SELF-PUBLISHED BOOK WINS IN 2008 BRITISH SPORTS BOOK AWARDS

A book about the old home of little Shrewsbury Town Football Club defeated the might of Premier League giants Arsenal in the 2008 British Sports Book Awards.

Entitled "Goodbye Gay Meadow" a self-published title by Matthew Ashton, better known for being a football photographer, was announced as the winner of the Best Illustrated Title at the Cafe Royal in London yesterday in an event hosted by the National Sporting Club in the 6th annual book awards.

The coffee table style book contains images of Gay Meadow which were accompanied by memories from football followers who submitted articles for the project to serve up a fitting reminder to the old home of Shrewsbury Town FC situated on the banks of the River Severn in the picturesque Shropshire county town, which was demolished last year.

Mixing with multi-million pound publishers telling of their budgets and man power that went into their best selling titles, the Goodbye Gay Meadow team responded on how the book was constructed on a home computer and how Matthew walked to the bank to raise funds to help pay for the printing of the title. The book was printed by Tien-Wah in Singapore and was shipped back to the UK where Matthew and friends spent 9 hours lifting the books off a broken down lorry.

"When people win awards you hear them say they were speechless and totally gobsmacked but in our case this certainly was the case. It really was like an unfancied under dog going to a final for a day out and coming home with the trophy." commented Matthew after receiving the award. "I know many well known journalists and writers and some of the sporting icons whose books were up for awards from my day job of being a football photographer but we were completely out of our league sitting with some of the competitors and should not have really been there, however amazingly we won!"

"Its also amazing to think we have won when the book has been a best seller in the town of Shrewsbury with some independent bookshops proclaiming it to be the fastest selling book they have stocked since the launch of JK Rowling's Harry Potter, yet being honest the rest of the country have not really seen it and it is certainly not a national best seller," said Matthew.

Amongst the other winners were Sir Bobby Charlton who won the title for best autobiography who was based near Shrewsbury when he did his national service with Duncan Edwards who was one of the Manchester United players to lose their life in the Munich Air Disaster.

The book was also was Book of the Week with the Independent newspaper and has featured much praise from many in the photographic industry and the world of football. The book has its own website www.goodbyegaymeadow.com where fans can see exclusive pictures of the stadium being demolished.

Matthew added that he wanted to thank all the Shrewsbury Town supporters and fans from other football clubs who has contributed to make the book possible.