How the game has changed in 20 years...

RECORD BREAKERS captures the at-the-time innovative ideas of then Notts County boss Sam Allardyce, like specialist training for goalkeepers and the use of sports science. It was a time when footballers played hard on the pitch and off it. The game has become more professional, some would say boring, since then. There’s a decent interview with Allardyce, then Everton boss, in the book. He laments that very fact. He says: “The remarkable difference is today a squad can’t have any fun anymore together… It’s a no-no anymore sadly, and certainly you as a manager and a coach (you) couldn’t even dream about promoting anything like going out and bonding together by having a few drinks and playing silly games like we used to. “That all added to the bonding, but trying to do anything like that now would be unheard of.” ●Record Breakers – The Inside Story of Notts County’s Momentous 1997/98 Title Win, by Paul Smith, published by Pitch Publishing, £16.99.