Book Review: Paradise Road
PARADISE Road by Stephen O'Donnell portrays how football has greatly changed over the years, just as life has for Kevin McGarry - the likeable character the book follows - as he prepares to up stakes to Prague. The book goes into depth with the themes of bigotry and sectarianism – still an issue in both Scottish football and society today as it was in the mid 90’s – and covers well how many people still feel about the issue even nowadays; How the bigotry needs to be tackled.
The book gives off an impression of similarities of how life could be for the average Celtic fan now and then in a positive manner, such as how the money-making business of football began to come into play, the ever-expensive luxury of the season book, differences between going to games then and now; made very simple for supporters of a certain vintage to relate to.
The writing style comes across as similar to that of Irvine Welsh in the likes of Trainspotting, with the unmistakeable Glaswegian accent implemented in the protagonist’s thoughts as well as the obvious blasphemous language with that vivid, somewhat crude sexual detail, coupled with how the protagonist continues to rotate as performed in the Trainspotting novel, and creates a humorous tone detail from the outset. Conveys all things wrong with life in a perhaps sinister, harsh yet funny way (i.e. the female newsreader on pg.147).
The book gives off an impression of similarities of how life could be for the average Celtic fan now and then in a positive manner, such as how the money-making business of football began to come into play, the ever-expensive luxury of the season book, differences between going to games then and now; made very simple for supporters of a certain vintage to relate to.
The writing style comes across as similar to that of Irvine Welsh in the likes of Trainspotting, with the unmistakeable Glaswegian accent implemented in the protagonist’s thoughts as well as the obvious blasphemous language with that vivid, somewhat crude sexual detail, coupled with how the protagonist continues to rotate as performed in the Trainspotting novel, and creates a humorous tone detail from the outset. Conveys all things wrong with life in a perhaps sinister, harsh yet funny way (i.e. the female newsreader on pg.147).
Read more... Add new comment
Book Review: Glory in Gothenburg
By Andrew Southwick:BBC Scotland's Richard Gordon clearly likes a challenge. Writing a book is hard enough, never mind trying to tell a story already entrenched in every Scottish football supporters' mind.
Everyone knows about May 11th, 1983, when a provincial club from the North-east of Scotland shocked arguably the biggest club in the world on a rainy night in Gothenburg.
School teachers across Aberdeen struggle to engage their pupils in the Treaty of Versailles, or the tales of the Highland clearances, but their job is already done should they wish to teach them about the night their local team, led by a pre-knighted Alex Ferguson, lifted the European Cup Winners Cup.
Even those fans who have no love for the Dons have to grudgingly give respect to what the Gothenburg Greats achieved as within a few months they took the scalps of Bayern Munich, Hamburg, and none other than Real Madrid.
Willie Miller, Alex McLeish, Gordon Strachan, Jim Leighton, Eric Black, John Hewitt. It doesn't matter whether you were in Sweden clad in red, or born a decade afterwards wearing different colours, you could name half the side straight away without needing to pause for thought, such is their legend throughout the country.
Therefore, when Richard Gordon sat down to tell the story of the Dons' finest night, he faced a monumental task. Just how do you keep things interesting while there is surely nothing left to tell?
Book Review: The Lone Rangers
By Michael Temlett:“The Lone Rangers” by Tom Maxwell details the highs and (many) lows of the extraordinary story of Berwick Rangers Football Club – an English club who have played in Scotland for over a century.
Maxwell gives a detailed account of the history of the so-called “Dream Team” and with insight from former Berwick greats such as John Hughes and, the man who was voted Berwicks “player of the Millennium”, Ken Bowron. Other high-profile names such as Trevor Steven, Gordon McQueen and the former player, manager and chairman, Jim Jefferies make this book a thoroughly enjoyable read.
Maxwell is a lifelong Berwick fan and as he states in “The Lone Rangers” its his dream to see his beloved side reach the European stage, showing the reader that Maxwell has not lost his sense of humour.
Maxwell strikes a fine balance between detailing the history of the club but by keeping it light-hearted he manages to stray away from making the book seem as dull as an history lecture. With references to MP’s expenses, James Bond and Berwick “boy racers” the laughs keep on coming throughout.
