Customer Reviews
He can write them but he can't tell them....... - By: tygris, 21 Jan 2008 
Unfortunately Ricky has made a serious error of judgementin narrating his own book - it just doesn't work.
The book itself is witty, full of enough anecdotes & one-liners to detract from the constant references to Liverpool FC, & Ricky himself is a very talented actor, & an excellent after-dinner speaker & raconteur.
But this does not translate to the smoothness of narration required for any audiobook - the audience is not able to see facial expressions & hand gestures whilst settling back after a Sports Dinner, but is more likely to be someone on a long journey, or maybe stuckin a traffic jam, or to have a sight problem which prohibits them from reading the book.
Ricky's delivery is stilted, the timing is out, & the overall impression is one of hearing a monologue delivered by someone reading one word at a time from an autocue moving at an intermittent pace. This is unfortunate, because a lot of the material has the potential to be very amusing, if only it was presented & delivered by someone with timing & voice variation.
The book is a buy, the CD audiobook is poor.
Football My Arse: - By: P. A. Woodhouse, 08 Jul 2006 
Ricky Tomlinson is probably Famous as both the lazy father of the familyin "The Royles" (Jim Royle) & as the last Manager to give a team Talkin the changing rooms at Wembley before it was knocked down & rebuilt. as Mike Bassett. Directly because of this, there are several references to the fictional England Managerin this book. Perhpas too many.
Nevertheless, This book contains some of the most amuzing & hilarious stories from "the beautiful game" itself, some of which have now surely gone downin football folklore. Not only are there crazy stories from these shores, but from overseas. Stories from deepin the game's past, & some of the more recent Howlers. (Peter Enckelman, anyone?)
Some of the witty remarks included also help the bookin its comedic cause (Football my Arsene, & football my Farce Being two good examples)
This book is surely one of the most amuzing football books ever written, better than anything that has gone before it. Whilst on the subject, I recomend "David Seaman's Goalkeeping Nihgtmares" on DVD. Some of the things menionedin this book appear on the DVD.
A Very Funny Book - By: J. Chippindale, 24 Jun 2006 
This is a very funny book of football anecdotes & for those of us of certain age brings back memories of certain players. In fact, some of the names go back even further than I do.
Ricky Tomlinson is the ideal man to compile this book. Certainly for me while reading the book I had this picturein my mind of Ricky with his heavy Liverpool accent telling these stories down at the local & having everyonein stitches.
Here are a couple of one liners from the book. There are hundreds of them:
Malcolm Allison: "Our 'keeper Joe Corrigan many be concussed, but it's difficult to tell with him as he always looks a bit dopey."
David Beckham: "My parents have always been there for me, ever since I was about seven."
Many of the anecdotes are several pages long but there is also a good assortment of one liners, like those above. Gaffs from players, managers & commentators alike.
If you are a football fan, you can't help but love this one.
I was disappointed... - By: , 12 Mar 2006 
This book does contain some amusing & bizarre footballing stories, don't get me wrong. But for every genuinely funny moment there are 5 or 6 references by the author to his own alter-ego Mike Basset, his homein Liverpool & just Liverpool Football Clubin general.
If these consistent references had any substance to them, then this book might well be a fantastic compendium of footballing trivialities. But none of them go anywhere, most ending abruptlyin some witless, throw-away comment. I can't help but feel that it is dragged a long way down by Tomlinson's peculiar fondness of himself.
My advice is save your money, don't go for this one. Unless you want to buy my copy on the cheap, that is ;)
