The Wilderness Years: Newcastle United 1978-1984 by Gary Sherrard – Review
By Karl Hornsey
One thing above all that I love about the books published across all sports by Pitch Publishing is how an author is encouraged to take a niche subject that they are passionate about, and write in such detail about it. Their back catalogue is filled with such offerings, and The Wilderness Years by Gary Sherrard is among the best of the lot. While they are niche subjects, that passion is what makes them accessible to all, and Sherrard’s love of all things Newcastle United and his detailed and honest memories of a largely dismal time in the club’s history make this an absolute winner.
The end of the 1970s and much of the 1980s was not a great time to be a football fan. Often pilloried by society as hooliganism rose and rose, and forced to watch matches in ramshackle stadia that ultimately led to tragedy upon tragedy, attendances dropped, and the sport felt a million miles away from that of today. For good, and for bad. Sherrard captures that time perfectly, with crystal-clear memories of a childhood in simpler times, when football really was for the die-hards, and none more so than those who continued to follow Newcastle through thick and thin.
The book starts with a chapter all about the stadium. St James’ Park these days is state-of-the-art and among the finest in the land, packed to the rafters week in, week out. Back then, it was quite the opposite. With Sherrard’s descriptions of his first sight of the stadium, his first match, and all of the minutiae of a matchday, the reader is transported back in time and could almost be there with him. And it immediately sums up the addictive routines that hook so many young fans from day one and inflict a lifetime of disappointment (and, occasionally, triumphs) upon them.
“Pandemonium”
Taking his time, he documents those ‘firsts’ in more than 20 pages, and that’s a method that works well all the way through, going into great detail about how certain events panned out, such as the fans’ love of their hero Malcolm McDonald, whose departure was a key factor in precipitating the club’s relegation to the old Second Division. There are also fascinating segments devoted to events in other sports during that period, often used to contrast the excitement of elsewhere with the depressing fayre served up before their very eyes by their own team.
The author tells a great story against himself and his club, almost world weary in some ways, so it’s fitting that he gets to end on the high of promotion back to the top flight, which was the culmination of Kevin Keegan’s brief but remarkable time in the famous black and white shirt. Momentum is a huge factor in any sport and Keegan, along with the likes of Chris Waddle and Peter Beardsley, helped to resurrect the Magpies and bring pandemonium to Tyneside. The likes of Sherrard, there through the highs and lows, deserved every moment of the joy that that brought, and he also deserves an awful lot of credit for this outstanding read.
‘The Wilderness Years – Newcastle United 1978-1984’ by Gary Sherrard is published by Pitch Publishing
Karl’s love of writing was piqued at the age of eight, when he won a Blue Peter badge in an essay-writing competition. The location of said badge might be a mystery now, but the memory never fades. Hours spent writing about sport as a teenager, in pre-internet years when you had to make your entertainment, honed his skills, and Karl has worked in TV and radio listings at PA Media for 28 years, and the age of hybrid working means 50% of that can be at home listening to Classic FM and thinking about his next visit to his beloved Yorkshire Dales.
@KarlHornsey, hornskar
