Brian Flynn

Overview

Little Wonder is the story of Brian Flynn, the stylish yet tenacious midfielder from Port Talbot who, in the 1970s and '80s, enjoyed a successful top flight playing career with Burnley and Leeds United—where he is still held in great affection by fans of both clubs—before moving on to Cardiff City, Doncaster Rovers, Bury, Limerick, and finally to Wrexham as player manager. Flynn also won 66 caps for Wales and played a pivotal role when the rejuvenated national team reached the quarter-finals of the 1976   European Championships and were denied a place at the 1978 World Cup by Joe Jordan's infamous 'hand of god' at Anfield.Lovingly crafted by Leon Barton, Little Wonder is also the story of Flynn's 12 years as a club manager with Wrexham where, with solid team-building and cup heroics, he left a legacy that was subsequently squandered, and his two-year spell at Swansea City, when he saved the club from relegation from the Football League and whose immense contribution was subsequently built upon to stunning effect. It is Brian Flynn's managerial legacy to Welsh international football, however, that has won him the plaudits of fellow managers, former teammates, the players themselves, and the Welsh nation when, as intermediate team manager under John Toshack, Flynn identified, nurtured, and developed the 'golden generation,' a group of talented teenagers and Welsh 'Anglos' who went on to become, at Euro 2016, the most successful Welsh team in 140 years. Brian Flynn may only stand at 5 foot and 4 inches, but this small man from the town of steel has made a giant contribution to football. Little Wonder is his story.

Reviews

'His name is not only so well-known, but so immediately respected ... everyone should know the story of Brian Flynn.' Chris Wathan, Chief Football Writer, Media Wales 'One of the good guys of Welsh football.' Chris Gunter 'A national treasure, Welsh football owes him so much.' Elis James 'A wonderfully detailed study of the life and times of a Welsh working class hero.' John Nicholson, Football 365

Author Biography

Leon Barton is a Wrexham-born writer and a founder member of the Welsh football online broadcaster Podcast Pêl-droed. Previously published by The Guardian, Vice, and In Bed With Maradona, Little Wonder is his first book.