Awards victory for home-grown book

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

Football photographer Matthew Ashton's self-published book Goodbye Gay Meadow was announced as the winner of the Best Illustrated Title at the Cafe Royal in London on Tuesday.

The event was hosted by the National Sporting Club in the sixth annual book awards.

The coffee table style book features images of the Gay Meadow and memories from football followers, who submitted articles for the project to serve up as a reminder to the old home of Shrewsbury Town FC, which was demolished last year.

The book was published and compiled by Mr Ashton, who began his photographic career covering Shrewsbury Town at the club's old Gay Meadow ground. It was in competition with best selling titles.

Mr Ashton, from Shrewsbury, said: "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.

"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."

By Rebecca Lawrence