In His Own Words , livre ebook

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161 pages

English

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Recounted candidly In His Own Words: Life On the Inside looks back on the footballing life and times of Peter Mendham, Norwich City's larger-than-life former midfielder. He offers a no-holds-barred account of football in the 80s - and also of the incident that led to a seven-and-a-half-year prison sentence for the attempted murder of his girlfriend. Peter gives his viewpoint on some of the stars he has played with and against, and on a decade in football characterised by falling gates, hooliganism and poor television coverage for fans who didn't follow the fortunes of the game's biggest clubs. The Mendham case remains one of the highest-profile trials ever to have involved a British footballer - his punishment and fall from grace standing in stark contrast to a playing career at the highest level, winning medals at Wembley for two clubs. Peter recounts his experiences in football and his time endured at Her Majesty's pleasure in a frank, occasionally blunt manner that will give readers an insight into a life of ups and downs.

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Publié par	Pitch Publishing Ltd
Date de parution	07 octobre 2019
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781785316210
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0500€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

First published by Pitch Publishing, 2019
Pitch Publishing
A2 Yeoman Gate
Yeoman Way
Durrington
BN13 3QZ
www.pitchpublishing.co.uk
Peter Mendham and Edward Couzens-Lake, 2019
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the Publisher.
A CIP catalogue record is available for this book from the British Library
Print ISBN 978-1-78531-624-1
eBook ISBN 978-1-78531-621-0
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Ebook Conversion by www.eBookPartnership.com
Contents
Preface
Foreword
Introduction
Prologue
1. The Linnet
2. Fledgling Canary
3. First Team
4. On the Up
5. Joy and Despair
6. Osteitis Pubis
7. Back at the Walks
8. Twin Towers Encores
9. Beauty On The Inside
10. Life on the Outside
Afterword: Peter Mendham
Afterword: Bert Cadmore
Peter Mendham Acknowledgements
Author Acknowledgements
DEDICATION
For Ross and Jamie. I brought you life. You brought me joy. x
This book is a memoir. It reflects Peter Mendham s present recollection of his life experiences over time. Some names and characteristics have been changed, some events have been compressed and some dialogue has been re-imagined so that it, as closely as possible, reflects the events that were happening in his life at that time.
Preface
MOST OF the original notes I made that ended up being used by Ed and I as the foundation of this book were written as I sat in my locked cell at both HMP Norwich and HMP Highpoint. I then expanded on those initial thoughts and recollections whilst taking a four-week sabbatical from work in the winter of 2015/16.
Continuing to do so, to recall and record so many memories from my life, then and now, and either with just my pen and some paper in an empty room or in the company of Ed has been an emotional struggle and something that has been increasingly difficult for me to do, and I would think you would have already guessed why, for many clear and obvious reasons.
From the very beginning, I wanted my book to be honest and to tell the story of my life and career in an honest and straight-forward way. No glossing over of events, no hiding place and no excuses. It s presented here as it happened, my life before, during and after football, during which, in each of those instances, I went through some incredibly dark and difficult times and still, in truth, continue to do so to this day. That will never change.
On the positive side, there have also been some incredibly happy memories that I have enjoyed looking back on and sharing with you here.
I know that many people have already judged me and have decided that I am a bad person. More still will object to my writing a book about my life and will say that I should not be able to profit or gain publicity from the crime that I committed back in October 2006.
I understand and respect their opinions and would do or say nothing to try and persuade them otherwise.
A day rarely goes by, even now, when I don t read, see, or hear of yet another person s opinion of me. What sort of person I am, the things I ve done, the things I haven t done. Either that or how good, bad, or, in some cases, utterly hopeless I am as a person or was as a professional footballer.
But all they are, and can ever be, are opinions. The only person who can tell the whole story and be relied upon to tell the truth, good and bad, is me.
Everyone else seems to have had their say.
Now it s time for me to have mine.
Peter Mendham
Foreword by Ken Brown
PETER MENDHAM, ultimately may not have had the most straightforward of lives but as a footballer, for me, he was exceptional. His is the classic story of local boy made good . At his peak, he was so good that sometimes the only person who didn t realise quite how good he was, was Peter himself.
I remember when he first came into the team at Norwich, playing alongside Martin Peters. Mendy was in awe. He was just the same when he lined up alongside Martin O Neill and all the other top players we had at Carrow Road over the years.
