- Jul 7, 2003
- 47,221
Anybody else on here read this? Was one of the William Hill Sports Books of the Year for 2014. Essentially a bit of an insight into the world of the football scout, through following a bunch of them around for a year or so.
If you like your football books, I'd recommend it. Good read, and plenty of Albion interest (though there is plenty to hold your attention in relation to general football stuff too). This quote from an interview with Barry Lloyd:
"This is a ****ing classic, unbelievable. Russell Slade was manager when I was chief scout, and he asked 'Have you seen Liam Dickinson at Derby?'. I said 'Funnily enough, I only saw him play when he was at Stockport. He got twenty odd goals. He waddles around the pitch, he can't ****ing jump, his first touch is crap, can't head the ball. Anything else you want to know?'. He said to me 'He's playing for Leeds at the moment'. I said 'Fine. I tell you what I'll do. I'll have a word with the lads up North, and I'll have a look at him on my laptop'.
One of the lads had seen him, and said the only thing he didn't do was put his hands in his pockets. So anyway, it gets serious. Three days later, the chairman [Dick Knight?] rings me up, says we've agreed a fee with Derby. The story was, Paul Jewell bought him from Stockport for three quarters of a million quid. He played a reserve game for Derby, which Jewell attended. A week later, he goes to Huddersfield on loan. Then he goes to Bradford and Leeds, on loan. So the chairman rings up and says 'We've negotiated four hundred & fifty thousand for Dickinson'. I said 'You're having a ****ing laugh, aren't you? Have you seen the reports?'. The only reason I'm still in a job is that if I put in a report to the manager, I copy in the chairman. I tell him I'll give Gwyn Williams a ring up at Leeds, just to get a flavour of the boy. Russell said 'Look, Bal, I want him and that's the end of the story'.
We signed him. Within a month, we're trying to get him out on loan, because he was so bad. And of course Russell didn't last longer than another couple of months".
If you like your football books, I'd recommend it. Good read, and plenty of Albion interest (though there is plenty to hold your attention in relation to general football stuff too). This quote from an interview with Barry Lloyd:
"This is a ****ing classic, unbelievable. Russell Slade was manager when I was chief scout, and he asked 'Have you seen Liam Dickinson at Derby?'. I said 'Funnily enough, I only saw him play when he was at Stockport. He got twenty odd goals. He waddles around the pitch, he can't ****ing jump, his first touch is crap, can't head the ball. Anything else you want to know?'. He said to me 'He's playing for Leeds at the moment'. I said 'Fine. I tell you what I'll do. I'll have a word with the lads up North, and I'll have a look at him on my laptop'.
One of the lads had seen him, and said the only thing he didn't do was put his hands in his pockets. So anyway, it gets serious. Three days later, the chairman [Dick Knight?] rings me up, says we've agreed a fee with Derby. The story was, Paul Jewell bought him from Stockport for three quarters of a million quid. He played a reserve game for Derby, which Jewell attended. A week later, he goes to Huddersfield on loan. Then he goes to Bradford and Leeds, on loan. So the chairman rings up and says 'We've negotiated four hundred & fifty thousand for Dickinson'. I said 'You're having a ****ing laugh, aren't you? Have you seen the reports?'. The only reason I'm still in a job is that if I put in a report to the manager, I copy in the chairman. I tell him I'll give Gwyn Williams a ring up at Leeds, just to get a flavour of the boy. Russell said 'Look, Bal, I want him and that's the end of the story'.
We signed him. Within a month, we're trying to get him out on loan, because he was so bad. And of course Russell didn't last longer than another couple of months".
