Product Description

In eight years English football has been transformed. In 1989 clubs were banned from Europe and the Hillsborough disaster exposed football's crumbling grounds. Today football is cleaned up and is also big business. Since the Taylor report forced English clubs to spend #600 million rebuilding their grounds, and since Sky and the BBC put #1 billion into the game, serious businessmen have arrived in football, and have mostly been welcomed because of the money they were "investing" into the "long-term health of the game". This book examines the transformation and asks is it still a game or a business?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #121389 in Books
• Published on: 1998-09-24
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 308 pages

Customer Reviews

Very informative and eye opening
A very good book, written in a very accessible style. The case studies which the book begins with, looking at how individual clubs have change over the past century are very interesting, especially if you happen to be a fan of one of the clubs in question. However the best part of the book is surely the chapter on Hillsborough, which will shock and sicken even the most hardened football fan. This book is a real eye opener which will make you fear for the future of the game, especially at the grass roots. Sometimes a little too emotional and therefore not as objective, but this merely adds to the feeling that the game has changed for the worse over the last 10-15 years. If you don't know what the inside of a football ground looks like, and enjoy watching all your games interactively on Sky, whilst wearing your replica shirt and chugging on a few Carlings, you may disagree with the sentiments behind this book, but if you have a real interest in football at all levels I highly recommend it.

Unfair game since the '90's ?
A real eyeopener into the world of football beyond 22 men on a grass pitch.

The book looks at the aspects of the game which have caused it to go into serious decline ... largely to the ignorance of football fans throughout Britain.

It begins with case studies into various clubs and the takeovers and/or stock market flotations. The turning of football clubs " ... into money making machines".

Read these case studies to discover how various club chairmen have made fortunes from the game far beyond the wildest dreams of most 'punters'.

Read about how the lowet level grass roots of the game is dying due to the greed and politics of those at the top.

Read how a century old institution - the FA - turned on its own beliefs and morals to help the big guns breakaway and form what we know now as the Premiership.

Read how the big clubs took advantage of the Taylor Report to line their own pockets.

Read an account of the Hillsborough disaster and the everlasting effect it has had on the families of the victims and also the extent to which it (along with the Tayor report) essentially changed the face of football.

Even the most hardened football fan will surely feel anger when reading the Hillsborough chapter.

If you havent considered before how finances in football really operate and the true extent to exactly how the 'rich get richer and the poor get poorer' then you must read this book!

As an Accountancy student, i read this book as a basis for a dissertation i was writing based on football finances and it was extremley helpful. It literally changed my outlook on the world of football.

The beautiful game ..... i always thought so ... i dont now!

Excellent - enlightening!
David Conn has written a book that should be a must for all who are interested in football. He clearly yearns for the days where football was run for the benefit of football rather than for the PLC, and the case he states is pursuasive to say the least. Depending on your political pursuasion some readers may feel uncomfortable with his full attack on the evils of market forces, but his case is really based on the fact that football should be something which should be available for all. Regardless of how it may appear, this book is not anti-Premier League, anti-FA or anti-anything - it is in my view a well-written, well-researched and impressive appeal for us all to protect the game we love. Please read it (and no - I am not related to the author)!