Journalist Matt Goodwin discusses upcoming book detailing remarkable life of Barnsley legend and former Hartlepool United goalkeeper Norman Rimmington

The book, which is titled More Famous Than Fergie: The Norman Rimmington Story in reference to a meeting with legendary Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, is set to be published at the end of this month, coinciding with Rimmington's birthday.

Goodwin, who currently covers League Two side Rotherham United, first met Rimmington when he was working at Barnsley in his 20s.

The former goalkeeper's story is a truly incredible one, with Rimmington spending 65 years at Barnsley, his hometown club, working in various roles including as a player, coach, head trainer, interim manager, groundsman, physio, assistant manager and kitman.

It would be safe to assume, therefore, that Rimmington accrued his fair share of stories from a "truly fascinating" life and career, with Goodwin inspired to write his story following hours and hours of "remarkable" conversations after the pair struck up a close friendship. Indeed, Rimmington, who worked in the laundry at Barnsley beyond his 90th birthday, used to venture across the stadium in search of "my mate Matt" to regale him with tales from well over six decades at the club.

It's often said that the word legend is bandied around too frequently, but it's hard to think of a more fitting term to describe Rimmington, who died aged 93 in December 2016 and was subsequently awarded a British Empire Medal in the 2017 New Year's Honours List.

Having been born in Staincross, South Yorkshire, Rimmington worked as a fitter - in effect, an engineer - at North Gawber pit while playing amateur football for local side Mapplewell Town.A talented cricketer and tennis player, Rimmington signed amateur terms with Barnsley in 1945 before agreeing a professional deal the following year after the end of the Second World War.

After hanging up his boots following a broken finger, Rimmington took up a coaching role at Barnsley under manager Tim Ward before being appointed head trainer on a full-time basis in the summer of 1962.

What followed was a "mindblowing" association with the Tykes that would see Rimmington take on work as head groundsman, which he saw as a natural transition having worked with machinery throughout his life, before combining a role as the club's physio with assistant manager to Allan Clarke, who helped turn Barnsley from a team struggling towards the bottom of Division Four into one pushing for promotion to the top flight.

After retiring as groundsman in 1988, Rimmington worked as the club's kitman under Viv Anderson as well as former Pools boss Danny Wilson, who led the South Yorkshire outfit to the Premier League in 1997.

Rimmington, who Goodwin describes as "an exceptional coach" and "passionately committed to Barnsley", continued to work in the laundry room at Oakwell into his 90s, with supporters voting to rename the south stand as The Norman Rimmington Stand in the summer of 2022.

Although Rimmington's name is synonymous with Barnsley, he also has a strong connection to Hartlepool, with Goodwin working with the club's former media manager Mark Simpson to help bring that part of his career to life.

Indeed, Rimmington made more than 100 appearances for Hartlepools, as they were then known, across almost five years having initially only signed for the club on loan in 1947.

In a remarkable nod to a forgotten age, Rimmington established himself in-between the sticks under legendary manager Fred Westgarth despite continuing to live in Barnsley, taking the bus to Leeds before catching a train, the Liverpool Express, up to Hartlepool.

Goodwin, who has balanced working two jobs with painstakingly researching and writing the book, a process which has taken almost three years, hopes it will be "a cracking Christmas present" for fans of Barnsley, Hartlepool as well as those who "loved the game in its purest form".

"When I was fairly fresh out of university, I started working at Barnsley Football Club," Goodwin told The Monkey's Uncle.

"I already knew who Norman Rimmington was, I'd heard about him, I'd seen him on the cover of a couple of programmes and I'd spoken to my dad about him.

"I started working there and we just got along. He'd come round to our side of the office because he worked in the laundry on the north side of the ground and I was in the south side. He'd pop round and, after a couple of months, he'd come and say, 'where's my mate Matt?' Then he'd come and sit with me.

"We'd just be chatting and the conversations would head back in time. After a while I thought, 'I need to be recording this, this is dynamite stuff'.

"The seed was planted then, I was in my early 20s and I thought, 'if ever I'm going to write a book, it's going to be about this man'.

"I always knew what the title would be. It's called More Famous Than Fergie: The Norman Rimmington Story. I always knew the story of him being introduced to Sir Alex Ferguson and Sir Alex saying, 'of course I know who you are, you're more famous than me'. Well, maybe in Barnsley.

"About two-and-a-half years ago I got to know Richard, Norman's grandson, and we decided it was the right time to write the book. I had hours and hours of audio recording and I thought, with a tinge of disillusionment at the modern game, now more than ever his story needs telling.

"It'll be 10 years in December since Norman died and his story is unique, I've not come across anything, anywhere, similar in terms of the variety of roles that Norman undertook and the sheer longevity of it.

"You think about how football evolved from when he started playing to working in the laundry, it's mindblowing at times.

"He was so proud to be from Barnsley, he loved Barnsley Football Club, he played for the love of the game. He was born in the town, worked in the town and played for his hometown club. No matter what came up, he turned his hand to it.

"He spoke very fondly of his time at Hartlepool. In the book, there are some amazing bits about Fred Westgarth, who I believe kept bantams on the terraces, and his son Ned, who had some very interesting physiotherapy techniques. I think it's being a bit kind to call them that!

"He was very appreciative of how Hartlepool treated him and took care of him. He made 73 consecutive appearances for the club. For Norman, who suffered a lot of injuries - and this was a time when you could literally pick a goalkeeper up and throw them into the net - that was amazing.

"Norman's birthday is the 29th of November so, all being well, the book will be out at the end of November. I genuinely believe it will be a cracking Christmas present."

The book, "the ultimate story of football loyalty", is available for pre-order from normanrimmington.com