MANCHESTER UNITED RUINED MY LIFE

TITLE          Manchester United Ruined My Life
AUTHOR         Colin Shindler
PUBLISHER      Headline - A division of Hodder Headline plc
ADDRESS        338 Euston Rd,
	       London NW1 3BH
DATE           May 1998
ISBN NUMBER    0 7472 2174 X
PRICE          £14.99

This book should be entitled: Manchester City ruined my life. 'Lifelong' Blue, Shindler makes no secret of his admiration for Man U throughout the book. Admittedly, he is not too enamoured of the current crop of young rottweilers, but get him on Best, Law, Charlton... In fact he seems to spend rather a lot of time down at Old Trafford, watching the team who 'ruined his life'.

There is not enough Man City and too much of Shindler's unrelated family life to read about in this book, which is essentially a straight autobiography, with a bit of a football theme. The Man City recollections smacked of cut and paste, not true memories. In an attempt to fool us that he didn't once dip into Rothmans, he says of a goal in the derby in March '68 at OT: "... the unexpected balding head of George Heslop met (the ball) with a firm header. It was Heslop's first and, I think, without recourse to the record books only goal for City." Well it wasn't. Heslop scored three goals in his career at Man City. Perhaps this fading memory of ye olde bygone days is supposed to be part of the book's inherent charm? However it's moments like this that irritate. Especially as later in the book he proves that he knows more about the players than they themselves do.

The book concentrates heavily on the halcyon days. In fact you suspect that he has rarely seen City in the past twenty years or so and like that other charlatan, Nick Hornby (who made a career out of partially supporting Arsenal and preferring to watch Cambridge United whilst at Uni... instead of making the one-hour trip back to London), Shindler also falls for many of the Cambridge charms as an excuse not to follow his 'beloved' team. On the day City were playing Tottenham in the penultimate game of 67/68... Colin misses the game by spending the day with some fellow undergraduate, trying to get her to explain why she had resisted his amorous intent the previous night. This is unforgivable.

The book is salvaged by one genuinely interesting chapter. In 1971 Shindler wrote to Joe Mercer, asking if he could train with the team, in order to write about a club from the inside. Mercer agrees and Colin becomes one of the lads for a couple of months. This works well and offers an insight into the great side of that time. It is written with genuine wit and affection. Look out for the wit and wisdom of Alan Oakes. I asked Colin Shindler why he had titled the book so, instead of celebrating the Man City angle/alternative. He said that his publishers told him it would sell more with Man U in the title. It's up to you to prove them right or wrong.

I saw "Manchester United ruined my life" in the book shop at Manchester Airport and decided that it was just what I needed for a long plane journey. What a good decision. It is a brilliant read. It helps, I suppose, that Colin Shindler and I are about the same age and we both went to grammar schools in the Manchester area where Blues were outnumbered by reds. It brought back so many memories, not only of the City teams of the time but about growing up in the 50s and 60s. It is well written and gives a great insight into the glory years! If you were around at the time, buy it. If you are too young, then it will solve the problem of what to buy your dad for Christmas.