sweet_left_foot
Well-known member
has anyone read this yet? Is it a Boro Fever Pitch?
Mark Davies - A love Letter to Football
- Thread starter sweet_left_foot
- Start date
has anyone read this yet? Is it a Boro Fever Pitch?Mark has written his story behind the book in the fanzine today - yes, it has been described as a Boro fever pitch - as you see from the cover pic it has a foreword by Steve Gibson.. Mark is a very fine writer, he has faced up to a massive health challenge that has forced him to reassess and Boro has been more than ever before his outlet.
sweet_left_foot
Well-known member
awesome, ta. The BookSellerCrow blurb rings true. Buying it
"This honest, funny and entertaining account of a life-changing experience, love for a football club and the way the game has been a bedrock throughout his life underlines that football may not be more important than life and death, but the joy and ecstasy it can bring – even for a Middlesbrough fan – really can help when times are hard."
"This honest, funny and entertaining account of a life-changing experience, love for a football club and the way the game has been a bedrock throughout his life underlines that football may not be more important than life and death, but the joy and ecstasy it can bring – even for a Middlesbrough fan – really can help when times are hard."
atypical_boro
Well-known member
Will it be an audiobook?
Norman_Conquest
Well-known member
I bought it for my son when Rob first linked it to the board, I'm hoping he passes it on. 
steve0
Well-known member
Just where my dad stood too
sweet_left_foot
Well-known member
So I finished it, in two sittings, it's a good, easy read.
If you don't mind an honest romp of a middle class boy from North of the River in Eaglescliffe it's well worth the price on the jacket.
It isn't Fever Pitch, it's real and spans many decades.
If you are reading this Mark, thanks for writing it. I really enjoyed your recollections. It made me laugh out loud a lot and say "yeah, that" a lot.
Keep well.
If you don't mind an honest romp of a middle class boy from North of the River in Eaglescliffe it's well worth the price on the jacket.
It isn't Fever Pitch, it's real and spans many decades.
If you are reading this Mark, thanks for writing it. I really enjoyed your recollections. It made me laugh out loud a lot and say "yeah, that" a lot.
Keep well.
The_Lizards_Jumpers
Well-known member
Fever Pitch was real and spanned a number of years too.
my mistake, I thought it was a novel and based around 88/89 season
Can I say really, real instead?
Visceral given the subject matter.I recommend it anyway, as I would reading Fever Pitch even if it's not about Boro
The_Lizards_Jumpers
Well-known member
my mistake, I thought it was a novel and based around 88/89 season
Can I say really, real instead?
I recommend it anyway, as I would reading Fever Pitch even if it's not about Boro
No, it was very much based on Hornby's life supporting Arsenal, and how he fell in love with them and how that impacted on his life thereafter.
I think (from memory) the film focused a lot on that season, but the book definitely span multiple years.
it's a long time since I read it. You are correct. I guess I'm conflating the dramatisations of it.
www.supersummary.com
Fever Pitch Summary and Study Guide | SuperSummary
Thanks for exploring this SuperSummary Study Guide of “Fever Pitch” by Nick Hornby. A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides that feature detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, quotes, and essay topics.
Here is Mark's article for Fmttm Fanzine about the book...
A Love Letter To Football
By Mark Davies
I was feeling pretty weak and pathetic on the night Boro played Spurs in the FA Cup in 2022. I’d had a stem cell transplant a few months earlier and although I was happily in remission from cancer, I was struggling with the recovery.
I watched the game at home in London with my Boro-mad son. I may have left Teesside in 1986 but my love for my football club will be with me forever - and I’ve passed it on to my two south London born and bred boys.
I was diagnosed with myeloma, a rare and incurable blood cancer, in 2016 when I was 49. The consultant had told me I was very young to be getting blood cancer and the good news (!) was that while there was cancer in my blood it hadn’t started to attack me - yet.
That meant that when me and my lads were at the Riverside to see Boro promoted back to the Premier League in 2016 I was feeling kind of ok, though a diagnosis like that does play havoc with your mental health, in my experience at least.
By 2020 and the middle of lockdown things had changed and the cancer was on the march, attacking my spine. It was time for treatment, which was grim and difficult: chemotherapy and then a stem cell transplant, then arduous recovery.
So I wasn’t in good shape when Josh Coburn scored that glorious goal against Spurs. And as I celebrated by running round our living room, hugging my son and expressing undying love for our young striker I felt such a surge of complete and utter joy that cancer was forgotten and a thought flashed through my mind.
How does anyone live without this wonderful game in their lives? And also - is there anything better than supporting Middlesbrough Football Club?
It was soon after that that I started expanding on these thoughts. I’ve always loved writing - I used to be a journalist - and it was good therapy. The outcome, much to my amazement, is a book, called A Love Letter to Football: From the Terraces to a Transplant and Back Again.
In a nutshell it’s about how while football is not as important as life and death, it doesn’t half help when life gets difficult. The more I thought about it, the more I realised how football, and Boro, has been so important to me ever since my first game in 1973, through challenges like a battle with depression and this latest difficulty with cancer.
Not that I’ve not known it was important to me - I’m obsessed with Boro and always have been - but it’s never been more important than in these really tough times.
