Footballer, broadcaster, mentor…and now author. Geoff Twentyman has enjoyed an illustrious career in football and his name remains one of legendary status in the Bristol media landscape.
The former Bristol Rovers defender spent seven-and-a-half years at the Gas before moving on to become BBC Radio Bristol’s main sports presenter, a role which he kept for 30 years before stepping down last May.
Now, over a year on since departing the BBC, the former Rovers stalwart has released an autobiography entitled ‘Top Man’ detailing key moments and stories from his life and career within nearly 300 pages.
Twentyman, who is scheduled to be at the Mem and Ashton Gate to sign copies on November 16 and November 30 respectively, sat with Bristol Live to discuss his new book and the reasons for writing it, some of his favourite anecdotes, life since leaving the BBC and more…
“I’d been encouraged by quite a number of people for a number of years to do it and I think to do it while you’re still working is a little bit premature, really,” Twentyman responded to the obvious first question – ‘why write a book and why write it now?’
“I mean, goodness me. I see some people do books when they’re still two years into their careers. The timing was right. There was something fundamental that happened as to why I decided to do it and that is in the book and I don’t want to spoil.
“I was really fumbling in the dark with it all, really. I never for the life of me thought I’d ever write my own book. When I was much younger, I still enjoyed reading sports autobiographies and read them from a very young age. So, it is brilliant to think I’ve done my own.
“The publishers ‘Pitch’ have been brilliant. For them to actually take on the story and deem it interesting enough that people will buy it because there’s no financial commitment from me with the whole process. They paid for everything in terms of the production.
“I had a deadline of late June, early July of this year so that they could get it out for September, October, hitting the kind of Christmas market. It took six to eight months to write and it was surreal when a box arrived with the books, which I would get from the publisher and you actually look at it and hold it and think, ‘Oh my goodness, this is real.’ I’m really pleased with it.
“I think the key was to kind of come up with subjects for each chapter,” Twentyman added. “I didn’t want it just to become a chronological account of my life, my playing career, my broadcasting career. So there’s more themes than just the chronology. The important people in my career, the big games, the derby matches, which are obviously of significant interest.
“There’s a chapter on the last league encounter between City and Rovers which is 2001 or something. It’s a generation, whereas I played them twice every season for like seven-and-a-half years. My derby record is really good. There’s also a chapter on the best City and Rovers players that I’ve seen, played with, watched or reported on.
“There is genuine chronology but there’s also important people, significant landmarks in my career coming to Bristol, probably one of the most significant things in my entire life.”
With the book now out, fans from both sides of the Bristol divide have taken to social media to share photos of their copies.
Although those used to hearing the former BBC presenter’s dulcet tones as opposed to reading words he has written on a page, the process of putting the book together saw Twentyman ensure it read as though he himself was speaking the words aloud.
“I think one of the most important things I did want is that when people read it, I want them to think this is Geoff talking to me,” he exclaimed. “I can imagine Geoff’s voice and this is Geoff kind of thing. It’s not an audio book, obviously. Expressions, turn of phrase, bits and pieces.
“So far it’s very flattering. I’m getting some good feedback. Nigel Pearson sent me a lovely message a few weeks before the book came out and I was flattered. He wished me all the best with it. He had pre-ordered it on Amazon. So he was going to get it when it came out. I was really flattered.
“I said to him in the conversation there’s a bit of nervous excitement as to how it will be received and he said, ‘Don’t worry about that. It’s your book, it’s your account of your life and people will read it and make judgments accordingly.’
“Having said that, it’s much more preferable to get people sending you nice messages than to say that was an absolute pile of. Everyone’s been really lovely and seem to be enjoying it which is good.
“Duration wise, they wanted this magic number of about 80,000 words and I think I came in a little bit just over it,” Twentyman added on the process of writing the book itself. “But if you come under that’s bad apparently because when they pitch the price, it’s got to have a minimum number of words. So I think I got beginner’s luck on that one.
“I didn’t want the chapters to be too long because I know from reading a book, you kind of naturally finish reading that session at the end of a chapter and there’s nothing worse than starting a chapter and you look at it and think, ‘Oh my God, this is 20-odd pages. It’s too long. So I didn’t want them too long, too wordy.
“You’d be out say socially and you’d remember a story or you’d remember a name or you’d remember an incident and you’d get the phone out and tap it into your phone to get that in. Then the next day I’d go on my laptop and integrate it in there. So it did become slightly obsessive but it was a complete privilege to do it.”
