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Paul Mariner book

MarkDonaldson

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Mar 20, 2021
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Hi

My name is Mark Donaldson. I'm a commentator with ESPN and am currently helping Paul Mariner write his autobiography - Tales of the Ancient Mariner - which we hope will be released towards the end of this year.

I'm currently interviewing various people for the book with an Argyle association, having already chatted and obtained stories from Paul's strike partner Billy Rafferty, ex-club secretary Graham Little and former Evening Herald Argyle reporter Graham Hambly among others.

There's a website for the book - www.paulmariner.com - which will be updated throughout the process.

We also plan to have a section of the book entitled 'Mariner Memories', giving Argyle supporters the opportunity to get in touch with their favourite memories of Paul's time at Home Park.

If you're able to help, and wish your memory to possibly feature in the book, then we'd love to hear from you. Please get in touch via email - book@paulmariner.com - or by replying to this message.

Our thanks in advance,

Mark and Paul

Twitter: @paul_mariner
Twitter: @DonaldsonESPN
Instagram: @talesoftheancientmariner
 

IJN

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As this is for a member of Argyle royalty, this will be sticked for at least two weeks. :thumbup:
 

memory man

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I do urge people to do this. As well as your football-related memories, I know from my own experience that a supporter's story about something away from football is every bit as important. as one from a player's professional colleague. A meeting in town, a service provided, a meeting at a concert or the cinema. Just a glimpse of the man away from football is very useful to a biographer. You may think your little story is unimportant. But you may be wrong - let the author decide.
 

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What a lovely idea it will be a rivetting read. I've sent an email (as follows)

I am a 54 year old Plymouth Argyle fan who started supporting the greens in 1974 from far flung London. My granny lived in Plymouth and sent us newspaper cuttings (the comprehensive coverage in The Sunday Independent) as we could rarely visit in person which arrived on the doormat every Tuesday without fail. Paul was, and still is, my favourite Argyle player after 46 years of undiminished support. Residing in London, I would go to local games on the back of my dad's Vespa, and I particularly recall a game V Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in 1975 where Paul was outstanding in a 2-2 draw, scored both goals, and their fans were shouting for the final whistle we were so dominant.

Paul broke my heart when he left for Ipswich Town. By then we had moved to Bristol and the news was like a knife through my heart. On a par but not exceeded by the death of my dog at the age of 16 (me) and my first real girlfriend breaking up with me at the age of 22.

Whilst Argyle were my team, I became a surrogate fan of Ipswich town (this affection has long since disappeared unlike my love for the greens) and followed Paul's career with awe and pride as he terrorised the mighty Liverpool, strode through Europe, and won the FA Cup in 1978. His call up for England was magical and I couldn't wait for the World Cup in Spain with Paul leading the attack for us in 1982.

I enjoyed (some of) his brief time at the helm at Argyle too as manager at clearly a very difficult time for the club. The lack of success in that time has not blighted in any way my regard for Paul or that of the legions of admirers in the ranks of the Green Army.

My teenage daughters who both attend as season ticket holders with me are now fully aware of the enduring allure of Mr Paul Mariner.

Thanks for the memories Paul.
 
Dec 21, 2010
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One half of the Dream Team. Billy had the graft and the song, but Paul "I would have walked from Chorley to play for Argyle" Mariner had the magic in his boots. As a teenager I used to go to all the Combination League games at Home Park and throughout August and early September, while the first team had failed to pick up a win, we witnessed the arrival of a raw but obviously talented young centre forward. Those small reserve team crowds were singing Paul's name, calling for his promotion to the senior squad.
That moment arrived on Tuesday 11th September 1973 when myself and 7,065 others witnessed the full debuts of Alan Rogers, Brian Johnson and the man himself. Ninety minutes later, after a 5 - 0 thrashing of Rochdale, including Paul's first two Argyle goals, a star had been born. It shone brightly for three years in Plymouth before Ipswich, Arsenal and England came calling. I feel honoured to have been there when that star was born. And because we are all big kids at heart, I felt just as honoured aged 65 at a reunion eighteen months ago when I met Paul in the bar and he spoke these legendary words to me: "all right mate, how's it going?" Thanks for the memories Paul Mariner !
 

Larry David

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Possibly not one for the book :) but when I was about fifteen I was on the Hoe with my sister when I saw Paul sitting on a bench chatting to a couple of girls, I thought this was an ideal opportunity to introduce myself to the great man and impress my sister. I walked over and said “Hello Paul hows it going” or words to that effect. His instant riposte ended in off. Anyway I put it down to the fact he was having a bad hair day and swiftly moved on. We’re none of us perfect.
 
