Behind the Season - By Gordon Bartlett Edited by Roger Slater & Tim Parks

Behind the Season - by Gordon Bartlett - Edited by Tim Parks & Roger Slater

A BRAND NEW book looking at Wealdstone FC's 2009-10 season.

Charting the roller-coaster ride experienced from within the Wealdstone camp, using the notes and diaries of Gordon Bartlett, this books gives you an insight into the workings of a possibly the greatest non-league team (certainly currently playing in Ruislip)... featuring the highs and lows of the season from a 1st round appearance in the FA Cup and featuring on ITV, to the mad dash for the Ryman Premier league play-off's which goes right down to the last game.

All profits from this book go directly to the Wealdstone FC playing budget... so get buying

Gordon Bartlett decided to keep a detailed diary from the first days of pre-season right through to the final day. Throughout that time you understand exactly how different the game is at this level. For the fan football is lived and breathed on a Saturday and maybe once a week. For the Management team it really is a labour of love to extract every last penny out of the chairman’s pocket in order to put a competitive team out on the pitch.
Weekly problems include players struggling to make training, troubles of leaving work early in order to make long trips to the other side of London through rush hour traffic and the often bizarre excuses for not getting to the ground on time. Add to that the promises (kept and broken) of all those so many players that might sign for the club throughout the season you soon realise Mrs Bartlett is one patient lady. Just be grateful there is no appendix to this book detailing the manager’s phone bill. It would be twice as thick as the book itself.

I thoroughly enjoyed this trip behind the Wealdstone / Non-League curtain.

A great present for all Wealdstone fans; mums, dads and kids... but make sure you buy your copy as there is a very limited number available.

This book would also be of great interest to the average non-league fan. You can count on one hand the number of books that are written by a manager from this level of football. Likewise there are almost no books written from someone inside the game plying their trade this far down the pyramid. We are just lucky the Gordon decided to write a second book.

This book is A4 in size and features views, newspaper cuttings from the season and the journal of a great non-league manager