Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #165862 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

Interesting topic but tends to drag on in places
The likes of Harry Redknapp, Ken Bates, Brian Clough, Peter Reid, George Graham and Terry Venables all suffer at Bower's hands with detailed chapters exposing their willingness to use the cheap foreign players to make themselves a quick buck. In many cases managers are shown to have purchased players on the advice of an agent without any knowledge of the players ability. The chairmen were either too weak to do anything or were in on the deal themselves. Throughout it is the agents such as Dennis Roach and Rune Hauge who contrive to manipulate transfers to provide them with large fees.

One striking theme throughout the book is that it is not the foreign managers such as Wenger or Houllier who are bringing our game into disrepute, but rather the old school of English managers caught up in what is now inherent in the game.

To sum up, a good book however it tends to drag on a bit and get a bit repetitive. For that , I would rather blame the publisher than the author who could have laid out the book better.

confirms what we already suspect?
Non fiction book about the bung culture and corruption in English Football. Now 4 years old but the points raised are probably as valid now as they were then. The author has brought together many articles over the years which together with his own extensive research ensures a very enjoyable read.

He does an absolute number on Terry Venables and Ken Bates as well as numerous agents and the background, history and details of their dealings over the years are eye opening The fact the content was passed by the publishers lawyers and everything verified made me wonder why I had not seen even a small percentage of what he says in the papers at some point. There are a couple of chapters which held little interest namely about the rebuilding of Wembley and the politics involved in the FA and Premier League but nevertheless showed good research and he has obviously got into the inner circle somehow.

Reading this I wanted to become a football agent because the stories offered about agents making millions simply by inserting themselves into deals they have nothing to do with is mind blowing. It beggars belief that the clubs, players, chairman and everyone else involved allow this to happen and it raises the question that it is only allowed to happen because of the back-handers that are implied to follow.

However, other than publicly available information relating to bung takers (ie George Graham) he does not offer up any proof as such although reading between the lines the reader can make their own mind up.

Every now and again, we hear of rumours and see the likes of the recent Panorama programme and I think the vast majority of the population believe that bungs, back-handers and brown envelopes are common in the game today but football itself appears to close ranks when anyone gets too close. Unfortunately, the author appears to have got too close here and the elusive proof was out of his grasp. Still worth a read though because as usual, it is the fan's that suffer and until the football authorities allow outsiders to police the game and transfers are more transparent then the general public will surely continue to believe that the whole set up is corrupt.

Splendid
Bower's detailed and articulate account of how football is governed and who makes the important decisions should frighten football fans everwhere.

For too long football supporters have been treated as stupid and fickle. Obviously adult men and women spending ridiculous amounts of money buying replica kits appears to support the aforementioned notion. However, whenever football fans criticise the behaviour of managers and chairmen they are often met with the cry "well, you don't really know what's going on!"

Thanks to Bower, football supporters have been enlightened. Though many will argue that they knew already what was going on. Throughout the book Bower undertakes a painstaking study of the peculiarities of transfers. There is lots of detail, but those not football minded should stick with it as the reward is worth it. The machinations behind the bid for the 2006 World Cup and the patent refusal of the FA to rein in the Premier League are harrowing accounts.

Most of us knew that football has ignored, and at times encourage corrupt practices. Yet, because of the power of the clubs and players and agents most football journalists have been reluctant to tackle these issues. Bower has tackled them and left the football authorities requiring serious treatment.