The story of the Furries’
to be. I believe that places retain an element of what has occurred in the past and, if you’re open enough, you can tune into it.
“I also got into his character through the football scenes because that is the only time where I believe he ever felt free.
“He worked hard to achieve his dream of becoming a professional footballer – nothing was going to stop him.”
Stuart says he also tuned into Robin Friday’s character through the maverick player’s love of music, unsurprising for someone who resembled a rock star.
“Robin’s musical tastes helped as a background when I was writing,” he explains.
“Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, Deep Purple, Otis Redding, Pink Floyd, Janis Joplin, Frankie Miller, Bob Marley, Hawkwind, the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, the Upsetters.
“Robin Friday loved his music and this acted as a way in for me. I kept working on Robin’s voice and once I felt I had got that, the words started to flow.”
When the second book is finished – which covers the player’s stay at Cardiff City – the project will have taken the author five years to complete. So what new insights did he discover about the ultimate cult hero?
“I think my most significant insight was that Robin Friday really did give a f***,” he says.
“That was his problem, he really did. You don’t obliterate yourself if you’re in a good place and that’s what he did – it was his way of escaping.
“In my opinion, he had an addictive personality and, in the end, that’s what caught up with him. It must have been very hard being him sometimes.”
He adds there are parallels to be drawn between Robin Friday and the player he is most commonly associated with, George Best.
“At the end of the day, he was very much like his hero George Best, but Best got to play at the top of his game, whereas Robin didn’t, and I think that was one of his biggest regrets.
“[Cardiff City manager] Jimmy Andrews said that Robin was a player who was sometimes in the international class and [former Reading teammate] Eamon Dunphy backs that up.
“In fact, Dunphy suggests that he could’ve played for England if he’d have had a bit more pace.
“Can you imagine Robin Friday and Don Revie in the same room? I’d pay to watch that!
“Through my research, I also got a good insight into how things were run at both Reading and Cardiff City in the 1970s and that was fascinating in itself and, of course, forms part of the story.”
Labelled as “the complete centreforward” by Cardiff City manager Jimmy Andrews, the book is ultimately about unfulfilled dreams, but also achieving against the odds.
“I had a vision of a man who had been through some very tough times, sometimes because of his own mistakes,” says Stuart.
“He knew he had this great ability as a footballer and loved the game. Still, because of his own shortcomings and the things that had gone on around him, he did not succeed at the level to which he felt, and was more than capable of achieving, and that was playing in the old First Division.
“He could have done that if he’d set his mind to it and gone for it, but he liked to have a bit of fun and that became the problem.”
Although he readily admits his journey with the player has been a long one, the author says it has been an enjoyable experience, even if at times he did think about walking away.
“One Friday evening, I decided I was going to stop writing the book,” Stuart recalls.
“That was it. I felt relieved. I didn’t have this huge weight hanging around my neck.
“I woke up on Saturday morning feeling refreshed. I went out to play a game of tennis with a mate. On the way home, I was cycling along with my tennis racket over my shoulder.
“As I got near to my flat, I saw a tall lad, wavy brown hair, wearing a Reading football shirt and a tennis racket slung over his shoulder. I had never seen a Reading shirt in Birmingham before and I haven’t seen one since.
“I laughed out loud and shouted over – ‘Robin Friday!’ and gave him the thumbs up.
“He smiled, showed them me back and waved. For me, that was a sign I just couldn’t ignore and I knew then that I had to carry on writing.”
■ Man Friday: The First Half is out now – available in paperback (priced £9.99) or Kindle (£4.99) through Amazon
SUPER Furry Animals’ protest against “the man” has been described by Furries frontman Gruff Rhys as “about the mistreatment that we’ve had at the hands of politicians for years”.
It’s apt, then, that this week the single, which featured Robin Friday as its cover star, is the subject of a campaign to get it back in the charts in response to the Government’s handling of the Dominic Cummings lockdown controversy.
Released in December 1996 on Creation Records, the song is based around the sample – “You know they don’t give a f*** about anybody else” – from the Steely Dan track Show Biz Kids.
Originally intended as a B-side for previous single If You Don’t Want Me To Destroy You, the band had not been able to clear the sample in time, due to Steely Dan wanting thousands to release it. That’s when record label boss Alan McGee intervened, agreeing to pay the US group the money they wanted.
The sample featuring the F-word is repeated more than 50 times and featured a warning sticker on the cover advertising the fact – another masterly piece of marketing by McGee and the band.
As for the single’s infamous cover image, a striking colourised version of the original photograph of Robin Friday flicking the Vs at Luton Town goalkeeper Milija Aleksic, it appears to stem from the writing of the book The Greatest Football You Never Saw: The Robin Friday Story by journalist Paolo Hewitt and Oasis bass player Guigsy, as much as it was a tribute to the footballer from the band themselves and the several band members who are Cardiff City fans. The single contains a tribute on the sleeve from Hewitt and Guigsy.
It reads: “This record is dedicated