Football, My Life

Football has dominated Lou Macari's life. Taken on as an apprentice by Celtic in the wake of the 1967 European Cup triumph that saw them anointed the Lisbon Lions, Macari learned his football the old-fashioned way alongside another future great, Kenny Dalglish. He quickly broke into the first team, winning Scottish league titles and Scottish Cups in both 1971 and 1972, but it was at Manchester United, following a shock transfer in January 1973, that the attacking midfielder's prowess turned him into a fan favorite and a household name. Macari was the leading light in a free-flowing forward line as Tommy Docherty's side won promotion back into the First Division in 1975. Two years later, Lou scored the winning goal as United beat Liverpool to win the FA Cup—their one and only trophy in the 1970s—and he went on to score 97 goals in 401 appearances for the Red Devils. He also won 24 caps for Scotland, scoring five times, and represented his country in the infamous 1978 World Cup Finals in Argentina. After leaving United in 1984, Macari moved into management with Swindon Town, leading the Wiltshire club to back-to-back promotions. It was there, however, that Macari was wrongly implicated in a betting scandal which blighted his managerial career. Lou went on to battle the whims of tyrannical chairmen at West Ham, Birmingham, Stoke, in his dream job at Celtic, then finally at Huddersfield. Football had one final blow for this eternal fans' favorite though, when one of his three professional football-playing sons, Jonathan, committed suicide. The tragedy still tears his family apart. In his long-awaited autobiography, Lou Macari tells with typical candor of football then and of football now, of the glory days and the truth behind the scandals, and of the perils that threaten the beautiful game today. It is a story like no other.