Palace legnd Vince Hilaire has released an autobiography and you just know it's going to be good. (It is, btw!)
And at FYP we have three copies to give away to our followers- and all you have to do is listen to FYP Podcast 250 to find out how you can win a copy.
One of the most exciting footballers of his era, Vince Hilaire is a cult sporting figure. His career spanned over 600 games and included spells at Crystal Palace, Portsmouth, Leeds United and Stoke City, playing in every professional division.
Vince shared a dressing room with some of football’s biggest stars of the time, including Kenny Sansom, Mick Channon, Gordon Strachan and Vinnie Jones, and was managed by some of the biggest names in British football. This book offers a fascinating insight into the methods of these managers, such as Malcolm Allison’s and Terry Venables’s desperation to produce a side that rivalled the free-flowing football of the famous ‘Busby Babes’, and the contrasting rigidity of Howard Wilkinson’s Leeds.
A trailblazer in the professional game, Vince outlines the difficulties he faced as a young black player making his way in football in the 1970s, and the dread he felt playing at certain grounds.
Candidly detailing Vince’s journey into and out of professional football, this hugely entertaining autobiography tells the story of the beautiful game as it used to be played.
One of the first black footballers to come to prominence in the 1970s, Vince Hilaire has enjoyed a career spanning over 600 games, most notably for Crystal Palace, Portsmouth and Leeds United. Capped by England at Youth and Under-21 level, he was unlucky not to receive full international honours. Managed by some of the most famous names in English football, including Venables, Allison, Ball and Wilkinson, Vince was recently awarded a place in Portsmouth FC’s Hall of Fame.
Tom Maslona currently teaches English at one of London’s highest-achieving schools. He is a long-standing Crystal Palace supporter and has contributed to a number of Palace’s publications in the past, along with other sports magazines such as When Saturday Comes.
Some reviews...
A funny, emotive, and brutally honest insight into a cult figure at clubs from Palace to Pompey - Dominic Fifield, The Guardian.
I idolised Vinny. When the Daily Mail wrote a story in 1981 saying Vince was on the verge of leaving Palace for Arsenal, I told my parents: ‘If Vinny goes, I go.’ That was the admiration I had for him - Neil Ashton, chief football writer at The Sun and host of Sky’s Sunday Supplement.
The book is out now priced £12.99 and can be bought at Biteback Publishing here and Amazon.
Simply listen to FYP Podcast 250 to find out how you can win a copy of Vince's brilliant book.