Title: Please Don't GoThere are some footballers, who for whatever reason, we cannot help but like, such is their enthusiasm and joy they have for their sport – Lionel Messi and Paul Gascoigne are two that immediately spring to mind. As does the larger than life John Hartson.
Hartson has previously written an autobiography in 2007 (before he retired as is becoming de riguer thesedays) but in 2010 he took on a bigger challenge than any he faced on the pitch – testicular cancer. Please Don’t Go details Hartson’s life in the months leading up to his hospitalisation and the months after. He deals with the majority of his footballing career in flashbacks – his time at Luton, Arsenal, West Ham and Wimbledon dealt with fairly swiftly. He also reflects on life growing up in Wales and some of the behaviour in his teenage years that impacted upon his happiness later in life.
Hartson is unflinchingly honest about all things in this book. He talks about money freely as well as the material items in life although it is done in a matter-of-fact style as opposed to flaunting his wealth. Yet Hartson should be richer than he is: a series of big transfer fees combined with hefty pay packets that were squandered on bets as well as a substantial divorce settlement means that Hartson isn’t uncomfortable but should be in a better position. He’s cavalier with his money but also acutely aware of it too. His divorce and the misery it caused him is also dealt with openly – arguably it’s not in Hartson’s nature to be anything else.
Like Tony Cascarino’s Full Time, Please Don’t Go reveals the frustration of a player in the twilight of their career – the body aches, the enthusiasm for the game dissipates and crucially other things in life start to matter more than football. And in Hartson’s case it is the damage caused by breakdown of his previous marriage and separation from his children. Hartson’s love of his family, his children and partner Sarah shines through the entirety of this book – he has a lot of love to give and this reciprocated by friends and family. Hartson also explores some of the problems that face many footballers: gambling as well as others such as depression and over-eating which is as a consequence of the lack of fulfilment he is receiving in his career.
All this is intriguing but there is a sense of perpetual creeping doom which is inescapable when the reader knows what is about to happen to Hartson. How close Hartson came to death is recalled in lucid and simple prose by his sister and Sarah as Hartson had lost consciousness for several weeks. This is undeniably dramatic but not gripping as the reader knows that ultimately there is a happy ending to this story.
While Please Don’t Go may be relatively weak in its writing, that is made up for in the strength of the story being told negates this. John Hartson is responsible for one of the most honest autobiographies in years and for that we should be thankful.
Buy Please Don't Go here.
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