ALMOST a quarter of a century has elapsed since Fred Eyre transformed the face of football autobiographies with Kicked Into Touch.

Published in 1981, it was the story of a journeyman pro who began his career dreaming of glory with Manchester City but soon learned the hard way that football can play cruel tricks on starry-eyed kids.

It was an engaging, humorous tale of life hovering near the bottom of the football pile and it sold over a million copies, with 39 reprints.

Now Eyre, who built a successful office supplies business in Manchester while still involved in the game and now runs a greetings card company, has picked up his pen again.

And Kicked Into Touch (plus extra-time) will bring to a new generation of fans the roller-coaster career that has featured no fewer than 23 league and non-league clubs as player, coach, assistant manager and chief scout.

It is a revised version of the original best-seller with additional material about Eyre's early career as well as the story of his last 25 years in and out of the game.

"I'd never dreamed of writing a book," says Eyre, 61, who tried his luck at Lincoln, Crewe and Huddersfield after being released by City aged 19.

"A publisher happened to hear me speak at a dinner and said afterwards I ought to write a book. I agreed to try four chapters to see how it might work out.

Different

"I'd always read a lot of autobiographies - I still do - and knew that mine had to be different, there was no point starting with `I was born on February 3, 1944'.

"So I tried to make it amusing and show people what life was really like lower down the ladder.

"To be honest, I was amazed that it sold so many copies and 25 years later seems a good time to bring the story up to date. I have included some material that, on reflection, should have been in the first edition as well as the story since 1980.

"I like to think it will appeal to a new generation of readers and if it's still selling in 25 years' time, I'll be 86 years old. But it remains to be seen whether I'll be ready to start all over again then!"

Eyre joined the City groundstaff in December 1959 and later became the first apprentice in Manchester City's history - "but only because my name was first in alphabetical order on the day youngsters signed apprentice forms".

Four of his contemporaries, Neil Young, Glyn Pardoe, Mike Doyle and Harry Dowd, went on to play their part in City's march to the 1968 League Championship but Eyre, captain of the youth team, was shown the door after a four-year stay.

"It was devastating because all I had ever wanted to was play for City," said Eyre, who hosts the Legends Lounge at the City of Manchester Stadium on match days and also comments on away games for local radio.

"I went to Lincoln determined to prove City wrong and return as a '100,000 player. Two free transfers later, I decided it was time for a re-think."

Eyre was on the staff at Bradford Park Avenue and Southport when they lost league status and was coach and assistant manager at Wigan after their arrival in the league in 1978.

And after working for seven non-league clubs, he returned to the mainstream as Sheffield United's chief scout in 1997, moving up as assistant to caretaker-manager Steve Thompson following the departure of Nigel Spackman a year later.

"At first, we were given just one game - at Coventry in the sixth round of the FA Cup," he recalls.

"We won on penalties after a replay, landed the job until the end of the season and reached the Division One play-offs.

"I thought we'd done enough to deserve another chance but during the summer, I had a call from Steve Bruce.

"He told me he'd been appointed manager and wanted to bring his own people in. He assured me it was nothing personal etc etc and I was kicked into touch - again."

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