Autobiography
Prez is about far more than football.
This true story, narrated by Prez’s barrister father, is a warm, witty and intensely personal account of their attempt to navigate the world of grassroots and academy football. It tells of the characters, skilfulness, kindnesses, injustices, duplicity and, at times, downright stupidity that they meet along the way.
Frank and utterly compelling, it provides a remarkable insight into the sport through Prez's experience of junior football and the Nottingham Forest Academy.
Incorporated into this memoir is a fascinating behind-the-scenes story arising from litigation between Brian Clough and Robert Maxwell. It also offers a unique insight into the purchase and sale of Notts County by Alan Hardy. Other well-known football figures who pop up include Darren Fletcher and Gary Brazil, the Academy manager at Nottingham Forest who once said to Andrew, “You watch everything that goes on here.”
How right he was…
Based on his diaries and rich in anecdotes, Andrew Prestwich brings a lawyer’s head and a father’s heart to the world of junior football and lays bare the tensions between sport, education, ambition and nurture.
Readers will love Prez, both the boy and the book.
RRP £7.99
Here's what readers have to say about this book....
The book is phenomenal; total recall of so many conversations v. impressive. A signed copy will have to be procured some time. I liked "effin' burger". The flat earth episode must be a joke. Is there a fence at the end to stop people falling off? The FA statement has the appearance of being coherent but I should think that better staff would have to be dredged up to make much difference.
Just finished reading PREZ and can honestly say it is one of the best football books I’ve ever read. If you have any involvement in football, from Sunday morning grassroots to elite academy level, I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It’s packed with fantastic anecdotes, offers a fascinating inside view of a Cat 1 professional club academy, and provides a genuine “warts and all” account of youth football that every parent, coach, volunteer and aspiring player should read. Andrew doesn’t pull any punches. He tells the story exactly as it happened – the highs, the lows, the successes and disappointments. Nobody comes out of it looking perfect, which is precisely why it feels so authentic.
A fascinating story told frankly and laced with a lot of humour too. Having had the grassroots touchline experience I identified with the initial ‘enthusiasms’ of the young players and their parents, and this reeled me in to the book. When Prez progressed to the elite academy level it was a real eye opener into the demands, commitments and frustrations involved. I found his optimism, resilience and sheer stamina to be inspiring as he sought to balance the many challenges of his school and sporting life.
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