JAMIE Cureton never expected to write a book.
For more than three decades, the evergreen striker has travelled through English football with unusual durability: from the old First Division and the Premier League era to the modern EFL, non-league grounds and everything in between.
The 51-year-old has scored goals at every level, for a remarkable collection of clubs, and is the only player to have found the net across the top 10 tiers of the English game. Yet Cureton admits the idea that anyone might want to read his story once felt far-fetched.
That changed as his extraordinary playing journey continued.
READ MORE: Danny Cowley nominated for Manager of the Month award
Cureton’s new book, Last of the Goalhangers: The Man Who Completed English Football, written with Sid Lambert, is released on September 17.
It promises not simply a chronological account of changing shirts and scoring goals, but a more personal exploration of the moments, decisions and struggles behind one of the most enduring careers in the game.
“There’s plenty of stories and a bit of everything,” Cureton said.
“It’s not so much an autobiography of club to club.
“A lot of it is based on my ups and downs and how I’ve managed to keep playing.
“It’s also about life outside of football, the struggles I’ve had and just different bits and bobs really.
“I suppose it’s more a book for the everyday person than a superstar book, where everything went well and you’ve earned lots of money and won lots of things.
“It’s probably going to be different to a lot of other autobiographies, I’d say.”
For a forward who has long embodied the traditional penalty-box poacher – intelligent movement, anticipation and an enduring instinct to be in the right place – the title is fitting. Cureton has been a goalhanger in the most affectionate sense: a striker who understood that football’s most valuable currency is putting the ball in the net.
But his story is about far more than the goals.
It takes in a teenage decision at Norwich City which could have altered the direction of his life completely. Cureton declined the opportunity to join Manchester United’s celebrated Class of ’92 generation, choosing instead to pursue his own path at Carrow Road.
It was the start of a career in which he repeatedly made decisions that, from the outside, could be judged only through results, goals or league tables. The book, he hopes, will provide the missing context.
READ MORE: Danny Cowley reveals U's late transfer window bid for pacy attacker
“It’s been going back on my early career and through it, childhood and certain things that I’d maybe forgotten,” Cureton said.
“It was then about telling stories about my life and my upbringing, decisions I’ve made, moves I’ve made, maybe giving people an insight into why things were done, why moves were made, why certain spells in my career weren’t great.
“I’ve also talked about going abroad and the effect that had on me.
“I suppose people only see you as a footballer – you sign for a club, you have a reputation and everyone expects you to uphold that and do as well as you can and sometimes, there are things in the background that no-one knows about.”
Cureton’s playing career has spanned eras in a way very few footballers can claim. He began as an apprentice in the early 1990s, a period when first-team dressing rooms could be unforgiving places for young players and when football’s culture was starkly different from the environment now experienced by academy prospects.
He has since watched the game’s financial landscape, academy structures and attitudes to player welfare change beyond recognition.
“I’ve gone through so many changes within the game,” he said.
“Football is ever evolving and when I started out as an apprentice, it was the early 90s and things are a lot different now.
“I’ve been in an academy and seen how kids are treated as opposed to how I was and the money that’s changed within it.
“Kids have to learn how to cope with the money that comes with it now.
“From the start, it was a very drinking culture, coming in as a young kid.
“It was very much a case of the first team ruled – they could do whatever they want, speak to people how they want and you had to grow up the hard way, as an apprentice.”
READ MORE: Five former Colchester United forwards take part in PFA camp
The willingness to discuss that world candidly is central to the book. Cureton said the process of looking back became unexpectedly therapeutic, allowing him to revisit formative episodes and confront the realities behind a career which, to supporters, can appear to be a succession of goals, transfers and appearances.
“It was good to reminisce and go through stuff – it gave me a bit of therapy, talking about things,” he said.
“It’s something I didn’t expect to ever do.
“I didn’t expect someone would want to write it or a publisher would be interested in publishing it.
“I put it off for years.
“I’d been asked loads and loads of times and I suppose maybe at the point of what I’ve achieved and still playing, I thought if people are interested, then why not?
“I’d always thought, ‘Who’s going to want to read about me?’ Most people who write these books are global stars.”
Cureton has never needed global-star status to build a following. His appeal has been rooted in longevity, relatability and the sense that he has continued to play because he genuinely loves playing.
In an age when footballers can be judged by their social-media profile or top-flight exposure, Cureton’s achievements have come through a commitment to keep adapting, keep scoring and keep finding the next opportunity.
“I think generally people have been interested in my journey because I’ve kept playing and I’ve not been scared about dropping down,” he said.
“For the fans of the teams I’ve played for especially, it maybe gives them more of an insight into me as a person.
READ MORE: Jack Tucker urges U's to find a nastier edge after Swindon defeat
“I’ve sort of gone through so many eras that you meet so many people, along the way.
“People will see me now and how I’ve been over the last 10 years or whatever but they may not realise what I was like as a young teenager.
“I’m sure there’ll be things in there that people might be shocked and surprised at.
“It gives a fairly big insight into me from start to finish really.”
For Colchester United supporters, Cureton’s most resonant chapter will inevitably be his time at the U’s.
The striker joined the U’s permanently in 2006 and helped produce one of the most memorable seasons in the club’s recent history.
Colchester, written off by many before their inaugural 2006-07 Championship campaign, finished 10th – their highest-ever league placing – while Cureton scored 24 goals in all competitions and won the Golden Boot.
It was a season which reinforced his reputation as a reliable, prolific finisher, but he remembers it as much for the collective spirit as his own goals.
“It’s personally my best achievement and best season, because of where I was in my career and the club that I was at not being fancied going up against some massive clubs in that division and doing what we did,” Cureton said.
“As a group, we were unbelievable and personally, I couldn’t have asked for a better season.
“We didn’t win anything but finishing where we did, me achieving something personally in a team that was tipped for relegation at an age where people probably thought I was on the downslope.
“When I speak about it, I speak with great fondness – it was an unbelievable period for me and for the club.
READ MORE: Colchester youngsters battle back twice to draw with Peterborough
“It was a very close group and that’s probably why we achieved what we did.
“It was such a good time for the football club and the fans.”
Cureton’s departure from Colchester to Norwich in 2007 left U’s supporters disappointed, particularly after such a productive period.
He knows that feeling remains part of the memory for some, which is why he has addressed the circumstances of his exit in the book.
“I also speak about me leaving, the way it happened and the reasons why I decided to move,” he said.
“Hopefully, the fans can read that and understand, because I know people were unhappy when I left.
“There were obviously reasons behind it and I didn’t take it lightly.
“When you move on from clubs, there are things that the fans only see from the outside but this will give them an insight on why things have happened and then maybe then understand and not think of me as too bad a person!”
Now, at an age when most former professionals have long since entered management, media work or retirement, Cureton has signed for Thurlow Nunn League outfit Holland FC and remains focused on another landmark.
“I’ve got one more milestone I’d like to get to which is 1,100 games,” he said.
“I only need a few more appearances, so that’s sort of sitting there where I think if I can maybe just get that at some point this year.”
It would be a fitting number for a player whose career has been built on refusing to see a lower division as a step backwards. Cureton has kept going, kept adapting and, most importantly, kept scoring.
Last of the Goalhangers by Jamie Cureton (Reach Sport, £16.99) is on sale September 17. Pre-order from Amazon.
Share