Barclay boy:Season in the Sun, James Scotlock..........

Is this chap a Wrather from memory? Either way, nice write up about his new book in today's EDP:

The idea of publishing a football diary for mass consumption was once an original idea. The first time many Canaries fans came across the phenomenon was when Kevin Baldwin published his brilliant account of the 1992-93 season.

The strap-line on the front of that particular book was ?A supporters view of Norwich City's best ever season?.

Unfortunately, nearly two decades on, that claim remains true ? we've never got close to surpassing those achievements. But what has changed since then is the sheer abundance of first-person accounts of life on the road.

Some of this has been thanks to the internet. Blogs, message boards and Supporters' websites are now ten a penny, and newspapers have long since moved away from having a single, authoritative football writer.

Today, they augment their coverage with supporters' own views. I should know ? I wrote the EDP's Fan's Eye column between 2006 and 2010, from just before Nigel Worthington's departure as manger until just after the arrival of Paul Lambert.

They were grim times.

James Scotlock, on the other hand, has just published his account of last year ? our triumphant return to the Premier League. The days of relegations and traipsing around League One seem a long time ago as the author goes into great detail about the fairytale ride.

Scotlock doesn't just focus on the big events ? there's a diary entry for pretty much every day between My 26, 2011 and May 16, 2012. We're treated not just to his match day experience but also to the more mundane moments in between each 90 minutes. He keeps his narrative going even when he's thousands of miles away in Japan, for example.

The book has also retained its feel as a genuine diary, and it is gritty, detailed and emotional. This is important ? If it becomes too revised it can lose its feel of immediacy. (Piers Morgan showed how a slick, carefully-scripted memoir can backfire. His rogue time line of events served only to undermine the authenticity of the ?diary? of his time as a Fleet Street editor.)

For the reasons mentioned above, Barclay boy will never be seen as a ground breaking project. This kind of book is no longer novel (no pun intended), and there's a cacophony of voices shouting about their own experiences.

But it is an enjoyable and slightly eccentric ride through what was a fantastic season back in the big time for City. Those who were there will enjoy dipping into it and relating to the struggles and joys of being a football fan ? things that make the game what it is.

Posted By: DrDublin, Sep 22, 18:16:34