Book review: 'Making the Grade'

Lyndon Lloyd , 9 November, 3comments | Jump to most recent

David Starsky of the Everton FC Heritage Society reviews the new book by Stan Osborne which gives "a fascinating insight into the rigours of being an apprentice at Everton Football Club."

Read his full review here

The book can be bought online or in the Everton club shop until Christmas.
To buy online,visit www.legendspublishing.net/efc/buy.html

Quotes or other material sourced from Everton FC Heritage Society

Reader Comments (3)

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Bobby Thomas
1 Posted 10/11/2012 at 02:16:51

The articles from Stan that used to be in When Skies Are Grey were brilliant, some of the best and most interesting that appeared. I used to love them, consistently good.

The name of Stuart Imlach, the apprentices coach/youth coach always stuck in my head. He was the father of Gary Imlach the channel 4 presenter, used to do the American Football and other stuff.

I can only imagine the book being a really good read. If anyone's got an old fella over 50/60 especially, I'd say it would be a great little extra for Xmas.

The articles in WSAG used to have a very warm feel to them, vividly creating the atmosphere surrounding training with Stuart Imlach or him issuing a bollocking over some prank gone wrong (he also sounded very good with them to be fair as I remember), the jobs they had to do and the experience of being around the senior pros, scared shitless of some and others more approachable.

Marvellous stuff, I hope it does well.

Matt Traynor
2 Posted 10/11/2012 at 12:17:58

How times have changed. Wonder how many of today's apprentices sit there scrubbing the boots of first teamers? Thanks to certain clubs competing for talent at all ages, some of these lads are millionaires before they've got near the first team - something I believe is going to screw the English team up in the longer term. These players aren't hungry to succeed anymore - as far as they're concerned they've made it. The less football they have to actually play, the better.

Dennis Stevens
3 Posted 05/01/2013 at 13:44:22

Just ordered, it'll follow on nicely from Nev the Save's bio which I've just finished reading. Further to Bobby's comments above, I'd also recommend the bio of Stuart Imlach written by his son Gary, one of so many excellent books with an Everton link.

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