On August 15th 1992, the Premier League kicked off for the very first time to the sound of money. That same season, a new kind of branded commercialism descended across the continent as the European Cup was re-launched as the Champions League. In 1994, the game's oldest trophy, the FA Cup, would become the last of English football's major competitions to fall to commercial sponsors. The early 1990s mark the moment at which the beautiful game, the sport of the common man, wound up on a market stall, complete with price tag. Of course the game needed to change - terraces had become ugly, dangerous places, blighted with racism and afflicted with the tragedies of Hillsborough and Heysel; on the mud-patches that passed for pitches, tackles were brutal, bone-crunching, and very much from behind. But rather than righting wrongs, pockets were lined as the legacy of football was cashed in. Rob Smyth and Georgina Turner explore the fan's-eye view of 21st-century football, a game that can be about breathtaking style, but very little substance; a grossly inflated memory of its former self where Football's Soul (TM) is an idea to be traded, not treasured. 'Jumpers for Goalposts' gives the facts, figures, wit and insight that proves that in the game of the people, for the people, the fans do know best and that to recover its soul, the beautiful game has to rediscover its roots.
Jumpers for Goalposts: How Football Sold Its Soul
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Review
"As a catalogue of all that is wrong with the game, the book is accurate and thorough. As rhetoric, it is stylish and irresistible ... It is not a new idea to index the simultaneous depravity and mundanity of modern football. But it has never been done as well as this. Richard Scudamore will despise every word, and there can be no higher praise than that." -- When Saturday Comes
"Smyth and Turner have done an absolutely excellent job summing up the travails of the modern game in 'Jumpers for goalposts' – there are numerous anecdotes that needed re-telling and the depth of knowledge and research contained in the book is staggering ... Kudos also to Smyth and Turner for finishing off the book with a humdinger of a conclusion. After flagging up all the problems with the game today, they set out to remedy them and come up with some fine suggestions. However unlikely, hopefully some of the game's administrators are reading this tome." -- 101greatgoals.com
"'Jumpers for Goalposts' is a fascinating and funny reflection on why football has changed so much since the inception of the English Premier League in 1992, and why the old descriptions of 'the beautiful game' and 'the people's game' no longer fit." -- soccerlens.com
"Smyth and Turner have done an absolutely excellent job summing up the travails of the modern game in 'Jumpers for goalposts' – there are numerous anecdotes that needed re-telling and the depth of knowledge and research contained in the book is staggering ... Kudos also to Smyth and Turner for finishing off the book with a humdinger of a conclusion. After flagging up all the problems with the game today, they set out to remedy them and come up with some fine suggestions. However unlikely, hopefully some of the game's administrators are reading this tome." -- 101greatgoals.com
"'Jumpers for Goalposts' is a fascinating and funny reflection on why football has changed so much since the inception of the English Premier League in 1992, and why the old descriptions of 'the beautiful game' and 'the people's game' no longer fit." -- soccerlens.com
About the Author
Rob Smyth is an experienced sports journalist who writes for The Guardian, Wisden Cricketer, The Economist and many other newspapers and magazines. His first book, The Spirit of Cricket 9781904027843, was published by E&T in 2010; this is his second. Georgina Turner is an experienced football journalist who writes for Sports Illustrated, The Observer, The Guardian and When Saturday Comes, among others. She teaches media and communication studies and has absolutely no left foot.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
By Sam W
Format:Paperback
The market is saturated with football books, usually of the stocking filler variety - either god-awful laddish affairs, unjustified memoirs or beyond boring pub trivia-type drivel. Bravo for this one, then, which instead provides a very thought provoking and intelligent dissection of the state of modern football. As a fan these days I find myself getting bored reading the media football pages and having read JFG I thank the authors for pointing out why.
Starting with a guilty dream team, JFG quotes Danny Blanchflower, who states that football is not so much about winning but is about glory. And so by attempting to define the soul of football, and what makes it great, the book then sets about illustrating how all this has come undone in recent years, most notably since the inception of the Premier League in 1992.
The reasons themselves are familiar to most football fans: narcissistic players, the winning at all costs mentality, the monopolisation of domestic and European competition by the elite few, the stinking governing bodies, the hypocrisy of fans and the damned media. Where this book differs, and how it ultimately works, is that it is academic in its research, yet the witty journalistic style is very readable, and you don't have to be an "in the know" football nerd to appreciate it. There were plenty of bits that had me nodding in agreement: "where the money is stacked highest an antagonistic sense of entitlement has crystallized and fans strop about like Veruca Salt". Being a fan of the nouveau-riche Leicester City, I can attest to that! A section about fans in the media (commenting on online news stories etc) is also particularly good.
