Planet Football
" Fantastically entertaining retro-anthology from the late, great Len Shackleton - one of the game's premier entertainers....
".... A respected football journalist after his playing career prematurely ended, rather than simply re-print the original .... the Return of the Clown Prince not only incorporates the original text .... but also contains fresh material from the great man himself ....
".... Forget Paul Gascoigne, or even Philip Neville, the original Clown Prince of Soccer was none other than LFS .... The unorthodox, inspirational and hugely talented inside-forward was as outspoken a man off the pitch as he was a free-spirited player on it .... his approach to journalism was blessed with the same mixture of bold-faced cheek and no small amount of talent and imagination ....
".... Full of mischievous insight and exuberant opinion, to complete any serious collection this book is essential."
(Planet Football's pointless-to-argue-with rating: ***** brilliant)

GARY TIPP, Total Football February 2001.

Book of the Month
" Reading this book is likely to make anyone too young to have seen 'Shack' in the flesh yearn for the rapid invention of time travel or else curse that video and TV technology arrived too late to record him in his pomp. It's hard to believe that the history of the game has produced a more eccentrically gifted individual, but the fact that this book was published just weeks before his death in November 2000, adds poignancy to every line.

RICHARD WHITEHEAD,
THE TIMES FOOTBALL HANDBOOK MONTHLY February 2001.

Association of Football Statisticians
".... Shack emphasizes that his antics were not always geared to pure entertainment but that some of his ploys showed a tactical awareness that went far beyond those of his opponents and indeed his team-mates ....
".... one must acknowledge the experienced and well considered view of a man who has truly spent a lifetime involved in the beautiful game both as a player and journalist .... [he] .... puts forward the thesis that in pre-television days the North East was a soccer wilderness into which international selectors rarely ventured and this led to some outstanding players not getting the recognition that they deserved.
".... This informative and amusing book by a man both as a player of outstanding talent and football journalist provides a window to an era of the game that is rapidly disappearing from the memories of a footballing public."

ERIC DOIG, AFS REPORT 111 Spring 2001.

Shack - more than just a blank page
" .... It's probably the most famous page in the history of football writing - and it's blank .... yet it would be the ultimate disservice if Sunderland legend Leonard Francis Shackleton is remembered just for that .... It was bad enough being a showman - prompting the comment that he wouldn't play for England because they played at Wembley Stadium not the London Palladium. But to ridicule the establishment was even more dangerous, a far more risky business than today. Yet while his popularity with the FA was about as high as that of Terry Venebles, he became a terrace hero.
" .... The superb new book will obviously be of massive interest to the older generation, and to the North East audience, yet it deserves to be read by all with the slightest leaning towards the game.
It works on all levels; as an historical document, as an inside story of football at the top, and as a tale of a maverick bucking the system.
Buy it as your personal tribute to one of the true greats. And then buy one for a friend."

MICK WORRALL, Shields Gazette Friday 01 December 2000.

" Len Shackleton .... updated his famous autobiography and, in conjunction with members of his family, published the Return of the Clown Prince .... a month before his death. Printed and illustrated to the highest standards, the contents comprise various interviews and accounts of episodes in Shackleton's remarkable career and his later days in the media .... This is a very different, hugely entertaining and a unique first-hand account of a marvellous life in football."

JOHN LISTER, Programme Monthly & Football Collectable January 2001.

" Footballers of a certain age tend to hold predictable views once their playing days are over. Not so Len Shackleton .... Not for him the self-satisfied ' .. it was so much better in my day .. ' routine. Leonard Francis Shackleton was as unpredictable off the pitch as he was on it.
" I never saw him perform his bag of tricks at Roker Park but I felt as though I had .... He was marvellous fun and wonderfully irreverent .... if he was a footballing genius on the field, he was also quick-witted with a neat turn of phrase off it ....
" The Return of the Clown Prince .. does his talking marvellously and it is refreshing that his candour and wit stayed as sharp and finely honed as his legendary ball skills. Here is a terrific amalgam of old and new .... it is a football collector's must ...
" There is not a scrap of envy for the fortunes earned - or rather paid to - present day players. His entire career was spent in the days of the 'maximum wage'. But he is not blinded by nostalgia.
" There are wonderful tales of his mischief on and off the park; of playing one-twos against a corner flag to beat his man ... of Sunderland players chatting-up Marilyn Monroe in a New York bar, of sitting on the ball mid-match ... of kicking the ball 15 yards ahead with so much spin, it came back to him ... he explains this masterful talent as 'ball sense' ..."

BILL BRADSHAW, The Observer 03 December 2000.

" The book Return of the Clown Prince .. was completed just before he died. I am grateful that because of it he was made aware of how much I admired him both as a player and as a man. Too often the sporting heroes of our youth pass by without knowing the effect they had on a life . . ."

MICHAEL PARKINSON, The Daily Telegraph Monday 04 December 2000.