About
1999: Manchester United, the Treble and All That Synopsis
LONGLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR PRIZE
In 1999, Manchester United completed a unique Treble, winning the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League - but more remarkable than that was how they did it, and the stories behind the historic achievement. Matt Dickinson covered the whole story at the time, and now in 99 compelling chapters brings it all vividly to life. When the season began, Manchester United were up for sale, the club's iconic talisman Eric Cantona had gone, rivals Arsenal were the reigning Double winners, David Beckham was a national hate figure after being sent off during the World Cup, and even manager Alex Ferguson's position was being questioned. Early signs weren't promising, despite record spending to bring in new stars, among them Jaap Stam and Dwight Yorke, but soon things began to change.
Driven by the indomitable will of skipper Roy Keane, supported by a nucleus from the Class of 92 - Beckham, Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs, the Nevilles and Paul Scholes - who had grown up at the club, they went on a long unbeaten and unbeatable run, featuring some of the most dramatic games in fans' memories. Matt Dickinson highlights the key moments, speaking to those at the centre of the story and to those whose moment went unnoticed. 1999: Manchester United, the Treble and All That is so much more than a book for United fans; it is an insight into team building, the will to success and a tale of local pride. It reveals the real stories behind the legend that was sealed with a last-minute scrambled goal from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to win the Champions League.
About This Edition
Press Reviews
Matt Dickinson Press Reviews
'What a treat this book is for every United fan as Matt Dickinson takes us back to a time when everything and anything seemed possible. Brilliantly researched, superbly written and featuring the voices of those who made it happen, this is a delight.' -- Jim White
'I wondered whether there'd be anything left to tell about 1999 but this is superbly framed and full of fresh insight.' -- Adam Crafton
'Absolutely engrossed.. So many new insights and details. Almost like a football book version of The Last Dance.' -- Miguel Delaney
'Full of detail and lovely stories I'd never seen or heard before. Dickinson shows that the Treble season was far from a year-long party. It was gruelling. Totally unlike today, nearly every player was a character with leadership skills - a team of 11 captains. They were tough, totally dedicated to the United cause, but not always pleasant.' -- Michael Crick
'For some of us, the greatest story of our sporting lives, told beautifully and with consummate skill and great affection by the brilliant ?Matt Dickinson. Can't recommend it highly enough.' -- Oliver Holt 'Matt Dickinson superbly recreates the pulse-racing, heart-pumping, deadline-shredding excitement he felt as a young reporter forced to write and re-write his copy to keep up with a rollercoaster of a season that changed the history of football... It is the trust he built two decades ago that allows him to get beyond the banalities of many ghost-written football memoirs or compendiums of fan nostalgia.' -- Nick Robinson - The Times
'Full of fresh revelations and insight, this is a masterful retelling of a remarkable year' -- Jon Spurling - FourFourTwo
'The nostalgia in this book flows through the portraits offered of the personalities who filled the dressing-room. There they are, on page after page, captured in their athletic prime , on their way to the most successful club season in English soccer history. It is not all sweetness and light.' -- Paul Rouse - Irish Examiner
Author
About Matt Dickinson
Matt Dickinson is an award-winning writer and filmmaker with a passion for climbing and adventure. During his filmmaking career he has worked as a director/cameraman for National Geographic television, the Discovery Channel, the BBC and Channel 4. His film projects have taken him to Antarctica, Africa and the Himalaya, often in the company of the world's leading climbers and expeditioners. His most notable film success was 'Summit Fever' in which Matt reached the summit of Everest via the treacherous North Face. His book The Death Zone tells the true story of that ascent and has become a bestseller in many different countries. Matt is currently Patron of Reading at the Sidney Stringer Academy in Coventry and continues to climb and explore. In January 2013 he summitted Mount Aconcagua, which, at 6,965 metres, is the highest peak in the world outside the Himalaya. Currently, he is planning an ascent of Mount Denali in Alaska, one of the 'Seven Summits'. Recently Matt has started writing fiction for teenage readers. His debut thriller series Mortal Chaos was well received by critics and readers alike. To celebrate the launch of The Everest Files Matt will be touring the UK, speaking at schools and colleges and inspiring a new generation of adventurers.
A Q&A with Matt about his new book Lie Kill Walk Away
Lie Kill Walk Away is very different to any of your other books. Two teenagers on the run, a government conspiracy and a life-threatening disease on the loose, make for some hard-hitting action. Have stories about secrets and twisted truths always captured your attention?
Ever since I began to read I have always loved thrillers. Fast pace and a twisty unpredictable plot make for exciting reading and I love that feeling when I find myself turning the pages at high speed, totally hooked on the story and wanting to find out more! Thrillers translate from book to film with a natural transition as well, so there’s often the extra dimension of seeing the story on the big screen later down the line and enjoying it all over again. Secrets are important in this genre so I wanted Lie Kill Walk Away to contain a powerful secret world. It was a great experience to fine-tune the plot of the book so that the secret powers of government hold all the cards, leaving my heroes Joe and Becca running for their lives.
Becca wants to be a natural scientist. Do you share her fascination with diseases?
I certainly am fascinated by the science of killer diseases, and have even made a documentary, which I filmed at one of the most lethal bio-weapon production labs in the world. To explore the abandoned base in Kazakhstan, where the Soviets had cooked up weaponised versions of some of the most horrifying pathogens ever invented, we had to make a clandestine journey deep into Voz Island in the middle of the Aral sea. That was where the Russians produced Anthrax, Ebola, and many other lethal pathogens that were designed for use in war. We had to wear bio-protection suits in forty-two degrees of heat. It was a very demanding shoot that could have ended in imprisonment if we had been discovered. The documentary I directed was broadcast by Channel 4 in the series Going to Extremes.
This book explores some difficult issues: a teen in a young offenders’ institution, young people groomed by a terrorist operation, mental illness. Do you think it’s important for young adult books to address these topics?
Teen and young adult writers have a duty to explore strong themes. The world is a challenging place and growing up is sometimes a difficult journey. As a father of five children (including two teenage kids at the moment!) I have experienced this first hand myself. That’s why thrillers such as Lie Kill Walk Away are important, because they tackle gritty issues head-on and don’t sugar coat the world. Books are a window into themes that are sometimes challenging but I don’t think authors should be apologising for that. It’s natural to explore the dark side of our inner world, and might even help in important ways.
Everybody knows you as the Everest climber – which is possibly the most extreme form of adventure there is – but did Lie Kill Walk Away allow you to explore a different kind of adventure?
Yes, probably I am best known for my Everest adventures, but I have plenty of other themes that I want to explore. In my previous series Mortal Chaos, I based the stories around chaos theory and the chain reactions that cause disasters. With Lie Kill Walk Away I wanted to create a very different form of adventure, a thriller environment in which two teenage protagonists are trying, quite literally, to save the world. It’s a big story but I have loved the challenge and I hope that readers will identify with my two heroes.
With fast-paced blink-and-you’ll-miss-it action, we think reluctant readers will love this book. Do you always have reluctant readers in mind when you are writing and how do you try to appeal to them?
I really like it when ‘reluctant readers’ identify with my books and enjoy reading them. It’s a special feeling because it might inspire a new reading hobby that will last a lifetime. ‘Reluctant readers' are often boys with short attention spans. That’s why my books have very short chapters and are generally fast paced. I am the same in my reading habits; I strongly dislike books that are overwritten or just way too slow.
More About Matt Dickinson