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Jimmy Glass is the goalkeeper whose last-minute goal kept Carlisle United in the Football League on the final day of the 1998-99 season. The goal is one of the most famous in football. It has been shown all over the world and was included in Channel 4’s The 100 Greatest Sporting Moments. But Jimmy Glass is much more than a One Hit Wonder. His amazing journey through every level of football, from Premier League to Sunday league, sees him battling to stay afloat in a sport awash with money but drowning in debt.
Throughout his eventful career – he has been at 22 clubs in 17 years - Jimmy has stumbled from one crisis club to another, from Crystal Palace to Bournemouth, from Swindon to Carlisle, with a knack of turning up just as the shit hits the fan.
Jimmy Glass’s story is far removed from the average footballer’s. He was a bodyguard to Andre Agassi when Agassi won Wimbledon and he’s the only goalkeeper to score an own goal at Wembley.
Jimmy gambled away a fortune as his personal life suffered along with his career. He made just £500 from the goal which saved Carlisle millions. Within two years of scoring it he was working as a computer salesman and playing Sunday league football, as a striker.
One Hit Wonder is written in an entertaining, often very amusing, style. There is plenty of gallows humour in football’s underbelly, such as Michael Knighton’s attempt to sell Carlisle United to an unemployed waiter, and the mysterious link between Andy Cole and Frank Spencer.