I would recommend buying this book - the fact that it is so contemporary, written in the early part of the 2011/12 season makes it worth doing now but I think the themes will make it relevant for a good many years to come.
Starting with a guilty dream team, JFG quotes Danny Blanchflower, who states that football is not so much about winning but is about glory. And so by attempting to define the soul of football, and what makes it great, the book then sets about illustrating how all this has come undone in recent years, most notably since the inception of the Premier League in 1992.
The reasons themselves are familiar to most football fans: narcissistic players, the winning at all costs mentality, the monopolisation of domestic and European competition by the elite few, the stinking governing bodies, the hypocrisy of fans and the damned media. Where this book differs, and how it ultimately works, is that it is academic in its research, yet the witty journalistic style is very readable, and you don't have to be an "in the know" football nerd to appreciate it. There were plenty of bits that had me nodding in agreement: "where the money is stacked highest an antagonistic sense of entitlement has crystallized and fans strop about like Veruca Salt". Being a fan of the nouveau-riche Leicester City, I can attest to that! A section about fans in the media (commenting on online news stories etc) is also particularly good.
I would recommend buying this book - the fact that it is so contemporary, written in the early part of the 2011/12 season makes it worth doing now but I think the themes will make it relevant for a good many years to come.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By David Mildon
Format:Paperback
The book is well-written and its points are well-supported by statistical analysis. I doubt many fans would have much to disagree with in their conclusions, but it does feel like it's preaching to the converted. I would have liked to have seen more than a dozen pages dedicated to potential improvements the game can make. A good read though.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Flash
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
When I started reading this I thought it might turn out to be a sort of "Grumpy Old Men on Football" style book, reminiscing about how things were better "...when I were a lad...".
I was wrong, not completely, but this is not a Clarkson-esque tirade against modern football. It is a very well thought out and reasoned discussion on how the game has been robbed of that magic that turned us all onto the game in the first place. Also quite clearly stating that this focus on money is not a new thing ! I won't spoil any of the book as I found it very entertaining and don't want to spoil it for anyone else.
The only thing missing was a section at the beginning "Dear FIFA..." and a space at the end where we can add our signatures before sending the book out to Mr Blatter and his colleagues !
I was wrong, not completely, but this is not a Clarkson-esque tirade against modern football. It is a very well thought out and reasoned discussion on how the game has been robbed of that magic that turned us all onto the game in the first place. Also quite clearly stating that this focus on money is not a new thing ! I won't spoil any of the book as I found it very entertaining and don't want to spoil it for anyone else.
The only thing missing was a section at the beginning "Dear FIFA..." and a space at the end where we can add our signatures before sending the book out to Mr Blatter and his colleagues !
Most Recent Customer Reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars
Hypocrisy
Rob Smyth is a Kent Manchester United 'fan' - or should that be 'customer'. How football 'sold its soul' (TM) is down to the ilk of him.
Published 23 days ago by TomF
3.0 out of 5 stars
Partly very enjoyable, partly frustrating
On the one hand, I really enjoyed a lot of this book; the argument that football has sold its soul is persuasive, and the evidence of ticket prices, kit changes, wages, transfer... Read more
Published 29 days ago by M. V. Clarke
2.0 out of 5 stars
This book was a huge disappointment
I was really looking forward to getting this book but it totally failed to live up to its great title and premise. Read more
Published 4 months ago by MicCritic
1.0 out of 5 stars
Moan, moan, moan
Having never written a review before on here I felt compelled to write a review for this book. Unfortunately that is because I don't understand how the other reviews rate this book... Read more
Published 7 months ago by JL88
2.0 out of 5 stars
A dissenting voice!
I'm afraid I don't share the general enthusiasm of other reviews for this book! The basic premise of the book is that football has been spoilt by money and this has led to greed on... Read more
Published 10 months ago by G. Page
5.0 out of 5 stars
I used to support Spurs
This book succinctly shows why I shifted my allegiance from the "mighty" Tottenham Hotspurs (note - it's plural when it's Spurs so why not with the full name? Read more
Published 15 months ago by Big Jim
5.0 out of 5 stars
For when someone says football is a business now...
Yes football is a business now but why has it turned into such a money hungry, morality free, opportunity for product placement? Read more
Published 16 months ago by Peter Gibbins
5.0 out of 5 stars
A lovely book about what's gone wrong with football
This is a lovely book, beautifully written and laced with wit, that describes the excesses and compromises of modern football. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Billy Liddell
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