through it all runs a steely, single-mindedness.
Although Pat’s career spanned a time before the present day mega-money deals and ‘entitled’ stereo-typical football players, it was during a period when a culture of bullying, hard drinking, racial and homophobic traits were commonplace, on and off the pitch.
It was also a time when many football teams eschewed entertaining, ball-playing, attacking players in favour of the ‘long-ball’ game.
Pat rose above all that.
He never set out to be a football player, but sometimes fate will just not allow such talent to go unappreciated’. It’s to the eternal gratitude of Clyde, Chelsea, Everton, Tranmere Rovers and Scotland football teams that there were no bushels large enough to conceal Pat’s talents.
This is one of those ‘must read’ books for fans of any football team.
At that time, he was a young, up and coming ‘star,’ of Scottish football. Already, great success was being predicted for him, despite him only just breaking into the Clyde FC first team.
Like Pat, I am (or certainly was) a very small and slightly built football player – I must stress, though, nowhere even remotely close to his level! I too had (thankfully, still have) a nose that would frequently be caught by opposition defenders, and I too was also a middle distance runner.
My choice in music, like Pat’s, didn’t conform to the norm, and if asked about my personal ‘heroes’ I too would have listed radio DJ, John Peel.
So it was great interest that I followed his career, and marveled at how he could take the punishment he did from the opposition and still bounce back up to torment his assailants.
This autobiography is a great read. It’s engaging and charming, but through it all runs a steely, single-mindedness.
Although Pat’s career spanned a time before the present day mega-money deals and ‘entitled’ stereo-typical football players, it was during a period when a culture of bullying, hard drinking, racial and homophobic traits were commonplace, on and off the pitch.
It was also a time when many football teams eschewed entertaining, ball-playing, attacking players in favour of the ‘long-ball’ game.
Pat rose above all that.
He never set out to be a football player, but sometimes fate will just not allow such talent to go unappreciated’. It’s to the eternal gratitude of Clyde, Chelsea, Everton, Tranmere Rovers and Scotland football teams that there were no bushels large enough to conceal Pat’s talents.
This is one of those ‘must read’ books for fans of any football team.
July 30, 2021
I've always admired Pat Nevin both for his footballing skills and also his off the field activities , musically and politics.
It was with considerable interest then that I noted the publication of his biography and I quickly purchased a copy.
I did enjoy the book, I liked it, but did not love it, which surprised me a lot. The details are interesting and varied , the insight into the football world fascinating - particularly in that era of the 1980s and 1990s but the flow and the tone just left me a bit cold too many times.
Why ?
Maybe my expectations were too high , maybe I expected too much but the flow of much of the story was all a bit too smooth, deprecating in places about taking the moral high ground while firmly taking the moral high ground and also finishing abruptly before some of the potentially more interesting and challenging times - the time as chief executive of Motherwell and the , only mentioned in briefiest of passing, his loss of love for his club Celtic come to pass.
If this is not teeing up a second book it is disappointing to miss out on his insight on these times.
Considering that he came from a working class background in Glasgow it was surprising how easily everything came to him, he never really wanted to be a footballer but was so good that team after team came knocking, how he ended up being an accidental professional ( fair play for an accurate title ) with Clyde and then Chelsea, how he became big friends with John Peel , met Morrissey - it all called to mind the Fast Show sketch .... " and that was nice "
It all felt to me that the tone of what is a very interesting story could have been written in a more engaging way.
It was with considerable interest then that I noted the publication of his biography and I quickly purchased a copy.
I did enjoy the book, I liked it, but did not love it, which surprised me a lot. The details are interesting and varied , the insight into the football world fascinating - particularly in that era of the 1980s and 1990s but the flow and the tone just left me a bit cold too many times.
Why ?
Maybe my expectations were too high , maybe I expected too much but the flow of much of the story was all a bit too smooth, deprecating in places about taking the moral high ground while firmly taking the moral high ground and also finishing abruptly before some of the potentially more interesting and challenging times - the time as chief executive of Motherwell and the , only mentioned in briefiest of passing, his loss of love for his club Celtic come to pass.