Aug 5, 2015
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Quite easy really. Having followed Argyle since 1968, Paul Mariner is simply the best player I have seen at Home Park playing for Argyle.
 
Aug 5, 2015
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Just remembered the Fulham game one Boxing Day, when we were 4-0 up at halftime when Bobby Moore had to be subbed as Paul had given him a complete and utter roasting
 
Jun 27, 2019
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Mariner was before my time but I'll buy this book purely because you don't get too many football auto-biographies with sections on Argyle.

Hopefully Paul won't be afraid to speak his mind - there's nothing worse than a subject who skirts around controversy for fear of offending people.

Good luck with it all :thumbup:
 
Jun 27, 2019
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Just realised you're the Mark Donaldson who ghost-wrote Steve Nicol's book. Funnily enough I've literally just finished reading it and would highly recommend it. It's well written and genuinely insightful, and Nicol's character oozes off every page.

I find that latter point is the hardest thing to achieve in a ghost-written autobiography. Capturing the character of sportsmen who perhaps took their privileged careers for granted is a difficult task and lots miss the mark. Maradona's is probably the best example of getting it right, with Cruyff and Shilton two notable examples of how badly wrong it can go. Let's just say the latter two make good bedtime reading if you have trouble getting to sleep.

Anyway, back on topic...
 

Mark58

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Larry David":2rw3jiyj said:
Possibly not one for the book :) but when I was about fifteen I was on the Hoe with my sister when I saw Paul sitting on a bench chatting to a couple of girls, I thought this was an ideal opportunity to introduce myself to the great man and impress my sister. I walked over and said “Hello Paul hows it going” or words to that effect. His instant riposte ended in off. Anyway I put it down to the fact he was having a bad hair day and swiftly moved on. We’re none of us perfect.


This put me in mind of a book I read when I was in my teens. It’s called Goalkeepers Are Crazy and was a collection of short stories of ‘the beautiful game’ by the great football writer, Brian Glanville. One of the stories was of a young lad who was obsessive about collecting autographs from his footballing heroes. It shows how long ago the story was set - and how long ago I read it - but this is my recollection.

The lad learns that a team is due to travel to a match by train - via his home town - and will temporarily stop at the local station. Armed with his precious autograph book he waits for hours in the pouring rain until the train pulls in. As it comes to a stop he spots some of the players hanging out of the windows - including his absolute idol, a famous young centre forward. He runs up to the carriage, excitedly shouting out the player’s name and waving his autograph book. The player watches the young lad and as he gets nearer he reaches out for the book.

At this point the train starts to slowly move away. The lad hands over the book and a pen, but instead of the player quickly signing he throws the book onto the soaking wet platform and laughs with his team mates as the train gathers speed and pulls away. The disheartened lad tries to gather up the soaking wet pages as the train disappears in the distance...

Fast forward ten years and the player is at the wrong end of his career, turning out for a lower league reserve team in front of half a dozen spectators and a dog. Not long after kick off the player receives the ball with his back to goal and is just about to turn when the opposing centre half - a huge young guy, built like a brick pagoda - goes straight through him from behind. The player is kicked up in the air then hits the deck in a painful heap. Lying in the mud with his head still spinning the player looks up at his opponent and manages to say, ‘What the hell did you do that for?’ The young guy towers over him and replies, ‘For me autograph book , ye’ illegitimate!’

I took a double moral from that story - one, be careful about meeting your heroes in case you are disappointed and - two, be nice to everyone on the way up ‘cos you might meet them again on the way down! :scarf:

I don’t know if Goalkeeper’s Are Crazy is still in print but, if so, I can thoroughly recommend it as painting a picture of the game from a bygone age.
 

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Mr. Donaldson should contact Sparksy i'm sure he has lots of stories about Paul Mariner.
 

Larry David

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Mark58":3npfz37q said:
Larry David":3npfz37q said:
Possibly not one for the book :) but when I was about fifteen I was on the Hoe with my sister when I saw Paul sitting on a bench chatting to a couple of girls, I thought this was an ideal opportunity to introduce myself to the great man and impress my sister. I walked over and said “Hello Paul hows it going” or words to that effect. His instant riposte ended in off. Anyway I put it down to the fact he was having a bad hair day and swiftly moved on. We’re none of us perfect.


This put me in mind of a book I read when I was in my teens. It’s called Goalkeepers Are Crazy and was a collection of short stories of ‘the beautiful game’ by the great football writer, Brian Glanville. One of the stories was of a young lad who was obsessive about collecting autographs from his footballing heroes. It shows how long ago the story was set - and how long ago I read it - but this is my recollection.

