Amazon.co.uk Review
A Season in Paradise is Henrik Larsson's official account of a spectacular season. Just when Rangers looked to be re-establishing their grip on Scottish football, Celtic rose from the ashes of off-field trauma and on-field inconsistency to land a majestic treble in 2000/2001. The once-dreadlocked Swedish international banged in a record-breaking 53 goals along the way. Larsson was lucky to be there at all. The horrific on-field injury he received in 1999 should have ended his career--a year after his arrival from Feyenoord had helped Celtic reclaim the Championship, and prevent Rangers from breaking The Bhoys' nine-in-a-row record. Anyone who saw the bottom half of his broken lower left leg dangling in his sock will be amazed that he ever played again, let alone went on to scoop Europe's Golden Boot, ahead of £60 million worth of Series-A talent in the shape of Hernan Crespo and Andre Shevchenko.
My leg was really starting to hurt despite the morphine, which was making everything seem very strange... In my slightly fevered state I started thinking how a touch I'd had earlier in the game had led to me breaking my leg. If one thing had been different before... I'd now be sitting next to Mark Rieper discussing golf swings, not facing a long fight back to fitness.
The story of that extraordinary fightback is inspirational, but elsewhere in this book, the passion that so clearly infuses Larsson's football is somehow absent. Nor is the player a particularly insightful chronicler of what must have been an extraordinary period in his life, both personally and professionally. His reflections on the striker's art, Celtic's manager problems, team dynamics--in fact all those things you can't see for yourself looking on from the stands or your armchair--are curiously uninvolving. What you get is a pretty straightforward account of the matches, the goals and some photos. For some reason defenders--Tony Adams'
Addicted and Stuart Pearce's
Psycho, for example--just seem to write better books. Celtic supporters will no doubt find this account of their team's triumph endlessly absorbing, but
Keep the Faith is probably a more interesting read on the same subject... until never under-opinionated Celtic boss Martin O'Neill gets his pen out that is. --
Alex Hankin
Synopsis
Henrik Larsson has a talent for scoring goals. Despite a broken leg briefly threatening his career, in the 2000-01 season, at Celtic, Henrik surpassed all expectations with his quality of play and the number of goals scored. This is Henrik's account of the season, from his first goal against Dundee in August to Celtic's triumph in the Championship. There are anecdotes and insights, with a collection of tributes from players and fans who voted Henrik such titles as Player's Player, Football Writer's Player, and Swedish Player of the Year.
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