Nobby Stiles is a national hero: a key part of the 1966 World Cup-winning side, he also enjoyed a long and fruitful Manchester United career before retiring in in the early 1970s. He died in 2020 from prostate cancer, but had also suffered with dementia for many years. He’s not alone, a staggering proportion of footballers from that time, and of the 1966 World Cup squad, have also suffered from dementia caused by chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) – a direct result of heading footballs. Nobby, like many of the 1966 World Cup squad, sold his medals to provide for his care in old age. While we’re used to the mega salaries footballers enjoy now, the wage cap was only abolished in 1961, which means that many of the footballers we have idolised as national heroes never made much money from football – they had few rights, little control over their careers and were not fairly paid for a very long time. John Stiles is Nobby’s son, and along with Michael Giles, John’s cousin, they have been waging a campaign to right this wrong and fight for better treatment. This is partly a biography and celebration of Nobby by those who knew him best, part expose of the treatment of his generation of players, and partly a campaigning book calling for the football industry to do better by its 1966 heroes. A compelling mixture of storytelling and investigative journalism make it a must-read for all those who remember the time when the world cup came home.
