DownloadThe Portobello Bookshop Gift Guide 2024

The Ghost

In Search of My Father the Football Legend

Rob White author Julie Welch author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Vintage Publishing

Published:7th Jun '12

Should be back in stock very soon

The Ghost cover

From the publishers of My Father and other Working Class Heroes comes the incredible biography of sixties Tottenham Hotspur legend, John White, who died aged 27.

When Spurs legend John White was killed by a bolt of lightning in 1964, the football world was rocked by the tragedy. To find answers he set out to speak to White's former teammates, his family and followers, and built up a touching portrait of a gifted young footballer and of a lost era.

When Spurs legend John White was killed by a bolt of lightning in 1964, the football world was rocked by the tragedy. He was just 27 years of age.

Nicknamed the 'Ghost' for the way that he could drift into space undetected, White played an inspirational role in the great double-winning Tottenham Hotspur side of the early 1960s. Every fan has a story about him.

When White died, his son, Rob, was only six months old and so never knew his father. The man who was revered by hundreds of thousands of football fans across the country was a stranger to him. Beyond the grainy Cup Final footage and yellowed newspaper articles, there was so much Rob didn't know, questions he had never had an opportunity to ask. To find answers he set out to speak to White's former teammates, his family and followers, and built up a touching portrait of a gifted young footballer and of a lost era.

'Had John lived, he could have been one of the greatest footballers of all time' - Jimmy Greaves

With a new afterword for the paperback.

Deeply personal - a touching, heartfelt story -- Gary Imlach
A special book about a special man * Independent on Sunday *
One of the most affecting sports books of the year -- Matt Dickinson * The Times *
A gorgeous and moving story -- Tom English * Scotland on Sunday *
Colourful and, at times, moving * Four Four Two *

ISBN: 9780224083003

Dimensions: 198mm x 130mm x 21mm

Weight: 235g

336 pages