More than a Job? The Player's and Fan's Perspective by Roger Titford , Eamon Dunphy Search Amazon for other books by or about Roger Titford. Rating: Reviewed by: John Walsh

For a few thousand people at least, the years 1975-6 were most notable for Reading's struggle to get out of the fourth division. It had been fifty years since the team had last gained promotion, from the old division three south and had spent most of the intervening time in the unified third division, never seriously threatening to gain promotion to the dizzy heights of division two but always staying clear of the desperation of relegation – until 1971, at least.

A new manager had arrived, Charlie Hurley, and expectation had been high that the long awaited promotion would come. In 1972, 3 and 4, pre-season optimism had been met with promising starts and for most of the season it looked like the dream would arrive – only for it to fade and die in the cold post-New Year months as players managed to convert themselves from thoroughbreds to donkeys almost overnight.

But in 1975, optimism had arisen once again. New signings had been made and one of them, Eamon Dunphy, was an Eire international who had once been on Manchester United's books. With him prompting in midfield, the moment surely had come at last for the great Robin Friday to achieve the status his talents had promised. Friday was an immense player and a tremendous throwback to the old days of the game – large, shambling, unfit, drunken, bad-tempered, regularly in trouble with the authorities and the scorer of the most outrageous goals, Friday became better known as the eponymous The Best Player You Never Saw.

Finally, it all came together, despite all the travails of nine months on England's then endlessly slow roads, travelling to cold, unfriendly towns like Workington and Darlington, where the local supporters expected a few good kicks put in one the visiting 'southern softies.' Eking out results from these trips was a tremendous achievement in itself. There was also the threat of the other top teams in the league, such as they were: Graham Taylor was making his reputation at the Lincoln team that would finish as champions and Ron Atkinson was doing the same at Cambridge where he would be champion the following season. Yet we finished third. Third was high enough to get promotion. For those of us watching from the terraces, the team were, if not godlike then at least heroic and the manager was vindicated. From the brilliant Steve Death in goal through Dunphy in midfield to Robin up front, no team could be better than ours.

In Roger Mitford's book, More than a Job? The Player's and Fan's Perspectives, he has joined together his own reminiscences of that season with the columns produced by Eamon Dunphy for the local paper the Evening Post and supplemented that with additional interviews with the impish and occasionally impious Irishman. The story he tells is one rather different from the games I used to watch from the South Bank with my father.

He suggests that Hurley was incompetent and did not have the brains to work out that it was senior pros like Dunphy who brought the necessary steeliness to the dressing room required to sustain a challenge when things seem to be going wrong. Some opposition players are good and honest pros but others would give it up after going two goals down. Above all, the administration of the club was not just complacent but old-fashioned and in many ways incompetent. Many of the players struggled very badly for money, being paid in those days below the average wages and with very little job security. The threat of a bad injury or even a couple of bad games could mean the end of a livelihood. Meanwhile, they might have to relocate across the country in the wake of a transfer, with the consequent upheavals involving wives and children.

Following promotion, a particularly fervent supporter bought a bullock at auction with a view to slaughtering it and dividing the meat among the players. This was not only much appreciated by those players but also a significant boost to the household budget in the off-season when no win bonuses could be expected. Yet the club management helped themselves to the best cuts and left the players with only carrier bags full of unwanted, low-quality meat. For Dunphy, this epitomized the treatment the players received from those people the fans know as 'suits.' They were offered new contracts that were, if anything, worse than they had received the previous year. Betrayed, several tried to get out of the club. Unity was destroyed and immediate relegation followed.

Those days seem far away now, with Reading having been converted into a modern club threatening to break into the Premiership with a rich, forward-looking chairman and a plush new stadium. Yet this wonderful book brings it all back to life. Dunphy's spiky, unforgiving, occasionally outrageous views are unmistakable as he has proved himself one of the most honest and intelligent footballers to have put pen to paper. Even non-Reading supporters will learn a great deal from this.