When Cyrille Regis became one of the first black players to be selected for the full England team, he was sent a package in the mail. Inside it was a silver bullet and a note that read: 'You'll get one of these through your knees if you step on our Wembley turf.' In the 1978/79 football season Regis' club West Bromwich Albion, an unglamorous and little publicised club from the West Midlands, became the first British football team to field three black players: Cyrille Regis, Laurie Cunningham and Brendon Batson. They did so against the backdrop of the most divisive and poisonous racial tension in the UK's history - a time when the National Front movement was at its most virulent. This book will tell the story of a defining and groundbreaking chapter in the history of British football and the country as a whole. The story is one about sport but also as much one about social change.
Paul Rees has written about music for over 20 years. In that time he has interviewed everyone from Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen and Madonna to Bono, Take That and AC/DC - and his work has been appeared in a range of publications including The Sunday Times Culture, The Sunday Times Magazine, The Telegraph, Q, The Independent, Classic Rock and the Evening Standard. He was also Editor of two of the UK's most successful and long-standing music publications - Q and Kerrang! - for a total of 12 years. Paul is a childhood fan of Led Zeppelin and first saw Robert Plant perform in 1993. He has met and interviewed him several times.
