A half decent football book

Well I haven't done an official 'review' in a while. Mostly because this book isn't really a book per se (it's just shaped like one!), and I ended up reading it over or in between three other books. How did I come to finding and picking this one? I was oh so close to grabbing Futbol, the history of brazilian football and was really trying to get Verona, but I had just finished reading the Miracle of Castel Di Sangro so I wasn't into another "season with" book. So in one hand was Futbol ready to be bought but then I saw it ... I knew that copy treatment. When Saturday Comes. I'm not from England, nor have I actually ever read a copy of it, but I've read a few things from their contributors, enough to know that this was definitely a book I had to pick up and would enjoy reading. There is a quick chain of events that made me know this was the book to buy.

Really all you need to know is this:
Nick Hornby - My Favorite Year - When Saturday Comes

I don't need to explain Nick Hornby (I hope!!) but years back I was going through some bookstore shelf and saw his name. I thought he had written the book, but it turned out it was only one chapter. I read it and didn't think too much of it, but decided to pick it up again a year ago. MAN. First off that book was written by contributors to WSC, who pretty much started as a reaction to the way football was being portrayed and written about during the late 80s. My Favorite Year is a collection of it's writers ... um, well, favourite year of their club. I'll let you read the review because I can't summarize it again.

So the book in question, or review, or blog, WSC: The Half Decent Football Book is pretty much an encyclopedia of everything football in the UK. Players, Teams, Events, Stadiums, Uniforms etc ... you name it, it's probably in there. The good news is that it's not like the football version of Encyclopedia Britannica - it is an A to Z, but each entry is more anecdotal rather than simply factual. It has also proven to be a very useful resource tool!

FOR EXAMPLE - Canadian International Richard Hastings has just switched to Hamilton Academical. DID YOU KNOW, They were formed in 1874 by the rector and pupils of the local school? They were the first Scottish club to recruit players from Eastern Europe (3 poles!).


Football made quite a stir just over a week ago in the West Ham v Millwall match. How long has that rivalry lasted?

In 1906 The East Ham Echo report describes a game in which 'all attempts at football were ignored', climaxing in West Ham's Jarvis smashing the head of Millwall's Deans against a metal advertising board, seriously injuring his opponent, for which he received only a caution.

Aaaaaand I can now return you to my bookshelf until the next time I need gain a bit of knowledge or steal an anecdote. So as I had mentioned above, I clearly wasn't able to get through this all in one go, but have gone back to it several times since finishing it. If you are into football in the UK and the history of clubs/players/events this is a pretty solid resource to have to refer back to whenever you need to.