If this is not teeing up a second book it is disappointing to miss out on his insight on these times.
Considering that he came from a working class background in Glasgow it was surprising how easily everything came to him, he never really wanted to be a footballer but was so good that team after team came knocking, how he ended up being an accidental professional ( fair play for an accurate title ) with Clyde and then Chelsea, how he became big friends with John Peel , met Morrissey - it all called to mind the Fast Show sketch .... " and that was nice "
It all felt to me that the tone of what is a very interesting story could have been written in a more engaging way.
February 11, 2024
Like me, you might think that you would like to read this because you have an interest in football, know a little about Nevin from his persona as a footballer and his broadcasting work, and think you might like him. If that's the case, do read it, because, yes, you will like him. He comes across as all the things you think he is - the antithesis of the stereotypical footballer, thoughtful, decent. You get the strong impression that he has great values and he is not driven by fame, money, or arrogance.
Partly you get this impression because he tells you this about 48 times in the course of the book, and that's its weakness. I don't think this is because Nevin is bragging - that's not him. Rather, it's because, although he is doubtless a great writer compared to the average footballer, he's not quite good enough when compared to the average writer to tell (or, preferably, show) us his character in a more subtle way, or to know when to let his actions speak for themselves.
All-in-all, this is an OK book, especially if the subject and the man interest you, but he could have benefited from working with a professional writer. I think a good writer might have also structured this to extract a bit more of a story from a book that occasionally feels a bit flatter and duller than it should. The problem is, of course, that given Nevin's idea of himself as utterly straightforward and unmediated, he probably wouldn't have been comfortable with a voice he didn't feel was 100% his. That's part of what makes him what he is, and good luck to him.
Partly you get this impression because he tells you this about 48 times in the course of the book, and that's its weakness. I don't think this is because Nevin is bragging - that's not him. Rather, it's because, although he is doubtless a great writer compared to the average footballer, he's not quite good enough when compared to the average writer to tell (or, preferably, show) us his character in a more subtle way, or to know when to let his actions speak for themselves.
All-in-all, this is an OK book, especially if the subject and the man interest you, but he could have benefited from working with a professional writer. I think a good writer might have also structured this to extract a bit more of a story from a book that occasionally feels a bit flatter and duller than it should. The problem is, of course, that given Nevin's idea of himself as utterly straightforward and unmediated, he probably wouldn't have been comfortable with a voice he didn't feel was 100% his. That's part of what makes him what he is, and good luck to him.
August 19, 2021
This may be the first footballer’s autobiography which is not ghosted, but then there are few footballer’s with Pat Nevin’s intellect and talent for writing. It is a refreshing story of a skinny kid from the East End of Glasgow who came from a loving and stable family, who’s father played his role to the full and who spent all his spare time playing football for the joy of it. He was born into a Celtic-supporting family and was lucky enough to join them as a schoolboy although he was released at 16, a decision the club regretted.
Having played for a number of local clubs he joined Clyde while also studying for his degree. He finally succumbed to the chance to play full time for Chelsea where he became, and still is a fan’s favourite and where he could enjoy his passion for inde bands in the hundreds of venues in London. He left Chelsea to join Everton and finally moved to Tranmere Rovers where he probably enjoyed his football more than at any other club.
Nevin is not your average footballer, he despises the celebrity and drinking culture, his first agent was his literary agent, he is a thoroughly honest guy, feels that contracts are there to honour, he is well read and passionate about the arts.
He summed up his footballing career by saying he never wanted to be a footballer, he just wanted to play football.
Having played for a number of local clubs he joined Clyde while also studying for his degree. He finally succumbed to the chance to play full time for Chelsea where he became, and still is a fan’s favourite and where he could enjoy his passion for inde bands in the hundreds of venues in London. He left Chelsea to join Everton and finally moved to Tranmere Rovers where he probably enjoyed his football more than at any other club.
Nevin is not your average footballer, he despises the celebrity and drinking culture, his first agent was his literary agent, he is a thoroughly honest guy, feels that contracts are there to honour, he is well read and passionate about the arts.
He summed up his footballing career by saying he never wanted to be a footballer, he just wanted to play football.
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