In The Shadows

David Stocks played football in an era few fans today would recognise: one where World War Two was still a recent memory, where players didn’t necessarily have to be professional, and where fry-ups were a perfectly acceptable pre-match meal.

Plenty of football autobiographies chronicle the exploits of superstars lauded for their feats for club and country. Few are from the perspective of those like David, content to either play alongside them, or ply their trade separated by the odd division and the merest strokes of fortune.

In The Shadows charts David’s footballing story, from his early days as a London schoolboy representative and his subsequent signing by Charlton Athletic, to moving out of the capital to embark on a career that would see him write his name into folklore at Gillingham, Bournemouth and Torquay.

Packed full of details and anecdotes that are sure to evoke nostalgia and induce protestations of ‘That sort of thing wouldn’t happen today’ in equal measure, In The Shadows stands out as a fond recollection of how the game has both transformed beyond recognition while simultaneously remaining the same in essence.