Book Review – ‘Majic, Stan and The King of Japan is Magnificent,’ Peter Marshall

Book Review: Majic, Stan and The King of Japan…

“I’m just a supporter who got lucky.” Where have you heard that before? Thank you, TB, but it also refers to me.

In my lifetime, I’ve witnessed 80 domestic trophies being won PLUS the Big One….

How lucky am I? I’m also lucky to have read nearly all of the books published on Celtic over the years, and I await every new publication with glee.

Close your eyes and think back to 2004/05 season and wonder, “jeez, what are we gonna do if Martin O’Neill leaves us? Well, this latest offering from Matt Corr, from the Celtic Star Books stable, lays out exactly what we were gonna do, and in some fine detail.

Gordon Strachan was the man given the job after Martin left, and this book’s prologue aptly describes that situation. Corr’s third solo effort details the challenges Strachan faced, in his own inimitable style, in rebuilding and restoring the club’s fortunes from the summer of 2005.

Now it’s not that long ago, so I suspect that there are many, many supporters who will have vivid memories of what went on throughout that season, but I’ll guarantee you’ll find a good, few snippets within the book which will surprise you, the Du Wei stuff being a great example.

There are parallels with these times and Billy McNeill’s first season in charge. On picking up this book, my thoughts went back to those horrible days at the beginning of the 1978/79 campaign and those parallels continued right up until the end of each season. Oh, me of little faith.

I won’t go into great detail on the content – you’ll need to buy the book to enjoy that – but I’ve got to say the title got me warmed up, with three of my favourite players of that era and Nakamura still up there with our very best. Also, the facts and figures included within are awe-inspiring. Matt’s attention to detail is immense, dates, timings, those involved, all noted with a sense of deep knowledge That’s illustrated in the first couple of chapters, which provide a brief biography of the aforementioned Gordon Strachan, which I found very interesting with some very nice coincidences, expertly explained.

I particularly like the process of including after-match quotes throughout the book, from Gordon Strachan and, sometimes, opposition managers, quite a refreshing change from just getting match data such as opposition, kick-off time, team-sheets, scorers and the final score… although, don’t worry, they are all included as well!

I won’t throw in any spoilers across the multiple chapters other than to say that I’m mighty glad Sebo had moved on from Artmedia before we got there and that there is great information into the background around the whole Du Wei scenario.

There are also a couple of nice anecdotes from Matt around meeting his hero. I agree with him on this, but it’s always worth it in the end.

Chapter 10; What can I say? It is possibly one of the very best I’ve read in all of the Celtic books that have gone before. Extremely sad, informative and full of the fine detail and facts I mentioned before. Superlative. I’d stop now, Matt. You will never better this. This could have been issued “standalone.”

The book continues with much detail around the run-in to Celtic clinching the League title and some enlightening info around the Neil Lennon/Rudi Skacel incident at Tynecastle. Very tasty.

Oh, and quite how ABBA managed to get a mention in a Celtic book is beyond me…there must be a Swedish connection somewhere!

The writing quality, structure and presentation is of the highest standard and the book is an easy read. I loved it.
Well done, Matt, it’s a great addition to both your portfolio and the Celtic Star Books library.

Peter Marshall

Majic, Stan and The King of Japan by Matt Corr is out now. Order your copy signed by both the author and also the man who scored the goal that won us the league that season the one and only John Hartson* from celticstarbooks.com/shop

* while stocks of the signed by John Hartson remain.