Book review: True Storey - My Life and Crimes as a Football Hatchet Man

What follows is the book review - but first a piece of footage to put the book into some sort of context and to show the less ancient Gooners amongst you Peter Storey in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3Sl5tmzbuM - the author of this review, by the way, was standing towards the back in the Arsenal end at this classic semi-final.

Historically he will always be remebered as an Arsenal legend who played in both full back positions before moving into midfield to become a huge factor in the Fairs Cup and our first Double winning teams. He was feared throughout the footballing world as one of the infamous hatchet men of his day but he was far more than that in that he could play a very decent, if uncomplicated, game as well as having the ability to stop others doing the same. In the entire history of our Club some would go as far to suggest that maybe only Wilf Copping or Patrick Vieira could induce the same level of fear in opponents as Peter Storey.

Farnham in Surrey isn't the most prolific source of football players but that's where it all started for Peter and his life is very much a tale of two halves. The first half comprised Peter's time up and until the end of an exceedingly fine footballing career of which he is immensely proud. In this autobigraphy, so far as Arsenal is concerned, he's able to cover the period which includes Billy Wright's unfortunately frought reign, Bertie Mee's sucsesses and ultimate failures and finishes under Terry Neill. This period saw a high turnover of coaches, extremes of Club fortunes and one of the greatest Arsenal sides ever to bless Highbury. His Arsenal career ended with his departure to Fulham whilst under the managerial control of Terry Neill, who'd been one of his fellow players earlier in his career. In addition Peter's time as an English International is also well covered. Obviously Peter's 16 years with Arsenal peaked, so far as trophies are concerned, during the Fairs Cup and Double winning triumphs in which he played a not insignificant role. These highlights of thankfully receive their deserved coverage in a volume that offer numerous insights. Such insights include Arsenal's less than generous pay structure in Mee's day which caused some players to find outside financial interests. An area that may be the root cause of Peter's problomatical life outside of football.

It's probably fair to say that second half of Peter's story started badly and went downhill from there. It involved the seamier side of life and revolves around pubs, minicab firms, massage parlours, prison and some tough characters from Lonodn's underworld. When Storey became a publican whilst still in the emply of Arsenal his decision was not well received by Mee and rightly so given that it lead him to frequent with the less sulubrious side of life via the North London pub underworld. An environment, in Peter's case, which saw both coppers and crooks mixing in the unsavoury side of life into which Peter slipped. Prostitutes, car theft, porn films, forged gold coins and a good few stitch-ups by both the goodies and the baddies are an area where Storey's name was dragged into the mire and was not his finest hour. However that's now thankfully all behind him.

Peter now enjoys his retirement in rural France with his soulmate and fourth wife Daniele. He's now relaxed enough with his life to have been told his tale at last. A story which has been expertly relayed here by Will Price of the Daily Mirror and People.

True Storey - My Life and Crimes as a Football Hatchet Man

Peter Storey

Published by Mainstream Publishing

Hardback - published price £16.99

Available from any good book store if you quote them the following reference: ISBN 978 1 84596 584 6. Or of course all the usual online stores where you should be able to aquire it for somewhere in the region of £11 if you shop around.