Naturally, as someone so well respected in every sporting pasture across the city of Bristol, there are stories in the book that are not just Rovers-related. However, playing for the Gas for three-quarters of a decade is naturally going to formulate interesting anecdotes.
In the book, Twentyman remembers incidents with two former Rovers managers in particular, amongst of combined total of 45 across City and the Gas during his time at the BBC, whose reputations amongst Gasheads couldn’t be further apart in Mark McGhee and Darrell Clarke.
Reflecting on some of his stand out Rovers-related stories, the former BBC presenter recalled: “I tell a story in the book, Mark McGhee managed Bristol Rovers and I’d never experienced anything quite like it.
“I did a press conference when he was appointed at the Mem and it went live on BBC Radio Bristol. Rovers were in the bottom section of League Two and I asked him, ‘What’s the plan?’ He said, ‘Well, we stay up this season, make some signings in the summer and next season we’ll have a go at least at getting in the play-offs.’ I remembered it vividly.
“So I went down to interview him at the training ground. I didn’t go every week. I used to just drop in and out because like all the sports journalists went on the weekly. I was mindful of what he’d said in his first press conference. Rovers, at this point, were still struggling at the wrong end of League Two after staying up.
“I just kind of said, ‘Mark, in light of what you said to me when you were appointed, how disappointed are you with your current league position?’ And he said, ‘What did I say when I was appointed?’ I said, ‘Well, you said you would keep Rovers up, make your signings, and hopefully next season push for at least the play-offs. You’ve kept them up, you’ve made your signings, but you’re not pushing for the play-offs.’
“I just looked him in the eye, because, you know, I’m not bothered. I played against the guy when he was at Newcastle and I played for Rovers in what was then the Championship and he went, ‘I didn’t say that,’ and I went, ‘Yeah, I’m pretty sure you did.’ He said, ‘I bet you £100 I didn’t say that’ and I was quite affronted because my background as a player and as a broadcaster, I didn’t engage in £100 bets with football managers about what they may or may not have said.
“So I just stood on the ground and looked him in the eye. I said, ‘No Mark, I’m not taking a bet with you. ‘I’ve seen dozens of managers come and go in this city and I’ve never, ever had a bet with any of them about anything. What I’ll do, I’ll go back to the BBC andlook into our archives, listen to it, and I’ll send you the interview.
“I went back to base, fingers crossed slightly. But I knew I was right, and I got it almost word for word correct. So I put it on a CD which was state of the art technology at the time and I sent it to him with a covering letter and he didn’t have the respect or anything to even ring me back and thank me or apologise. He got sacked quite soon after because he wasn’t very good.
“It’s not all about like the difficult times,” he added. “I mean, Darrell Clarke was an amazing guy. I always remember, he came in at Bristol Rovers as assistant to John Ward and then was put in charge for the last seven or eight games of the season and Rovers crashed and burned on the last day of the season and got relegated out of the Football League.
“We were at the Mem doing the Saturday Sport live from the ground and it was like, latest score from there. Whatever should have happened was happening and everything went against Rovers. They got relegated.
“So the following Friday, we used to do a football kind of fans based phone-in show ‘Twentyman Talks Back’ and the big focus was Rovers going out the Football League. Nick Higgs was the chairman of the day at Rovers and he wouldn’t come on, he wouldn’t come into the studio, but he sent in Darrell Clarke.
“Darrell was in charge of those last seven games and he was a broken man with it but he came in and he spoke with such passion. Really articulate and he promised Rovers fans that he would get a team, he couldn’t promise promotion because no manager can do that, but he was quite careful what he promised, that he would get together a squad, a group of players who would have the same level of passion for that badge on their left breast that the fans have on the terraces and in the stands at the Mem. They got promoted that following season.
“I used to judge them because I used to play footie. I used to think, ‘would I like to play for this one? Would I like to play for that one?’ Darrell Clarke’s a manager I’d really like to have played for.
“But the story’s about several of the managers at both clubs, really, because, remarkably, there was about 45 altogether. Crazy. So stories like that, bits and pieces.”
However, one of the particularly stand out stories of Twentyman’s life regards how an unfortunate injury essentially saw one door close and another open which would then lead to 30 years of broadcasting for the BBC.
“I don’t know if it was a sliding doors moment or not really,” the former broadcaster recalled, “but I was happy as Larry playing for the Gas. We played Plymouth at home in the FA Cup at Twerton Park, it would have been early ‘90s, I guess. I’ve gone up for a header and Dave Regis, I still remember his name, hasn’t kind of elbowed me or fouled me, but there was a bit of a bump, and I came down awkwardly on my left ankle and I was in this searing pain and I thought, ‘oh, that hurts. I don’t like this’.
