Remembering Goole Town, founder members of the NPL

All proceeds from ‘Pleasure and Pain’, written by Martin Jarred, a detailed overview of the club from its formation in 1905 to its demise in 1996 will go towards Alzheimer’s Research UK (ARUK).

Goole were founder members of the Northern Premier League in 1968 until relegation in 1995 before folding the following year.

Martin, 69, has spent five years researching the highs and lows of the Victoria Pleasure Grounds club. The result is a 208-page book containing a summary of each season, all results, scorers – both Goole’s and the opposition – league tables, pictures and line-ups from major cup games and finals.

The foreword has been written by former player Tony Galvin who went on to find football fame with Tottenham Hotspur and the Republic of Ireland after playing as a semi-professional in the NPL

It is thought to be the first-ever book written on the club but Martin, a sports journalist is no stranger to producing football books. He’s written eleven of them on Leeds United as well as ones on York City, the West Riding Senior Cup and Britain’s gold-winning 1908 and 1912 Olympic squad.

Martin said: “I made many trips to the VPG after they joined the Northern Premier League in 1968. The standard was quite high. The club even applied to join the Football League during Alan Turner’s spell as manager. Town did remarkably well considering they had so little money.”

He has spent hundreds of hours researching the club’s ups and downs with visits to Goole Library, the British Library at Boston Spa and the National Football Museum’s archives at Preston. His main source of information has been the Goole Times newspaper and the defunct Goole Journal.

“Pleasure and Pain” costs £16 and can be bought directly from the author by emailing [email protected] with your contact details.