The most remarkable aspect of the gilded footballing career of Tony Book was that until his fourth decade he was still earning a living as a bricklayer. Supplementing his wages by playing part-time non-league football, it was only at the age of 30 that he was swept into the full-time game. Within two years he had become the nationally admired captain of Manchester City, holding aloft the 1968 league championship trophy, followed soon by the FA Cup, the League Cup and the European Cup Winners’ Cup.
In a reversal of that late entry into top level football, Book, who has died aged 90, then became an early starter in management, leading City to a League Cup trophy in 1976 and a league runners-up spot in 1977. He presided over an entertaining era of football at Maine Road, and was manager for seven years before moving on to backroom duties over the next couple of decades that included two spells as caretaker manager.