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“It must have been the turning point of the game because it was 0-0 and Rovers won 5-0 after I went off so obviously that was a turning point. But I went to hospital at the Bath Royal United Hospital and in the space of two minutes, the draw was made for the next round of the FA Cup. Bristol Rovers were at home to either Liverpool or Crewe, who were playing on the Monday night. There was only going to be one winner there, which it was, Liverpool, and then within a minute of the draw being made, the surgeon came with the x-rays and he went, ‘Oh Geoff, I’ve got some really bad news. See that little line there that’s broken? That’s your ankle.’ I broke my ankle.
“So I knew at that point I wasn’t going to make the tie which was four weeks forward. But what Radio Bristol did, they invited me on to be the co-commentator, the summariser, the kind of expert, so to speak. The first time I got these headphones on at a live sports event where there was a real good atmosphere and you heard the talk back to the studio and you got a real buzz for it and that that was the point where I realised that’s where I wanted to be. Broadcasting really got me and that’s when I went and got the course at UWE and studied towards it.
“So had I not broken my ankle against Plymouth, we probably wouldn’t be having this conversation because it was, I think I said it in the book, a break that led to the break. Painful at the time, but without that I don’t think I would have transitioned, not as soon anyway, into broadcasting.”
It’s quite incredible to think that it’s already been the best part of 18 months since Twentyman hung up the microphone at the BBC. However, the decision to step down and reduce working hours didn’t mean that the now-65-year-old was stepping away from working life entirely.
He now offers his broadcasting expertise at the well-regarded Sports Media course at SGS College once a week and can also be seen hosting events, including ‘Pie and a Pint’ with Bristol City favourite Gary Owers.
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However, the decision, as Twentyman explained, was made with family commitments at the forefront of his mind.
“It’s flown by actually,” he insisted. “When I was leaving the BBC, my ex-boss said to me, ‘You’ll get offers from places that you’d never have imagined. You wait and see and we’ll have a chat in 12 months or so.’
“So, the same day that I was on my last show, May 22 last year, I got a text from a guy called Ian Holtby. He used to be the stadium manager at the Mem and now works at SGS College at the Wise Campus where he looks after the whole place. Great guy, Holters, I’ve known him for decades.
“I was on air talking with Rich Hoskin and I said to Rich, ‘You know, my plan is to work two days a week-ish’ and then while I was saying that, on my phone, I’m in the studio and it comes through a message from Ian Holtby saying, ‘I hope one of those days is going to be at SGS Wise Campus.’
“So, I had a conversation, went in to meet them, and they run some really, really excellent sports media journalism courses. So I go in one day a week and do small group coaching on the stuff that I kind of know a little bit about. Chatting, interviewing, presenting, commentary. Kind of radio skills and now podcast skills and other platforms.
“I’ve done an academic year and it’s been amazing. Incredibly satisfying and rewarding because there’s a huge age gap obviously, but when you teach someone something and they see the value of it and understand it, you’re in with them. So that’s been good.
“I didn’t want to overcommit because the whole idea of leaving the BBC was to give myself time to see the little ones growing up.
“A company, ‘See the World Travel’ based in Thornbury had bought out a golf travel company. I know the people who own it and they contacted me asking if I would host some golf trips for them. I’m thinking, ‘this is surreal. I love my golf. I’m going to go host golf events and be paid for it.’ So we went to Northern Ireland in May and played three amazing links courses.
“Gary Owers and I do a ‘Pie and a Pint Night’ where we go round to a few sports and social clubs around Bristol. Pie and a pint means for £15, you get some football stories. We get some guests in. You get a pie and a pint and we raise a bit of money for charity as well.
“Things like that keep me busy enough, give me a focus, give me a concentration. But the most important thing of it all is that I get to see my grandkids three or four days a week where before I only saw them once.
“I left the BBC because there was an opportunity at my time in life to take a package that enabled me to transition into what I wanted to do. Had I been much younger, I wouldn’t have been able to do it. So,I was fortunate in that respect.
“I always wondered how I’d leave the BBC because I’d been there forever but you don’t stay forever. It was just the right time for me to pursue my departure, really, and when I did leave, it was the most amazing experience for several weeks from when I announced it to when I left. The reaction from people was humbling and flattering and at times overwhelming, but it was all very good.
“Anyone reading this, I’d like to thank them for the send off they gave me. I’ll never ever forget it. Amazing.”
‘Top Man’ is available to purchase and can be ordered on Amazon by clicking here.