The Football Grounds of Britain (Hardcover)

Since the disaster of Hillsborough, and the resulting Lord Justice Taylor report, many football grounds have gone under a fundamental redesign, with some being demolished altogether and their club's relocating to new premises.

I first bought this book ten years ago. When I recently bought the latest version, I was astonished to find how football grounds have changed over the last decade. I'm a regular visitor to these wonderful places, but even though I noticed the changes going on around me, it wasn't until I read this book that I realised the tremendous upheaval and fundamental change that has happened.

A history of football grounds in general is followed by an in depth description and history of the homes of every current Premier, First, Second and Third Division clubs in England, Wales and Scotland, except those recently promoted from the Nationwide Conference and the Highland League. In depth analyses is accompanied by some marvellous photographs of the old and new, with the authors personal comments on the past, the present and the future of the homes of each individual club.

For every football fan who has had that fantastic feeling of anticipation as he or she first catches sight of the floodlight pylons, this book is an absolute must. It brings home the fact that we had to have so many disasters before action was taken to reduce the risk of it happening again.

The book devotes a chapter to each club, describing its current stadium and also its past. Inglis has produced an important work of history that also takes the architecture seriously. But it's not dry. He captures the distinct tradition and style of each club, whether it be the heroic battlers who kept Charlton Athletic going and saw their return to the Valley or the aristocrats at Ibrox Park and Goodison. Inglis' personality comes through strongly and many of the photo's are outstanding.

The first edition was published in 1983 and broadly coincided with the the start of the widespead upgrading that followed decades of inactivity during which grounds had become out of date, scruffy, in most cases uncomfortable, and sometimes treacherously unsafe.

Inglis is now a member of, or consults to, various organisations responsible for the country's football and its stadiums. My suspicion is that he has been instrumental in shaping these changes rather than simply passively documenting them. If so he deserves the thanks of all football fans and a knighthood.

I have minor complaints, particularly with the third edition published in 1996 which bears all the hallmarks of having been put together hurriedly. At the time the book went to print clubs were announcing relocations and upgrades on virtually a daily basis. It must have been hard to find a proper point to cut off and publish.

Anyway, suffice it to say the book is littered with spelling errors and unnecessary hyphens; the Eurostar that passes Stamford Bridge is sleek not sleak p125 and the Rovers from Ewood Park are Blackburn, not Black-burn, p79.

Inglis has a thing about floodlights; each to his own, they don't do much for me. For future editions, I'd be delighted if he devoted more attention to pitch dimensions; the size and shape of a the ground influences the atmosphere and style of play. In my view the Highbury pitch,for example, is too cramped. Also I think he should deal with the new issue of the towering stands that reduce the sunlight on the pitch. The contrast between the sunlit and shadowed areas can upset players, spectators and tv viewers during a game. Also the lack of sunlight can damage the pitch, witness the problems experienced at the 'theatre of dreams' where United are on about their seventh pitch in the past two years. (This is from memory and could be wrong, it's hard to check the facts from Indonesia.)

Derek Clark (who hails from nearby Selhurst Park)

The only real problem is that the book is quickly out of date. The Taylor report and subsequent development work means although many new developments are included many more clubs have developed or moved grounds since publication.