TONY COLLINS: FOOTBALL MASTER SPY, BY QUENTIN COPE AND SARITA COLLINS, PUBLISHED BY THE BOOK GUILD LTD, PRICE £9.99,

RATING OUT OF 10: 8

I’VE got to admit that I’d never heard of Tony Collins before I read this book.

I’m glad I have now because he had a truly remarkable football career, becoming the Football League’s first black manager when he bossed Rochdale from 1960-67.

One of the authors, Sarita Collins, is the daughter of Tony Collins, and the book has been lovingly pieced together.

The scene is set in the opening chapers which cover his early life as a child growing up in London, his school days and army life in Italy.

For football fans, it’s probably the folowing chapters where the book gathers pace as it covers his playing and managerial career.

He never made it to the top flight, but nevetheless carved out a successful career as a winger with the likes of Sheffield Wednesday, York City, Crystal Palace,Watford, Norwich City, Torquay United and Rochdale.

It was at the latter that he really made a name for himself. After a spell purely as a player, he was appointed player-manager of the Fourth Division outfit for the 1960-61 season.

It was hardly a glittering opportunity as Dale were forced to count the pennies. There’s a story in the book about how one or two creditors sometimes wouldn’t get paid on a Friday.

“If anyone rang to complain to the club secretary, they would be told… ‘well things are very tight right now, so each week we put everybody into the hat and make a draw… and if you don’t stop complaining, you won’t even go into the hat!’”

Dale may not have money to spend, but they didn’t hesitate in choosing who they felt was the best man for the job – 34-year-old Collins.

Chairman Freddie Ratcliffe said:“We were aware that eyebrows might be raised because of his colour. But that made no difference, and we sincerely hope that it will make no difference in his career as manager.”

Yet who would have thought that Collins would take unfashionable Rochdale to the League Cup final in 1962. It was the first time a bottom division club had reached the final of a major competition and even though they lost 4-0 to Norwich, no one could take that away from them.

Collins stayed in his post until 1967 when he decided it was time to move on.

His next port of call was as assistant to Alan Dicks at Bristol City and there are some decent tales, like signing Gerry Gow and missing out on Kevin Keegan.

Then it was on to the mighty Leeds United as chief scout and working with the legendary Don Revie. One of Collins’ key roles was checking on Leeds’ European opponents.

Later, Collins returned to Bristol City as assistant to Dicks again – helping the club into the First Division - and also scouted for Revie, now England boss, at the same time. He was certainly in demand.

After a second spell at Leeds, Collins joined Manchester United as chief scout under Ron Atkinson, who was a big admirer of his work. While Collins got on well with Atkinson, he wasn’t impressed by his successor Alex Ferguson and it wasn’t a partnership that was ever going to last.

There are some good stories of players and managers Collins worked with, while there are also some fascinating scouting reports the ‘Master Spy’ made.

With plenty of family material too, this is a fascinating account of the life of someone who, now at 90, has lived life to the full.

It’s not going to be an award-winning book, but it’s certainly an account worth recording.