And another first: Mr Hoos is from Maryland USA. There were immediate suggestions that the café kiosks should now stock Maryland Chocolate Chip Cookies. Then came the suggestion that Turf Moor might well be renamed The Maryland Chocolate Chip Cookie Stadium. Crumbs, I thought, that certainly takes the biscuit.

     “This isn’t a book about money. This isn’t a book about playing in European Leagues and World Cups. Nor is it a sensationalist, tabloid style, expletive-filled story of recovery from debt, gambling and alcholism. It’s just the story of a player who had his dreams but never made the big-time, and met no end of hurdles and injuries along the way. It’s a story about life, the crossroads that we meet, the choices that we make, and the way that the decisions of others affect the paths of our lives. It is both heart-rending and heart-warming.
 
     Roger Eli’s career was influenced by several managers: Brian Clough at Nottingham Forest, Eddie Gray and Billy Bremner at Leeds United and then Frank Casper and Jimmy Mullen at Burnley. There are others who appear fleetingly in his story. It’s a story of struggles, determination and bravery, and then brief success before the man who mattered, the man who picks the team, decided he was of no further use.
 
     Roger Eli was one of those pioneer black footballers of the early 90’s. He was Player of the Year at Burnley in 1991/92. After several years of knockdowns he eventually tasted glory. This is a story about what lies at the heart of football, about how cruel football can be, and how success is so fleeting. For every Terry, Torres or Tevez there are scores of other footballers that make a living from the game, but who could write a manual about the pitfalls and obstacles along the way, yet not without a little humour and a store of good memories. Roger Eli is one of them.”..............................

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Who's Hoos

Close Encounters Of The West Ham Kind

A very Merry Christmas to one and all…. Dave T   xxx