The Autobiography : A Synopsis
No outfield player has played more games for Sunderland than Len Ashurst. In this book Len details the extraordinary ups and downs of his career including his fall out with Brian Clough, rejection by his home town club Liverpool, drinking with Jim Baxter, taking Newport County to promotion and a European quarter final, winning promotion with Cardiff City, failing as manager of his beloved Sunderland, the pie selling thief of Ninian Park and surviving a murder attempt whilst manager of an Arabian football team.
After 458 games at ‘Left Back’ for Sunderland, his managerial career took him from Hartlepool through to Gillingham, Sheffield Wednesday, Newport and Cardiff before returning to his beloved Roker Park and taking his team to Wembley, then it was on to coaching in the Middle East and Malaysia where he met Prince’s, Tarik Aziz and Yasser Arafat when he took his team to the Gaza Strip.
His career wasn’t all a bed of roses. Len fell out with Brian Clough over his role in the injury which ended Clough’s stellar playing career, leading to Len refusing to play in Old Big ‘ead’s testimonial match. He also presided over difficult times at Sheffield Wednesday as the club almost suffered relegation to the Fourth Division and saw Sunderland slide out of the top flight under his tenure.
The highs and lows of his career provide an undulating backdrop for tales of the many personalities Len has met and also worked and played with and against, including Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley, Malcolm Allison, Sir Alex Ferguson, Don Howe, Ron Atkinson, Dave Mackay, George Best, Nobby Styles, Billy Bremner, Norman Hunter, Brian Clough, Neil Warnock, John Aldridge and Len’s former team mates. Throughout the latter history of the Premier League Len has been deeply involved in it’s evolution, including being instrumental in the foundation of the Premier League Academies. As a Premier League Match Delegate he has witnessed many notorious incidents including the fight between Newcastle United team-mates Kieron Dyer and Lee Bowyer.
In this book Len pulls no punches as he controversially speaks his mind in revealing the many issues which he feels face the F.A. in righting the wrongs they may have created in the modern game. ‘Left Back in Time’ looks back at a remarkable career which has spanned six decades.