Mitch Stansbury's book, A Corner Kick from the Middle of Nowhere, which covers Hereford United's time in the Conference has been reviewed by Adam Marshall of Setanta.
This was not the sort of book that I would normally be drawn to but it was worth taking a look at and, in the end, aided by substantial flight delays to and from Dublin, I read it from cover to cover without any regrets.
I suppose the difficult aspect to ‘A Corner Kick from the Middle of Nowhere’ is that it does not necessarily tell a remarkable story. Mitch, though likeable and an excellent writer, is an ordinary supporter who, despite being stationed away from his local club, still followed them with devotion even if he does resent the fact that they were not playing ‘proper’ football anymore.
Hereford’s tale after being relegated is interesting without being intriguing. They overcome money problems, have the odd semi-decent run in the cup, reach the play-offs but lose out on a couple of occasions and then finally clinch promotion via the same route. This does give the book a natural ending and it appears as though the author will miss Conference (or Blue Square Premier) football after all, despite his obvious aversion to it following the shock of demotion.
It is a genuine, personal and well-crafted account and it kept me reading all the way through so the book could appeal to any followers of the beautiful game.
There are some very funny tales, particularly the scrape with a deer when cycling back from a game through Richmond Park to his Twickenham home, and humorous recollections of banter between supporters and either rival fans or players. Having opposition supporters talking about ‘thriving under Thatcher’ is certainly worthy of a mention.
But some readers may struggle to keep with the story at times. The gory details of the financial plight of the club, whilst essential to the tale because Hereford were close to going out of business, did lead to a slight wavering in my determination to see it through.
Today’s football being as it is, even the most promising players passing through never really made a big name for themselves – as would have probably been the case 15 or 20 years ago. Mitch is extremely impressed with some of the Bulls stars and suggests they belong at a higher level but the only one who really made it was Gavin Mahon and he did not receive a massive amount of praise. Gavin Williams had a brief but unsuccessful stay at West Ham and Paul Parry is a Wales international, but even that achievement means less than it used to.
There is also a tendency, because it is a very personal account, to draw on events outside of the life and times of Hereford United 1997-2006 which is perfectly understandable. But it almost serves to dilute the main thread of the story in many respects. The reader is fully aware that this account of The Bulls’ non-league exploits is not the most important book they will ever read but the likes of the tsunami and 9-11 are mentioned to produce the much-used rational alternative answer to Bill Shankly’s famous quote about football being more important than life or death.
Even England’s rugby World Cup win is treated with reverence as a far bigger event than anything Hereford could muster up: “The rugby lads gave us a weekend only slightly soured by Jimmy Quinn and the Slops” comments Mitch, after a 4-1 pasting by a team much disliked in Shrewsbury Town. I am sure many football fans would cringe at the suggestion that their team’s thumping was only a small black cloud in comparison to the rugger heroics.
This is not to suggest that Mitch is not an ardent fan. He clearly is, even if some matches are skipped over because he has not attended, and this makes it possible to tell the story. Covering every game would make ‘A Corner Kick..’ unreadable.
Yet two games from the end of the book, with Hereford on the brink of another play-off final, to read this was disappointing: “Forward now to the crazy world of the play-offs and a Sunday afternoon in Morecambe, a 5pm kick off and a past midnight return for the travelling Bulls, all because of Sky Television. Alternatively, a five minute stroll to the Turks Head, home by seven, and a whole evening to contemplate the second leg in four days’ time. All because of Sky Television. Yes, hands-up time, we were in the pub, real supporters putting the fairweathers to shame.”
What a blow that was so close to the finish! But Mitch, you are a real supporter! That is why you have written the book! With its climax set to reveal the fate of Hereford and whether they make it up or not (of course any football follower knows they do return to the league), this was a surprising revelation.
This is a book worth reading and some of the anecdotes are funny and will remain with you long after reading. It is very well written, as Ricky George of goalscoring fame against Newcastle United in 1972 explains in his foreword, although I could nit-pick about certain spellings of players’ names and the use of ES for Edgar Street throughout which, whilst practical and sensible, does seem a little awkward after a while.
For Blue Square Premier fans everywhere, Mitch rightly identifies some of the problems within a system that seemingly relegates and promotes teams on a whim regardless of on-field achievements and these are extremely valid. It is also a fitting testament to Graham Turner and his tireless work at the club.
But when one of the highlights of the decade was going close to holding Leicester City at Filbert Street in a cup replay, admittedly they were a Premier League side at the time, and going up via the play-offs after missing out at the same stage twice, it does explain that this is probably a story only for die-hard football fans everywhere. Fortunately, there are many of them around.