The latest football book from the ever expanding CQN publishing stable is a long awaited blast from one of the many world class players who were part of the Lisbon Lions of 1967. Celtic’s best ever left back has collaborated with Alex Gordon, a vastly experienced sports writer, to produce a rollicking tale from a football life that was full of adventure, just like Tommy’s own playing style and that of the team that made him famous.
Entitled “All The Best”, the title reflects the fact that Tommy offers these wishes to all his readers, that he is giving of his best in the writing of the book just as he did on the field, with candid comment and surprising views, but, mostly, because Tommy has taken the stable diet of the football memoir- “Who were the best players that you played with and against?”, and taken this to another level
He has listed nine “Best Of” teams in the course of the book: the Lions (of course), Tommy’s best Scotland teammates, the best Celtic players apart from the Lions, a World Football 11 Tommy’s played against, his best teammates from both Nottingham Forest and Dundee, as well as two generations of great Celtic players Tommy has watched as a spectator. There’s even a nod to his time as Albion Rovers’ manager.
Now, those of you used to the lazy format of a football book where not much thought, insight or honesty goes into the exercise, will be very surprised at the level of honesty, brutal in some cases, that goes into the pen pictures of those selected and some who just missed out. Tommy turns an honest spotlight on himself, you find yourself nodding your head in agreement, once you’ve recovered your breath, that is.
For this is a breathless read of a football life lived to the full. The forthright opinions on managers, even those he admired, are very revealing about the amount of dishonesty involved in football. You will be astounded at how these world class football players conducted themselves. If you are expecting to find tales of clean living, utmost professionalism on and off the field, and modern collegiate management, you will be very disappointed in this book. However, if you are looking for searing honesty, interspersed with several hilarious tales, then this is the book for you
It is not the polite memoir of a senior citizen glossing over the bad behaviour of his younger days, it is the “warts and all” tales of a more innocent time, when despite the absence of modern techniques, Scotland managed to rule the world and produce a Golden generation, for a brief period of time. Some of the opinions expressed are candid to the point of scurrilous-ness but the humour that is present in every chapter and every pen picture takes the edge of some of the more boorish behaviour which is recounted. There is no hiding place in sport. Everyone has an opinion and is keen to share it. Add booze to the picture and bad behaviour will inevitably follow,
It is fair to say that, even though I thought I was well acquainted with the details of Tommy’s life and career, there were many incidents that I was hearing about for the first time. Tommy’s description of one of his early team mates at Celtic who made life difficult for him will, first of all, shock you and then have you biting the carpet with laughter. His tale of transfer negotiations with the legendary Jim McLean and with a Ranger’s Director will also have you smiling broadly as Tommy does not miss and hit the wall.
From the Foreword by fellow Lisbon Lion, Bertie Auld, through to the final section, where Tommy fields some cheeky questions from the posters on the Celtic Quick News site, genuine laugh out loud humour is not far from the surface. This is a very funny book and captures the banter that still flows between these football legends.
It is a difficult task to combine such humour with frank honesty and then to maintain readability. In the 12 chapters of the book, you will find details which surprise, shock and amuse you. If you are a Celtic fan of a certain age, you will smile in reminiscence as long forgotten events are re-lived from an insider’s perspective. If you are a football fan at all, you will get an insight into the world of football from the 50s to the 80s from a practitioner and into modern football of the past 3 decades from an informed observer. If you just like to read a good book, this one will make you laugh out loud at many points.
Tommy Gemmell gave all his best for Celtic and Scotland while he played there. He continues to give us all his best in this publication. This is the best football memoir I’ve read in a long time. I am still remembering pieces and chuckling as I type this.
For a short period only you can add to the bundle Tommy is dedicating and signing (below) from the button at the bottom of the page.
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Hi Paul
How do I go about getting a book dedicated?
Cheers
Paul
THe ones that aren’t goin’ tonto will be the Lone Ragers
DBBIA/Jay SilverheelsCSC
Bawsman
The lone ragers and tonto!
Cross post
Argggh CSC
GrimRieper
Email your personal message to david@CQNMagazine.com and I’ll get The Big Shot to sort. We can sent you a payment link later.
