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At the beginning of the twentieth century footballers were poorly paid wage slaves to the stern club owners. But Coleman led the first players' strike. He was a joker, a card - perhaps also the first ever media-literate footballer who knew the importance of a sparky quote in the right place - but he would not be taken advantage of. He stood up for himself, and for others. Then, in 1914, playing for Nottingham Forest after successful spells with Arsenal and Everton, he joined up with the Footballers' Battalion, and found himself on the Western Front in the run-up to the Somme. There he won the Military Medal for bravery. But he also participated in some of the most remarkable football matches ever played, when, scratch teams played on improvised pitches and contested the Army Cup - right alongside the trenches and shell holes of the front line.
23 x 17 cms, hard-back, 256 pages.
2009
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