Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #71285 in Books
• Published on: 2000-03-23
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 383 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
From the English businessmen who founded the club, through Cruyff, Maradona, Lineker, Venables, Robson and Ronaldo, FC Barcelona, European football giant and quintessential embodiment of Catalonian pride, has been built on the efforts of foreign mercenaries.

In interview and analysis, Jimmy Burns uses the experiences of these outsiders as his own passport to the heart of the Camp Nou, returning with a hugely enjoyable history of the team and it's fanatically nationalistic support.

Unique among the world's biggest clubs, Barcelona has stayed true to its origins as a quasi-democratic institution. It is effectively a private members club, made up of the 120,000 supporters whose subscriptions bankroll the team, but a sense of ownership extends across Catalonia itself.

At the heart of the book is the struggle for this unique identity to survive the commercial colonisation of the sport.

Burns is a sensitive and intelligent interpreter of what is becoming, for better and worse, a forgotten language of regional tribalism in football. It may not be many years before his study of this enigmatic club is regarded as a definitive memorial to the last great love affair of what was once a people's passion. --Alex Hankin

Daily Telegraph
'Excellent...A densely detailed account of the history of FC BArcelona...Coincides with Barcelona's 100th anniversary but it is not in the least pious.'

Manchester United
'Well-written, the book details the level of passion of a club that refuses to tarnish its shirt with a sponser and still belongs to its members.'

Customer Reviews

A Homage to Poor Prose
I was expecting to read a book which was comparable to David Winner's excellent study of Dutch football, Brilliant Orange.
Instead of taking the opportunity to analyse the relationship between football and society in Catalonia, Burns resorts to anecdotes and over-long interviews.
A huge disapointment

Stylised froth
If you like your books written in the format of Sunday magazine supplements, all stylised froth...then this is the book for you. I pesonally found this style irritating and did no service to the subject matter. A disappointment. The author should just tell the story.

makes you cry...
Football Club Barcelona is much more than just a soccer club. It is the personal identity of the Catalan people, their pride and glory. The book by Jimmy Burns is a guide throught the history of Barca and shows why and how a small club has become one of the most popular clubs in Europe and not only, but what is more important, the author tries to analyze what it is for the Catalan people. The beautiful language and style will leave nobody untouched. Whether you are a football fan or not, this book will make you cry and laugh.