Danny Wilson – I Get Knocked Down But I Get Up Again, by Danny Wilson and Mathew Mann, Published by Morgan Lawrence Publishing Services Limited, Price: £15
IF DANNY Wilson’s career isn’t worth an autobiography, then whose is?
For 40-odd years as first a player and then a manager, Wilson was wrapped up in English football.
The stats on their own are impressive. As a tigerish midfielder, Wilson notched up over 800 career appearances and more than a century of goals. Plenty of strikers would love to have that tally.
Then it was on to management – and over 1,000 games! It’s fair to say Wiganborn Wilson has pretty much seen it all down the years. The challenge for the 62-year-old was to condense all that into a book, alongside collaborator Mathew Mann. To be fair, they’ve done a fine job.
There is plenty of material covered from his playing days to management jobs. Big topics aren’t shirked, there are some great tales and anecdotes, and the former Northern Ireland international also gives his straight-down-the-line opinion on various issues in the game.
One I particularly enjoyed was his take on the ‘Moneyball’ stats-based approach to recruitment that has become all the rage in recent times, and which was prevalent in his second spell at Barnsley.
“Stats may tell you how many kilometres a player has covered during a game or how many headers they’ve won, but they don’t tell you what someone’s heart is like,” he explains. “Stats won’t tell you about a player’s character.
“You can only see that when you watch them with an experienced eye. You can’t put that on a piece of paper.”
With a foreword from Viv Anderson and stories about the likes of Brian Clough, Ron Atkinson, Jimmy Case and Mick Harford, there’s plenty to tuck into.
On the management side, you’ve got the miracles he worked at Barnsley first time around, the infamous Paolo Di Canio shove on referee Paul Alcock, being hammered in the media by four Sheffield-based MPs and his controversial decision to take the Sheffield United hotseat despite his Wednesday history.
You can throw in a lot more besides in this wide-ranging autobiography. It will make interesting reading for all football fans, though those of his former clubs – and there have been quite a few – will probably find it more appealing.
Rating out of 10: 8
