Product Description

'Tom Bower is a brave man - he could not have stayed in business as an investigative biographer but for his command of detail and commitment to the truth' Spectator From the author of devastating exposes of Mohamed Fayed, Richard Branson and, most recently, Geoffrey Robinson, this is a superbly incisive account of how self-interested individuals, adopting questionable and predatory business methods, are exploiting the sport of football to earn billions of pounds and huge glory. Focusing on key figures including Terry Venables, Ken Bates, David Dein, Harry Redknapp and other famous agents, chairmen and managers, Bower exposes the money, the politics, and the vicious battles behind the beautiful game. For the first time a non-sports writer reveals the vanity and greed which endanger the national sport.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #100130 in Books
• Published on: 2003-02-17
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 342 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
TV has transformed football beyond all recognition but, according to investigative biographer and historian Tom Bower, where there's brass there's muck. Broken Dreams is Bower's controversial account of how some of the sport's most high-profile managers and chairmen have been getting their snouts in the trough at the expense of their clubs and the game.

Focussing on the likes of Terry Venables, Brian Clough, Ken Bates and Harry Redknapp--and a huge cast of FA officials, club bigwigs and super-agents--Bower draws together threads from existing sources, with newly acquired information from over 200 interviews, weaving a compelling tale of vanity, greed and corruption at the heart of the football establishment.

Bower argues that the increasingly uneven struggle between the regulatory body, the FA, and the bullies of the gold-rush frontier, the Premier League chairmen, is at the heart of football's problem--the failure of the former to respond to the mounting evidence of dodgy dealing and corruption, and the ruthless efficiency with which the latter have exercised their financial clout. The result is a free rein for the murkier ambitions of some of the most publicly respected individuals in the game today.

It's hard to believe that the general thrust of Bower's account will come as a shock to anyone who's followed the sport over the last 20 years--though if nothing else he completely destroys the shrewd wheeler-dealer image of former West Ham boss Redknapp. What Bower brilliantly succeeds in doing is applying a forensic rigour to the task of sifting the facts from a mound of rumour and conjecture, and doing so fearlessly. --Alex Hankin

The Times
'A devastating book, an indictment of football that all fans should read and understand'

Daily Telegraph
'An astonishing job of investigation . . . At times he even seems to know what goes on in people's bank accounts'

Customer Reviews

Football in the dock
Tom Bower has exposed what goes on behind the scenes in the less salubrious areas of football, greed, corruption, toothless football authorities and the pressing need for firm Government intervention are tackled by the author. As a fan of the great game, the issues that Bower has raised are of great concern and need addressing.

Banned directors in other arenas or former criminals are capable to, if not own a football club are able to play a part in a club's administration. The chapter on Terry Venables reign at Spurs is an illuminating read of a period most Spurs fans would see as one of their worst periods in recent history. That the abrupt and direct Alan Sugar comes out well in the chapters is apparent largely due to his frustration at Venables "wheeler dealing". A real eye-opener, particularly the brown envelopes behind the scenes of the Teddy Sherringham transfer from Nottingham Forest.

Likewise, the chapter on Ken Bates, chairman, owner, tyrant of Chelsea football club is also revealing. Bower writes about Bates spotty track record as a businessman. Few would be aware of Bates West Indian business almost leading to local insurrection or his relationship with less than savoury business associates.

The battle of egos of Premiership League executives is amazing, you get the impression some of them would mug their grannies to earn a few pennies more. The same executives not only negotiate mega TV deals, transfers via less than trustworthy agents but also rip off fans through high priced match tickets and merchandising. Rather than work for the benefit of the game, the self-interest of fighting their corner - for the benefit of their club - is well illustrated by Bower. What of the fans?

The football Task force led by David Mellor, was led up a series of blind alleys and football as an industry was left almost intact, with minor reforms promised. That the game has escaped reform as a major business, employer and entertainment industry in the UK defies belief, though with the political infighting within Government circles didn't help towards the tough action required.

With the collapse of ITV Digital last year, a great number of Nationwide football clubs have had to face the financial consequences. Ipswich, Leicester, Derby, Watford, York, Barnsley have either gone into or have been on the brink of Administration. Whilst ITV Digital was the cause of most of the problems, some were self-induced; it would be heartbreaking for fans that have helped to save their beloved club to find out that others have "profited" from their activities.

If the football authorities do not ban, bar or adequately punish those who take bungs, falsify accounts or sell the ground from clubs against FA rules, then the Government should act. Voluntary regulation didn't work in the City and now the FSA a much more powerful body acts on behalf of the Government to regulate the key players in the market. Football, needs a similarly powerful regulator, in particular to look after the interests of fans.

Lets hope that there is some action by football authorities, government and most importantly the fans to make sure that our game is clean of the charlatans that threaten to destroy the great game.

Whilst the book is written in the form of an investigative best seller, rather than an academic tome, the author has done football a huge favour. Bower quotes some (not all) of his sources, as a mild criticism without linked footnotes it is difficult to track whom said what, which detracts from reading the book, hence the award of 4 stars.

insightful
Like other readers I applaud as groundbreaking this book. As a lifetime season ticket holder at one of our country's smaller clubs I know my club has never had the money to indulge the whims described by Mr Bower but as a football fan I knew it was happening if not why. Now I do. Money, money and money. That is all these people know. Mr Bower declaims it need not be so. I wonder. As a football fan I deplore such greed but as a human being I know greed is omniscient. Can anything be done? Mr Bower profers possible solutions with the aid of his colleague Davd Mellor and some have validity. He is right to urge caution and to say it will be a long haul. If anyone doubts we should care this book puts them right.

hard hitting
This is a hard hitting look at the world of football. Mr Bower does not pull any punches. He takes your breath away with his description of how much money people make. Managers and agent make many thousands of euros (Mr Bower is obviously a Europhil!) from transfers. Mr Bower makes no bones about liking the game per se and confesses he has never kicked a ball in anger himself and prefers gentler pursiits such as golf. I don't think you need to be a football nut to expose the sport. It probably helps if you are like Bower and don't even like the game. I do not agree with his conclusion though that even he could manage a club. Come off it, I say. It's not only about taking bungs! As for his suggestion that the game could be cleaned up if all transfers were administered by a government agency, I don't agree.. And in his ideas for improving the game as a spectacle I dispute that enlarging the goals is the way forward.