The Beautiful Game?: Searching the Soul of Football
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Review
This is a quite magnificent book- With a splendid eye for important detail and a determination to ask difficult questions, Conn reminds us of what is important- Conn's greatest feat in a book that is well researched and written with searing honesty is to show the game's magnificent resilience', David Wash, The Sunday Times .'For a fascinating insight into the causes, and the creators, of the game's ills this is a superbly told tale', Peter Corrigan, Independent .'An important book', The Times .'A thoroughly researched, well-crafted dissection of the modern game', Independent .'This is a must-read for all who love football', Delia Smith, .'An intelligent and passionate work about the business of football from Highbury to Glossop that is as skilfully written and structured as any thriller; a worthy book without a hint of worthiness about it', When Saturday Comes .'Hard-hitting- but the added value of The Beautiful Game lies rather in the effort to understand what is happening to the minnows, not the sharks. The stories he tells are scandalous, touching, and encouraging, at the same time', The Times
Book Description
A powerful, passionate exploration of a game in turmoil
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I found this book fascinating but mightily depressing at the same time. All the usual issues are covered here -- overblown wages in the premier league, chairmen ripping off their clubs, the FA suits' indifference for the health of the real game, the devotion of the fans in the smaller clubs such as York City, Bury and AFC Wimbledon, the atrocities that were Valley Parade and Hillsborough and the incompetence of many of those (in)directly responsible. If you love football you simply have to read this.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Conn's account of modern day football, and the sinister forces controlling the game, makes for a wonderful read.
Too often books on football ignore the trials and tribulations of lower league clubs. That is not a charge that can be levelled at Conn. His chapters on Wimbledon, York, Crewe, Bury, Notts County and others are magnificent accounts of the enthusiasm, passion and fervour of football supporters. In the same chapters there are often desperate tales of the greed of chairmen and directors of these same clubs.
Conn reminds the reader how fans are told that football is now a business, and as a result, has to be viewed in different terms from the game that many supporters grew to love. However, Conn responds with the argument that if football is now a business, then why are people who have continually run their business into the ground been rewarded with well paid jobs.
As a Liverpool supporter I recoommend the book. It's especially recommended to those supporters who perhaps are unsympathetic to the demands of the Hillsborough families. If you're in any way unsure about what happened on April 15th 1989, please read the book. Conn is not a Liverpool supporter. He's not a spokesperson for Liverpool or the bereaved families - he's just a journalist who has restored this reviewer's faith in football writers - and quite possibly football in general.
Too often books on football ignore the trials and tribulations of lower league clubs. That is not a charge that can be levelled at Conn. His chapters on Wimbledon, York, Crewe, Bury, Notts County and others are magnificent accounts of the enthusiasm, passion and fervour of football supporters. In the same chapters there are often desperate tales of the greed of chairmen and directors of these same clubs.
Conn reminds the reader how fans are told that football is now a business, and as a result, has to be viewed in different terms from the game that many supporters grew to love. However, Conn responds with the argument that if football is now a business, then why are people who have continually run their business into the ground been rewarded with well paid jobs.
As a Liverpool supporter I recoommend the book. It's especially recommended to those supporters who perhaps are unsympathetic to the demands of the Hillsborough families. If you're in any way unsure about what happened on April 15th 1989, please read the book. Conn is not a Liverpool supporter. He's not a spokesperson for Liverpool or the bereaved families - he's just a journalist who has restored this reviewer's faith in football writers - and quite possibly football in general.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Brilliant, emotional exposure of how football has evolved, been destroyed and the impact this has on the lives of the millions who play and love it from the boardrooms of Highbury to the wastelands of Salfords parks. Not only does it give a huge amount of insight into football and its mismanagement but gives a ray of hope in both the authors words and the sheer bloodymindedness of supporters. Clearly the author loves and understands the game far better than those who have mismanaged it from the top. Amazing book, should be the Blueprint for football and read by all who have any interest in the game
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Paradise Lost
The fact that David Conn's book, even in its revised edition, is some five years old now, doesn't make his assessment of modern football out of date so much as it does ever more... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Mr. 880
Disappointing
After reading all the rave reviews about this book ('A brilliant book', a quite 'magnificent book'), and being a frustrated and disillusioned Arsenal and England fan, I just HAD to... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Gordon Charles Ros
Glad someone has said it at last!
A sad but brilliantly researched and written book. I couldn't agree more with its sentiments. The author's skill is reporting what he shrewdly observes but, in the main, leaving... Read more
Published on 3 Dec 2008 by Paul Kirkwood
Practically perfect
This is, in my opinion, the best book ever written about English football. Conn explores everything, from the politics behind the formation of the premiership, to the chronic... Read more
Published on 11 May 2007 by MSIII
Outstanding
Read this book and it will change the way you think about football forever. Go with confidence, it's an outstanding piece of writing.
Published on 13 Nov 2006 by C. Byron
Essential reading for all genuine football fans
If you are genuinely interested in football and only have time to read one book then this is the one. Read more
Published on 16 Mar 2006 by D avid C
there's more to football than the premiership
this is an amazing book. i am a follower of all the football league and the premiership, and reading this book made me feel proud to follow the lower leagues. Read more
Published on 20 Oct 2005
brilliant!!
What an amazing book, cant rate it highly enough. Tells the story of how the game has changed for since skys billions were supposed to reinvent the game, but instead of filtering... Read more
Published on 18 Oct 2005 by "the_gusman"
The truth about football
This book is simply amazing. All true football fans must read this and they will understand why so many of our professional football clubs are in financial trouble. Read more
Published on 19 Aug 2005 by B C Kershaw
Listmania!
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