Saturday Bloody Saturday, Alastair Campbell
Saturday Bloody Saturday, Alastair Campbell
List: $24.99 | Sale: $17.50
Club: $12.49

Saturday Bloody Saturday

Author: Alastair Campbell, Paul Fletcher

Narrator: Jonathan Keeble

Unabridged: 13 hr 23 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Orion

Published: 02/08/2018


Synopsis

February 1974. Football manager Charlie Gordon is struggling, and with each defeat the sack gets closer. His greatness as a player counts for nothing with directors or fans, or the Number 2 who is after his job. Things are no better off the field, and after a failed marriage and the loss of a child, he is taking more and more consolation in alcohol.

Only a decent Cup run is keeping him in work. But how to turn things around with the same players who got him here in the first place? Can he trust this remarkable but often unreliable mix of characters to save him?
Footballers fall into two categories - artists or assassins. With the next round of the Cup at Chelsea away he will soon find out which of his players, from homesick teenage starlet Willie Buchanan, to playboy record signing DD Marland, can deliver for him.

Meanwhile, as the country prepares for a general election, one of the most audacious and high-profile political assassinations in the IRA's history is being planned in London. An active service unit of two men and a woman await the critical signal to proceed. Now both teams - the IRA's and Charlie's - converge on the capital for a result that will alter everyone's lives irrevocably, with consequences far beyond football.

Read by Jonathan Keeble
(p) Orion Publishing Group 2018

About Jonathan Keeble

Jonathan combines his audio work with a busy theatre and TV career. He is very proud to have appeared more times (11) at Manchester's prestigious Royal Exchange Theatre than any one else of his age. He has featured in over 500 radio plays for the BBC appearing in everything from Shakespeare to Sherlock Holmes to Dr Who and is also the evil Owen in The Archers. Much in demand for his voicework, this ranges from playing Sir Christopher Wren in St. Paul's Cathedral to The Angel of Death in the film Hellboy 2, with stops at all points in between. An award-winning reader, Jonathan has recorded over 100 audiobooks.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Cold War Conversations Podcast on February 13, 2018

Probably only for those that like their football... The premise is strong for this book, a football manager in the 70s is struggling to keep his team and his job together when an away game brings him to London, where an IRA terrorist cell is planning its next atrocity. However, the problem I had is t......more

Goodreads review by Dennis on April 12, 2021

Having read the reviews this is obviously a marmite of a novel. One either loathes or loves it. I loved it mainly for the football coverage. I agree that the terrorist side did not delve very deep and the author is certainly no Seymour however I thought it caught the mood of the time very well. Prin......more

Goodreads review by Dag on May 20, 2018

Why do so many hate this? It’s a brilliantly told story with characters you have to love. I suspect the politically charged terrorists from the IRA make people dislike it and the many blurbs on the cover does not help. But I really loved it, and the football environment from the 70’s is right on The......more

Goodreads review by Gill on March 30, 2018

Well I didn't think I was going to enjoy this book but how wrong can you be. A must have for football fans, it combines football and politics of the 1970s. A really good read.......more

Goodreads review by AJ on May 22, 2018

Regardless of what I think of Alastair Campbell as a human being I borrowed this novel from my local library as I am a fan off 70's football. On reflection I felt that there were potentially two books in one novel and my preference would have been for an entertaining novel on the pressures and pitfa......more


Quotes

A story that brings together so brilliantly football in the 70s, and the dark days of the terrible violence we worked so hard to end, is a must-read for any fan of football or any friend of Ireland

Surprisingly adept...lively narrative. THE GUARDIAN

Magical story of football in a wonderful era, fantastic ending

With a lot of football and a fair bit of Ireland, this book was made for me

A gripping combination of football (as we used to know it) and terrorism (as we still know it). And, no, I didn't anticipate the explosive climax

I nearly bought Paul Fletcher from Burnley when I was at Manchester United. It could have been the biggest mistake!! Great book, though, all about my era

A brilliantly told story about football when it was a proper man's game

A great book. It has everything - thrilling suspense, intrigue, funny - and what an ending. I couldn't put it down