He’s been busy on CQN duties since Friday but is sneaking off to Lisbon on Friday morning, anyone at Glasgow airport Friday around 8am – look out for the Lions!
Buy your Sevco season ticket and you’ll be funding the spivs, don’t buy your season ticket and we’ll sell the big hoose.
traditionalist88- i have seen tweets saying we are playing Spurs and St Pauli not sure of dates.
Bada Bing
Spuds game i read about was in Helsinki ??? 2nd Aug
jc2
yev had yer chips for the spuds game….
Judas book
“rosemarys baby, my good twin” by the quisling
….it didnae a peel tae me anyhow…
I’ll see your Orangefest, and raise you a ha ha ha ha ha ha.
Winning Captains,
just a word of support for our other heroes at that time Hail Hail Charlie Gallagher, HH Willie O’neil and HH Joe Mc Bride.
‘The 2014 BBC Sports Personality of the Year is to be held in Glasgow on Sunday, 14 December.
The star-studded event will take place at The SSE Hydro in front of an estimated 12,000 capacity crowd and will be shown live on BBC One’
– Superdupercoisty must be presentin’ it. Unless they go with wee Graeme Norton [agane]
A postcard protest?! #KERPOW http://t.co/itTTYSLVKY
Jc2- not sure of dates but no doubt we will have a “money spinning friendly,” a couple of weeks into the season,to the detriment of ST holders no doubt.HH
Reading an article in TIME about the schoolgirls kidnapped in Nigeria.
Which states that there are likely to be-depending on source-between 21 and 30 MILLION people currently in some form of involuntary servitude.
Which means that there are now more slaves worldwide than there have ever been.
It takes a lot to shrivel my spirit,to hammer my faith in humanity. Especially as I consider myself to be something of a cynic.
The article I’m reading,tbh,I really don’t want to read it anymore.
If i was going to parliament with a football related issue the last club representatives i would use is yon deid clubs…………..apparently he finds it all reprehensible ………….like not paying your taxes ?
The claim was backed at a previous meeting of the petitions committee by Rangers youth coach Jim Sinclair, who said: “In our experience, the whole thing can turn into a transfer market or end up in a bartering situation if, despite the fact that the level of compensation is actually X, the club with the player demands X plus Y.”
He described the practice as “reprehensible”.
Clubs receive compensation for training costs and other benefits given to young players who wish to move to a different team
MSPs are to examine claims that contracts given to youth football players in Scotland are unfair and could breach human rights regulations.
The authors of a petition to the Scottish Parliament say players under the age of 16 are not allowed to change club without compensation being paid.
They argue this “transfer market” breaches Scots law and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The issue will be discussed at the Public Petitions Committee.
Among those scheduled to take part is Scottish Professional Football League chief executive Neil Doncaster.
He will be joined by Andrew McKinlay of the Scottish Football Association, Heart of Midlothian’s director of football John Murray, and lawyer Malcolm McGregor.
Registration forms
The Improving Youth Football in Scotland petition was lodged at the parliament four years ago by William Smith and Scott Robertson of the Real Grassroots campaign.
The pair have been involved in boys club football for many years, and have been credited with helping to discover and develop some of the country’s best young players.
Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote
The Scottish government should seriously consider suspending funding (direct or indirect) to clubs pending an independent review”
Real Grassroots
Their petition states that one-year registration forms given by professional clubs to 15-year-olds are in effect contracts, which restricts the ability of the player to change club for the following three years.
Mr Smith and Mr Robertson have argued that this breaches the Age of Legal Capacity (Scotland) Act 1991 and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
They have also claimed that clubs were sometimes paying more than the stipulated compensation amounts set out by the football authorities to sign young players from another club.
This effectively creates a transfer market in child footballers, they have alleged.
The claim was backed at a previous meeting of the petitions committee by Rangers youth coach Jim Sinclair, who said: “In our experience, the whole thing can turn into a transfer market or end up in a bartering situation if, despite the fact that the level of compensation is actually X, the club with the player demands X plus Y.”
He described the practice as “reprehensible”.
Mr Smith and Mr Robertson have said the current system was having an “adverse effect” on young players, and have called for it to be abolished.
But they have claimed that there is “no appetite” for the football authorities to address breaches of the rules committed by their member clubs.
