SYNOPSIS

Denis Smith was one of football's toughest centre-halves. A man who knew no fear, Smith's fierce tackling once earned him the accolade in the Guinness Book of Records of the most injured man in football. He was an integral part of the Stoke City team which won the first major trophy in the club's history in 1972 as the unfashionable Potters established themselves amongst the elite in the English game. Then, as his career developed into management, Smith was responsible for the birth of the careers of the likes of Andy Cole, Garth Crooks, Steve Bould, Lee Chapman and Marco Gabbiadini.

Tough-talking and in places brutally honest, Smith's autobiography reveals his hard upbringing amidst the gangs of Stoke-on-Trent, tales from 25 years of management with York, Sunderland, Bristol City, Oxford, West Brom and Wrexham, how he helped save Sir Alex Ferguson's job, the stories behind encounters with the likes of Ian Botham, Sir Stanley Matthews, Clive Lloyd, Geoff Hurst, Pelé and how he nearly changed the course of former England coach Steve McClaren's career.