Not Such a Bad Life

Burnley, Gazza, Wrighty, Waddle and Me

Paul Weller, Dave Thomas, Dave Thomas

• Publisher: Pitch Publishing Ltd
• eBook ISBN:
  9781785319204
• Year: 2021

Paul Weller was a one-club player. He moved from sunny Brighton aged just 16 to dreary Burnley, with its grey skies, run-down terraced streets and mill chimneys, where riots were among the first things he saw. A more timid person might have caught the first train home. But he went on to play 252 games for the Clarets between 1993 and 2005. He would have played many more but for suffering the debilitating effects of colitis. It took a huge chunk out of his career, forcing him out of the first team. Other players might have capitulated, but he faced the problem head on, battled it and beat it and got back into the first team, with a promotion to the Championship. Remarkably, he was 'player of the season' the very next year. This is a real-life story of how to overcome obstacles and fight illness using courage, grit and determination. But it is also a story of the bullying, pitfalls and perils that await any aspiring footballer, the impact of managers and the inhuman cruelty with which players can be so casually released.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Dedication
• Acknowledgements and Thanks
• Preface
• Foreword
• Introduction
• 1. Almost the Best Day of My Life
• 2. Beginnings
• 3. Playing and Losing
• 4. Glen Little
• 5. Bullying and Bust-Ups
• 6. Managers Come and Go, Mullen and Heath
• 7. The Year of the Waddle
• 8. A Game to Remember and An Illness Begins
• 9. Behind the Scenes and a Tale of Costa Rican Drug Money
• 10. Colitis for Me and an Ailing Club
• 11. Back to a Promotion Season
• 12. Player of the Year and Two Special Games
• 13. How to Win and Yet Still Lose, With a Bloke Called Gazza
• 14. It’s Burnley Not Barcelona
• 15. Definitely Not Barcelona
• 16. Beware the Ides of March
• 17. Winning and All Good Things
• 18. Limbo Land
• 19. Light at the End of the Tunnel
• Bibliography
• Photos