Overview
Arsenal legend inspires uplifting book charting the life, love and soccer fanaticism of a modern-day sports producer, whose shallow life is given new meaning by one man’s beautiful game.
High-flying sports-media mogul and David Beckham doppelgänger, Mr. Arsenal is living every football fan's dream: he's loaded, has his pick of the ladies and drives a flashy sports car. And to make his life even sweeter, he's been chosen to work on coverage for the 2014 World Cup.
Tasked with producing a short documentary, Mr. Arsenal, stumbles upon footage from Mexico 1970 and a high-profile spat between television pundit and Manchester City coach Malcolm Allison and Tottenham Hotspur player and captain Alan Mullery. On further investigation, he unearths a reference to a half-forgotten player named only as 'Sammy' and referred to as the one who was 'left behind'. Determined to discover the man behind the name, Mr. Arsenal quickly becomes obsessed with the tragic story of this once top-flight footballer whose brilliance has been all but lost in the annals of sporting history; a player who was once one of the highest paid and most successful players in Britain: Jon Sammels.
As Mr Arsenal revisits Sammels' professional heyday in the late 1960s and early 70s, the impact on his own life is extraordinary
I Am Sam tells the story of retired professional soccer player Jon Sammels, who played 270 matches for Arsenal before signing for Leicester City. A diehard Gunners fan, author Durose-Rayner artfully explores Sammels’ roller-coaster career and sometimes rocky relationship with the fans, revealing his own and Sammels’ frustration at the politics of the game which contributed to the latter’s premature departure from what was at the time, the top cub in England. Durose-Rayner contrasts the player’s professional highlights — including scoring Arsenal’s winning goal in the 1970 European Fairs Cup against R.S.C Anderlecht — against his subsequent string of bad luck; from serious injury to falling out of favor as younger talents rose through the ranks, to being left out of the 1970 World Cup squad. After finishing the first draft of I Am Sam Durose-Rayner contacted Sammels to share the story that he wanted to tell and Sammels gave his heartfelt assurances of approval and support.
I Am Sam has much in common with Nick Hornby’s celebrated novel about unconditional soccer fandom, Fever Pitch and will similarly captivate readers, from the devoted to the uninitiated. Ultimately a story about life, survival and redemption — all of which exist within just ninety minutes of soccer — it’s a fitting tribute to one of Highbury’s greatest heroes.
About the author: Dividing his time between the UK and Cyprus, James Durose-Rayner has over twenty years experience in journalism; a member of the Writer’s Guild, he is the editor of NATM, the UK’s leading specialist civil engineering journal. His writing has been featured in over 200 magazines and his debut indie-novel, S63: Made in Thurnscoe, published in 2001, received positive reviews.
The first in a trilogy, I Am Sam by James Durose-Rayner (published February 10th by Clink Street Publishing which you can buy from Amazon here
For more information, please visit james-durose-rayner.co.uk and follow him on Twitter at @natm_mag
Arsenal legend inspires uplifting book charting the life, love and soccer fanaticism of a modern-day sports producer, whose shallow life is given new meaning by one man’s beautiful game.
High-flying sports-media mogul and David Beckham doppelgänger, Mr. Arsenal is living every football fan's dream: he's loaded, has his pick of the ladies and drives a flashy sports car. And to make his life even sweeter, he's been chosen to work on coverage for the 2014 World Cup.
Tasked with producing a short documentary, Mr. Arsenal, stumbles upon footage from Mexico 1970 and a high-profile spat between television pundit and Manchester City coach Malcolm Allison and Tottenham Hotspur player and captain Alan Mullery. On further investigation, he unearths a reference to a half-forgotten player named only as 'Sammy' and referred to as the one who was 'left behind'. Determined to discover the man behind the name, Mr. Arsenal quickly becomes obsessed with the tragic story of this once top-flight footballer whose brilliance has been all but lost in the annals of sporting history; a player who was once one of the highest paid and most successful players in Britain: Jon Sammels.
As Mr Arsenal revisits Sammels' professional heyday in the late 1960s and early 70s, the impact on his own life is extraordinary
I Am Sam tells the story of retired professional soccer player Jon Sammels, who played 270 matches for Arsenal before signing for Leicester City. A diehard Gunners fan, author Durose-Rayner artfully explores Sammels’ roller-coaster career and sometimes rocky relationship with the fans, revealing his own and Sammels’ frustration at the politics of the game which contributed to the latter’s premature departure from what was at the time, the top cub in England. Durose-Rayner contrasts the player’s professional highlights — including scoring Arsenal’s winning goal in the 1970 European Fairs Cup against R.S.C Anderlecht — against his subsequent string of bad luck; from serious injury to falling out of favor as younger talents rose through the ranks, to being left out of the 1970 World Cup squad. After finishing the first draft of I Am Sam Durose-Rayner contacted Sammels to share the story that he wanted to tell and Sammels gave his heartfelt assurances of approval and support.
I Am Sam has much in common with Nick Hornby’s celebrated novel about unconditional soccer fandom, Fever Pitch and will similarly captivate readers, from the devoted to the uninitiated. Ultimately a story about life, survival and redemption — all of which exist within just ninety minutes of soccer — it’s a fitting tribute to one of Highbury’s greatest heroes.
About the author: Dividing his time between the UK and Cyprus, James Durose-Rayner has over twenty years experience in journalism; a member of the Writer’s Guild, he is the editor of NATM, the UK’s leading specialist civil engineering journal. His writing has been featured in over 200 magazines and his debut indie-novel, S63: Made in Thurnscoe, published in 2001, received positive reviews.
The first in a trilogy, I Am Sam by James Durose-Rayner (published February 10th by Clink Street Publishing which you can buy from Amazon here
For more information, please visit james-durose-rayner.co.uk and follow him on Twitter at @natm_mag