Believe in the Sign

Title: Believe in the Sign

Author: Mark Hodkinson

Published: 2007

Publisher: Pomona Press

Whilst reading about a perennially small team in the industrial north west of England during the 1970s may not be the glamour that appeals to many sports fans, Mark Hodkinson’s Believe in the Sign is an interesting tale of growing up in Rochdale as well as charting the downright misery of supporting a club that has no history of achieving greatness, isn’t achieving greatness and nor is there any indication they are ever likely to achieve greatness.

Alongside tales of early cup exits to non-league opponents and promises of a ‘fresh start’ under new management, is anecdotes and recollections of adolescence in an unfashionable former-industrial town - the opening of an ASDA supermarket, bikes being stolen, Scout groups and rather grimly, an abduction and murder of a young girl.

There is no flashiness involved in Hodkinson’s book - it is deliberately vacant of some details and it is much the better for it. It is full of smart observations without being pleased with itself. Hodkinson is a writer whose work I will be further investigating (hopefully) in this blog in the future.

Buy Believe in the Sign here.

The Golden Years

Title: The Golden Years - Hibernian in the Days of the Famous Five

Author: Tom Wright

Published: 2010

Publisher: DB Publishing

The Golden Years is the history of Hibernian’s success in the years following the Second World War. Led by a quintet of talented players - Gordon Smith, Lawrie Reilly, Bobby Johnstone, Eddie Turnbull and Willie Ormond. They were known as the Famous Five and for a decade wrestled for dominance as one of the top club sides in Britain, if not the world.

The book is told in standard linear fashion and begins before the outbreak of the Second World War. The style is informative and factual, almost textbook like, not necessarily aimed at entertaining the read. This is a piece of historic preservation rather than an examination of the personalities involved and whilst there is certainly not glaring faults with this style, it does treat the piece rather earnestly rather than celebrate the time with added colour. Another criticism would be the size of the print which is far too small and makes the task of reading the Golden Years far more daunting than it should be.

Wright is the Hibs club historian and it shows. He has access to reams of sources and it’s clear as all the detail is in the book very precisely. There are as well a good few anecdotes which are worth sharing, which certainly date the era: for example in 1949 the Hibs players gave the Board of Directors a Christmas gift. Not a move that I can imagine is replicated in the current era by players at Easter Road (or most clubs for that matter). Also, more tellingly, it emerges that Scotland took 41 people to the World Cup finals in 1954 in Switzerland. Only 13 of them were players. So it appears mismanagement and incompetence has been a fundamental part of the SFA for a prolonged period of time.

What is all the more remarkable about Hibs’ achievements on the pitch during the Famous Five era is that for a side that won the league three times between 1948 and 1952 is that the Famous Five only appeared together in 80 league matches. It is purely conjecture but one would have to wonder what could have been achieved by this Hibernian side if they had stayed injury free.

Buy The Golden Years here.

Feeding The Monster

Title: Feeding The Monster: How Money, Smarts, and Nerve Took a Team to the Top

Author: Seth Mnookin

Published: 2007

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Rarely these days do owners and managers of professional sports teams grant a level of access as John Henry, the owner of the Boston Red Sox afforded Seth Mnookin in Feeding The Monster. Mnookin was given access all areas for this book which meant he was fully immersed in the ball club - spending mornings with General Manager Theo Epstein and his Baseball Operations team, the afternoon in the clubhouse and batting practice with the coaches and players and then the evening watching events unfold from the luxurious surroundings of the Owner’s Box. From a deep and rich source of information and characters involved, Mnookin does not disappoint - this is one of the finest stories in modern day baseball.

Mnookin first has to set the context for his book and with the Red Sox, there is a lot of context. Perenial underachievers the Red Sox by the time of their centenary in 2001 had become one of America’s greatest soap operas. They had not won the World Series since 1918, coincidentally the year they sold their greatest player Babe Ruth to their greatest rivals, the New York Yankees. In the interim, the myths and legends became so prevalent they actually replaced the truth - with established New England journalists passing off folklore as true history. Mnookin spends much of the early sections teasing out the truth and dispelling ’facts’ such as Ruth not being sold to finance Broadway musical No No Nanette; former owner Yawkey was not the kind hearted, benevolent owner but in fact a cruel, sometimes disinterested owner and the Red Sox history of not signing black players.

From there, Mnookin moves onto more recent history: the takeover of the Red Sox that led to the arrival of John Henry as owner, Larry Lucchino as Chief Executive and Theo Epstien as the youngest General Manager in MLB history. Whilst the detail that Mnookin covers is not essential it is very interesting and an otherwise complicated process comes over on paper as a fantastic piece of drama with different actors and machinations whilst impacting on the ownership outcome.

With the takeover confirmed the book then moves to a season-by-season account of the Red Sox in the Henry era. With vast expectations from fans and a critical media, Mnookin gives us a balanced and entertaining account of what happens from off-park adjustments to dealing with highly paid and highly opinionated players - this is the story of how a modern organisation functions. That may sound dull but rest assured it is anything but, Feeding The Monster is a colourful, gossipy and vibrant story which goes past Boston’s miraculous 2004 World Series win (which was greeted with unprecedented celebrations in Bean Town), which would have been a typical finish-point. Instead Feeding The Monster goes to ‘what next?’ How does an organisation, once it has thrown the monkey off its back, go on from? This aspect is just as interesting as the build-up.

Mnookin has written a fantastic book and one this blog would heartily endorse. Time will tell, but this has the makings of an all-time great.

Buy Feeding The Monster here.