AN ALTINKUM apartment owner has spoken of his pride at authoring a book about two of the loves of his life – Manchester City and the Royal Navy.

Don Price has taken his first step into publishing with A Football Fans Story: The Royal Navy, Manchester City and Me.

Manchester-born Don (62), who is married to Cath and has two sons Steven and Sean, told Voices that his desire to write a book was borne from a number of things – including the fact that football books he had read were usually the same.

Don Price and the cover of his new book

He said: “I have been interested in either playing and watching football most of my life although it is a long time since I actually played the game preferring now  to spend my time watching others kick the ball about.

“I joined the Royal Navy in 1969 aged 15 and spent eight years travelling the world .Over the years I have ready dozens of books about both the Navy and Football, some of the books I have read about the Navy especially the training bares little resemblance to my experience .

“A lot of the football books are pretty much all the same just change the name of the football team and there is not much difference in the style of writing. Many  football books written by ordinary fans are about football hooligans and are just embarrassing.”

In 1994 he formed and for 10 years was the chairman of the Prestwich & Whitefield Branch of the Manchester City Supporters Association ,which at the time was the largest in the country.

The club held meetings and events where players, former players, managers and ex-managers attended and the supporters could ask questions have photographs and get autographs. Guests included Kevin Keegan, Francis Lee, Colin Bell, Nick Leeson  (Rogue Trader) and many others.

He said: “We also raised many thousands of pounds for charities and good causes. One such fundraising event found me trekking through North Africa then climbing Mount Toubkal which is the largest mountain in the region.

“Considering the furthest I used to walk was to the corner shop to buy my paper I thought it was some achievement. We also organised trips around the country to watch city play. On nights out with either family or friends whenever we discussed the supporters branch it was often mentioned because we had achieved so much I should write a book.

“I thought they must be having a laugh as I don’t think I have even written a postcard or a letter in the last 30 years so the thought of writing a book just did not appeal to me.”

However, in latter years, the thought of writing a unique book about the Royal Navy and football started to appeal. He sat down last November and drafted the book from his Altinkum apartment and ended up writing 450 pages.

He said: “I am very  pleased with the result. I have tried to make the book humorous and informative and did it with a style that will appeal to everyone, not just football fans or to people that have served in the Navy.”

He revealed the best country that he visited while in the Navy was Singapore and the best player has watched was Pele for Santos against Plymouth in a friendly in the 1970s.

The book was published by Authorhouse and can be bought online through Amazon. There is more information on www.mcdsa.co.uk or on this dedicated website page: www.afootballfansstory.com