Old Too Soon, Smart Too Late Kieron Dyer (Headline, £20)

Throughout much of this unflinchingly honest account, Dyer appears bewildered by much of what life threw at him.

The former Ipswich, Newcastle and West Ham midfielder was rarely in control of events: excesses off the pitch as well as underachievement on it epitomised the extravagant ‘baby Bentley’ generation of the Noughties.

There was the raft of injury issues that ended his England career at just 28, the fight with Newcastle colleague Lee Bowyer, a £120k Ferrari crash and alcohol-fuelled nights out in London and Ayia Napa.

Dyer admits that he was often surly as a player, but the attitude which irked a host of bosses was shaped – at least in part – by the sexual abuse he’d suffered as a child.

Happily, he’s now found fulfilment in his personal life, but it’s hard not to read this without a sense of regret at what might have been.