A NEW book is shedding light on the history of Chasetown Football Club.
The long-term project to chart the past of The Scholars has been the brainchild of author Paul Mullins.
It details the early days of the club, which had previously been known as Chase Terrace Old Scholars Youth Club, from its founding in 1954, through to the present day.
The story of the club’s historic FA Cup clashes against the likes of Oldham Athletic, Port Vale and Cardiff City also feature.
For fiction writer Paul, who saw his first Chasetown match in 1985 and later went on to write match reports as a volunteer, the book’s journey began with a chance conversation with one of the club’s founders.
“In 2002 Brian Baker approached me to ask what I thought about doing a book for the 50th anniversary. I didn’t feel I knew enough then to do something, but having written fiction books in 2014 I began to get an understanding of the process.
“But it was only when scrapbooks of Brian’s with results in were then mentioned that the lightbulb came on and made me think that all of the club’s results were out there somewhere.”
After meeting up with characters from the club’s past and carrying out painstaking research, Paul said he hoped the book would help ensure some of the tales of The Scholars would live on.
“None of us will be around forever. We live in an age now with social media and websites where lots of information is held and is accessible.
“From the club’s inception to the 1990s, newspapers and people’s memories and word of mouth are very often the only sources of information.
“The people have always made Chasetown a special club. Former manager Mervyn Rowe once opened the sports pages and said he could sign any player, but he wanted the nice guys – and that sums up the Chasetown family for me.
“That comes from the top from people like Mick Joiner, but it’s been continued throughout the last 40 years I’ve been watching.”
The book is available now on Amazon.