When a Club can boast a team full of Scots that plays in England yet is ruled under the Scottish Football Association there are no shortages of talking points for Maxwell and his interviewees. The book also delves into the Scotland v England aspect that takes place both on and off the pitch at Shielfield.
With almost every player and fan interviewed claiming to have heard abuse about being English – despite the large majority of them being Scottish – Maxwell throws up a very interesting observation that most Scottish opponents are obsessed with their English counterparts whereas the people of Berwick do not view these games as cross-border competition. With the hot topic of Independence currently being thrown around in Parliament it adds yet another aspect to the book.
Pack Men: Rangers in Manchester
Ken Pratt reviews the new book 'Pack Men', written by Alan Bissett, which is set in Manchester during Rangers' visit for the 2008 UEFA Cup final. THE BLURB says Pack Men by Alan Bissett is the fictional story of three pals and one child trapped inside the powderkeg of Rangers UEFA Cup Final riots in Manchester in 2008. In a city rocking with beer, brotherhood and sectarianism, the Falkirk, Rangers fans (if that makes sense) struggle to hold on to their friendship, as they turn on each other and the police turn on them.
But Pack Men is much more than that. It is the story of the narrator Alvin coming to terms with his own bisexuality in the face of the aggressive, macho, and sectarian behaviour of some of his pals on the way down to the game on the bus. More so, it is the story of the narrator trying to cut through the preconceived notions and highly taut tensions of Scottish male heterosexuality. It is also a subtle portrait of a Scottish artist as a young man as Alvin tries to explain that he is a writer, amidst quizzical side-glances and rampant drink fuelled innuendos.
The book also tells of the eternal struggle of the educated working class male posing questions about identity, isolation and alienation.Where do you go? How do you behave? What do you actually say when you have grown to fundamentally disagree with your mates and when you are still, in spirit, working class, but in mind increasingly middle-class. The book uses effective flashbacks to recount the delicate moment when Alvin has simultaneous sex with his English flatmate John and their mutual friend Sara while at Stirling University. Bissett paints an endearing image of this special moment against the brutal backdrop of the infamous Manchester riots.
By the way, it’s also the sort of book that will give you some real insights into what actually happened in Manchester, as the author almost doubles-up as ethnographer as well as creator of first-class literary fiction.
By the way, it’s also the sort of book that will give you some real insights into what actually happened in Manchester, as the author almost doubles-up as ethnographer as well as creator of first-class literary fiction.
Book review: Scotland On This Day
Scotland on This Day
Book review by SEAN GRAHAM
Football fans all over Scotland will no doubt be aware of the” Wee Red Book”. This is a yearly football bible for fans and anorak’s full of facts and figures about teams, players and matches from every club and it is a must have accessory for every football fan at the start of the season.
Now fans of the national team have their very own bible to have and to hold, wherever they may roam.
Scotland on This Day by Derek Wilson is a fascinating read for not only the Tartan Army but football fans everywhere.
What it's like to be a Rangers fan in the modern world
Book Review: '21st Century Blue', being a bear in the modern world
By Jamie Milligan
We all have an opinion on football. From what formation the manager should be using to the club’s new away top. But it’s not often that a football fan is given a platform to broadcast his views beyond the terraces or the modest surroundings of his local boozer.
However, that is exactly what happened to David Edgar.
On fire with Fergie
Book Review: 'On Fire with Fergie' 
By Andrew Southwick
It is not often a football book appears on the shelves that can appeal to supporters of all persuasions. Football in the written word is generally an extension of one club or teams’ own memorabilia.
“On Fire with Fergie” at first glance appears to tick all the boxes for your average one club book – Aberdeen fans on the front; clad in strips, scarves, hats and pennants. Any non-Dons fan shopping around the bookstore should have no need to delve further than the sight of the cover.
However, perhaps author Stuart Donald’s greatest triumph – aside from the many he shares in, witnesses and accounts in the book – is the fact it’s a read that any football fan can enjoy.