Among the proposals they have made are:
To remove the current practice of a 15 year old signing a one-year registration form and thereafter being restricted from moving clubs for the following three years
To make it an offence for any club to prevent or prohibit any young player from participating in schools football
To remove any compensation payments until a youth player reaches the age of 16 years and signs a professional contract
In a letter to the committee ahead of the meeting, Mr Smith and Mr Robertson said: “Every year a significant amount of public money is provided to Scotland’s professional clubs and it is given in the spirit and hope that this money will be used to better our national game for youngsters.
“Whilst the unfair issues we highlight continue and potential breaches in Scots and European legislation exist, the Scottish government should seriously consider suspending funding (direct or indirect) to clubs pending an independent review.
“The challenge for Real Grassroots and the Public Petition Committee has always been to change the poor practices of our senior clubs and stand up for young players who have and continue to be mistreated by a system that ensures all control is in the hands of professional football clubs.”
‘Fair mechanism’
Scotland’s Commissioner for Children and Young People has also previously called for compensation payments for young players moving between clubs to be “abolished immediately” on the grounds that they are “overly restrictive and unfair”.
The payments are designed to compensate clubs for the money they have invested in training and developing a young player who wishes to move to another club.
Earlier this year, SPFL clubs agreed changes to the compensation scheme following recommendations made by a working party chaired by SFA president Campbell Ogilvie.
The working party concluded that FIFA regulations “clearly permit” football associations to adopt a system for the financial reward of clubs investing in the training and education of young players.
It also said the Scottish FA youth development programme Club Academy Scotland provided “the most suitable vehicle to introduce a uniform, fair and consistent mechanism for the reimbursement of youth training costs.”
The Public Petitions Committee can be watched live, or later on demand, at BBC Scotland’s Democracy Live website.
‘Filthy Sleekit Scurrlious Lying Turncoat Hellbound Scumbag Vermin.
Maurice Johnston – A Memoir.’
!!Bada Bing!!
They must be pretty close to the ultimate………an angry face protest.
Second class post
From the last thread, when I posted about the debacle in the Scotland training camp in Copenhagen I just took if for granted that the laudrup who had scored without looking at the date clearly enough. I didnae realise that Finn is Michaels’ and “why are you so good” da.
All the Breast.
Memoirs of Frank McAvennie
Bawsman
12:56 on 20 May, 2014
Some Ragers fans are apparently going tonto as “their” seats have been allocated to other Ragers fans who have divvied up.
Will this beautiful death dance never stop giving?
…………………..
That’s impossible Bawsman the advert for the Bond in the ET said it guaranteed the seat for life!
http://www.saveourglen.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/The-Rangers-Bond.jpg
Coming to (very) widescreen cinemas (or Piemax) near you:
‘Supersize Me’
The Alastair McCoist biopic.
Leftclick, thanks for clip on the doctor. What would we do without them and good nursing staff? Having a biopsy done on a thyroid glad on Thursday. A few wee prayers from CQNers might help.
!!Bada Bing!!
13:22 on
20 May, 2014
A postcard protest?! #KERPOW http://t.co/itTTYSLVKY
******
Struth’s boys must have used SFTB’s spellchecker!
BBC news
Judith bursting oot her blouse
Well done hen
HH
Wrote that too quickly. Gland not glad
connaire12
A few wee prayers from CQNers might help.
Done sir
CONNAIRE 12
Fingers crossed for good news,bud.
connaire12-all the best mate.HH
EKBhoy
11:28 on
20 May, 2014
Herrsonissos Crete or Bodrum, Turkey?
Holidayplanningcsc
——————————————————————————————————————–
Bodrum every time
Far cheaper than Greece
Really nice place and great people who are mad about football !!!!
I’ve been about 5 or 6 times
weet-:}}
From earlier
Seen on twitter
If you’re a Celtic fan this video is the best thing you’ll watch all week. From DMC1888 on the @huddleboard http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59Cx3N377xs …
Till later all
BCW
From previous thread …. Thanks for the tip
Pfayr
Maybe too lively for me.
connaire12
Done mate
HH
Here’s a link to the design of the photography pages for All the Best – although not all these pics made it into the book. Many of these images are personal photographs from Tommy Gemmell.
http://en.calameo.com/read/0003901717802c53097e6