as usual my personal library expands quite a bit at this time of the year, the recent additions are:
Well, title and the cover should be enough to make you buy it
Merson retired some years ago so he could tell many interesting stories about his teammates, coaches etc. in his book (Paul Gascoigne, Tony Adams, Harry Redknapp, Glenn Hoddle to name few) without keeping any details to himself.
the book itself was written in 2011 I think, but I hadn't heard about it at that time. It got translated to polish few months ago, so you can get it easily in Poland now as well.
Of course the book includes his gambling problems:
and he describes how he went to the US to fight with that addiction:
other book I got is
It's only available in polish as far as I know. it's pretty similar to Merson's biography. Well, similar that it tells about Iwan's gambling and alcohol problems and his relations with other players and coaches, although it's written in much more serious way than Merson's biography. he reveals some interesting (some say shocking) stories about well-known polish coaches like Piechniczek or Lenczyk. Really worth reading for all football fans in Poland.
Well, title and the cover should be enough to make you buy it
Merson retired some years ago so he could tell many interesting stories about his teammates, coaches etc. in his book (Paul Gascoigne, Tony Adams, Harry Redknapp, Glenn Hoddle to name few) without keeping any details to himself.
the book itself was written in 2011 I think, but I hadn't heard about it at that time. It got translated to polish few months ago, so you can get it easily in Poland now as well.
Of course the book includes his gambling problems:
At my lowest point as a gambler, the night before an away game for Aston Villa, I sat on the edge of my bed in a Bolton hotel room and thought about breaking my own fingers.
I was that desperate not to pick up the phone and dial in another bet. At that time in my life I'd blown around seven million quid with the bookies and I wanted so badly to stop, but I just couldn't the next punt was always too tempting.
I was chucking all my money away in bets: £3,000 here, £5,000 there; seven or eight grand on the horses. I wouldn't think twice about punting £10,000 on an NFL game in those days.
The more money I earned, the more I gambled away, but I was such an addict I even felt low when I won. One time when I was round my parents house, I scored £20,000, I'm not sure what on, probably the curling in the Winter Olympics or something silly.
I was that desperate not to pick up the phone and dial in another bet. At that time in my life I'd blown around seven million quid with the bookies and I wanted so badly to stop, but I just couldn't the next punt was always too tempting.
I was chucking all my money away in bets: £3,000 here, £5,000 there; seven or eight grand on the horses. I wouldn't think twice about punting £10,000 on an NFL game in those days.
The more money I earned, the more I gambled away, but I was such an addict I even felt low when I won. One time when I was round my parents house, I scored £20,000, I'm not sure what on, probably the curling in the Winter Olympics or something silly.
To be honest, I thought I was staring at the pages of a celebrity magazine. I recognised pretty much everyone in the group, because they were all double famous. I'm not going to name names, but I was sitting with actresses, Oscar winners, NFL stars, basketball players and singers. It blew my mind. I worked there for a month, talking through my problems, trying to discover the root of my gambling issues.
I thought we had done pretty well by the time my four weeks were up. I was ready to go home; I thought I could get my life back on track at Walsall, no problems. My therapist had other ideas. The day before I was due to fly back, I was called into her office.
"Paul, you're due to go home tomorrow" she said. "But I think you should stay here for another nine months. You are without doubt the worst pathological gambler we've ever had come through here." I didn't have a clue what that meant.
I thought we had done pretty well by the time my four weeks were up. I was ready to go home; I thought I could get my life back on track at Walsall, no problems. My therapist had other ideas. The day before I was due to fly back, I was called into her office.
"Paul, you're due to go home tomorrow" she said. "But I think you should stay here for another nine months. You are without doubt the worst pathological gambler we've ever had come through here." I didn't have a clue what that meant.
other book I got is
It's only available in polish as far as I know. it's pretty similar to Merson's biography. Well, similar that it tells about Iwan's gambling and alcohol problems and his relations with other players and coaches, although it's written in much more serious way than Merson's biography. he reveals some interesting (some say shocking) stories about well-known polish coaches like Piechniczek or Lenczyk. Really worth reading for all football fans in Poland.
just checked reviews when i was writing this post for you lads.
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