Behind the Curtain: Travels in Eastern European Football (Paperback)

THE TIMES
'With style and erudition, [Wilson] proves that football is a metaphor, an allegory, and much more than just a game'

Review
'With style and erudition, [Wilson] proves that football is a metaphor, an allegory, and much more than just a game' (THE TIMES )

'Enlightening' (THE SCOTSMAN )

WATERSTONES BOOKS QUARTERLY
'Jonathan Wilson brilliantly plugs the gaps in our knowledge...an observant and witty guide to life in Eastern Europe.' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

David Pearce, DAILY TELEGRAPH
'A blissful book, lovingly and stylishly written' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Henry Winter, DAILY TELEGRAPH
'[a] terrifc book' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

SUNDAY TIMES
'This fascinating and perceptive travelogue includes a fine collection of anecdotes too colourful for fiction' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

David Winner, FINANCIAL TIMES
'Epic... Wilson writes captivatingly with humour...anyone with an interest in eastern European sport will be consulting this book for years to come.' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

FOUR FOUR TWO
'Compelling... he [Wilson] succeeds in going well beyond the lurid headlines, skilfully interweaving his own travel notes with forays into politics, culture and history.' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

WHEN SATURDAY COMES
'There's everything you needed to know about football and plenty that you didn't... wittily observed travel writing.' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

OBSERVER SPORTS MONTHLY
'In this part-travelogue, part history Jonathan Wilson captures the contemporary chaos of the region drawing in figures as diverse and noteworthy as Hungary's 1950s star Ferenc Puskas and Arkan, the murderous Serbian paramilitary.' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description
From the war-ravaged streets of Sarajevo, where turning up for training involved dodging snipers' bullets, to the crumbling splendour of Budapest's Bozsik Stadium, where the likes of Puskas and Kocsis masterminded the fall of England, the landscape of Eastern Europe has changed immeasurably since the fall of communism. Jonathan Wilson has travelled extensively behind the old Iron Curtain, viewing life beyond the fall of the Berlin Wall through the lens of football. Where once the state-controlled teams of the Eastern bloc passed their way with crisp efficiency - a sort of communist version of total football - to considerable success on the European and international stages, today the beautiful game in the East has been opened up to the free market, and throughout the region a sense of chaos pervades. The threat of totalitarian interference no longer remains; but in its place mafia control is generally accompanied with a crippling lack of funds. In BEHIND THE CURTAIN Jonathan Wilson goes in search of the spirit of Hungary's 'Golden Squad' of the early fifties, charts the disintegration of the footballing superpower that was the former Yugoslavia, follows a sorry tale of corruption, mismanagement and Armenian cognac through the Caucasuses, reopens the case of Russia's greatest footballer, Eduard Streltsov, and talks to Jan Tomaszewski about an autumn night at Wembley in 1973...

About the Author
Jonathan Wilson is the Football Correspondent for the Financial Times, and has travelled widely throughout Eastern Europe.