Hard Shoulder, M62 Eastbound, June 1982...
Britain is on the verge of taking the Falkland Islands back from the Argentine
invaders, Margaret Thatcher is three years into her tenure at 10 Downing Street
and for the first time since the 1930s, three million people are unemployed – with
the nation reeling from recession. One of those searching for a job is standing
at the side of the motorway which links the north of England’s east and west
coasts with his thumb out.
Newly-retired former Everton, Manchester City and England striker Joe Royle
is trying to hitch a lift to Boundary Park for what he thinks is an interview for
the post of manager at backwater Oldham Athletic. Behind him, smoke pours
from his broken-down car’s engine. After a passing lorry takes him the rest of
the way, Royle is told that the job is his – and that he will have to sell a player
or the club will go bust. Later that day, bailiffs drop in and eye up his office
furniture. That night he is in his own garage, stencilling the initials of players’
names on training kit as the reality of the task in hand hits home.
What happened next is one of the great, untold football miracles of all time
as unfancied Oldham emerged from the shadows of their illustrious Manchester
neighbours and embarked on a thrilling, white knuckle ride to the summit of the
English game.
This is a story that has not been told before. It is a time when the impossible
was possible, long before the vast millions in broadcast money arrived and the
creation of the Premier League changed football in England forever. A time
when an astute manager and wily chairman could scour the big clubs for castoffs and achieve the unachievable. It is something that will never be repeated
and, in these times of huge salaries and commercial excess, is a tale of harder
and yet often-happier times when small clubs could dream big.
In the 30th anniversary year of Royle’s remarkable revolution, it is the perfect
time for This Is How It Feels to hit the book shelves.