He will have you! Oh and horses! (Psycho - Stuart Pearce)

Member Name: KingHerrod

Product:	Psycho - Stuart Pearce
Date:	12/10/01 (172 review reads)
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Psycho, that is a phrase that could be applied to my so-called pet giraffe, Geoffrey the mad mohican giraffe. But it also happens to be the nickname of one of England's best-loved footballers of recent times. Coventry, Nottingham Forest, Newcastle, West Ham and now Manchester City have been and are being graced with his presence, not to mention at the start of his career, non-league Wealdstone. A man that has been managed by Brian Clough, Kevin Keegan, Glen Hoddle, Harry Redknap, Ruud Guillit and Bobby Robson; I don't think you could find a more charismatic list, especially when you add Bobby Gould. Oh and I am forgetting that penalty miss in the world cup of 1990 and the penalties scored in the European Championships of 1996. Who can forget the expression on Pearce's face when he scored his penalty against Spain? Not me and so as a person who does not really like books by or about footballers, I plumped for this one, well it was half price on Amazon after all.

Ghost written by Bob Harris, an old time sports writer, who went on to set up the UK's first dedicated sports paper, Sports First, Pearce's autobiography traces his career from being on the books with QPR as a boy all the way through to his current club Manchester City. What is Pearce's view of Clough, the legend, the man who never quite seemed to live on this planet? I am not going to tell you, you will have to read the book! Come on you do not want it spoiled do you? OK, just a little extract. Pearce on Clough.

"The peculiarities extended way beyond our frequent coach journeys. He was in the habit of taking the boys for a walk on the morning of a big game and would suddenly come across a tree. "This" he said, pointing at the tree, "is a punch tree. You have got to punch it, it is lucky!""

Psycho, gives Pearce's account of all aspects of his life, his time as an electrician, the travails he suffered under the ha
nds of Guillit at Newcastle, his private life (including meticulous preparations for his matches), the move from non-league football to the big time with Coventry City, an England debut and appearances at two major tournaments and of course penalties. Pearce and penalties are like hand and glove and the psychological and emotional aspects are revealed in the book, what he thought and felt. Oh and I can tell you that Pearce like me hates Liverpool FC.

The subject matter will interest most sports fans, but does the books style hold your attention? It does, is the short answer, the book is written in Pearce's honest blunt talking style, he says what he thinks and does not care if you will agree or be offended. Pearce does not say what he thinks will be good for him and his account of his fall out between him and Clough is interesting reading with no holds barred. It would appear that Harris's input is minimal; perhaps some polishing of parts, but in reading the book you can almost hear Pearce speak the words. The style is easy to read and flows well, some autobiographies are a real bind to read, the style is flat and monotone, but not this one. So full marks for style. Where Pearce does spoil his no punches agenda, is towards the end of the book, where it reads as a come and get me, I will make a good manager plea. I was left feeling that the book was part of an agenda to get Pearce into management, but perhaps I am being a cynic.

However, Psycho has a major flaw, it is too long and poorly structured. I concede that in writing your life story some events will repeat in the book as they marked a major point in your life, but with this book it goes beyond a joke. How many times are the same phrases used over penalties, how many times are you told the same thing about Coventry or Forest. Well the answer is a lot, in the first part of the book, the same facts and anecdotes are repeated and repeated. Perhaps, again I do Pearce a diss
ervice, as the latter part of the book does not suffer from this problem, perhaps the repetition is due to the fact that the further away the events the poorer Pearce?s memory of them and thus the constant return to key events. But why Harris did not use a greater strike through when editing I do not know, but then would you argue with Stuart Pearce? Not me.

Lets give you another example of Clough the nutter: Pearce has just signed for Nottingham Forest and Clough asks him if he is going on holiday, Pearce replies that he is off to Disneyland:

""Are you taking your girlfriend" he asked "No" I replied "I am going with a mate" "What's the matter son?" he came back "are you queer or something?" He had only just signed me but in a matter of minutes he had hammered me for being a lying b*stard, for being a drinker and now for being a homosexual."

Psycho is an excellent account of two decades of football, written by a footballer that has always given his all for club and country. If you are remotely interested in sport, this will be a read that interests you, if not, just read the two chapters about Brian Clough for chuckle after chuckle. Psycho is blunt, it is Pearce's one sided view of events, but what you are left with is a sense that Pearce is a guy you would want on your side, a likeable guy, not a pampered pre-madonna. What can I say, give it a read, dip in and out of it, just do not expect a literary masterpiece.

I now apologise for the following intervention, Geoffrey the mad mohican giraffe wanted to give you his view.

First, I am not Psycho, I only scalp people that annoy me. Now that is out of the way, I want to tell you to read this book, it has crunching tackles, blood and gore. Stuy Pearce kicks lots of players around the pitch and they all deserved it. Stuy is a great footballer and I like his style and his book is interesting to a giraff
e. He never played for Tottenham but I like him cos he always kicks players, but not too dirtily. But he would never be able to kick me, cos I would scalp him. Anyway, read this book, it has nutters in it and horses and I like horses.

Sorry.

Psycho is now available in paperback, it costs £6.99, is published by Headline and is 424 pages long. Oh and the picture on the cover is great. It gets three stars due to the repetition, but there are some interesting facts and views in this book.

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