Steve Claridge is far removed from the showbiz lifestyle of Premiership footballers. The 45 year old BBC radio and television pundit finished playing his hometown club, non-league Weymouth two years ago, in a career that spanned 26 years and 21 clubs. Claridge’s story was first captured in his book, “Tales From The Boot Camps” in 1997, when he was in the midst of his only two seasons in the Premier League. Though the book is dated, it is a great insight into the life of lower league football, and the trials and tribulations associated with it.
Claridge’s gambling problem is evident throughout the book, where initially he justifies his spending for a large part of his career, before finally admitting to his problem. He estimates that he has lost over £300,000 in his career. It is far from doom and gloom however, and his chirpy nature is perfectly illustrated in a match he played for Portsmouth against Port Vale. Portsmouth conceded a penalty, and Claridge offers the Port Vale penalty taker, Tommy Widdrington, ½ on scoring the spot kick just before the run up. He has a constant battle to keep penalty points within the legal limits (in 2008 he was given a six month suspended jail sentence for dangerous driving), and his time keeping is a problem according to every contributer to the book.
Claridge is almost at pains to prove to the reader he is more than “workmanlike” and a “team player”, and all the other similar buzz words that give the allude to a lack of skill and quality. It is very similar in that regard to Jamie Carragher’s book, where he feel’s he has also been pigeon-holed and not given the credit he deserves. It is somewhat ironic that Claridge throughout the book is noted for being late, having old gear bags, wearing odd pairs of boots, socks rolled down etc, yet he fails to appreciate why some of his peers and critics never gave him the credit he deserved.
The highlights in his career came with the winning goal in the Championship Play-Off Final in extra time against Crystal Palace in 1996, and the following year in the Coca-Cola Cup Final win over Middlesborough. This would be as good as it got at the highest level, and in his only full proper season in the top-flight, he took great pride in being the top uncapped goalscorer in the league. Claridge recollects a win over United team in the Coca-Cola Cup, which included Paul Scholes missing a penalty, and noting at Wolves, that even as a 17 year old Robbie Keane was a cut above the rest of the squad.
While now dated, the book is still highlights the lack of glamour below top-flight soccer. It shows the financial perils players can find themselves in, and the constant battle with boards for contracts. He notes in the book that when Birmingham City were taken over by David Sullivan and David Gold in the 90’s, even though they enjoyed more success, promotion form the Second Division, and appearances in the Auto Windscreen Shields, the club were tight with the purse strings. With Karren Brady at the helm, if they were staying for two nights in London, the club would pay for accommodation for the first night, while the players had to pay for the second night. The book is a good read, and is a reminder of football pre Twitter and extremely lavish lifestyles.
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