Book of the week: Petty, paranoid, and also pretty dull

Glenn Hoddle: My 1998 World Cup Story

By Glenn Hoddle with David Davies (Andre Deutsch) 17.99

SO NOW we know why Glenn Hoddle always has a notepad on his lap at England matches, he was scribbling down notes for his diary. We do not, despite the headlines, know an awful lot more about the man or his methods but his book, now on public sale, does confirm a number of suspicions and prejudices about both.

Of the details Gazza's tantrum, Chris Sutton's banishment, Hoddle's inability to understand David Beckham, and his irritation with Alex Ferguson, Terry Venables and Ken Bates were all guessed at by regular observers of the England scene. They were rarely printed however because Hoddle had - we thought - been too clever to divulge his feelings directly.

How wrong we were. For 30 pieces of silver (or, rather, a sum probably approaching pounds 500,000 by the time advance, serialisation and royalties are collected) he has provided more ammunition than his many critics can have dreamed of with which to stir imagined or actual feuds.

As for his personality, as one Hod-watcher noted: "This is a man who has spent most of his adult life trying to discover who he is. What chance has anyone else got?" Well, there are a few clues here, both direct and indirect. His obsession with Eileen Drewery, the faith healer, has been well charted but his belief in astrology, while no surprise, was previously unknown. There are also indications of pettiness, egotism, paranoia and insecurity.

Despite the furore the bulk of the book is dull as it details the minutiae of life in camp England from the films they watch to the golf scores. Much seems designed to prove Hoddle's assertion that the team was the best-prepared ever to leave our shores as he writes about visits to the dentist, dietary rules and video compilations designed to inform or inspire players. This is fair enough but England are hardly the only team doing these things. The lack of preparedness for penalties is no more satisfactorily explained than at the time.

Indeed, football detail is lacking with limited description of both the thought processes behind selection and substitution and the strengths, weakness and football habits of players and opponents.

The book is certainly designed to reach a wide audience being more Jeffrey Archer than Martin Amis. No one reading it will need much recourse to a dictionary and while it rolls along speedily enough it lacks vividness of language or image. There is also confusion with tenses as if part of the book has been written as a proper diary and the rest from a retrospective viewpoint.

It is too early to say how this book will come to be viewed. The controversy around it may be seen as a blip in a successful reign or as a crucial element in a failed one. This really depends how it affects the players as, like any manager, Hoddle will stand or fall by their deeds, not his words.