Lethal: 340 Goals in One Season , livre ebook

Pitch Publishing Ltd - Paul Moulden , David Clayton

Découvre YouScribe en t'inscrivant gratuitement

Je m'inscris

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

129 pages

English

Vous pourrez modifier la taille du texte de cet ouvrage

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

A propos
Informations
Extrait

Description

It's a tally that beggars belief - 340 goals in a single season. Even more surprising is the fact few people can name the player behind that record-breaking feat. Paul Moulden was a schoolboy phenomenon. As star striker of the renowned Bolton Lads' Club, a 14-year-old Moulden smashed every goalscoring record as he netted 340 times in one incredible season - including 289 league goals in 39 matches. In doing so, he secured a place in The Guinness Book of Records. Coveted by Sir Alex Ferguson, Brian Clough and other top bosses and chased by every leading club in the land, Moulden chose his boyhood heroes, Manchester City, and looked to have the world at his feet. What happened next is hard to believe, as the grounded and hugely talented goalscorer suffered almost every major injury possible over the next decade. This is a story of extraordinary talent and broken dreams, told bluntly but without bitterness. Paul Moulden should have been a household name. This book might still make that happen.

Informations

Publié par	Pitch Publishing Ltd
Date de parution	26 septembre 2022
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781801503341
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, 2022
Pitch Publishing
A2 Yeoman Gate
Yeoman Way
Durrington
BN13 3QZ
www.pitchpublishing.co.uk
Paul Moulden, with David Clayton, 2022
Every effort has been made to trace the copyright.
Any oversight will be rectified in future editions at the earliest opportunity by the publisher.
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 9781801501767
eBook ISBN 9781801503341
---
eBook Conversion by www.eBookPartnership.com
Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Foreword by Paul Lake
1. The Apprentice
2. Unlucky Break
3. Goals, Goals, Goals
4. Keeping Count
5. Raising the Bar
6. Barry Bennell and Others
7. Off and Running
8. Broken Dreams?
9. Name Your Price for Moulden
10. The Golden Generation
11. Going Down
12. Career Interrupted
13. Dead Man Walking?
14. Why Always Me?
15. Cherry-Picked
16. The Yard Dog
17. Brighton Rock
18. Once Upon a Time in the Midlands
19. Same Old, Same Old
20. The Wanderer
21. Frying by the Seat of My Pants
22. Second Chance?
Backwords
Photos
I d like to dedicate this book to my
grandad Joe and my dad Tony for
giving me such sound advice and for
their complete faith in me. Also, to my
mum for doing whatever was needed,
whenever it was needed.
Acknowledgements
I D LIKE to thank my team-mates from Bolton Lads Club, Jimmy Hill and Billy Howarth.
At Manchester City, I d like to thank Tony Book, Ken Barnes, Glyn Pardoe and Roy Bailey - and the scout who took me to the club, Eric Mullender.
For belief in me with England, thanks to Charles Hughes - a visionary who was dismissed by many at the time, but whose methods are widely used today.
Also, Craig Simmons and Colin Murphy at the FA for all the help and support when I needed it.
For my numerous recoveries/operations and rehab, Tony Banks and Mandy Johnson, you are in a league of your own.
The late Terry Cooper and Trevor Morgan plus the irrepressible Mr Brent Peters.
To the late Robbie Brightwell, and of course his son Ian.
A big thanks to my former team-mates Julian Darby, Paul Lake. Jason and Darren Beckford and dozens of others, too many to mention.
To Jane Camillin at Pitch Publishing for believing my story may be of interest and to everyone else who played a part in getting me back on the pitch - it meant everything to me.
Sincere thanks to you all.
Introduction
I LOVED scoring goals.
Ask any kid who loves football and, of course, they would say the same thing. Everyone loves scoring goals, right?
For me, finishing came easily and naturally, though that doesn t mean I didn t work hard at it. I wanted to be a professional footballer and, though Bolton Wanderers were on my doorstep, I wanted to play for Manchester City one day, like my hero Peter Barnes.
At Bolton Lads Club, I would literally score for fun, but at the time it didn t feel like anything special. I managed 118 goals in 1979/80, then 145 the season after, which led to a place in the Guinness Book of Records .
But that turned out to be what you might call the warm-up. In 1981/82, I scored 289 goals in 40 matches for Bolton Lads - 340 in all competitions - breaking my own world record and earning a second entry in the Guinness Book of Records .
In three years, I d scored 603 goals in roughly 140 games and though that still has people scratching their heads, even now it just seems like something that was pretty normal and not that much to get excited about - it was always other people who made a fuss about it (except my dad and grandad!).
What I didn t realise was what a millstone around my neck being a world record holder would be.
Paul Moulden Bolton, May 2022
Foreword by Paul Lake
THE FIRST time I became aware of Paul Moulden was when I was with a junior side called Blue Star and we were playing Bolton Lads. Before we kicked off, I became aware of what looked like a man among boys because he was broad-shouldered, powerful and he might have even had a hairy chest at that time!
