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Spectator
24-05-2025
- Sport
- Spectator
Great football writers are different
Brian Glanville, who died this week at the age of 93, was a unique voice in the crowded and often hysterical field of football writing and a uniquely important one. His historical reach was unparalleled. He published his first book (a ghosted autobiography of Arenal striker Cliff Bastin) at the age of 16 and attended 13 World Cups, starting with the 1958 tournament in Sweden. His lean, elegant, novelistic style, informed by his parallel career as a fiction writer, could be found nowhere else in the UK. As Patrick Barclay put it, 'most football writers fall into two categories: those who have been influenced by Brian Glanville and those who should have been'. Glanville was simply different. For one thing, he was, to not put too fine a point on it, a 'toff'. In an industry dominated by tough, plain-speaking and working-class journalists, that stuck out like a top hat at a miner's gala. This was important for me, as a rather serious and sensitive (opera loving!) middle class teenager in the gritty urban environment of the west of Scotland. Football culture, dominated by Celtic and Rangers, tended to be on the rough side and it was tempting to head to the genteel environs of the cricket or rugby club. Perhaps
Irish Independent
17-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Independent
Brian Glanville, the ‘doyen of football writers' dies, aged 93
Glanville was the football correspondent for the Sunday Times for 30 years and contributed to World Soccer magazine for five decades. His first book, with Arsenal winger Cliff Bastin, was published in 1950, while his most recently published works included obituaries of Manchester United forward Denis Law and Northern Ireland winger Peter McParland earlier this year. Glanville was perhaps best known for his book 'The Story of the World Cup', first published in 1993 and regularly updated since. He was also a novelist, and in all wrote 31 books. News of his death was announced by his son Mark late on Friday evening. The Sports Journalists Association said in a statement: "The SJA sends its deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Brian Glanville, the 'doyen of football writers' whose many books - including the essential 'The Story of the World Cup' - continue to bring so much insight, knowledge and joy to fans everywhere. RIP Brian."
