Get In There - Tommy Lawton - My Friend My Father

Product Description

Details: Tommy Lawton is England's greatest goalscorer. His record of 44 goals in 43 internationals is unsurpassed & in all he scored an astonishing 635 goals in his 731 game career playing for Burnley, Everton, Chelsea, Notts County, Brentford & Arsenal. Tall, handsome & as strong as an ox he was a national treasure & a true Boy's Own hero. But by the '70s Tommy's life was in ruins. Bankrupt, drinking heavily & on the dole after a succession of failed managerial posts & business ventures, the famous football legend faced jail after numerous court appearances. Withdrawn, depressed & out of love with football & life he came close to ending it all. In Get in There! which Lawton would famously shout as the ball hit the back of the net from one of his bullet headers his great friend, former Nottingham Evening Post editor, Barrie Williams, & his son, Tom Lawton Junior, have pieced together an exclusively personal account of Tommy Lawton's extraordinary life. Packed with wonderful memories & anecdotes, the book brings the story of Tommy Lawton, the footballer, to life: the poor working class background, the emerging talent, playing for Burnley aged 16, signing for Everton & practising headers for hours with the great Dixie Dean, starring in England's greatest ever attack with Stanley Matthews & Stan Mortensen. It also tells the moving, human story of Tommy Lawton, the man: how the idolised star's life descended into a cruel morass of debt, poverty, drink, shame & scandal before a chance encounter put him back on top, where he belonged. Beyond Tommy, the book encapsulates a footballing heyday when the stadiums were packed with working men straight from the factories & the players earned just a few pounds a week, smoked cigarettes at half-time & went on holiday to Blackpool if they were lucky. Get in There! is a fitting & very personal tribute to the great Tommy Lawton by two of the people who knew him best & a beautifully written trip down football's memory lane. Tommy Lawton scored an unprecedented 44 goals in 43 international matches for England (including wartime internationals). He also represented Great Britain versus Europe in 1947. Ideal for: All football fans, especially the older fans. This hardback book has 337 pages & measures: 24 x 16 x 3.3cm