PREZ
What could a professional football academy do for this boy?
Published on 28. May 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
392 pages
978-1-80634-288-4 (ISBN)
Description
Prez is about far more than football.
This true story, narrated by Prez's barrister father, is a warm, witty and intensely personal account of their attempt to navigate the world of grassroots and academy football. It tells of the characters, skilfulness, kindnesses, injustices, duplicity and, at times, downright stupidity that they meet along the way.
Frank and utterly compelling, it provides a remarkable insight into the sport through Prez's experience of junior football and the Nottingham Forest Academy.
Incorporated into this memoir is a fascinating behind-the-scenes story arising from litigation between Brian Clough and Robert Maxwell. It also offers a unique insight into the purchase and sale of Notts County by Alan Hardy. Other well-known football figures who pop up include Darren Fletcher and Gary Brazil, the Academy manager at Nottingham Forest who once said to Andrew, "You watch everything that goes on here."
How right he was...
Based on his diaries and rich in anecdotes, Andrew Prestwich brings a lawyer's head and a father's heart to the world of junior football and lays bare the tensions between sport, education, ambition and nurture.
Readers will love Prez, both the boy and the book.
This true story, narrated by Prez's barrister father, is a warm, witty and intensely personal account of their attempt to navigate the world of grassroots and academy football. It tells of the characters, skilfulness, kindnesses, injustices, duplicity and, at times, downright stupidity that they meet along the way.
Frank and utterly compelling, it provides a remarkable insight into the sport through Prez's experience of junior football and the Nottingham Forest Academy.
Incorporated into this memoir is a fascinating behind-the-scenes story arising from litigation between Brian Clough and Robert Maxwell. It also offers a unique insight into the purchase and sale of Notts County by Alan Hardy. Other well-known football figures who pop up include Darren Fletcher and Gary Brazil, the Academy manager at Nottingham Forest who once said to Andrew, "You watch everything that goes on here."
How right he was...
Based on his diaries and rich in anecdotes, Andrew Prestwich brings a lawyer's head and a father's heart to the world of junior football and lays bare the tensions between sport, education, ambition and nurture.
Readers will love Prez, both the boy and the book.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Market Harborough
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 27 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-80634-288-4 (9781806342884)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Andrew Prestwich was born in Manchester in 1964. Educated at William Hulme's Grammar School, his fourth form English teacher said, "Prestwich, laddie, you'll go a long way. But you'll put a lot of people's backs up getting there." Andrew was a barrister for 30 years and has been proudly kicking out against injustice ever since.