The book is a kind of history of the club through my eyes, from my first season when we were promoted under Jack Charlton through 86, winning a cup and Europe, to last season and the wonderful story of Chuba Akpom’s revival. It’s a pretty personal history, naturally, but I hope it more than anything it will help anyone facing similar challenges to mine. And maybe resonate with anyone for whom football, and Boro in particular, is a fundamental part of their life.
I’ve written about players like Juninho and Akpom, of course, but others who’ve been important to me: Tony Mowbray, Malcolm Smith, Bosco Jankovic, Gary Parkinson and others too.
The club have been an amazing support to me since cancer came into my life and the chairman in particular has been a remarkable help to me. I’m thrilled to bits that he has written the foreword to the book, while Juninho has also written a few words - amazingly - as has Neil Warnock, a man whom I think we have a lot to be thankful for.
I do hope Boro fans enjoy it and that my story helps those facing cancer, and particularly the one I have. While I am in remission it is incurable and will more than likely come back. While that is hard to deal with, it’s also possible to live a good and happy life after the arduous chemotherapy and stem cell transplant which I have experienced. And for all the ups and downs of supporting the Boro, there’s no question that it’s been a joy in so many ways that I just can’t imagine life without it. That’s why I wanted to say thank you to my football club for helping me when I really needed it.
A Love Letter To Football
By Mark Davies
I was feeling pretty weak and pathetic on the night Boro played Spurs in the FA Cup in 2022. I’d had a stem cell transplant a few months earlier and although I was happily in remission from cancer, I was struggling with the recovery.
I watched the game at home in London with my Boro-mad son. I may have left Teesside in 1986 but my love for my football club will be with me forever - and I’ve passed it on to my two south London born and bred boys.
I was diagnosed with myeloma, a rare and incurable blood cancer, in 2016 when I was 49. The consultant had told me I was very young to be getting blood cancer and the good news (!) was that while there was cancer in my blood it hadn’t started to attack me - yet.
That meant that when me and my lads were at the Riverside to see Boro promoted back to the Premier League in 2016 I was feeling kind of ok, though a diagnosis like that does play havoc with your mental health, in my experience at least.
By 2020 and the middle of lockdown things had changed and the cancer was on the march, attacking my spine. It was time for treatment, which was grim and difficult: chemotherapy and then a stem cell transplant, then arduous recovery.
So I wasn’t in good shape when Josh Coburn scored that glorious goal against Spurs. And as I celebrated by running round our living room, hugging my son and expressing undying love for our young striker I felt such a surge of complete and utter joy that cancer was forgotten and a thought flashed through my mind.
How does anyone live without this wonderful game in their lives? And also - is there anything better than supporting Middlesbrough Football Club?
It was soon after that that I started expanding on these thoughts. I’ve always loved writing - I used to be a journalist - and it was good therapy. The outcome, much to my amazement, is a book, called A Love Letter to Football: From the Terraces to a Transplant and Back Again.
In a nutshell it’s about how while football is not as important as life and death, it doesn’t half help when life gets difficult. The more I thought about it, the more I realised how football, and Boro, has been so important to me ever since my first game in 1973, through challenges like a battle with depression and this latest difficulty with cancer.
Not that I’ve not known it was important to me - I’m obsessed with Boro and always have been - but it’s never been more important than in these really tough times.
The book is a kind of history of the club through my eyes, from my first season when we were promoted under Jack Charlton through 86, winning a cup and Europe, to last season and the wonderful story of Chuba Akpom’s revival. It’s a pretty personal history, naturally, but I hope it more than anything it will help anyone facing similar challenges to mine. And maybe resonate with anyone for whom football, and Boro in particular, is a fundamental part of their life.
I’ve written about players like Juninho and Akpom, of course, but others who’ve been important to me: Tony Mowbray, Malcolm Smith, Bosco Jankovic, Gary Parkinson and others too.
The club have been an amazing support to me since cancer came into my life and the chairman in particular has been a remarkable help to me. I’m thrilled to bits that he has written the foreword to the book, while Juninho has also written a few words - amazingly - as has Neil Warnock, a man whom I think we have a lot to be thankful for.
I do hope Boro fans enjoy it and that my story helps those facing cancer, and particularly the one I have. While I am in remission it is incurable and will more than likely come back. While that is hard to deal with, it’s also possible to live a good and happy life after the arduous chemotherapy and stem cell transplant which I have experienced. And for all the ups and downs of supporting the Boro, there’s no question that it’s been a joy in so many ways that I just can’t imagine life without it. That’s why I wanted to say thank you to my football club for helping me when I really needed it.
guisborough_rob
Well-known member
I’ve been lent the book by a fellow FMTTMer and I’m thoroughly enjoying it. It’s very well written and I’m guessing Mark’s about eight years younger than me, so I can remember all the references from his childhood.
Unless there is a monster clue in the photo I am going to guess at 1972
Mark's first game at Ayresome was 1973 so it would be fit.
It is a lovely book - I got it for Christmas. Mark tells his story incredibly well - it is really honest and isn't overly sentimental, but really made me think about a lot of things - fatherhood, relationship with my dad and kids amongst other things. I absolutely loved it.