Product Description

First published in 2004, "Over Land and Sea" is Mark Worrall's wickedly entertaining chronicle of Chelsea's dramatic attempt to win the European Champions League during what turned out to be the most tumultuous season in the club's history. Having qualified for the competition following a famous end of season victory over Liverpool, the Blues charismatic manager Claudio Ranieri, short on cash and resigned to losing his star player, Gianfranco Zola, looked like having little chance of success.Enter Roman Abramovich. The billionaire Russian oligarch purchased the club and financed a spending spree unprecedented in the annals of the game. "Over Land and Sea" overlays the team's fortunes with the transient adventures of Blues fanatic Marco and his Chelsea Gate 17 cohorts as they carouse their way around the bars, fleshpots and football grounds of Europe.'Glorious unpredictability,' that's what the Gate 17 boys called it. 'Pure Chels,' you never knew what was going to happen next. Whatever it was, Marco, Young Dave, Ugly John, Ossie, Baby Gap Brian and the rest of the Gate 17 crew had no intention of missing any of it...they'd even planned a spiritual pilgrimage to Sardinia to watch their hero Zola playing for his hometown club Cagliari.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #39023 in Books
• Published on: 2007-11-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 246 pages

Review
"10 out of 10 ... a must read book for every Chelsea supporter"Number one Blues fanzine cfcuk"Men Behaving Badly meets Match of the Day ... Brilliant!"Best selling Chelsea author Martin King"I couldn't put Over Land and Sea down ... a thoroughly enjoyable read"Chelsea goal-scoring legend Kerry Dixon

Customer Reviews

'Glorious Unpredictability' on the road with the boys in blue
I have read Over Land and Sea twice over and it remains as engagingly funny now as it did when I first cherry-picked my way through its chapters and familiarised myself with Marco, Ugly John, Ossie, Young Dave, the endearing Baby Gap Brian and the rest of the Gate 17 boys who followed Chelsea FC across Europe during the course of Roman Abramovich's first season as the clubs owner. First time author Mark Worrall describes with an admirable degree of literary flair the places, faces and action, transporting the reader on a wave of enthusiasm as he explains the entertaining theory of what he calls 'glorious unpredictability'. I'm sure in time I'll read this book again and I'm looking forward to more of the same in the not too distant future. I cannot recommend Over Land and Sea highly enough.

BRILLIANT ! at last a true blue account from a real Chelsea fan
I only have time to read a couple of books a year. I kept seeing people reading this book when I travelled with Chelsea in Europe last season and promised myself that I'd get a copy and give it a go myself. I'm glad I did, this is with out doubt the finest piece of prose written about watching the Blues ever written. Mark Worrall's writing is honest and fluid, he has the knack of being able to bring people and places alive and best of all it's blisteringly funny. Well done. I look forward to the next installment

it's like this and that's the way it is
In a sea awash with tales of 'top boys', 'firms' and 'bovver', Over Land and Sea bobs around cheerily, confidently swimming against the tide, surfing the wave of optimism that the Chelsea fans ride which is so engagingly and endearingly written about by the author Mark Worrall. As a football neutral in search of the truth about following the worlds most popular game I found it in this book which was admittedly recommended to me by a Blues fanatic ... which is why I'd recommend it to you. I sincerely hope Mr Worrall has some more lead in his pencil and scribbles another fans eye view of the world very soon indeed