My Rock and Roll Football Story

From throwing pot plants at The Young Ones on MTV, to kidnapping 'Champagne' Charlie Nicholas and gatecrashing an all-night party with Ian Botham and Viv Richards.

From dancing naked in the snow with his best friend - Deep Purple lead singer Ian Gillan - to being thrown out of a Van Morrison concert for making more noise than the headline act. When a successful footballer's autobiography contains as many non-football tales as those from on the pitch then you know it's been a life well lived.

Paul Mariner is a Plymouth Argyle legend - with a little help from Pele and a lifeguard on Southport beach - an FA Cup and UEFA Cup winner with Bobby Robson's Ipswich Town, a scorer for England at the 1982 World Cup and a former Arsenal and Portsmouth striker who ended his career playing up front with George Best in a charity match while only partially sober. Not a bad haul for a mechanical engineering student who gave up football as a teenager to go and play cricket with future England rugby captain Bill Beaumont instead.

A true front man in every sense - talented, brave and fearless - but ultimately his toughest fight was yet to come.

Paul Mariner was diagnosed with the deadly brain cancer glioblastoma in October 2020. My Rock and Roll Football Life is a collection of entertaining stories from the pre-social media era featuring a Mariner who, despite experiencing choppy waters on many occasions, did his best to navigate the seas with the help of fun, friends and frivolity.