SAM Bartram is from a bygone era of football when matches were played on Christmas Day, your wedding day and any other day you can think of.

The extraordinary goalkeeper was a star when footballers cleaned their own boots, had second jobs and enlisted when the Second World War broke out.

From the 30s to the 50s, Bartram kept goal for Charlton appearing more than 800 times as the club rose from the Third Division South to second in the First Division and featured in back-to-back FA Cup finals.

He made his last appearance in 1956 and died in 1981, aged 67, but his legend lives on, not only in a statue of the man outside The Valley but also in Mike Blake's book, Sam Bartram The Story of a Goalkeeping Legend.

Blake captures the spirit of mid-20th century football when life was tough and the luxuries associated with today's game were makings of a madman's dreams.

The author follows Bartram's life from his time down the mines at Boldon Colliery in County Durham to playing as a striker for North Shields, among others, and the moment Jimmy Seed took the young Bartram under his wing to the big man's ventures into management.

Blake's book is laden with black and white pictures of Sam in action which not only depict his robust and imposing presence but the general ambiance of football in peacetime and during the war.

The prose is slightly heavy on facts and figures and anyone not as interested in Bartram as the author may, at first, be put off.

But it is surprisingly easy to read and although football fans - moreover Charlton fans - will get more out of it than most, there is a chance anyone with a passing interest in history and sport will also find pleasure in Blake's work.

Sam Bartram The Story of a Goalkeeping Legend is out now