Be Careful What You Wish For

Very pleased with the service and product.

A lot of people have an opinion about Simon Jordan largely driven by the high profile tenor of his reign as Palace chairman. However regardless of what people may think of him, this book is testament to the great quality of his character. First of all, if I had lost as much money as he did running the club, I doubt I could have written as entertaining, humorous and engaging book as Simon has. Secondly it must have taken quite a lot of character to write the book so soon after the events it describes.As a Palace fan the book is a must read, and it certainly sheds a lot of light on what was a very busy time for the club, the insights on major events from the collapse of ITV Digital to the Francis/Kolinko incident through the court case with Dowie are excellent. Jordan is never short of an anecdote and the book is laced with a good mixture of humour and an acceptable level of vitriol for certain individuals.For those of you who are more familiar with Jordan, there are some excellent commentaries on the subjects of agents, the FA, the Football League, rivalries with Charlton and Birmingham, and the difference between football and business, whilst the early chapters dealing with Simon's early career and business activities are really eye opening and engaging. Whilst Mr Jordan may never escape the accusations of arrogance that some level at him, the picture of the man that emerges is one of strong basic principles and values who really wanted to do the right thing, what will baffle you is how many other people didn't seem to share that objective.All in all an excellent read, especially for Palace fans but also for football fans and sports fans in general.

Simon Jordan has written a thoroughly enjoyable book that I believe is a must read for the American soccer fan. The financial commitment of owning any professional sports team is tremendous, but it is exponentially greater in a pro/rel environment.

Insightful and gripping. Clichéd adjectives, I know, but true. This is the story of Simon Jordan, a self-made British multi-millionaire whose abiding wish was to use his money to buy the soccer club he and his father grew up with and make it into the Premier League success he knew it could be. The tale does not have a happy ending. The very same single-minded grit, determination and brashness that made him such a success in the early days of cell phones caused him to run afoul of every entrenched interest in English soccer. 23 million pounds sterling later he walked away a sad and disillusioned man. The bottom line: Crass and unsophisticated as he could be, English soccer winds up looking far worse.

I am not a Crystal Palace fan but this is a must read for any football fan. This is by far the best football related autobiography I have read to date. Fast paced and highly addictive - I found it very hard to put down. The first part of the book charts his background and rise to a self made multi millionaire. I found this still very interesting and he condensed this into a few chapters giving the reader a brief synopsis of how he managed to make his millions. However the rest of the book, and quite frankly the reason why 99% of people would want to read it, charts his acquisition of Crystal Palace, his time at the helm and his subsequent demise. he leaves no stone unturned lifting the lid on his managers, players, the players agents and people from the FA. I think more importantly for me, unlike player/manager autobiographies, he is extremely honest and has no problem naming names. Maybe as he was a little more removed he had no problem exposing some very well known names in football. As a football fan my opinion of Simon Jordan has definitely improved, and I even have admiration for the way he stood up to quite frankly ludicrous established practices which were taken for granted within the football world, and for which in challenging, he was condemned and vilified by those within the game. I certainly have a lot more sympathy for football chairman who have a rather thankless task. Highly recommended.