The extraordinary story of Steve Death, described as ‘an insignificantly built bundle of daredevil energy’, Death played without gloves, caught crosses one-handed and saved penalties instinctively. The shortest goalkeeper in the Football League – at just 5ft 7½in – his remarkable story provides a fascinating insight into the lost world of 1970s lower-league football.

Steve Death is a lower league legend who came up through the West Ham ‘Academy of Football’, played just one match in the top division alongside Hurst, Moore and Peters, before moving to Reading, where he played 537 games and won Player of the Year four times. At Reading he set the Football League records for the longest time without conceding and the longest run of clean sheets.

Tiny Keeper is the extraordinary story of a unique character, who took a pack of twenty Embassy onto the training ground with him, preferred playing as a striker in six-a-sides and went home quietly to his family after matches. The book also explores the relationship between fan and player, through shared memories of special moments from decades ago, seen from their own different perspectives. It is a powerful and beautifully written statement about the value of the unfashionable and the past, and how the fashionable present could not exist without it.

About the author

ALAN HESTER is an internationally published author of books on management and success, with previous titles translated into Chinese, Greek and Arabic. His books include Management Starts With You and Get Out Of Your Own Way. Tiny Keeper is his first sports book and is a labour of love about a boyhood hero who he watched from the terraces as a lifelong fan of Reading FC.

Alan runs a management and leadership training and coaching business, and has a passion for communication and telling human stories. He is available for interview.