‘You Saw Me Standing Alone‘ (the biography of Alex Williams MBE) has recently been published. It has been researched and ghostwritten by well-known broadcaster Andy Buckley and is a fascinating read. Andy has written the following guest blog to tell us about the book and the research. I’d urge everyone to buy the book. It’s well worth it. Thanks Gary.
Andy Buckley writes:
An offer to ghost write the autobiography of Alex Williams was too good to refuse.
How could I decline the chance to tell the remarkable story of Manchester City’s former goalkeeper in You Saw Me Standing Alone?
Many knew the basics already. A promotion/relegation and 125 appearances for his boyhood club.
An injury that cut short his career and a deluge of racist insults that would have tipped many over the edge.
I wanted to find out more, though. Much more.
I wanted to know the stories behind the headlines and discover what really happened on and off the field.
What was it like to be a black goalkeeper in era when racial discrimination was a stain on society?
Where were the flashpoints, the harrowing experiences which tested the resolve of a teenage goalkeeper trying to navigate his way in the game?
The widespread abuse in the 1980s was bad enough for outfield players. For a rookie keeper at one of England’s premier clubs it was an even bigger challenge.
The colour controversy was just one element, though, to the Alex Williams story. His upbringing in Moss Side and route into City’s first team was another intriguing sub plot in his journey.
So too his fabulous work inspiring kids like him across Greater Manchester. My mission was to speak to these youngsters and discover how Alex motivated them.
I interviewed more than 50 people from a cross-section of his life during my research for the book.
Yes, it is Alex’s candid life story in his own words. But we felt that others should have their say as well, hence the reason most chapters conclude with contributions from various personalities.
Some are rich and famous, others unknown to the public at large but all have been touched in some way by Alex’s influence.
The contributors build a picture of a man whose easy-going personality and warm smile made him perfectly suited to the role he held with City in the Community for 33 years.
His laid-back demeanour made my job that much easier. Alex was a joy to work with; his eagerness to share anecdotes and experiences easing the writing task.
Understandably, Alex didn’t just want a book simply detailing his playing career. His reasoning was that it had already been well documented.
He wanted insights into the part of his life most never knew. How he earned his living after quitting playing before he became a community organiser.
What it was like growing up in Manchester and dealing with racism away from the football field. The international keepers he has coached and what working at City has been like for more than four decades.
As fans we have enjoyed the staggering progress made by the club on and off the field. A team once regarded as the laughing stock of English football are now world beaters!
Alex has seen it all up close and personal, so it was important to reflect how the balance of power has changed in Manchester through his eyes.
A transformation that has taken place not just on the pitch but in the city itself. Manchester is a completely different environment to the 1980s – the landscape has changed racially and culturally as well as on the sporting front.
As part of that change, City in the Community blazed a trail for other schemes around the country with Alex always the beating heart of progress.
Inevitably, his story therefore becomes a tale charting the success of a scheme acknowledged as one of the finest in the world.
It is all there in Alex’s autobiography, along with a final chapter which captures the final month of the 2022/23 season when Alex presented the Premier League trophy to Ilkay Gundogan.
What perfect timing. Alex hadn’t decided to retire from his ambassadorial role with CITC when he began writing his book.
The script even had a fairytale ending with three trophies secured.
Retired broadcaster James H Reeve was my BBC Radio Manchester summariser when I commentated on City’s scrappy 1-0 win at the Moss Rose in the 1998/99 season. The club had plunged to the depths of the third tier of English football at the time.
After I proudly posted a picture of me with our four trophies – the Super Cup now in the cabinet – James wrote on social media yesterday ….’Are you watching Macclesfield?’
As a storyteller it has been a pleasure and a privilege to collaborate with Alex on his book. Hopefully, it does justice to a man whose influence on Manchester cannot be underestimated.
Enjoy your retirement Alex and thanks for allowing me such access into your extraordinary life.
You Saw Me Standing Alone is available at www.alexwilliamsbook.co.uk priced £15. Part of the proceeds will be donated to CITC.
Thanks to Andy Buckley for writing this guest blog and to Alex Williams for his help and support over the years.
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