Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
A Very Honest Account, 18 Oct 2004
I read the book initially with intrepidation. I was worried that this was the book to set the story straight - or rather for Stan Collymore to say "I am not to blame". However, what the book does tell the reader is that Stanley Collymore doesn't apportion blame on his well publised downfall from grace, but fairly and squarely he puts the onus on himself. The book is hard hitting as well as very honest. It covers the highs of his career at Southend United,Nottingham Forest & Liverpool with the lows at Aston Villa and Real Oviedo. It portrays the backstabbing in the game from his agent to his managers to racist players. It throws the light on the football managers who praised him and appreciated his unique skill but who couldn't handle him in Peter Taylor and John Gregory. It also give a direct and humbling account of how his love for Ulrika Jonnson was misplaced and how he manages to hurt those closest to him. It gives Stans personal insight into the Ulrika incident and you come away feeling Stan Collymore, though sinned was sinned against more. Its a cracking read and I finished it in three sessions. I have read a few football biographies and autobiographies over the past 12 months including ones on Jimmy Greaves and Bobby Moore, the difference between them is that this book doesn't try to put the author is a better light then he deserves. Well done Stanley Victor Collymore - I hope that you can lay your demons to rest.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
An astonishing achievement, 27 Oct 2004
I have been following football since I was a small child in the late 1960s. Without exception, this is the best book about football I have ever read.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
A lesson in what's behind tabloid stories, 22 Jul 2007
I'm not a football fan, I don't like autobiographies, and anything connected with 'celebrity' culture leaves me cold. Nonetheless, I'd read an interview with Stan Collymore in which he talked very openly about his struggle with clinical depression and the role that 'dogging' played in that. Contrary to the image constructed of him in the tabloids, he came across as someone with depth and intelligence, and the courage to articulate uncomfortable truths about himself. So when recently I wanted a change from my usual diet of textbooks and middlebrow fiction, I decided to buy the full story.
Every time I had to put it down, I couldn't wait to pick it up again. Stan expands on many of the stories that we think we know about because we happened to scan the tabloid headlines as we leave the newsagent's shop. It left me realising that my own critical distance and cynicism about the tabloids is not nearly enough.
He holds your interest. However disinterested you might be in the world of celebrity and football, the real story here is of a person who could be you or me struggling with crippling depression, made all the worse because those around him failed to believe or understand how someone with his money and success could be depressed. In fact, he would probably have got more support and understanding if he'd said he was gay - at least the tabloids have to be more careful about taunting people about that these days.
As an aside, one of the people who comes out of this story as an angel is Davina McCall. At many of Stan's lowest points, Davina is on the end of a phone with life-saving sanity and support, and is just another example of someone who deserves more dignity than the tabloids have given her. Ulrika Johnson, by contrast, comes across as someone who still needs to tackle her demons in the way that Stan & Davina have.
It's well-crafted as a page turner, but also leaves room for Stan's personality to come through. It's not about football, it's about the human condition, about frailty, and about moving on and finding new directions. I felt more human after reading it, and that's not a bad recommendation for a book.
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