I was thinking, Who is this guy? - and, of course, it was Mouldy, who, I might add, was unplayable on that particular day. I think we got beat 5-4 and he scored all five of Bolton Lads goals. After that, I felt I would remember his name without too much trouble because we had a good side and they had some decent players, but he d been the difference between the two teams.
It had been a fascinating introduction to Paul Moulden and what he was capable of. Before too long, I heard that he had been taken on Manchester City s books and his world-record goalscoring feats became a regular topic of conversation around the age group we were at that time. I didn t know him that well, but as soon as I was picked up by City, I got to know him much better.
He was a year up from me and we played a few City A games together, but what I first noticed about Mouldy was what a caring and friendly guy he was. He made himself known, shook my hand and checked everything was OK and made it clear that he was always on hand if I ever needed advice of any kind. He made me feel welcome and at ease and he was very mindful that, as first-year YTS, I was entering the lion s den because he d been there and knew what it felt like.
I liked him straight away.
From the moment I met him, I d say he was the most professional footballer I ever worked with. He was meticulous in terms of his warm-ups or whatever he did. Every session mattered to Paul and there was no such thing as an I can t be bothered today day. His attitude was exemplary and he was absolutely bang on it each and every time. The knock-on effect of that was that he raised the standards of everybody else, and that s quite something for a 17-year-old lad to do.
Mouldy was balancing between the A team and City s reserve side and it wasn t that long before myself and Andy Hinchcliffe were doing the same thing as well. But because he was so powerful, he was an unbelievable threat in and around the box. Left foot, right foot, he could make the ball move all over the place and he hit at different angles to make it do weird and wonderful things. His movement and anticipation were on another level and it was clear that this was the main reason he scored so many goals. His instinct as a young player was magnificent, and that s not something I say lightly.
He worked so hard on his technique and how he used his body to get in front of people and roll centre-halves. Even at 17, he wasn t only physically stronger, intellectually he was a very clever footballer who was almost beyond his years.
I played alongside him up front quite a few times, but it was more as a provider who made a few goals for him rather than anything else. I scored one or two, but his movement made it so easy for me and once he was within sight of goal, he just pounced on things. He was electric, and in and around the 18-yard box, he came to life.
As we got older, and physically some of the other boys got bigger and stronger themselves, he wasn t able to leave people in his wake as he had once done but get him in the 18-yard box and it didn t matter what size they were. Case in point, the FA Youth Cup semi-final against Arsenal. They were favourites to win the game and were 2-0 up, but Mouldy scored twice in five minutes - goals only he could have scored - and it was those moments when he dropped a shoulder and got a shot away when often he had no right to.
Of course, we went on to beat Manchester United in the final that year and win the FA Youth Cup for the first time, but I m certain we wouldn t have won it without Mouldy.
He was a player we looked up to because if we were struggling and trying to make something happen, you always looked to Mouldy, and when he was on it we knew we were going to be all right - and this was a team that included Steve Redmond, Ian Brightwell, Ian Scott and David White and many other talented lads.
It wasn t long before he was in and around the first team, but he was competing against the likes of Imre Varadi, Wayne Biggins and Trevor Morley - players who had been brought in by the club and had more experience - plus Darren Beckford who had come through the ranks, and he was never given the run of games he needed to settle into the side and do what he did. It was a regular frustration for him, but as good as the strikers he was up against for a first-team berth, you have to ask were any of them better than Mouldy? With respect to all of the guys mentioned above, the answer is no.
It was all down to Mel Machin s interpretation of what Mouldy could offer and he just opted for experience up front. Mouldy did play for the first team a few times and he did score goals because it was in his DNA. Had he been given time and assurances that he was going to get a good run, he would have delivered. He was lethal and he would have scored over and over again.
But Imre Varadi was in the box seat and scoring because he d been given a run of games to do that, so it will always be a case of what if? - what if Mouldy had been given a run of 20 or 30 games? What could he have achieved? Unfortunately, we will never know but it s a question I d always be asking if I were in Paul s shoes.
Mouldy s attitude was always spot on and, yes, he had more than his fair share of major injuries, but credit to the man because he always came back. I believe that if Machin had trusted him mor