The Bald Facts

The Autobiography of David Armstrong

Pat Symes

• Publisher: Pitch Publishing Ltd
• eBook ISBN:
  9781909626072
• Year: 2013

Like many gifted soccer players of the  1970s and 1980s, the story told by legendary Middlesbrough, Southampton, and England winger David Armstrong includes some spectacular ups and downs; but the speed and ferocity of his personal rollercoaster ride are surely unique. Starting out at Leeds, David resisted signing for Don Revie— later followed by Clough' s Forest and Manchester United. He played an incredible 356 consecutive matches for Middlesbrough before being forced out after  10 years. On to Saints with Keegan, Ball, and Channon— and more near misses in the league and cup. Armstrong' s promising England career was sadly curtailed by a falling-out with Bobby Robson, and just four years later he was forced to sign on the dole. The break-up of his first marriage, his desperate desire for an ankle amputation, and bailiffs at the door lend David' s riches-to-rags story of stardom and poverty a human appeal far beyond soccer.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Foreword By Kevin Keegan
• Tribute From Jack Charlton
• 1. Robson’s Dogged Bench-Warmer
• 2. From England To The Dole
• 3. Following George To Middlesbrough
• 4. The Man For Stan
• 5. Another Shaggy Dog Story
• 6. Cautious Jack Cost Us
• 7. Cup Glory And Failure
• 8. My Biggest Regrets
• 9. Rejecting Manchester United
• 10. Lawrie’s Unrewarded Vision
• 11. So Close To The Double
• 12. Southampton’s Wrong Choice
• 13. Preferring Bournemouth To Clough
• 14. Life After Football
• David Armstrong’s Career Statistics
• Photographs