I don’t know if you can remember (I can only vaguely) about seven years ago a Reading player got sacked because he failed a random drugs test. Well, if you can (or even if you can’t, for that matter) that player was Andy McLaren.

After his sacking, he done the whole Priory experience before getting back into football with Kilmarnock. He even went on to get himself an international cap for Scotland (although in fairness this was a time when Kevin Kyle was playing up front for the mighty Jocks).

In Tormented, he tells his story about what drove him down the route he went, and his experiences whilst on it. The book is very powerful, and McLaren is brutally honest in it. He admits that when he was younger he was extremely selfish and only bothered about what he could do to get himself out of trouble rather than face the consequences of his actions. He also describes the media scrum which followed the announcement, and how hard it was for him, a player not usually accustomed to appearing in national news headlines.

It is a good book, and a bit different to many autobiographies in that McLaren is brutally honest about his mistakes and some of the traumas he suffered through his life. It is also refreshing to read an autobiography which isn’t from some superstar of the game whining about he doesn’t think his manager never gives them a chance or how they had they had such a difficult choice about which multi-million pound contract to accept.

Even taking away the football aspect, it is very interesting reading about a man facing the errors of his ways. I would recommend that next time you are looking for a good autobiography to read, then give this one a whirl.

Book courtesy of Fiona Atherton at Mainstream Publishing

Paul Maughan