FORMER Redditch United manager Dennis Mortimer is one of several managers who contribute to a new book by a Worcester author.

Chris Green's first book, 'The Sack Race' is a study of the plight of football managers in the professional and semi-pro game.

And the man who captained Villa to European Cup glory in 1982 is one of those who offers his opinions on why managers are overworked, unqualified and at the mercy of trigger happy chairman.

The work paints a bleak picture but will be a rewarding study for fans of sports writing.

Green is at his most impressive when interrupting his almost scholarly study with the inevitable anecdotal illustrations profferred by luminaries like Mortimer, Tommy Docherty and John Barnwell.

The author examines several areas of management from the history of the institution, to managing at international level.

There is a must-read depiction of a training session with an unnamed First Division club managed by a bawling, foul-mouthed manager bound for relegation.

But at times the work is too schematic and can read like a text book - Green is at his best when waxing lyrical, as he does when summarising the football careers of Terry Venables and George Graham.

And there are questions left unanswered - Howard Wilkinson is a thoughtful, eloquent exponent of the need to modernise the manager's role and obviously was only too happy to contribute.

But, although it could be seen as an irrelevant point, how can the cream of young English managers be expected to follow a man who discarded Eric Cantona for £1.5m?

Chairman and directors are pilloried but without right of reply and the same goes for Kevin Keegan, criticised, quite rightly as the only Premiership manager with no formal coaching qualifications.

He refused several invitations to have his say but we are told nothing of this in the book.

Overall, the work holds together as a valid study and the publishers timed its release to perfection, with managers referred to already on the dole queue.

As a prime illustration, writing about Ipswich Town chairman David Sheepshanks, Green says: 'Sheepshanks is a forward-thinking chairman; he is determined to change the gaffer's lot and to raise standards throughout clubs. The long-term future of the gaffer is at stake.'

Manager George Burley was shown the door last week.

MH