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The team missed out on the 1982 World Cup on goal difference alone. Despite having come closer than any previous manager to qualifying, Hand endured intense criticism from the press.

Hand responds here for the first time, telling the inside story of his time in football, from his start with Swindon Town at eighteen, through playing for Portsmouth and Ireland, to managing the Irish team, as well as English, Saudi Arabian and South African teams.

Along with anecdotes about top players and managers like George Best, Liam Brady, Bobby Charlton and John Giles, he exposes the inner workings of the FAI and assesses its stewardship of Irish football. With unflinching honesty and bracing humour, Hand also lays bare the personal issues that led to him drinking heavily and almost dying of acute pancreatitis in 1997.

That he managed to pull through at all is testament to the resilience with which this provocative memoir crackles.

More Information
ISBN/EAN 9781848893238
Author Eoin Hand with Jared Browne
Publisher Gill Books
Imprint Collins Press
Publication date 13 Oct 2017
Format Paperback
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You're reviewing:First Hand: My Life and Irish Football

First Hand: My Life and Irish Football

Eoin Hand with Jared Browne
Special Price €9.99 Regular Price €19.99

From 1980 to 1985, Eoin Hand managed one of Ireland’s greatest generations of players, including Liam Brady, Ronnie Whelan and Frank Stapleton...

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