Brian Glanville RIP ...

[Clarets4me]

Those of us who've seen a few winters will recognise the name of Brian Glanville, the Sunday Times Football Correspondent for over 30 years, who has died, aged 93 .. he was also the author of " The story of the World Cup ", regarded as the seminal work on the Tournament, as well as " The Puffin Book of Football ", which introduced me to the game's history ...

Glanville, Hugh McIlvanney and Frank Keating were all brilliant sports writers ....

[Dazzler]

He wasn't a fan of Women's football. A quote from Brian in 1990

"Women's football is a game that should only be played by consenting adults in private"

A man after my own heart.

RIP Brian

[CleggHall]

Old school in most respects, a fine obituary writer and long time goalie for Corinthian Casuals. RIP

[ecc]

The first British journalist to take a serious interest in foreign football and use words I had to look up in the dictionary.

McIlvanney might well have been the better writer though.

RIP

[forzagranata]

The first British journalist to take a serious interest in foreign football and use words I had to look up in the dictionary.

McIlvanney might well have been the better writer though.

RIP

You are right to point out those two as the outstanding football writers. I'd say Glanville was the finest writer on international football. His writing on Italy, in particular, was unmatched. He was very generous to young football journalists making their start as well - with both his time and his advice.

[mikeS]

He was a great writer on football for sure. Martin Samuel has written a double-page feature on him in todays Sunday Times sport section.
For me Hugh McIlvaney was the best sports writer because he covered boxing as well as football. His reports on the big fights from the sixties onwards were absolute treat to read.

[Big Vinny K]

Loved his World Cup book.

[ecc]

A friend of mine reminded me he also wrote for World Soccer. It used to be a truly excellent magazine which I discovered in 1978 just before the World Cup. It was a "milestone" moment in my football side of life. The British football media was, by and large, bereft of coverage of foreign football (with the exception of Glanville's weekly articles in The Times and some in The Observer and The Telegraph).

The English public, by and large, hadn't moved on from the time when England were axiomatically the best team in the world. The Hungarians were a blip.

And whenever England lost to a foreign country, which happened more and more from the late-sixties onwards, it was either due to a referee or cheating foreigners. And then the defeats were quickly forgotten.

I clearly recall England failing to qualify for the 1984 Euro with Denmark topping the group and winning at Wembley to do so. The majority of the media went spare saying how could such a thing happen. Bobby Robson had warned the media about the quality of the Danes but his words had fallen on deaf ears.

Glanville, as forzagranata, rightly points out was an exception because he knew about Italian football having spent a lot of his life there.

To his credit, despite his love for Italian football, he also highlighted the corruption within that country's game. I'm an Italophile too but realise it has historically both given us so many outstanding players and teams but has also been extremely creative in terms of cheating.

If foreign football is now covered by all media in the UK it is due in in so small part to Brian Glanville.

[CleggHall]

Wrote 1960s book “The rise of Gerry Logan”, football book loosely based on Gerry Hitchens, a decent read.

[forzagranata]

A friend of mine reminded me he also wrote for World Soccer. It used to be a truly excellent magazine which I discovered in 1978 just before the World Cup. It was a "milestone" moment in my football side of life. The British football media was, by and large, bereft of coverage of foreign football (with the exception of Glanville's weekly articles in The Times and some in The Observer and The Telegraph).

The English public, by and large, hadn't moved on from the time when England were axiomatically the best team in the world. The Hungarians were a blip.

And whenever England lost to a foreign country, which happened more and more from the late-sixties onwards, it was either due to a referee or cheating foreigners. And then the defeats were quickly forgotten.

I clearly recall England failing to qualify for the 1984 Euro with Denmark topping the group and winning at Wembley to do so. The majority of the media went spare saying how could such a thing happen. Bobby Robson had warned the media about the quality of the Danes but his words had fallen on deaf ears.

Glanville, as forzagranata, rightly points out was an exception because he knew about Italian football having spent a lot of his life there.

To his credit, despite his love for Italian football, he also highlighted the corruption within that country's game. I'm an Italophile too but realise it has historically both given us so many outstanding players and teams but has also been extremely creative in terms of cheating.

If foreign football is now covered by all media in the UK it is due in in so small part to Brian Glanville.

Agree with all of this. What is often not appreciated about Glanville (and is absent from many of the fine tributes in the press this weekend) is that he was well known and respected globally. In Italy certainly he was someone who journalists there and football people more broadly, would have opinions about. I covered Trapattoni's national team and it was clear that Trap himself had some fondness for Glanville (who had stood in as a translator for him more than once).

In the USA, true lovers of the game in the pre-internet area, got their information from reading World Soccer and therefore Glanville's column and broader writings.

When I moved to Italy in the late 1990's, the Guardian's football writer in Rome suggested that I call Glanville to let him know that I would be writing about Serie A and the Azzurri and gave me his number. Given his reputation and stature, I was rather nervous calling him but he talked on the phone for over an hour, giving me plenty of encouragement and practical advice, as well as of course many wonderful stories about Italian football from the era when he lived in the country.

[claretspice]

The first British journalist to take a serious interest in foreign football and use words I had to look up in the dictionary.

McIlvanney might well have been the better writer though.

RIP

Jim Lawton and David Lacey would be others of a similar vintage to be of the top drawer. I think those 4 would be about the top echelon.

Very different era - much more concerned with the game itself, and much less concerned by the off field circus.

[forzagranata]

Jim Lawton and David Lacey would be others of a similar vintage to be of the top drawer. I think those 4 would be about the top echelon.

Very different era - much more concerned with the game itself, and much less concerned by the off field circus.

Yes - many would put Patrick Barclay in a top five with those four.

What Glanville and McIlvanney, in particular, shared was a disinterest in the obsession with the quote from the manager and building a story all around that. They viewed their role as describing and interpreting what they had seen rather than allowing a press conference quote to determine the entire narrative.

[BurnleyBob]

In 1982 I wrote to Brian Glanville suggesting rather through Claret tinted glasses that Martin Dobson should still be considered for an England call up. He wrote a very polite letter back side stepping my optimistic suggestion but commenting on how much he had always admired Dobbo. He also said that he had heard that Burnley at that time had a wonderful midfield midfielder. He was referring of course to Trevor Steven. I still have the letter as I was so surprised that a journalist of his stature could take the time to reply to a mere slightly deluded football fan.