In Search of Alan Gilzean: The lost legacy of a Dundee and Spurs legend [Paperback]

The memory of Gilzean has been re-awoken. Morgan is rightly aghast that there is no plaque honouring Gilzean, or a street named after him in Coupar Angus. He likens it to his own hometown, Belfast, failing to mention that George Best happened to be a native. But Best, unlike Gilzean, is no longer with us. -- Alan Pattullo, The Scotsman

In Search of Alan Gilzean is as enigmatic as the subject and James Morgan, whose father I may have bumped into while worshipping the early Gillie at Dens Park, should take that as the highest compliment. An absolutely enchanting book. A cracking read. --Patrick Barclay, The Times

Morgan too is modest. He is something of a philosopher. At one point he notes that in satisfying our hunger for truth, we stifle our imagination. But his book is a quest, a search for truth that never offends the imagination but stimulates it...Gilzean was evasive, but Morgan was assiduous as he tracked down his old team-mates in the Dundee title-winning team, spoke to people who d known him as a boy, and talked with journalists and some of Gilzeans Spurs contemporaries...Morgan writes with such unaffected honesty...So many football books are laddish, flashy and in your face; this one is gracious and subtle, and in many ways its modest tone reflects its subject. Gilzean was a sublime player, but a quiet man. --Harry Reid, The Herald

In Search of Alan Gilzean has been painstakingly researched, and cleverly crafted, by Spurs fan and Glasgow journalist, James Morgan. The biography is unlike any other written about a footballer, past or present, in that it contains an element of suspense. You itch to find out if the author actually does locate his reclusive subject and in what circumstances he finds him. Morgan unearths some wonderful anecdotes. Among them is one about how, on a night out in Japan with Spurs, Gillie takes a run at a sumo wrestler and bounces off him. Someone should have warned this famous son of Coupar Angus to go easy on the sake. --Brian Scott, Daily Mail

Theres a new book about my former Tottenham strike partner out tomorrow. The author did well to track down Gilly, who has become something of a recluse in recent years. Believe it or not, I havent set eyes on the fella for the best part of 40 years. From 1964 until 1970, we were like blood brothers. Then I left Spurs and went on my path to self-destruction ... a couple of years later Gilly did pretty much the same, by all accounts. Id just urge you to read the book of his life, because I reckon its one hell of a story. --Jimmy Greaves, The People

This diligent search for a man who, after being the undisputed King of White Hart Lane, abdicated to become a commoner before all but disappearing, is strangely compelling. --Nick Townsend, The Independent

This is a singular, unusual and well-written book; highly recommended to Spurs and Dundee lovers and haters alike. -- --When Saturday Comes

Morgan too is modest. He is something of a philosopher. At one point he notes that in satisfying our hunger for truth, we stifle our imagination. But his book is a quest, a search for truth that never offends the imagination but stimulates it...Gilzean was evasive, but Morgan was assiduous as he tracked down his old team-mates in the Dundee title-winning team, spoke to people who d known him as a boy, and talked with journalists and some of Gilzean's Spurs contemporaries...Morgan writes with such unaffected honesty...So many football books are laddish, flashy and in your face; this one is gracious and subtle, and in many ways its modest tone reflects its subject. Gilzean was a sublime player, but a quiet man. --Harry Reid, The Herald

In Search of Alan Gilzean has been painstakingly researched, and cleverly crafted, by Spurs fan and Glasgow journalist, James Morgan. The biography is unlike any other written about a footballer, past or present, in that it contains an element of suspense. You itch to find out if the author actually does locate his reclusive subject and in what circumstances he finds him. Morgan unearths some wonderful anecdotes. Among them is one about how, on a night out in Japan with Spurs, Gillie takes a run at a sumo wrestler and bounces off him. Someone should have warned this famous son of Coupar Angus to go easy on the sake. ----Brian Scott, Daily Mail



There's a new book about my former Tottenham strike partner out tomorrow. The author did well to track down Gilly, who has become something of a recluse in recent years. Believe it or not, I haven't set eyes on the fella for the best part of 40 years. From 1964 until 1970, we were like blood brothers. Then I left Spurs and went on my path to self-destruction ... a couple of years later Gilly did pretty much the same, by all accounts. I'd just urge you to read the book of his life, because I reckon it's one hell of a story. --Jimmy Greaves, The People

This diligent search for a man who, after being the undisputed King of White Hart Lane, abdicated to become a commoner before all but disappearing, is strangely compelling. --Nick Townsend, The Independent

This is a singular, unusual and well-written book; highly recommended to Spurs and Dundee lovers and haters alike- - ---When Saturday Comes

NOMINATED FOR BEST FOOTBALL BOOK OF 2010 IN THE BRITISH SPORTS BOOK AWARDS

True greatness does not feel the need to proclaim itself from the rooftops. It is happy to state its case quietly, yet with utter conviction. Alan Gilzean was a truly great footballer. Every observer of his talent confirms this as an indisputable fact: from the legendary Jimmy Greaves, who regards him as the best striker he ever played with, to Don Revie, the former Leeds United and England manager, who described the former Tottenham striker as the best touch player in Europe, and Spurs fans whose spine-tingling refrain, Gilzean, Gilzean, Born is the King of White Hart Lane, continues to echo down the generations.

It is now 36 years since Gilzean retired from professional football and his life and times have become shrouded in mystery and rumour. All that exists are the memories of his greatness ... but how long before even those are forgotten forever? After fans on Tottenham Hotspur online forums claim that Gilzean is living as a down-and-out, James Morgan, a lifelong Spurs fan and sports journalist with The Herald, Scotland's leading quality newspaper, is filled with a fierce desire to separate fact from fiction and sets out on a journey In Search of Alan Gilzean.

The facts of his illustrious career are down in black and white: 169 goals for Dundee, including 52 in one season, a record that stood until Henrik Larsson broke it in 2001; a league championship medal with the great Dundee team of the early 1960s; then, a move to Spurs in December 1964, where, over the course of the next decade, he forms unforgettable partnerships with Greaves and Martin Chivers. Gilzean s greatness shines like a beacon, but where is the rest of his story?

Morgan soon discovers that a sprinkling of newspaper cuttings, a Wikipedia page and idle internet chatter, is all that exists of a life less ordinary. The Scottish Football Association Hall of Fame website included a Swede, Larsson, and a Dane, Brian Laudrup, but no Gillie. Dundee FC has named lounges after former players who are not fit to lace Gilzean's boots. Spurs haven t heard from him in years. Former team-mates are none the wiser. One of the best British strikers of his generation is a forgotten man. Morgan's desire to change this, and find out the full story, takes him on an exhilarating personal journey all over Britain. From Gillie's birthplace, in the small Perthshire village of Coupar Angus, to Dundee, London and beyond, he leaves no stone unturned.

Initially, Gillie hovers in the shadow before emerging as a fascinating and complex character whose natural reticence has obscured his legacy. Morgan s portrait of the original King of White Hart Lane restores him to his rightful place in football folklore and stands as the only faithful testimony to the life of a bona fide British football legend.