A TALE OF TWO CITIES BOOK REVIEW - December 1996
| Dave McPherson (of Rangers, Hearts, Rangers and Hearts
again) is probably one of the most successful footballers currently playing who nobody
thinks is any good. His awkward, gangly frame, trademark dopey expression and mullet-type
hairstyle probably have a lot to do with this, but it's pretty unfair all the same.
This book seems to carry the burden of that unfairness heavily on its shoulders, and the
plentiful stories of Cup Finals, trebles, and European glory are regularly broken up with
rather sad tales of McPherson being transferred without his knowledge, dropped from the
Scotland side on a bizarre whim of Andy Roxburgh's, and inexplicably booed by his own
supporters. He's surprisingly frank in his revelations, candid about his own
shortcomings, and generally comes across as a likeable and rather badly put-upon fellow. It all goes a bit wrong, however, when you get to page 101, when McPherson goes with Scotland to Sweden for Euro 92. "That European Championship was another unforgettable experience... getting a 0-0 draw with the Dutch was a great start, and from a defender's point of view keeping a clean sheet against a side that contained Marco van Basten and Ruud Gullit was a major plus." Hmm. Yes. Well, if that's how much attention our defenders were paying, it's hardly surprising that we in fact lost said game 1-0 to a Denis Bergkamp goal midway through the second half. Not all that "unforgettable" after all then, Dave? No-one really expects footballers to write their own autobiographies. But it doesn't seem too much to ask that they at least read them before they try to flog them to us for 15 quid. Tch. VERDICT: Ridiculous errors aside, not a bad book. But not a good one either. ** |
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