Former Manchester City goalkeeper Alex Williams has published a book detailing his career on and off the pitch
As one of the first black goalkeepers in the modern top flight, Alex Williams had to endure more than most professionals do in their careers.
"As 1986 dawned, I was low and returning to football was well down my list of priorities," he said in his new autobiography released this week. "Although the surgery had gone well, my body was battered. I left hospital limping badly."I was left with mental scars as well, though they would heal in time. I was anxious about my general health, wondering if I would recover to do everyday things.
A must-read that isn't just for City fans, the book captures the tensions and politics that existed in football clubs and also culture during the 1980s - a particularly volatile era with racism and hooliganism rife amid social and economic inequality.
These contributions saw him awarded an MBE in 2002 that allowed him to take his wife and also his mum - part of the Windrush generation like his dad who came over from Jamaica to Moss Side in the late 1950s - to Buckingham Palace. Having been idolised by the Gallagher brothers when he was coming through at City, his career was then studied by Pep Guardiola when he arrived in Manchester in 2016 as part of his education to understand the identity of the club.
"Once I established myself after a year, things became a lot easier because people knew who I was. They knew if they played City I’d be in goal.
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