Review: A Very Different Paradise; Robin Dana.

It says, in the picture above, look inside.

You should.

Fiction, those good stories that leave you thinking about the events and characters within, is quite rare these days. Good football fiction is almost impossible to find. The success of such efforts is largely due to their lack of competition rather than any quality between their pages, and with a few notable exceptions, such as the Stephen O’Donnell duology, possibly the Damned United and The old classic The Thistle and The Grail, its a genre best avoided.

This book is about Matt Busbys time at Celtic, immediately after the war, when he took over from Jimmy McStay as manager.

Or rather, its about what could have happened, in the authors imagination, if Busby had taken over at Celtic and how things might have been different.

Now we all know that Busby never played for, coached or managed Celtic, but the way on this book is written will have you looking on Wikipedia. Just to be sure there wasn’t something you had forgotten about, or missed.

The story starts with Tom white, father of Desmond, and a young Robert Kelly discussing how best to rid the club of the omnipresent manager Willie Maley. Over a drink in George Square as war looms heavy over Europe. Some of the issues raised are what you would expect two directors to be discussing, when trying to oust a manager who has become part of the furniture at the club, and some of the tensions would be equally applicable today.

The scene is delightfully described, and you can feel that the dialogue used and the mannerisms described are real, or at least as real as the author could imagine them. The author, of course, isn’t making it entirely up. He researched the characters at legth, speaking to people who knew them, so when he says that Tom White was a bit of a control freak, then you believe him.

Later in the book, defender Bobby Hogg is turning the dressing room blue with his colourful language, and when the author tells you that Sean Fallon told him that this was a particular trait of Hogg, then you don’t need to question his credibility any further.

Sources and research don’t get more credible than Sean Fallon.

The story moves through actual events, such as board meetings, AGMs, and off the record chats to journalists, before effortlessly easing into the entirely fictional arrival of Busby on the scene, the naturalism of which is sealed when he sits down with Jimmy Hogan, the veteran coach , now remembered as the father of modern football in some countries, and discusses how best to utilise the talents of Charlie Tully, a recent signing from Belfast Celtic.

Reading the story at this point, its important to remember its fiction, and enjoy it for what it is. A bad habit of mine is to look for continuity or factual errors, and whilst there are none of the former, such is the easy , casual style of narration, its difficult not to stop and think, hang on, we didn’t win that game, or we didn’t sign that player.

Best just to go with the flow.

And you will because you are sucked into the world of post war football, referees with agendas, the SFA with an agenda, anti-Irishness in the crowds , a press that favour perhaps one club more than the other.

Actually you’ll find that a lot of things haven’t changed at all, except for the size of the crowds, duly recorded to show that the game was thriving back then, and that football was largely unspoiled at this point by television, sponsors and ridiculous anti offensive behaviour bills.

Its worth reading to get a picture of that alone.

I’m not going to dwell too much on the plot, if i did , it would be like knowing the score of a game you’ve recorded, and sitting down to watch it after the kids have been put to bed. Sure, you’ll still enjoy it, but it won’t be the same.

You see, the strength of this book isn’t in the idea, or the style, or even the nostalgia. It can be used as an introduction to the period for anyone who wants to delve a bit deeper into the pre television history of the club, and there are enough great moments to make that a worthwhile excercise for anyone.

But thats not entirely it either.

Its just that this book brings the era alive in a way only a good storyteller can, and thats why I’d liken it to when you had to visit your old grandad on a Sunday morning to take him his paper.

He’d probably have forgotten your name by then, and call you by your dads name, but get him started on the football, and he’s away, telling tales of heroes he saw from the terraces, stories about players that have become almost legendary, passed down by word of mouth over the years, but never distorted in the way they are today.

You see, A Very Different Paradise may not be strictly accurate, about who did what and when, but its that rarest of things.

It’s a damn good story told by a damn good storyteller, and those are always the best kind.

Just like your Grandad would tell you.

And theres always room for one of those on the shelf.

Its available on Kindle via Amazon, and when you do get it, take your time with it. Its worth it.