Yet Peter deserves to be remembered in his own right for the important part he played in those teams and should be reminded just how highly his team-mates rated his contribution. His work rate, for example, was phenomenal; his engine powered the team through on so many occasions and, in addition to that, he weighed in with some important goals too.
Peter was the genuine article, a local lad who loved his football, who loved his team and gave everything he had, even when he was battling through a serious injury. He was also always eager to learn and never stopped listening to whatever I, my coaches or any of the senior players might have had to say on his or aspects of the game in general.
He was an important part of the team that won the League Cup at Wembley in 1985, although he maybe let the joy of the occasion get to him a little too much by wearing that dodgy headgear afterwards!
He also supported the football team and the city off as well as on the pitch, getting involved with various groups and organisations that served the local community. I often used to say of Peter, If you cut him open, he would bleed yellow and green - I think that is as true of him today as it was then.
I am both delighted and honoured to have been asked to write this foreword for Peter s book. His life may not have turned out as any of us would have expected but on the pitch and in the dressing room he was a manager s dream and, over the years, has become a good friend.
I wish him well.
Ken Brown Manager Norwich City FC 1980-87
Introduction
A MEAGRE gathering of 8,369 souls scattered themselves about the wind-blown terraces and stands at Selhurst Park on Saturday, 25 January 1986.
At least two of those in attendance weren t fans of either Crystal Palace or Norwich City. I know that because Allan and Helen were friends of mine, friends who I d convinced to make the trip over to South London with me in order to watch the game.
Allan, who remains a good friend to this day, supports Liverpool. I d long forgiven him the error of his ways as he d often admitted he enjoyed watching Norwich and, on that particular afternoon, Ken Brown s team did little to convince him otherwise. Norwich won 2-1 to establish a club record of ten away games without defeat.
Towards the end of the game he leaned over and said to me, Who s your player in the number-ten shirt? It was, of course, Peter Mendham who d opened the scoring on the day with a well-taken volley and had, as was the way of things at the time, bossed the opposition, a team that featured such footballing luminaries as Jim Cannon, Ian Wright and Andy Gray with his usual consummate ease.
I have to admit, my first thought was that Allan, who sported a head of fierce ginger hair at the time, was showing a little solidarity with a fellow redhead.
But it was about more than that.
He s a good player, said Allan. Very decent. He ll play for England one day.
A bit of an outlandish claim at the time. But, as it turns out, one that wasn t that far from becoming a reality.
Peter Mendham was, as Allan had worked out, a very good player indeed. One who was full of energy, covering every inch of the pitch. I d love the stats wizards to let us know how many kilometres he ran in a match. I know that, at the time of writing, anyone who covers between 11 and 12 kilometres over the course of a game is considered to have set a very high standard and it is, indeed, an admirable sign of energy and commitment to their team s cause. But I ll tell you this now, Peter Mendham would have covered that distance in every game he played in as standard.
Pete played the game as he has lived his life. He puts 100 per cent into absolutely everything he does. Whether that was a man-of-the-match performance at Carrow Road, a day s fishing at Barford Lakes or helping one of his many loyal customers with a house removal, he ll have done so with a smile on his face and a commitment to excellence from beginning to end. And again, as standard.
He was living and enjoying the good life when, completely and utterly against character, he committed the horrific crime against his then girlfriend on that never-to-be-forgotten October evening in 2006 that changed both their lives forever, an act of madness that he will always have to live with and one that is now an easy frame of reference for anyone who mentions his name in conversation.
It s just as likely he ll be remembered as Peter Mendham who went to prison for stabbing and nearly killing his girlfriend as it is Peter Mendham the gifted midfielder who was a shining light in the Norwich City team throughout the mid to late 1980s. Peter will be the first to admit he did a terrible thing on that day. It was a brutal crime and one that, rightly, subjected him to not only the full force of the law but the contempt and, in some cases, hatred of many of the people who used to idolise him as a footballer.
Peter knows that, no matter what else he does in his life, the events of that night and his incarceration which followed will never be forgotten, nor will he, by many, ever be forgiven.
He will never ask for sympathy or forgiveness from anyone.
But he has decided that in a world of whispers, gossip and all the stories that have appeared about him in the intervening years, it is time he was given the opportunity to tell the story of his life and career as a professional footballer as well as the events that led up to his time in prison and what followed afterwards.
It s all too easily forg