Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #57314 in Books
• Published on: 2009-10-20
• Binding: Paperback
• 176 pages

Customer Reviews

A gripping account of a controversial human tragedy
I am not a Liverpool FC supporter, but make no mistake, this book is not just for the club's fans. You don't even have to follow football as the writer makes this a personal, human story more than anything. However, he skillfully manages to avoid unnecessary indulgence - a crime for any such personal account - and you can immediately start to relate to his story. Most of us, even if we haven't been to a football match, will have experienced the trials of escorting drunken friends from A to B, or a dip in personal standards to get us through an extended absence from sanitation. Not many of us would be able to recount it in such an amusing way. This, at times, comedic build up to the match provides an innocent (well almost), fitting balance to a story that ends in a tragic loss of life. The match itself soon becomes irrelevant, but it also becomes clear that in this period of football at least, it was often just an added bonus to a trip away with your mates in the first place. The account does not shy away from blame but rather seeks proportion through facts in what would inevitably become a media and public outcry.

A compelling account of a terrible event
I found this a really compelling read, and having started it one evening after work, simply had to finish it that night. The author tells it as it is, from his own experiences of that trip, and he writes well, with honesty and insight. The first half of the book is a witty description of a lads footballing trip abroad - that really evokes football culture of the early 80s well - while the second half describes the author's perspective on events as they unfolded, plus some persuasive arguments about how the tragedy could have been avoided. I'd strongly recommend this book for readers who want to know more about what really happened at Heysel as well as for people interested in football culture of that time, which seems so different to today.

Every football fan should read this...
Having read the notes on the back cover, I was expecting some funny bits and some serious bits, which I got; but I wasn't expecting to be moved by it, and when he describes the bleak walk from the stadium to the station, after the match, I found myself genuinely caught up in it all, and quite affected by it. I think Chris Rowland makes his point in a very balanced way; whilst not absolving the few Liverpool fans of some blame, he leaves the reader in no doubt what really happened.
This is an important book and deserves a wide audience. He's a natural writer with an eye for the humorous but the ability to make a serious point, and if he were called Nick Hornby it would be flying off the shelves. Would make a good one-off TV programme.