Gate 17 - HomeGate 17 - Book ShopGate 17 - Shop
 
Mark Worrall Gate 17

TIM ROLLS
TIM ROLLS


At the age of fifteen Tim was told by his English teacher, a Miss Brown, that he was ‘a philistine’ because of his inability to be remotely interested in the works of William Shakespeare and the like. He preferred reading New Musical Express and Football Monthly. The NME is a tawdry, embarrassing and tragic shadow of its halcyon 70’s days, and Football Monthly is sadly long gone, but Tim’s passion for music and football is undimmed 45 years later. His sixth form ambition (insofar as he had one) was to be a football writer or music journalist. This was sadly unrequited, as he lacked either the wherewithal, drive or talent make it happen.

Forcibly but willingly removed from an increasingly repetitive and stifling corporate life with a multi-national at the start of the decade, Tim decided to spend as much time as possible doing things he actually enjoyed. He was involved in the formation of the Chelsea Supporters Trust in 2012/13 and was chair until 2016. He also, with the encouragement of David Johnstone and Joe Tweeds, in 2011 started writing for cfcuk fanzine and the Plains Of Almeria website. Conversations with Mark Worrall, Chelsea Historian Rick Glanvill and a number of other published Chelsea authors gave him the idea of writing a book about Chelsea under Tommy Docherty, a period of club history that had always fascinated him. Some four years and countless days in the British Library later, that idea is becoming a reality with Diamonds, Dynamos and Devils.

Tim’s first Chelsea game was against Stoke in September 1967, three weeks before Tommy Docherty left the club, and he has watched them regularly for over forty years in the company of The Curator, The Driver and The JCL. He increasingly struggles with the corporate, commercialised, homogenised, sanitised, selfie-stick culture that increasingly pervades top level football. He particularly rails against the fact that thousands of loyal supporters have been priced out of attending games whilst monied dilettantes turn up to observe but not to actively support. Readers of his cfcuk pieces will be familiar, and possibly bored, with his perspective.

Married to Nicki, an artist who designed the book cover, and with two grown-up children, Tim has still never read any Shakespeare but, in a move that would doubtless have astonished Miss Brown, he has now written a book.

Tim’s second book, Stamford Bridge Is Falling Down was published in 2019.

Follow Tim on Twitter @tim_rolls
For further information, check out Tim’s Diamonds, Dynamos and Devils blog

HOME | BOOK SHOP  |  AUTHORS