50 People Who Fouled Up Football (ePub)

Despite its immense wealth, and the high public profile it enjoys, English football is not a land of milk and honey. The national side has won the World Cup only once when England staged the tournament in 1966 and the woeful performances in recent years would suggest that Sir Alf Ramsey's success will retain its unique status.

Fifty People Who Fouled Up Football casts a sceptical eye on the game in this country. It looks at the game as it really is, through the gaze of an outsider, who grew up loving the game but who has been turned off by the excesses of players, managers, broadcasters and fans, and increasingly by the rich men who own and run the clubs.

The big bang came in 1992, when the Premier League went its own merry way, aided by the millions that Sky television found to ease the passage. Now the game is richer, and can attract the world's leading stars, but it is poorer in spirit. The old football community means little to these Masters of the Universe. The old links between club and community have been ruined, and many players live in a different world, where they feel free to behave as they like.

The book names the guilty, who include those on the fringes of the game as well as the ones at the heart of it. Indignant in the right sense, it is a lament for a spoilt game, and a world that has vanished.

The 50 People are:

Alan Green; Alan Hansen; Alan Hardaker -- FA administrator; Alan Sugar; Alf Ramsey; Ashley Cole;.Bill Shankley; Bob Shennan; Charles Hughes;Cristiano Ronaldo; David Baddiel; David and Victoria Beckham; Denis Wise; Derek Hatton; Don Revie; Garry Cook; George Best; George Graham; Golden Generation; Gordon Taylor; Graham Poll; Graham Taylor;; Harold Thompson; Hooligans; Hunter Davies; Ian Wright; Joey Barton; John Hall/Freddie Shepherd; Jonathan Barnett & Mel Stein; Jose Mourinho; Ken Bates; Lord Kinnaird; Nick Love; Paul Gascoigne ; Paul Ince; Peter Kenyon; Peter Ridsdale; Peter Swales; Piers Morgan; Pini Zahavi; Richard Keys; Richard Scudamore; Robinho; Roman Abramovich; Sam Allardyce; Sepp Blatter; Steve McLaren; Terry Venables;Tony Banks.