{"product_id":"the-accidental-footballer-9781913183370","title":"The Accidental Footballer","description":"\u003cp\u003eTHE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER  A heroic outsider - a pleasure to read. - The Guardian  A fulsome evocation of football before the Premier League. - The i  Such a good storyteller...joyous. - Financial Times  Honest  raw  revealing and very funny. How to live a life and career to the full. Insightful book about the most successful outsider inside football ever... - Henry Winter  Chief Football Writer  The Times  Pat is a wonderful one-off...and this is the story of why that is. - John Murray  Chief Sports Correspondent  BBC Radio 5 Live  Unusually vibrant and elegant with heroic doses of humour  insight and self-effacement  this is an absolute must-read for the football connoisseur. - Omid Djalili  The biggest influence of my professional career both on and off the pitch. - Graeme Le Saux  I grew up captivated by Pat Nevin the player. As a man he taught me even more about the beauty of the game. One of footballs great mavericks  and Chelseas greatest players. And he can spin a mean tune too. - Sam Matterface  I used to walk miles to see Pat Nevin play football and Id do the same now to read his thoughts. Always challenging  always entertaining. - Lord Sebastian Coe  A refreshingly honest and thought-provoking autobiography. As deftly delivered as some of Pats ball skills in his 1980s heyday. - ToffeeWeb  Pat Nevin never wanted to be a professional footballer.  His future was clear  hed become a teacher like his brothers. There was only one problem with this - Pat was far too good to avoid attention.  Raised in Glasgows 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  its 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.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45279829721141,"sku":"ByrdShop_1913183378","price":52.12,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9781913183370.jpg?v=1780612596","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-accidental-footballer-9781913183370","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}