Product Description

A light-hearted collection of reminiscences of teenage Subbuteo fandom - from some of Britain best-know football professionals, pundits, enthusiasts, comics and gossips - interleaved with beautifully shot scenes from the sub-beautiful game itself. The range of extras that were available to the Subbuteo collector is phenomenal (grandstands, TV cameras, ice cream vans, even streakers - true to 1970s life), and these make for spectacular images.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #31151 in Books
• Published on: 2008-11-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 192 pages

Customer Reviews

SUB-BEAUTIFUL
This book is a great little stocking stuffer for any father, brother, or friend who loves football. The reminisces of the writers are quite funny, but the best part of the book is the photography. The pictures make it look as though the little plastic subbuteo players are going to jump right into action, staged for some of the most memorable plays in football history. They really come to life right on the page!

A wonderful Christmas gift for an avid Subutteo/football fan
This would make an ideal christmas present for a fan of football or subutteo. Anyone who can remember the small plastic characters and played it as a child can appreciate this wonderful collection of memories. Interviews include, David Baddiel, Will Self, Darren Eadie(Ex-Norwich City Player) Alan Mullery, John Inverdale, Des Lynham..the list goes on! I highly recommend this book, and for less than a £10 a great stocking filler!

Too late, too late
Have you ever had a great idea and then been gazumped when somebody beats you to it. My latest (greatest?) piece of invention was to write a book on Subbuteo. However whilst reading this month's World Soccer magazine in it's review of football books there's one about the miniature game called Teenage Flicks: Memories of the sub-beautiful game by Paul Willets. Contributors to this tome include Des Lynam and Stan Bowles amongst others. No doubt if my copy were presented to publishers at the same time they would select the other book because it has celebrity (albeit d-list ones) anecdotes.
This misses the point completely.
Subbuteo was for the common man. It didn't matter how many keepie-uppies you could do, whether you could perfect the Cruyff turn or pass a ball on a sixpence! (I could never understand that one). The experience of playing on different carpets against different players is totally unique and being in the professional game doesn't make their stories superior.
I believe my book would be better.
One of the replica teams I owned was Haiti. After some wear and tear one of the player's weights in his base came loose and he made a noise every time he kicked the ball. I called him "Macaraca". Maybe in a few years time my masterpiece can be resurrected when the dust has settled and this inferior volume is in the bargain bucket where it belongs. I will leave you with a snippet from the definitive authority about the game of little men.

"Scotty was a dragger. We hated draggers. His was an unusual dragging technique. He began to drag with his pointer scraping along the cloth and gradually more fingers got involved building to a crescendo which ended with a thunderbolt strike from an obscure angle. The tell-tale trench marks were left on the surface.
The pitch resembled a battlefield every time a dragger was playing.
It somehow made no difference the angle the ball was situated Scotty the dragger always got a shot on goal. You had to have your keeper on red alert at all times when Scotty was in possession. Unlike other draggers we couldn't complain about Scotty's unsportsmanlike behaviour. Scotty was a great fighter."