I am saddened by the news of the passing of my role model as a writer, the man from whom I learnt so much journalistic English with a dose of urbane wit. Brian Glanville, British Jew, chief football writer (the best of the lot in my view), novelist and playwright passed away at 93. Well, no one is here forever.
I found him very instructive with respect to writing for the press in English.
An Alexander Pope look-alike – lean, grave facial expression – he displayed considerable erudition and sophistication in his writing.
During the salad days of my green judgement (I take liberties with William Shakespeare here) as a young part-time journalist (1974-1978) for an Arab financed newspaper, I revered him as the main role model among a few others, namely Geoffrey Green, and the somewhat ultra measured Donald Saunders, the latter with his clear, rational syntax, whom I once met in the flesh in the press room at Stamford Bridge (1976). I started reading these at the old British Council offices and institute situated at close distance from my pre-marriage residence in Valletta, Malta. The Times, Sunday Times and Daily and Sunday Telegraph were regularly on display. I religiously would spend half an hour there daily perusing these papers, often ducking the odd family chore or daily evening mass at the nearby Carmelite Church to do so.
I read some of Glanville’s novels and short stories. He was talented and cultured, with an insightful knowledge of Italian football and good command of the Italian language; he wrote for Corriere dello Sport, apart from being The Sunday Times’ chief football correspondent. His affection for Italian football is reflected in his use of terms as, for instance, ‘ centreforward of manouvre’ a direct translation of ‘ centravanti dalla manovra’ or ‘ vittimismo’, always preceded by ‘ what the Italians call…” and often highlighted in italics. He also wrote for World Soccer and much later The People.
Memorable was his series of articles with US sportswriter and academic, Keith Botsford on the European matches which they felt were marked by bent referees: ‘The Golden Years of the Fix’. Italo Allodi, and his sidekick, the Hungarian, Dezso Solti, came in for some damning commentary in this regard, also exposed by a whistle blower, Portuguese referee Francisco Lobo who was designated to officiate the return 1973 European Cup match between Derby County and Juventus at Derby’s then Baseball Ground. Here one is reminded of Glanville’s quoting Brian Clough’s denunciation of Juventus in 1973 as “cheating bastards”. Ol’ Big Head (Clough ) allegedly saw Helmut Haller enter the German referee’s dressing room at half time in the first leg in Turin. This was followed by the referee showing a yellow card to Roy McFarland and Archie Gemmill which ruled them out of the second leg.
For the most part, though, Brian Glanville was very complimentary about Italian football seeing it as tactically and technically ahead of the UK game. He befriended several iconic figures in Italian football including Vittorio Pozzo, Enzo Bearzot, Bruno Pizzul, the Swede Nils Liedholm and Giovanni Trapattoni. Of particular significance was his friendship with the man who sought to bring Italian and English football closer through the signing of UK players by Serie A clubs and launching the Anglo-Italian tournament. This was Gigi Peronace who would feature in a piece of fiction by Glanville, a piece in his volume of short stories, Love is not Love.
His articles continued to arouse my interest all through my friendship with a late person, who had lent me the Love is not Love volume, as we both pored over, or, more accurately, devoured, his Sunday Times columns. His expressions were memorable. Among the many which come to mind were his description of a gung-ho 70s Manchester United team as “the swing the bucket team”, his unflattering description of Sepp Blatter and FIFA with their ““Fifty ideas every day, 51 of them bad,” his reference to Bobby Robson as ” Panglossian”. He also showed that he can be irreverent towards fellow journalists, once dismissing Gianni Brera as an “empty sound bag”; Glanville was amazed that Giovanni Trapattoni would seek and take tactical advice from the Milan journalist. I recall his use of Shakespeare’s Hamlet when writing that beating a team by a hatful of goals “is a consummation devoutly to be wished”. Ever so critical of Sir Alf Ramsey, even when the latter steered England to the 1966 World Cup, which Glanville described as a “victory for guts and determination”, he once conceded, after England beat Belgium in Brussels’ Parc Astrid in the build up to the 1970 World Cup finals, that the team was “as good as any, better than most”. He also threw in a famous line from William Blake’s ‘The Tyger’ when pouring scorn over the ‘Crazy Gang’ that was Wimbledon (hard man, Vinnie Jones and all) who, true to type, pulled their pants down in the centre circle when saluting the crowd. He denounced the gesture as “crass” with the rider that there was, however “ fearful symmetry.”
Also quite amusing was his four-word comment after a high ranking Aston Villa official tried to exaggerate one player’s performance in his side’s comprehensive defeat by Platini and Boniek’s Juventus. He quoted the top official stating something to the effect that everyone would agree that Villa’s Gordon Cowans was the best midfielder on the pitch, to which Brian Glanville produced a terse, cutting written response: “Quite frankly, I don’t.”
