As the synopsis says, owning your own football club is a pipe dream for many but for Simon Jordan it became a reality and this book is a brilliant insight into his time at the helm of Crystal Palace and how he pretty much lost his self-built fortune after throwing every ounce of hard work into the club but ultimately came up short in trying to bankroll the club. The book takes a look at Jordan's career leading up to taking over at Selhurst park and how he made his fortune by recognising the growth potential in the mobile phone industry and building up a multi-million pound business through hard work and persistence, something that comes across in Jordan throughout the book and with his clear mindset throughout life.

His purchase of Crystal Palace to become the youngest chairman in the game at the time and as a life long supporter of the club, gave him the opportunity of a lifetime with the potential to reap the rewards and build the club back to its former glories. Unfortunately, as with many who attempt to get into this industry, the lack of experience and the lack of money he had, despite his wealth, were always going to lead him to issues, not for the want of trying. The book depicts his fascinating relationships he had with his Managers across a 10 year period at the helm, where he became known for falling out with some famous names from Steve Coppell to Steve Bruce. The key managerial relationship that comes from the book, is that with Iain Dowie which brought initial success before a bitter fallout that ended in the courts.

Despite owning the club, Jordan failed to own the ground that the club paid on and his lack of a relationship with the owner of the ground and former Palace Chairman Ron Noades is also heavily followed. Without a doubt, the book shows the strong opinions of Jordan and you can understand why conflict came to arise in many of the relationships he had during his time at Crystal Palace both with people at the club, but also challenging the authorities within the game. There is no doubting that Jordan wore his heart on his sleeve and made mistakes that ultimately cost him his fortune and left Palace at the mercy of the administrators and searching for new investment. Again, this is heavily serialised within the book and shows just how quickly a fortune can be lost despite having the best interests at heart. 

An enticing read that shows how a hard-nosed attitude can help to build a fortune, yet football will always find something that will knock you down a peg or two and see you hit rock bottom.