The Boy on the ShedA remarkable spor..., Paul Ferris
The Boy on the ShedA remarkable spor..., Paul Ferris
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The Boy on the Shed:A remarkable sporting memoir with a foreword by Alan Shearer
Sports Book Awards Autobiography of the Year

Author: Paul Ferris

Narrator: Ruairi Conaghan

Unabridged: 9 hr 1 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 02/22/2018

Synopsis

Shortlisted for the 2018 William Hill Sports Book of the Year

Today was his first climb to the top. He knew if he was there, watching, then she would never leave him. Her name was Bernadette and he climbed the shed every day.~

This is a not a football book, as such. Rather, it is a memoir by someone who happened to have superior ability at the sport during his formative years which led him on a remarkable journey.

Paul Ferris became a professional footballer and at the age of 16 was the youngest ever to play in Newcastle United's first team. Coming from Northern Ireland and being a skilful winger with dancing feet, he was inevitably hailed as 'the new George Best'. But the story of his time in the game, particularly as a young player, is one of insecurity, injuries, uncertainty, fear and, ultimately, a failure to fulfil his hopes and dreams.

The book opens in Lisburn, near Belfast. The Ferris family are Catholics in a predominantly Protestant town at the height of the 'Troubles'. Ferris re-lives his childhood and teens with brutal candour laced with black humour.

The Boy on the Shed is a beautifully written account of a life, but it also lifts the lid on big personalities at Newcastle United.

About Paul Ferris

Paul Ferris was a teenage prodigy, becoming Newcastle United's youngest-ever player in 1982, only for injury to ensure his promise went unfulfilled. He later returned to the club as a physiotherapist before earning a Master's degree and beginning a successful quest to qualify as a barrister. But the lure of football was always strong and he went back for a third spell at Newcastle, as Head of the Medical Department, again working closely with a host of big-name players and managers. Paul also became a novelist and now runs a successful health and fitness business.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Annie on March 29, 2018

You don’t need to love football to enjoy this superbly written and intelligent memoir, as it’s about so much more. A powerful and emotional story of love, life and the challenges faced by a remarkable man. My heart sang and broke in equal measure.......more

Goodreads review by Mahlon on April 29, 2019

Unlike any sports book I’ve ever read and unique among the books I’m likely to read in the future. Paul Ferris had previously been Best known as an ex footballer and Physiotherapist for Newcastle United but henceforth he should primarily be known for being a great writer! His journey from a boyhood......more

Goodreads review by Texi on May 01, 2020

I don’t know what possessed me to get this book. I found it online by chance. The title of the book doesn’t exactly give it away, but seeing the familiar name of Paul Ferris, a player around in the time when I was starting to go to St James Park regularly, it was an obvious choice. It’s also been no......more

Goodreads review by Kay on January 30, 2019

Easily the best autobiography by an ex-football player. No clichés. No dull recollections. An honest look back at a life of setbacks. Growing up in a world of hate-filled bigotry in Lisburn, being Catholics in a predominantly Protestant town. Being advised by a careers master (whom Paul Ferris didn't......more

Goodreads review by Nora on August 19, 2022

Interesting story of the footballer, physio, barrister that is Paul Ferris from Lisburn, Northern Ireland.......more

Quotes

This will be one of the most talked about football books of 2018. Henry Winter

A remarkable piece of writing...Life, death, love, leaving home, motherly relationships, striving, all weaved into the football journey and every page I found myself relating to his experiences, some very personal...So much more than a sporting memoir. You could take so much from it without an interest in football. Simon Bird, Football Correspondent, Daily Mirror

An excellent read. Alan Shearer

Paul Ferris has a good story to tell, in fact several, Irish and Geordie, politics and football, and he tells it well, avoiding the obvious pitfalls of trying to be either lyrical or philosophical or too clever. Hunter Davies

It is also not a run-of-the-mill book about football, but a well-rounded, exceedingly candid account of his life on and off the pitch and of his family, warts and all. Belfast Telegraph

Unique, interesting, extremely emotive and gives some insight that supporters have never heard before...His story is raw and will keep you engaged without using any exaggerations which try to win over readers...Ferris has pushed himself forward extremely well in his new book, so well that any Newcastle supporter's book collection will be incomplete without The Boy on the Shed in it. Newcastle Chronicle

Paul Ferris has written a book that transcends genres...Ferris writes with the sort of fluency that, on the pitch, once impressed peers such as Paul Gascoigne.Ferris has gone beyond standard sports autobiographies. The Boy On The Shed is of a time and place, of Ireland, of Northern Ireland, of growing up a Catholic on a Protestant estate in Lisburn in the 1970s. It is a story of everyday sectarianism and its effects...These books offer a window on another world. Paul Ferris spent much of his childhood in Lisburn looking through one. What he saw, how he understood it and didn't understand it, is gripping. Irish Times

Once opened, you will be unable to put it down. Chronicle Live

Superb Oliver Holt

What a life, what a book...it is excellent. Sports book of the year. BBC Radio 2 Simon Mayo

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