The lad learns that a team is due to travel to a match by train - via his home town - and will temporarily stop at the local station. Armed with his precious autograph book he waits for hours in the pouring rain until the train pulls in. As it comes to a stop he spots some of the players hanging out of the windows - including his absolute idol, a famous young centre forward. He runs up to the carriage, excitedly shouting out the player’s name and waving his autograph book. The player watches the young lad and as he gets nearer he reaches out for the book.

At this point the train starts to slowly move away. The lad hands over the book and a pen, but instead of the player quickly signing he throws the book onto the soaking wet platform and laughs with his team mates as the train gathers speed and pulls away. The disheartened lad tries to gather up the soaking wet pages as the train disappears in the distance...

Fast forward ten years and the player is at the wrong end of his career, turning out for a lower league reserve team in front of half a dozen spectators and a dog. Not long after kick off the player receives the ball with his back to goal and is just about to turn when the opposing centre half - a huge young guy, built like a brick pagoda - goes straight through him from behind. The player is kicked up in the air then hits the deck in a painful heap. Lying in the mud with his head still spinning the player looks up at his opponent and manages to say, ‘What the hell did you do that for?’ The young guy towers over him and replies, ‘For me autograph book , ye’ bar steward!’

I took a double moral from that story - one, be careful about meeting your heroes in case you are disappointed and - two, be nice to everyone on the way up ‘cos you might meet them again on the way down! :scarf:

I don’t know if Goalkeeper’s Are Crazy is still in print but, if so, I can thoroughly recommend it as painting a picture of the game from a bygone age.

That’s a great story Mark. Just for the record I was a bit disappointed at the time but in retrospect had he just said hello that wouldn’t have been quite as memorable :D besides he set me up for a career where being told to f*** off was a common occurrence. So that was nice!
 

Mark58

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Larry David":1u5ea7zh said:
Mark58":1u5ea7zh said:
Larry David":1u5ea7zh said:
Possibly not one for the book :) but when I was about fifteen I was on the Hoe with my sister when I saw Paul sitting on a bench chatting to a couple of girls, I thought this was an ideal opportunity to introduce myself to the great man and impress my sister. I walked over and said “Hello Paul hows it going” or words to that effect. His instant riposte ended in off. Anyway I put it down to the fact he was having a bad hair day and swiftly moved on. We’re none of us perfect.


This put me in mind of a book I read when I was in my teens. It’s called Goalkeepers Are Crazy and was a collection of short stories of ‘the beautiful game’ by the great football writer, Brian Glanville. One of the stories was of a young lad who was obsessive about collecting autographs from his footballing heroes. It shows how long ago the story was set - and how long ago I read it - but this is my recollection.

The lad learns that a team is due to travel to a match by train - via his home town - and will temporarily stop at the local station. Armed with his precious autograph book he waits for hours in the pouring rain until the train pulls in. As it comes to a stop he spots some of the players hanging out of the windows - including his absolute idol, a famous young centre forward. He runs up to the carriage, excitedly shouting out the player’s name and waving his autograph book. The player watches the young lad and as he gets nearer he reaches out for the book.

At this point the train starts to slowly move away. The lad hands over the book and a pen, but instead of the player quickly signing he throws the book onto the soaking wet platform and laughs with his team mates as the train gathers speed and pulls away. The disheartened lad tries to gather up the soaking wet pages as the train disappears in the distance...

Fast forward ten years and the player is at the wrong end of his career, turning out for a lower league reserve team in front of half a dozen spectators and a dog. Not long after kick off the player receives the ball with his back to goal and is just about to turn when the opposing centre half - a huge young guy, built like a brick pagoda - goes straight through him from behind. The player is kicked up in the air then hits the deck in a painful heap. Lying in the mud with his head still spinning the player looks up at his opponent and manages to say, ‘What the hell did you do that for?’ The young guy towers over him and replies, ‘For me autograph book , ye’ bar steward!’

I took a double moral from that story - one, be careful about meeting your heroes in case you are disappointed and - two, be nice to everyone on the way up ‘cos you might meet them again on the way down!

I don’t know if Goalkeeper’s Are Crazy is still in print but, if so, I can thoroughly recommend it as painting a picture of the game from a bygone age.

That’s a great story Mark. Just for the record I was a bit disappointed at the time but in retrospect had he just said hello that wouldn’t have been quite as memorable :D besides he set me up for a career where being told to f*** off was a common occurrence. So that was nice!

:lol: