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fascinating read, but this doesn't feel as personal as Reng's other brilliant titles, The career of Lars Leese, a goalkepper coming from the third German division who, through some twists and turns of fate, suddenly played in the Premier League.
Nicely told by Ronald Reng and Lars himself, A good, entertaining read and interesting glimpse at what's going on in the world of professional footbal, The story of a littleknown German goalkeeper who finds himself being catapulted into the professional game at a relatively mature age for a footballer, I don't think there is anything really 'controversial' about his story as the title might suggest, However, some of the events which transpired before he turned pro are pretty remarkable and his story is a dream come true for many football fans who would give an arm to have similar experiences to Lars.
Witty, revealing and engrossing. As a fan of football but as someone who dislikes what the game has become I found this easy read to be nigh on perfect, A controversial story about life in the English Premier soccer league a mixture of anecdote and intimate biography the tabloid truth about professional soccer, I had never heard of Lars Leese, but even from the translated text it's Reng's account of his professional career that really makes this a worthwhile read.


Ultimately, this is a biography about a footballer who comes from nonleague to become a professional, Reng had clearly been covering Leese's career when he moved to the Premiership in England, and played his first ever professional game, in his midtolate twenties.
Rather than a rags to riches story, this is more like that of a gambler who strikes lucky but only experiences wealth for a short time, but this prevents it becoming too much of a fairytale in the manner of Jamie Vardy.
This is not necessarily a slight on Leese, as it is not destructive behaviour that lets him down, more that he was an average keeper, but no more.


There is a considerable amount of the book devoted to his nonleague career, and perhaps this would mean more to a German reader, or one more aware of mids football.
I certainly didn't recognise the idea of a nonleague club paying 'stars' betterthanexpected sums of money to play for village clubs, and while Reng does outline the German league structure at the start, the ridiculousness of a player leaving the city to go and play for a team in the middle of nowhere didn't resonate with me but neither did Leese really explain his decision in much more than matteroffact tones.
Though Leese is portrayed sympathetically, he seemed to be quite distant and selfish after having a casual fling with a girl and getting her pregnant later, his wife.
He wasn't that supportive during pregnancy or early childhood, and this is too readily dismissed as something that 'wasn't going to happen really' without much questioning from Reng.


What really makes this book stand out however is that Leese manages to appear both an outsider and an insider in equal measure, He is a third choice goalkeeper at Leverkusen and a distrusted foreigner when he moves to Barnsley, so is never truly one of the lads at the clubs that feature most prominently here.
Leese loved the camaraderie of the team so it may be that bond at his other clubs that prevents him speaking more candidly about those, aside from the clubs being less wellknown.
But the air of the outsider allows him to speak freely about Premiership life, particularly the boorish antics of his teammates and the willingness of women to bed footballers, not for the lifestyle but just the sex.
The incredulity of the club's biggest joker becoming the next manager was clear, as was the respect for Danny Wilson, whoyears later has had a respectable management career.


Leese comes across as likeable but is not without fault, When another goalkeeper takes his place in his second Barnsley season he cites his lack of professional experience true enough, but this is only aboutgames fewer than Leese at this point.
He then proceeds to deliberately make him look bad in training 'more out of boredom than anything' as though bullying can be excused if exposed to earlier tedium.
It is hard not to sympathise when Leese struggles to get a job afterwards, however, and he gives a good account of what it is to be a goalkeeper, and that stretching saves should not be the yardstick to judge ability by.


Perhaps more fellow professionals would have given this book a more balanced outlook, as I can only recall Danny Wilson and the Barnsley numbergiving their opinion, though Ian McMillan was an entertaining interviewee, and Reng's own accounts of provincial life were illuminating, even if more used to it as a native.
And despite his imperfections, I still couldn't help willing Leese to find another club, Ronald Reng is a German sports journalist and author, Of his books, two have been translated to English and both of them have been honored with book awards in the UK, The Keeper of Dreams, the story of the German non league goalkeeper Lars Leese who ended up playing for Barnsley Football Club in the Premier League, won the Sports Book of the Year Award in.
It was the first foreign book to achieve such praise, Rengs biography of the late German national goalkeeper Robert Enke, A Life too Short: The Tragedy of Robert Enke was voted William Hill Sports Book of the Year in.
Reng was the first non English speaking author inyears to win the award, In Germany, Reng was distinguished seven times in nine years, betweenand, w Ronald Reng is a German sports journalist and author, Of his books, two have been translated to English and both of them have been honored with book awards in the UK, The Keeper of Dreams, the story of the German non league goalkeeper Lars Leese who ended up playing for Barnsley Football Club in the Premier League, won the Sports Book of the Year Award in.
It was the first foreign book to achieve such praise, Reng's biography of the late German national goalkeeper Robert Enke, A Life too Short: The Tragedy of Robert Enke was voted William Hill Sports Book of the Year in.
Reng was the first non English speaking author inyears to win the award, In Germany, Reng was distinguished seven times in nine years, betweenand, with the award for the best sports story of the year by the Association of German Sports Writers.
Inhe was awarded the Dietrich Oppenberg Media Award "for outstanding journalistic contributions to promote the culture of reading, " sitelink.