' From The Media '
Fri Oct 09, 2015 8:43 pm
MEDIA
http://www.annisabraham.co.uk/books/buy-books/
Terry Phillips: Annis Abraham book on the Bluebirds tells it as it was
21 MAR 2013
By Terry Phillips
ONE of the first times I met Annis Abraham was at Ninian Park when he was among a group of fans who burst up the stairs of the main stand and confronted me in the old press box.
http://www.annisabraham.co.uk/books/buy-books/
ONE of the first times I met Annis Abraham was at Ninian Park when he was among a group of fans who burst up the stairs of the main stand and confronted me in the old press box.
The group had set out to vent their feelings towards Cardiff City directors about the club’s decline, but those in the boardroom had heard of plans to protest and left quickly after the match.
Those fans, around 12 in all, swept straight past the boardroom at the top of the stairs and on up to the press box.
Ninian Park security men rushed across, but they only wanted to talk, maybe shout, and say how they felt.
I agreed to meet them the next day, at the 1927 Cafe in Splott owned and run by Bluebirds fan Lee Beames.
Annis and I have had a love-hate relationship ever since. There are times when we get on well, many others when we don’t.
To his immense credit, Abraham is a far more mature individual now than when I first met him.
He is a family man who puts wife Joanne and his daughter above everything.
One factor I have never, ever doubted is his passion for Cardiff City Football Club and his huge collection of Bluebirds’ memorabilia is something to behold.
He outlines his life in a newly published book ‘Annis – My Story’ with a foreword by former owner Sam Hammam, who says he has learned from his friend.
“What I learned from Annis is a Cardiff City of the past, nostalgia, and of roots,” says Hammam.
“Annis’ mind is for the future, but his heart is in the past. It is Ninian Park he longs for.
“The new logo which was designed to promote our Welshness he hated and lobbied successfully to get the previous one back.
“Annis wants standing, not seats for the hardcore and younger fans. He is fixated with a dislike of Swansea – and loathes rugby and their people who are jealous of the massive superiority of football.”
In his book, Abraham talks about his life from childhood through to the present day.
He speaks about his on-off-on again relationship with Hammam, plus the moment he called for Peter Ridsdale’s resignation at an EGM. He would later organise a 2,000-strong march against the chairman.
And he told manager Dave Jones last May exactly how he felt when a 1-1 draw at Burnley saw Swansea City finish above them for the first time in 18 years.
“I shouted loudly to Jones and he looked straight at me,” he said.
“For six seasons I had said nothing, but this time I said he should do the right thing and leave our club.
“He just shrugged his shoulders and wandered down the tunnel.”
Abraham has been in a unique position to chart the ups and downs of the club he has fervently followed since childhood.
There are too many nicknames in there for me, but the book is a good insight into his life and the individuals who have run the Bluebirds.
The stories are spot on because Abraham was there at the time.
He tells it as it was, even his view on the trouble he was caught up in at the 2000 European Championships in Belgium and the BBC Panorama programme ‘England’s Shame’ which he featured in.
Annis Jnr Author and Publisher of 7 Books.
http://www.annisabraham.co.uk/books/buy-books/
Terry Phillips: Annis Abraham book on the Bluebirds tells it as it was
21 MAR 2013
By Terry Phillips
ONE of the first times I met Annis Abraham was at Ninian Park when he was among a group of fans who burst up the stairs of the main stand and confronted me in the old press box.
http://www.annisabraham.co.uk/books/buy-books/
ONE of the first times I met Annis Abraham was at Ninian Park when he was among a group of fans who burst up the stairs of the main stand and confronted me in the old press box.
The group had set out to vent their feelings towards Cardiff City directors about the club’s decline, but those in the boardroom had heard of plans to protest and left quickly after the match.
Those fans, around 12 in all, swept straight past the boardroom at the top of the stairs and on up to the press box.
Ninian Park security men rushed across, but they only wanted to talk, maybe shout, and say how they felt.
I agreed to meet them the next day, at the 1927 Cafe in Splott owned and run by Bluebirds fan Lee Beames.
Annis and I have had a love-hate relationship ever since. There are times when we get on well, many others when we don’t.
To his immense credit, Abraham is a far more mature individual now than when I first met him.
He is a family man who puts wife Joanne and his daughter above everything.
One factor I have never, ever doubted is his passion for Cardiff City Football Club and his huge collection of Bluebirds’ memorabilia is something to behold.
He outlines his life in a newly published book ‘Annis – My Story’ with a foreword by former owner Sam Hammam, who says he has learned from his friend.
“What I learned from Annis is a Cardiff City of the past, nostalgia, and of roots,” says Hammam.
“Annis’ mind is for the future, but his heart is in the past. It is Ninian Park he longs for.
“The new logo which was designed to promote our Welshness he hated and lobbied successfully to get the previous one back.
“Annis wants standing, not seats for the hardcore and younger fans. He is fixated with a dislike of Swansea – and loathes rugby and their people who are jealous of the massive superiority of football.”
In his book, Abraham talks about his life from childhood through to the present day.
He speaks about his on-off-on again relationship with Hammam, plus the moment he called for Peter Ridsdale’s resignation at an EGM. He would later organise a 2,000-strong march against the chairman.
And he told manager Dave Jones last May exactly how he felt when a 1-1 draw at Burnley saw Swansea City finish above them for the first time in 18 years.
“I shouted loudly to Jones and he looked straight at me,” he said.
“For six seasons I had said nothing, but this time I said he should do the right thing and leave our club.
“He just shrugged his shoulders and wandered down the tunnel.”
Abraham has been in a unique position to chart the ups and downs of the club he has fervently followed since childhood.
There are too many nicknames in there for me, but the book is a good insight into his life and the individuals who have run the Bluebirds.
The stories are spot on because Abraham was there at the time.
He tells it as it was, even his view on the trouble he was caught up in at the 2000 European Championships in Belgium and the BBC Panorama programme ‘England’s Shame’ which he featured in.
Annis Jnr Author and Publisher of 7 Books.