Sale journalist Tim writes the story of Big Ron and the words which haunt The Manager to this day

There is flamboyance, charisma, controversy, and then there is …Ron Atkinson.

A man who excelled as a football player, manager, commentator, and then whose life had a ‘freefall’ from grace, because of an unguarded racist comment he made in April 2004 broadcast by ITV after a European Cup semi-final.

‘’Ron’s a fascinating character, a very complex man, who wears his heart out on his sleeve, but for all that bravado, he retains a pragmatic approach to life, and there is another Ron – a very private person, with an iron will to succeed.

‘’ His larger than life story – attracted me to write with him , to tease out the inner thoughts, and his take on football through the ages,” said Tim Rich, of Rich Media, the Sale-based PR agency in Dane Road.

The results of their collaboration are spilling out the cardboard boxes that occupy centre stage of the first floor meeting room of Hotel Football, where the book launch of Ron Atkinson – The Manager – is taking place.

Journalist Tim Rich of Rich Media in Sale with Ron Atkinson

The room looks out onto the ‘theatre of dreams’. Old Trafford basks in the late summer sun. It’s a familiar place for Tim Rich.

Tim has spent a quarter of a century writing about sport. He’s written for The Independent, the Daily Telegraph and The Guardian. He’s covered four World Cups, three European Championships, and seven European Cup finals…is fluent in French, Italian and German…and yet he had never met Ron before the phone call.

It was a publisher ringing to ask Tim to consider working with Ron on the book about his life, and the art of management. Atkinson comes from an era when manager’s managed, and the role of first team coaches and Director of Football, were light years away, and rehydration therapy meant a visit to the pub.

Sale journalist Tim Rich says Ron tells it like it is

‘I immediately said yes because he still remains one of the true characters of the game,.” Said Tim

“I drove down to see Ron at his house in the Midlands, not knowing what to expect. Within seconds we had established a rapport that carries on to today. I think the strength of the book, is that Ron tells it like it is, added to that he has a phenomenal memory for all things football.

“We used to sit down and just talk about football, and I would have a tape recorder, but the usual thing didn’t happen. You talk people and then you discount a lot of what they say. With Ron he had such vivid memories as a players and manager, you just had to include them.

‘’Football is his biggest passion in life. He has so many stories to tell about the game,

”He didn’t shirk anything. We devote a chapter about his fall from grace, as he explains it was unguarded comment that was picked up and broadcast to Dubai and not heard many people. Ron is very frank about the explanation, to this day, he doesn’t know why he said the words he said, and the reasons why he regrets them every single day, he puts it all in context – people can make their own minds up ” said Tim.

Ron Atkinson is now a sprightly 77 year old. He is still a commanding prescence in the room, and his recollections and sage advice to the managers of today are all captured in the book.

“It’s his memories of a time when managers could make the difference, lifting an average team to glory and his observations of the new collection of managers like Moreno and Guardiola, and their very own theatre of Premiership dreams.”

Ron Atkinson – The Manager, is published by de Courbertin Books, Hardback price £20