Customer Reviews

Football Nation: Sixty Years of the Beautiful Game

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This is a truly superb football book, brilliant reading - entertaining and educational too. It is hard to understand why this book has not found its way onto the various lists of best sports/football books of the past 12 months.
John Williams is a football academic who definitely knows his onions, and who writes in an engaging, thoroughly absorbing style. And he has produced an absolute gem for anyone interested in football, before it became a plaything of the rich and the even richer.
The concept of the book is a series of essays, or short true stories, covering the period leading up to the era of the modern game. It covers a range of subjects, including the story of Derek Dooley's enforced early retirement and the explosion of interest in football after WWII. As a result, it is the kind of book which you can both dip in and out of, to your hearts content, or read from cover to cover.
Thoroughly, thoroughly recommended.

A masterpeice, thoroughly absorbing from beginning to end. The book concentrates on 'real' football tales rather than rehashing tired old stories of ther game's glamour clubs. Even when tackling well known events (Munich and Hillsborough), the authors find a new perspective. If you love football, you'll love this book.

What a wonderful book from the twin authorship of Andrew Ward and John Williams celebration 60 years of our beautiful game. A delight in every chapter to be found. I originally bought in hardback, and was delighted to add it to my Kindle. Highly recommended read.

This book covers the development of football in England (and Wales, but not really Scotland) from 1945 to around 2005. In doing this it steers a different path from most books, which would cover just those clubs that dominated and assume that this would be enough. "Football Nation" moves instead around the peripheries of the games, essentially looking at what fans of non-Premier League clubs would call "real football" or "proper football". It's refreshingly free from name-dropping and manages to convey the hugely difficult journey that football in this country has taken with flair and style. Difficult issues, like hooliganism, the various tragedies (Burnden Park, Hillsborough, Bradford) and racism are examined critically and it is also a wealth of information about other topics, such as the development of the football pools.

It is NOT a book about changing tactics, it is NOT a book about great players, it is NOT a book about "characters". It is a book about the relationship that people in England have with football, and why that is.

And it is truly excellent.

This is a beautifully written book with chapters that delight and haunt in turns. It is a simple read and not one of the stories disappoints. You are left with a lasting impression of how far football has come and how far down it has fallen.

This is a very informative book which is easy to read. Even if you don't like football. A good read.