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Simple Goalkeeping Made Spectacular: A Rioutous Footballing Memoir About the Loneliest Position on the Field
 
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Simple Goalkeeping Made Spectacular: A Rioutous Footballing Memoir About the Loneliest Position on the Field (Paperback)

by Graham Joyce (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
RRP: £8.99
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Simple Goalkeeping Made Spectacular: A Rioutous Footballing Memoir About the Loneliest Position on the Field + The Devil's Ladder + The Exchange
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Product details

  • Paperback: 240 pages
  • Publisher: Mainstream Publishing (6 Aug 2009)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1845964470
  • ISBN-13: 978-1845964474
  • Product Dimensions: 21.4 x 13.4 x 1.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 41,263 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Product Description

At the age of 52, a British writer gets the sudden call-up to play for the England soccer team in the World Cup competition. The team can't find a goalkeeper and he's going to have to come out of retirement. No it's not a nightmare. The team is the England Writers XI, a chronically-unskilled collection of scribblers who can't let go of their fantasies about being real footballers. "Simple Goalkeeping Made Spectacular" is a humorous memoir about the most solitary spot the football pitch, looking back on schoolboy triumphs and adult ignominy. From the chaos of coats-down park soccer mobs to the casual violence of pub teams, from the excitement of schoolboy shield winners to knackered old World Cup squads, it's the goalie who always gets it in the neck. Every goalkeeper - and every goalkeeper's wife or girlfriend - should read this book.


About the Author

Graham Joyce is the author of 16 novels and a collection of short stories, most recently The Limits of Enchantment. He was presented with the World Fantasy Award for his novel The Facts Of Life, and he has won the British Fantasy Award for Best Novel an unprecedented four times. His work has been translated into more than 20 languages and has earned him several international awards.

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Customer Reviews

2 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Lucky He Can Write So Well, 13 Aug 2009
I've read a few of Mr Joyce's books so I sort of knew what to expect even though this is his first (as far as I know) foray into biography.

It's funny, laugh out loud at times.
It's interesting...

and like all Joyce books it's a page turner. An overused phrase, especially by amateur critics like myself, but still true. I wanted to read more, there was more to read so I turned the page and read more.

Great fun and the fact that he is still playing international football for the England Writers' Team at what must be at least the veteran stage of his career gives us all hope that we can achieve our dreams. Like a well placed penalty: It hits the spot.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Great football writing made to look simple, 25 Sep 2009
By Bantam Dave (Bradford, UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)      
There is, I was surprised to learn, an England Writers football team. I was even more surprised to learn that they have even completed in a World Cup, playing teams of writers from various countries. Whilst it would have been nice if playing in this England team were Owen (Wilfred) in attack, Gascoigne (Bamber) in midfield, Terry (Pratchett) in defence and Banks (Iain) in goal, sadly this isn't the case; in fact the goalkeeper, Graham Joyce is the author of this excellent little book.

Although Joyce is a very successful writer it is clear from this book that, given the chance, he would rather have been a goalkeeper. He's an expert on the craft of goalkeeping - narrowing the angles, saving penalties, organising the defence, dealing with crosses etc - unfortunately he wasn't quite so good putting this into action. In truth he was a hopeless goalie, so it was to be a writer's life for him instead.

A few years after putting away his gloves when given the chance came to play for the England Writers team he couldn't say no, even though he had turned fifty and his body had long since seen better days.

In this book he writes very amusingly about his new career as England goalie and the team's matches in the Writers World Cup, a competition in which England were severely at a disadvantage; partly because in the line-ups of the other teams were proper footballers, but mostly because the English team was just plain awful.

What impressed me more though, was his writing about the art of goalkeeping. Whilst he is only an enthusiastic amateur he still knows his stuff, and I learned more about goalkeeping from this book than I have from any book written by a `proper' goalkeeper.

Well worth seeking out and reading.
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