Big Mal

by David Tossell

Malcolm Allison is one of the most controversial figures of the last half-century of English football. Leader of the famed West Ham Academy, his playing career was cut short by the loss of a lung to tuberculosis. Disillusioned, he became a professional gambler before acknowledging that football was his calling. This book tells his story.

Genres: Football

333 pages, Paperback

First published September 4, 2008

About the author

David Tossell has been a sports journalist for four decades. Long-time head of European Public Affairs for the NFL (National Football League) and former Executive Sports Editor of the Today newspaper, he is the author of 17 sports books. He has been short-listed seven times in the British Sports Book Awards - for Bertie Mee (Best Biography, 2006); Grovel! (Best Cricket Book, 2008); Nobody Beats Us (Best Rugby Book, 2010); Tony Greig (Best Cricket Book, 2012); The Great English Final (Best Football Book, 2014), Natural: The Jimmy Greaves Story (Best Biography and Best Football Book, 2020). He has also been short-listed twice for MCC/Cricket Society Book of the Year.
He has written books on football, cricket, rugby and American football.

Reviews

[Alan Davies]

A real football pioneer

Big Mal was a true football legend, a pioneer coach and larger than life character. His appearance on the World Cup 70 panel was one of my earliest memories.

[Ipswichblade]

Superb biography of one of the great characters of 70s and 80s football. Some biographies don’t go into any depth about the less than great parts of the subjects life and career but this misses nothing. A great read

[Martyn Smith]

A real character

A good book about a man that was years ahead of others in the game and who would have been even more successful in today's football.