"Best Job in the World" - Ian Cheeseman's book

BlueSpice

Well-Known Member
Joined
12 Nov 2008
Messages
552
Location
Geordie Land
Don't know if any of you plan to read this, but I highly recommend it and have done a review of it on Amazon - will take a day or two to appear I believe, but it says:

A MUST read for every City fan, old or new!

From the very start my attention was captured with the trip to the Faroes - even a mention for our intrepid "Trawler Twelve" and Scall's subsequent extended stay. As I read, Ian took me with him reliving matches of that season 2008/9, as well as sharing his working perspective of them.

I loved the style of this - no long, dry reading - a nice easy game by game account of a season, interspersed with amusing anecdotes from the world of football and insights into Ian's personal and working life. Whilst mostly about our beloved Manchester City, there are also Oldham, Stockport, Wigan, Bury, Rochdale and more matches, demonstrating Ian's genuine love of the beautiful game.

I have heard Ian talk at one of our supporters meetings and he was relaxed, engaging, and passionate about football and City. He loves it and you get the feeling that his work (paid or voluntary alike) is a pleasure rather than work. His whole being radiates the fact that he really believes he does have the best job in the world and after reading the book I can't argue - he does! And he deserves it too.

This book is an absolute MUST read for City fans everywhere - and if you aren't one yourself but happen to know one - it's a perfect present for that long suffering Blue in your life.

Even for comparitively new Blues, this is highly recommended reading - do yourself a favour and buy this book. Today.

What did anyone else think of it?
 
He's right about one thing: he has got the best job in the world. I first came across Ian Cheeseman flogging cheese butties on the specials in the mid-80s. Curiously, he never seems to have been out of City-related work, even though some of his endeavours haven't exactly been, er, successful shall we say.

The decision of the club to publish a fanzine-style magazine in 1989/90 was a poor one IMO and had Cheeseman's involvement, as I recall. They hadn't read the runes properly or understood the times well enough and were merely tying to blow us out of the water. Hard to believe now, I know, but the club were running scared of fanzines in the early years as they had no control over them.

Still, The Citizen folded after two or three issues despite money apparently being no object (professionally typeset with four-colour cover, unheard of for a fanzine at the time) after being forced to give out issue one free with issue two.

Having read the plodding affair that was Colin Bell - Reluctant Hero, I don't think I'll be troubling my Amazon account for this one...
 
BTH said:
The decision of the club to publish a fanzine-style magazine in 1989/90 was a poor one IMO and had Cheeseman's involvement, as I recall. They hadn't read the runes properly or understood the times well enough and were merely tying to blow us out of the water. Hard to believe now, I know, but the club were running scared of fanzines in the early years as they had no control over them.

I agree that they had no idea of the importance of fanzines, or why they were created. They should have produced an official mag at the time (this predated the City mag) and that would have done, but I think they thought we'd all ditch EB, KK, MSV and the rest to buy a glossy. They didn't get that it wasn't how glossy the production was, it was about content (and freedom to speak). That's why fanzines were what we wanted, and that's why we had more than one quality fanzine anyway because there were different views.
 
Gary James said:
BTH said:
The decision of the club to publish a fanzine-style magazine in 1989/90 was a poor one IMO and had Cheeseman's involvement, as I recall. They hadn't read the runes properly or understood the times well enough and were merely tying to blow us out of the water. Hard to believe now, I know, but the club were running scared of fanzines in the early years as they had no control over them.

I agree that they had no idea of the importance of fanzines, or why they were created. They should have produced an official mag at the time (this predated the City mag) and that would have done, but I think they thought we'd all ditch EB, KK, MSV and the rest to buy a glossy. They didn't get that it wasn't how glossy the production was, it was about content (and freedom to speak). That's why fanzines were what we wanted, and that's why we had more than one quality fanzine anyway because there were different views.

The whole appeal of fanzines was that they weren't glossy or professional, but people loved them because they gave a voice to normal fans. The whole phenomenon was fairly similar to the old samizdat (which literally means 'self-published') versions of forbidden publications in the Soviet Union. The fact that they didn't look flash or fancy was fully in keeping with the content.

The 'City' magazine, which came later, was quite clearly influenced by the fanzine movement, as well. Fanzines were such a breath of fresh air at the time they first appeared in the late 1980s - maybe it's hard for the younger fans who weren't around then to appreciate the degree to which that's true. Gave fans a voice for really the first time.
 
I've read it and enjoyed it for what it is - a light but very interesting read. Agree with the other comments re Ian - you could not meet a more genuine, hard working and likeable fella who has a more interesting opinion of all things Blue than his job with the BBC allows him to express!

PS you can buy it here

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Best-Job-World-Football-Specials/dp/0956327400/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1269791473&sr=8-1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.amazon.co.uk/Best-Job-World- ... 473&sr=8-1</a>
 
BTH said:
Having read the plodding affair that was Colin Bell - Reluctant Hero, I don't think I'll be troubling my Amazon account for this one...

It's your loss BTH, this is not at all plodding and very interesting. I don't do well with slow,heavy going books myself but this was very readable.

(Do you still do your trick with recognising what perfume a woman is wearing btw :P )
 
I think Ian Cheeseman is a really good broadcaster, but he ain't a writer. Wasn't very impressed with the book, I'm afraid; the writing was average, the editing (if any) was poor and I got infuriated with all the errors (especially "words" that "didn't" need to be in "inverted" commas).

A shame, really...underneath all the waffle lurks quite an interesting story.
 
Phuk Tifano said:
I think Ian Cheeseman is a really good broadcaster, but he ain't a writer. Wasn't very impressed with the book, I'm afraid; the writing was average, the editing (if any) was poor and I got infuriated with all the errors (especially "words" that "didn't" need to be in "inverted" commas).

A shame, really...underneath all the waffle lurks quite an interesting story.

I can be as picky as the next person on grammar, syntax and vocabulary but I enjoyed this book because it was so very readable and not at all waffly.

Each to his own, of course, but we do agree that it is a very interesting story.

I can imagine it being a good read on the way to a game when you're already in the mood for City - this would just add to it :)
 

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top
  AdBlock Detected
Bluemoon relies on advertising to pay our hosting fees. Please support the site by disabling your ad blocking software to help keep the forum sustainable. Thanks.