BRIAN Reade's first book comprehensively captures the way many football supporters think. He writes honestly as a fan and from the heart.
The Daily Mirror columnist even points at this himself, telling the Book Club: "I interviewed Bill Shankly, Kenny Dalglish, Graeme Souness and Rafael Benitez. But if I had a choice, I would rather be a fan than a journalist. I would rather keep my love for the club than be a match reporter. That's what makes it [the book] different."
Reade was a reporter on the Liverpool Daily Post and Echo and he believes he got too close to his idols to the point where he is left feeling crestfallen by Kenny Dalglish, the former reds manager and probably the best player the club has ever had.
He had written in his Echo column that Liverpool might struggle to retain their title, an opinion Dalglish disliked which prompted him to give Reade the cold shoulder.
The lifelong Liverpool fan chronicles his stories as vignettes of his life; the first ever game he attended with his father Reg and brother Vic saw Liverpool beat Bolton Wonderers at Burnden Park in February 1965 - a season in which the club won their first ever FA Cup Final win against Leeds United - and they go on to last year's Champions League Final against AC Milan in Athens.
He writes about the Reds' domestic and European success and that remarkable night in Istanbul in 2005 when Liverpool won the European Cup for the fifth time; the joy he and his teenage son saw unfold before them is very moving.
Supporters from all clubs should look at Reade's poignant experiences as he focuses on the stadium tragedies of Heysel and Hillsborough; the book is after all dedicated to the 96 lives lost in Sheffield and the 39 mostly Italian fans that died in Brussels.
On a lighter note, there is plenty of humour: there are ridiculous moments such as when he explains the time he found out his son was an Everton supporter and his bizarre meeting in 1975 with the legendary Liverpool manager Bill Shankly, who for one moment is horrified at the idea that the young Reade might have attended a rugby-loving school, which De La Salle is certainly not.
Shankly goes on to speak of an occasion where he would squeeze rugby balls so they would lose their egg shape and become spherical, which hilariously encapsulates his total commitment and love of the beautiful game.
This book certainly struck a chord: it was thoroughly enjoyable, funny and an education.
43 Years With The Same Bird; A Liverpool Love Affair by Brian Reade, published by Macmillan priced £12.99.
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