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Title |
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Rivals - The Offbeat Guide To The 92 League Clubs |
Author |
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Geoff Harvey & Vanessa Strowger |
Publisher |
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Aesculus Press Ltd |
Year |
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2004 |
ISBN |
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190432813X |
| Rating |
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Introduction :
If you're looking for an authoritative, balanced and definitive directory of British football…you won't find it here!
Rivals: The Offbeat Guide to the 92 League Clubs consists of most of the material that nobody has dared to compile, but the sort of things fans debate endlessly; the dubious chants, the maddest chairman; the most unruly fans; whether a club is a 'sleeping giant' or a dwarf on a life-support machine.
It is the first book to assess the strength of every one of the English League rivalries: a sort of 'who hates who?' of the modern game – not just the well publicised loathing between the likes of Arsenal and Tottenham, but the background to the equally intense derby matches between teams such as Peterborough and Cambridge United, and Wrexham and Chester City.
Based on fans' testimonies, each club's listing is complete with its own unique 'value for money' rating – a reflection of their fans' contentment; a nutter rating – the chance of them causing trouble: their loves, hates, cock-ups and how their team is doing to their historical average.
Guaranteed to cause arguments!
Synopsis :
There are many interesting, often funny, stories behind the web of little publicised, though frequently intense, rivalries between clubs and fans. With extensive quotes and contributions from supporters, this examination of the extraordinary cult of British football derbies examines the inter-town and regional biases, stereotypes and opinions that fans have about their footballing rivals.
Contrasting sharply with common perceptions about local derbies, many have an unexpected basis the fact that many rivalries are between clubs that are not geographically close to each other, or the existence of "one-sided" derby games, where one set of supporters considers the rivalry significant, whereas the opponent's fans don't.
"Rivals" uses both statistics and fans testimony to reveal facts such as Bolton Wanderers being the most loathed club in Britain, or Portsmouth possessing the most vocal fans. The book uncovers the amusing, bizarre, and sometimes alarming portraits of the intensity of fans' feelings; the way in which they perceive other teams, towns and cities, and how they perrsonally relate to the areas where they live and were brought up.
"Rivals" has a clear format pulling together diverse facts, often little known to most fans. Attractively designed with information given under headings allowing the reader to compare various facts on a club-to-club basis, the text can be read from cover to cover or dipped into.
Our verdict :
For those of you who want to learn more about the rivalries between the 92 English league clubs, this is the book to buy.
The book contains two pages about each club. The main texts are a short history of the club and a text about it's rivalries. The text are accompanied by some funny things like the 'Nutter ranking' (how violent are the fans?), a famous chant, the nickname, a chart of the league position since 1960 etc.
It's not a book that you read from the first tot he last page but you'll get it from the shelve when a derby is coming up or when you're planning a trip to England. A real guide it is.
The writers have done a survey among the fans and the results are in this guide. It's nothing official, nothing too serious but for sure you can learn something about the English rivalries.
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