STEPPES TO WEMBLEY

TITLE          Steppes to Wembley
AUTHOR         Bert Trautmann
PUBLISHER      Robert Hall Ltd.
ADDRESS        63 Old Brompton St.,
               London SW7,
               UK.
ISBN NUMBER    Not applicable (out of print)
PRICE          £4.95 (second-hand)

This is Bert Trautmann's autobiography, written in 1956 in collaboration with his friend Eric Todd who was a sports writer on the erstwhile Manchester Evening Chronicle. Although published in 1956, the bulk of the book was already finished in 1955 and the triumphant events of '56 are written as an epilogue.

The book is hardback (maroon), 141 pages with 24 black & white photos; I guess it once had a dust jacket but my copy, bought in early '96 hasn't got one.

The foreword is from Sir Stanley Rous, secretary of the FA who, probably quite acceptably for the period, but somewhat arrogantly by today's standards, manages to sing the praises of the British for being so magnanimous in welcoming a German to our shores! The book itself is dedicated to Trautmann's son who was tragically knocked down by a car in May 1956 after City won the Cup.

I won't describe Trautmann's life in detail as I've already summarised it in the more readily available (and recent) biography. Suffice it to say, he recounts some of his early years and in particular, his days in the Wehrmacht. He is constantly at pains here to underline (justifiably) the difference between 'good' Germans and 'bad' Germans; probably he had to justify his nationality almost continually in everyday life in England.

There are quite a few anecdotes in this book which are not repeated in the biography so the book is valuable to read in addition to that book. Indeed, I got the feeling from the biography that Trautmann had been less than honest in the dealings which led to his transfer to Maine Road. Here, things seem a little clearer; although the identity of the caller who lured Bert's minder, Jack Friargate away to Manchester whilst the City officials were knocking up Bert (to sign him) at the other end of the East Lancs Road is unknown, here I get the impression that it was someone at the club, though the truth will probably never be known.

The other controversial Trautmann story was the 'Kularz' incident in which he met a former Eastern Front comrade who turned out to be an imposter and whose chief interest was getting Bert back to play football in Germany. Amazingly, instead of telling the guy where to get off, Bert played along, which inevitably led to the English thinking that he had staged the entire thing. Whether he did or not will probably also never be known but, even if he did, then who could blame him for wanting to go home when his family needed him most.

There are plenty of 50's footballing anecdotes in here and it gives quite a flavour of the times and some of the characters who played in the City team; Revie deliberately giving away a penalty in a friendly against Frankfurt so that the crowd could see Bert save a penalty... he did; a penalty save versus Sunderland in 1950 which the ref. ordered retaken; Bert promptly saved it again and Westcott asked the ref. which one he liked best!

Of course this one is a good deal more sanitised than the biography, being based in a gentler and less intrusive time but it's still a nice window on the period and into the life of one of its greatest characters.