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Back from the Brink: The Autobiography | 
 enlarge | Author: Paul Mcgrath
Publisher: Arrow Books Ltd
Category: Book
List Price: £7.99
Buy New: £3.23
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New (30) Used (9) from £3.23
Rating:  19 reviews
Sales Rank: 3438
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Edition: New Ed
Pages: 432
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 6.8 x 4.3 x 1.2
ISBN: 009949955X
EAN: 9780099499558
ASIN: 009949955X
Publication Date: May 24, 2007
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: This book is in brand new mint condition, and has never been used. We deliver all over the world within 4-14 working days. The book may have signs of shelfwear.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 14 more reviews...
 A totally honest account of a very sad life. June 2, 2008
Mrs. T. Keenaghan (Norwich England)
This is a totally honest account of the life of Paul McGrath. The book will bring the reader to tears on many occassions. You don't need to be a football fan to be moved by this book. A great read.
Sad, fascinating, honest. No major interest in Football required. March 30, 2008
Alex Ireland
Paul McGrath certainly doesn't epitomise normality. A black person growing up in 1960's Dublin. An orphan, abandoned by his Mother. A world class athlete. A Catholic then a Protestant then a Catholic again. A national hero. A categorical and unequivocal alcoholic. Doesn't sound normal, does it? This book is the very candid story about these unique characteristics weaving together to create a very unique life. Paul McGrath's life.
I was a passionate soccer fan in my youth. Like many other young Dublin lads, it was play soccer, watch soccer, live soccer. Now I have just grown out of it all. Too many egos, too much money, not enough passion. It's just not the same as old days. So, I approached this book, expecting reminiscences of the good old Soccer before Mr. Murdock ruined it all!
But this book is much much more than Soccer. In fact, you would not even have to know what offside is to enjoy it. It's a most lucid, honest, genuine revelation into the very deep and dark side of McGrath's life. His melachonic childhood is told in such apprehensible detail, it would send a shiver down your spine and bring a tear to your eye at the same time. His adulthood is a deleterious lifestyle riddled with mistakes, regret and shame. It's plagued with endless drunken stupors. At a superficial level, he's famous, a fantastic soccer player, but a book that navigates his mind shows that soccer at times seams no more than a temporary escapism from very serious addiction and personal problems.
There is a striking and unique dichotomy in McGrath's story. He had crippling pain due to cartilage problems in his knees. But while he was able to overcome this and play professional Football at the highest level, he cannot overcome his emotional problems and deal with his alcohol addition.
This provokes two very interesting points:
1. This genius is flawed. On the pitch he is a world class soccer player, but off it, he's a fallable human being who cannot cope with reality. Is this part of his appeal? Like Alex Ferguson said, perhaps he is like
George Best in this regard. A hero with flaws.
2. How can he have so much inner strength that he can overcome pain which would make most players hang up their boots, but not be able to come even close to dealing with pyschological problems that are ruining his life?
The writing style is clear, honest and with a few minor exceptions, the book follows a chronological order. Along the way there are snippets and opinions from the key people in Paul's life. His mother, his best mates,
former managers, and host of others each add their two pence worth. This range of opinions gives book a very objective characteristic and a credibility which can only really engage a reader.
Before reading this book, I had one very obvious question about Paul McGrath:
What kind of soccer player would he have been if his knees held up?
After reading this book, and a close up view of Paul's perspective, I had two far more pertinent questions:
Can his childhood but blamed for the problems in his adulthood?
What kind of man would he have been if he was not an addict?
 Not a typical autobiography, February 20, 2008
noggy1810 (Ireland)
Let me start by saying that I'm a huge fan of Paul's and believe that he was a great footballer and is a gem of a person. However I have lost a lot of sympathy for Paul after this book. Most autobiographies make me like and understand the author more but this one just bewilders me. Believe me he had it rough in the early days as the book describes in detail but Paul has had so many breaks, so many chances and so much love that in the end you don't feel sorry for him but angry at him. I wish him all the best with his demons.
 Okay book, doesn't live up to the hype November 17, 2007
Andrew Walker (Scotland)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Paul McGrath tells a searingly honest story, although as you read your way through you realise McGrath himself couldn't possibly have written this alone, without a massive amount of help from his ghostwriter/co-author Vincent Horgan. McGrath describes his corrosive lack of confidence that is still in the process of destroying his life ("Back from the Brink"? Shouldn't the title be "Still on the Brink"? McGrath makes clear in the final chapter he is only beginning to acknowledge his problems, let alone address them.)
It's an interesting story of a flawed man who led a double life, thrilling millions with his football, while hurting many round about him. It's also a story of British society (and the football industry in particular) and its inability to cope with mental illness in general and especially addictive behaviour. The answer is always to cover up for McGrath, dry him out, get him fit enough to play; then dump him out of the game at 38, stuffed knees, screwed up head, and none of the skills to cope.
Having said this, the book is WAY too long at just over 400 pages. McGrath has very little to say in any detail about what went on when he was playing although more about his relationship with different managers and physios. That leaves a lot of time to talk his inner demons, drink, finding drink, evading friends guarding him, and what he did when he was drunk. Even with the best will in the world, when you are reading about him disappearing for the tenth time it is starting to get a bit dull.
He has interesting things to say about the managers but is so absorbed by drinking that he has very little to say about the game. He was hired as a panelist for Match of the Day for tyhe 2002 World Cup (he never made it as he turned up drunk) but on the evidence of the book he does not seem to have been a deep-thinker about the game anyway.
Paul McGrath the man - I really hope it works out for you. "Back from the Brink" the book - ok but no more than that.
Awesome. October 28, 2007
SUNDERLAND TILL I DIE (SUNDERLAND)
Simply could not put the book down. You go through every emotion. For a man i thought of as the best defensive player around it is hard to think how good this man could have been. Maybe the troubles were the making of him and he is brutal with his honesty whilst describing the dark times. A must for any football fan be it if they remember him or just want to know what they missed. My dad goes on about the great players i never saw and i can only be thankful i saw this legend and was lucky enough to witness some of those "great" performances. I will no doubt tell my sons in years to come that they should have seen Paul play.
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