The Greatest Footballer You Never Saw: The Robin Friday Story (Mainstream Sport)
£9.30£10.40 (-11%)
Robin Friday was an exceptional footballer who should have played for England. He never did. Robin Friday was a brilliant player who could have played in the top flight. He never did.
Why? Because Robin Friday was a man who would not bow down to anyone, who refused to take life seriously and who lived every moment as if it were his last. For anyone lucky enough to have seen him play, Robin Friday was up there with the greats. Take it from one who knows: ‘There is no doubt in my mind that if someone had taken a chance on him he would have set the top division alight,’ says the legendary Stan Bowles. ‘He could have gone right to the top, but he just went off the rails a bit.’ Loved and admired by everyone who saw him, Friday also had a dark side: troubled, strong-minded, reckless, he would end up destroying himself. Tragically, after years of alcohol and drug abuse, he died at the age of 38 without ever having fulfilled his potential.
The Greatest Footballer You Never Saw provides the first full appreciation of a man too long forgotten by the world of football, and, along with a forthcoming film based on Friday’s life, with a screenplay by co-author Paolo Hewitt, this book will surely give him the cult status he deserves.
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Additional information
| Publisher | Mainstream Publishing, New edition (14 Sept. 1998) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Paperback | 192 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 1840181087 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1840181081 |
| Dimensions | 12.95 x 1.02 x 19.05 cm |
by Carrington707
i was very keen to read this book, having heard so much about this footballer in the mid 90s when the book was published, and the Super Furry Animals used the iconic photo of Robin on the cover of their single. I read a great article on him in Loaded magazine, which made me want to learn more.
I finally got around to reading the book this year, and to be honest, felt disappointed. It offered little that wasn’t present in the magazine articles of the time.
Admittedly the subject material is fascinating; its certainly a must for any fan of Reading, Cardiff, 1970s , grass roots, lower league or cult football.
I finished reading the whole thing in a matter of hours, so slim was the material on offer. It consisted of verbatim interviews with family and friends, stitched together with match reports from the local paper. Well-written football books are hard to find and this isn’t one of them.Very little insight was present, or analysis of Robin, especially the parts of his life after retirement from the game, which are only touched upon.
Perhaps thats fitting given the icon in question. I just expected more from the authors involved, and I guess the presence of an Oasis member when the book was published gave it some necessary visibility -but offers little literary input.
I came away having utmost respect for Robin, one of the few originals of the game (much over-used phrase) -and would much rather read this again than some ghost-written autobiography of a 23 year old premier league modern day player
Would like to see Robins story given the spotlight and treatment it deserves
by Jerry Smith
Interesting read for all football fans , well written, would recommend
by Lord Elpus
The subject of Robin Friday is very interesting. A footballer who many say was the most skilful they ever saw, a character who didn’t give a f*** and ultimately self-destructed after a couple of seasons in the professional game, leading to an early death while still in his 30s. This book is largely a collection of quotes and press clippings, which is pretty much all that remains of the guy. There are a few photos in existence and they would have improved the book had they been included. There is virtually no video footage as he played in the lower leagues in the 70s. Film was expensive and not wasted on 4th division football. Shame. But it does mean that quotes and press clippings are all we have left. Every football fan should be aware of the legend of Robin Friday and if the promised feature film never materialises this book is what you should read.
by Richard Quinn
Excellent book about one of football’s greatest enigmas. Could have been one of the great players of his era. A lot of First Division Clubs had him watched and were interested in him, including Liverpool. Who knows what might have been? He certainly had the skill to have played at a much higher level. He was a genius who pressed the self destruct button and never the reached the heights that he was capable of. In the early 70’s when he burst on to the scene at Reading he was being tipped as the new George Best. If only. What we saw of him was good but it should have been so much more.
by Very Amateur Golfer
I will start by saying i’m a big football fan and as a fan of another pretty unfashionable team I figured it might be nice to read about someone other than the elite stars for a change. Hidden somewhere in this book is a decent story, however its presented to you via newspaper clippings. To be honest I didn’t really expect to pay money to get the side of the story I could have got from going to the right library and reading through newspapers. It feels low effort on the part of the writers and it gets really boring and repetitive very quickly.
There are parts of the book where you hear the viewpoint of the people that knew Robin Friday personally, however these parts are sadly very fleeting and it doesn’t appear that there was any real probing done by whoever interviewed them. Most of the story was therefore left to the reader to infer.
Pretty dull read to be honest, difficult to visualise a bunch of decent goals from newspaper clippings and very little about the interesting off the field stuff that this probably needed for you to really buy into what sort of a man Robin Friday was. I’d only recommend this if you were a Reading or Cardiff fan of that era as it might have nostalgic value, otherwise I wouldn’t bother.
by Muzz Fentona
People of a certain age, obsessed with bubble gum cards and Shoot magazine will remember the name Robin Friday. Moving into their teens they will possibly have mentally charted his brief rise up the divisions, when First Division clubs scouted him by the dozen from lowly Reading, only for him to end up at Second Division Cardiff City, only for within months, to disappear completely from the goal scoring charts and regular XIs printed in the weekly fixture catch up. By the time it became apparent that his name wasn’t penetrating their psyche, they were most likely heading for the girls, punk and underage drinking phase of their lives, only for the fantastic sight of Friday giving the Luton goalkeeper the Vs to rear its head on a Super Furry Animals record sleeve 15 or so years later, thereby pricking their memories. Hopefully, every real footbal fan will at one time read this magnificent tale of squandered talent by a man too interested in life to care about little else. A bitter sweet tale, often heartwarming, amusing and a great insight for younger people to read about what the molly-coddled game of superstar footballers was like when real men knew how to mix natural talent with grit and determination instead of banking more money than most fans will see in a lifetime in one week and poncing about in flash cars, marrying popstars and models (to cheat on) and missing internationals to staty on in Brazil to make an advert.
This is a must read, buy it, borrow it, steal it if you have to (it would be rather apt), just read the heartwarming, fascinating tale of the Footballer You never Saw (unless like me, you did).
by Amazon Customer
Great account of Man Friday, a complete one off. The interviews are now over 25 years old, but still feel fresh. A must read for any Reading fan, but also any football fan. Also read Stuart Kane’s books as well.