End of Innocence
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€18.50
Jimmy Greaves was England's most prodigious goalscorer of the 1950s and 1960s. In his autobiography, Greavsie, he writes that the 1959/60 English football season was the final year of football's age of innocence. He saw the open, attacking football of the 1950s give way to a much more defensively minded game. It was an era which also saw the advent of the tracksuit manager and specialist coaches. An End of Innocence examines English football in the 1950s and a transition through the 1960s; looking at the international and domestic landscape, through the lens of a selection of teams. It considers different managerial styles, team formations, coaching and training methods, and the developments in tactics, diet and health care; as well as a significant change in footballers' lifestyles, that came after the abolition of the maximum wage in 1961. Set against a backdrop of social and political change, An End of Innocence reflects a changing nation and a game that was evolving, and the lasting impact that has had upon English football, its players and supporters.
Tim Quelch is a retired local government officer who writes sports books to raise funds for various UK charities. This is his eighth book. All his previous books - Never Had It So Good, Underdog!, Bent Arms & Dodgy Wickets, Stumps & Runs & Rock 'n' Roll, From Orient to the Emirates and Good Old Sussex by the Sea - have each received wide acclaim. Now living in the north, this book is a testament to his early years following English football.