Out Now
Forewords from Jasper Carrott and David Gold
With contributions from richard park, tony butler, barry fry, ian danter, kash gill, roberto dimatteo, matt murray, tony brown, john gregory, ron atkinson, alex mcleish, kevan broadhurst, gary rowett, lee clark, brendan o'carroll, robbie savage, jim troughton, james phelps and ian taylor
Up to now I have rejected a few approaches to write my autobiography – to be honest because I wondered who the hell would want to read it? However people I respect who have written books assured me I have a story to tell. So now the time seems right. Why? Well recently I had one of my family get-togethers and I was looking at my grandkids and I thought ‘If I die tomorrow they won’t know much about their granddad’ and what he did in his lifetime. I know it sounds morbid but that’s how you think when you get older.
So at the tail end of my career and with the Independent Radio News (I.R.N.) Gold award for “30 years outstanding service to radio” sitting proudly on a shelf at home I decided to speak with Keith Dixon, my ghost writer, to see if we could work on the book together – and here we are!
Being on the radio was something I had always wanted to do; I had been a presenter on BHBN the hospital Radio station and was the man on the microphone at St Andrews and to be fair got the broadcasting bug. So when the opportunity to break into radio came I grabbed it with both hands. It wasn’t long before I was offered a full time job and to be fair despite taking a huge drop in salary I jumped at the chance.
It was definitely a light bulb moment for me and thankfully 39 years later the light is still on and shining just as brightly.
So after talking with Gary Newbon and Jasper Carrott I quit my job as National Sales manager at Dun and Bradstreet where I was based in London but lived in Birmingham. It meant me taking a 66% salary drop, handing back the company car, vacating the office in London and the responsibility for over £200m worth of business for a microphone!
But I was buzzin’, at last I was where I wanted to be and I have loved every single minute even though there were some dark times which I talk frankly about
Enjoy my story; I hope you find it a good read. It’s full of stories, memories and laughs and a few tears.
I have made good decisions and bad decisions but they have always been my decisions.
I have written this book in the same way I have led my life – never short of belief in myself, striving to be number one but more concerned about living life by my own standards and not anyone else’s and also doing the best I can every single day of my life.
And you know what, my life’s been brilliant!
Listening to Tom after every game became essential listening for us and helped us get to know and understand the Blues culture. I am delighted and honoured to call him my great pal.
-David Gold
THE GAME'S GONE IS OUT NOW