When the Cheering Stops
When The Cheering Stops is the new work in progress by James Corbett, author of Everton: The School of Science and England Expects and Contributing Editor of the Observer Sport Monthly.
From the author:
Only recently, it seems, has football accrued a modicum of sentiment and heroes of the game’s past afforded the veneration that they deserve. Monuments to past heroes were rare just a decade ago, but now most big clubs have honoured at least one former hero with a statue or stand. Football nostalgia has become a mini industry: it is possible for a former player to make a decent living from a combination of punditry, after dinner speaking, autograph signing sessions, and publishing their memoirs.
What interests me, and what forms the subject of this book, is the generation of footballing greats for whom such recognition came too late. What happened to them when the cheering stopped?
Far from being obscure, the cast of these ‘forgotten’ heroes will be familiar to anyone with any interest in the game: Bobby Moore, Bill Shankly, Sir Alf Ramsey, Dixie Dean, Tommy Lawton, Wilf Mannion, Don Revie, Bill Nicholson, the Busby Babes and Paul Gascoigne. Their fates and often lonely last days serve as potent reminders of how football was, and can still be, a cruel, unforgiving sport.
When the Cheering Stops will draw on original interviews with former players, fans and family members.
This is where YOU come in. I am looking to interview people who knew, met, watched, bumped into, drank with, played with, fought, or went to school with these icons.
Maybe you didn’t, but your Dad or Grandad did. Sometimes the most chance or obscure meetings – e.g. sitting next to Bobby Moore on the tube; or bumping into Tommy Lawton at a children’s party – make for the best stories.
If you have an anecdote or tale to tell about any of these figures – I would love to hear from you.
Click on a link above to see what I’m looking for.
This book is a lament, an exposition of some of football’s forgotten stories. I believe they need to be told with humanity and candor in the hope that it brings belated recognition of past heroes and their frequently lonely struggles. Maybe then – just maybe – this great game might unite and stave off some of the ignominy and isolation of life after football for future generations of our stars.
Best wishes
James Corbett
stories from football’s wastelands
