Product Description

Why is it that Everton are known as the Toffees ? And why are Peterborough referred to as Posh ? These, and many other fascinating and sometimes obscure football facts, are to be found in this delightful new book which looks behind the scenes to find out the history of the most famous football clubs in Britain today, and find the derivation of their idiosyncratic nicknames. Some clubs have perfectly straightforward ancestry and obvious nicknames, but there are plenty that have very complex histories, and names that seem unfathomable. This book provides all the answers and is packed with detail, stories, fact and fiction, plus plenty of interesting illustrations to bring the story of our football clubs to life. Essential reading for serious historians of our national game, it is also a brilliant treasure trove of information for all lovers of football, past and present. Bound to attract much attention in the year of Euro 2008, this new title will appeal to anyone with an interest in the history of football and football clubs in particular.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #108182 in Books
• Published on: 2008-05-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

Customer Reviews

This one doesn't make the substitute's bench.
There are dozens of football books delving into the history of most of the 134 individual clubs that make up the divisions of the professional game in England and Scotland, and a fair few covering non-league clubs. Michael Heatley has come up with a decent idea to incorporate a short history alongside an explanation as to how a team came to its 'identity' through colours and club badges. Sponsorship, club mascots, club associations and traditions, successful amalgamations or otherwise, and lost league teams are all included. It's just unfortunate that the idea hasn't been expanded enough.

Those 134 teams all have a short 'founded' section but why has the author decided to use just 14 English teams in a four page chapter devoted to how teams came by their badges? Where are the rest, one or two aside why no photos of these badges, and why aren't any Scottish sides included in the chapter on club colours? Don't be fooled by the 'Nicknames' part of the title, either. Again this is a mere four pages in length with some clubs being given a mention in passing, others being conspicuous by their absence. We're told the Scottish team Queen's Park are known as The Spiders, leaving the reader anticipating an answer to his silent question. A reply is not forthcoming.

The section on clubs who once graced the football leagues in both England and Scotland excludes Walsall Town Swifts and Wimbledon. Yes, I know they morphed into other clubs but so did Ardwick, Meadowbank Thistle, Newton Heath, Small Heath and Burslem Port Vale, and they're included, so why not those first two?

The whole thing could easily have been expanded if the final 50 pages had been used constructively. 25% of this book is wasted by listing the Champions of the four English and four Scottish Divisions (in their various incarnations) as well as winners and runners up of the FA Cup and League Cup, and its Scottish counterparts, with more pages devoted to each clubs' major domestic honours. Heatley lists the Texaco Cup, Anglo Scottish Cup and the (current) Johnstone's Paint Trophy and it's various predecessors, as 'major' honours but a few pages previously, suggests they are 'minor' competitions. Also included are the winners of the three European trophies. Why?

Sticking out like a sore thumb is mention of Derry City, a team in Northern Ireland that play in the FAI National League. Why mention a team from the island of Ireland in a book supposedly about English and Scottish teams? It's because of the anomaly of playing in the league of another country, in which case, the clubs from Liechtenstein that play in Switzerland should surely be given a nod also.

Yes, the idea is a decent one but there are too many omissions and too many superfluous inclusions.

For the anoraks
This brilliant little book about British football covers alot of ground, it gives you a short history of most senior clubs as well as chapters on defunct clubs, mergers, failed mergers and derbies. This book is chalk full of facts and will impress most football fans.