Real Football, Real Fans - William Barr
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Name Frank Morrow, Bungay
Message: Welcome to the Real Football, Real Fans forum!
Name Peter Morrow, Bungay
Message: Fantastic book, well done!
Name jim, nottingham
Message: i think i will get this book
Name Matt Reeves, Rotherham
Message: Are rotherham mentioned in this book
Name C N Cragg, Norwich
Message: A welcome dose of common sense and a heart-warming journey.
Name Frank Morrow, Bungay
Message: Matt - yes, one of the chapters is devoted to William's visit to Rotherham United FC - it is called "A Miller's Tale"!
Name Brian A, Milton Keynes
Message: Loved it! A refreshing read and really wonderful to hear someone who is clearly so passionate about what the game is really about. Bring on the sequel!
Name Steve Clay, Norwich
Message: I never finish a book but I read yours in the first 4 days of my holiday. A fanastic amount of research coupled with your humour was just my cup of tea.
Name John Sleetholme, Grimsby
Message: Cracking read.Nice cover.The pie accounts left me drooling.
Name George Williams, Knutsford
Message: Great book to read, and a nice piece about Macclesfield Town FC. This was the first season that I did 'live' football commentary on Silkmenworld, so this book has a special meaning for me. Well done William :)
Name Graham Jones, Cambridge
Message: An absolute gem of a book ! Each time I picked it up to resume reading, it was with the keenness and expectation normally reserved for fiction. I write as a lifelong Villain (that’s me in Chapter 15) but also as a long-ago disillusioned football fan. Back in the 60’s and 70’s, I would, if necessary, break up a dinner party in order to watch Match of the Day. But since then, my interest has steadily waned so that I only switch on Match of the Day if Aston Villa has had a good result. Sheer commercialism, obscene wages, Ferrari’s. WAGs, and countless other horrors have spoiled the higher reaches of football for me and countless others. As William says, top class football is now a brand, not a sport. So what an utter delight to find this book; to find what lies behind the bland reading out on Saturdays of the Division 1 and 2 results. Small clubs but with fans whose loyalty and devotion and hopes restore one’s faith in football nature. Woven into the book are glimpses of the towns, the clubs’ histories and struggles, failures and successes, the fans, and match reports. And so much more. Overarching all this, one senses the wonderful bond between fans and the club, the bond which has been all but destroyed for the poor exploited fans of the international brands masquerading as Premiership football clubs. William Barr has clearly done much research into the towns (how many readers knew that Accrington holds the largest Tiffany collection outside America ?), into the clubs, their histories, financial structures. He has travelled widely and spoken to supporters, watched the matches and evaluated each ground’s pies. And all this is woven into an enjoyable read. One is thrilled to discover what is happening at the true heart of football; one desperately hopes these clubs attract increasing support and therefore income; one vows to attach oneself to one of these centres of footballing passion; one salivates for the matchday pies. Finally the book sparkles with the writer’s particular brand of humour. Sometimes it hits you full on; sometimes it slinks up on you obliquely. This is a book dealing with serious issues of British sporting heritage, but also has a laugh a page ! Graham Jones (lifelong Villain, but willing to be seduced)
Name MKDSA, Milton Keynes
Message: The book is a fantastic record of the (2007/2008 League 2) season
Name Millers Trust Web site, Rotherham
Message: William Barr.... explores the relationship between the clubs and the town's they represent through purchasing the local rag and talking to the fans. He samples the pies and records the chants and the songs in a funny yet often moving account of the stresses and strains of following a club which might teeter on the brink of relegation from the Football League. Real Football Real Fans is truly a Real Delight! .....purchase a copy....
Name Anthony Bardsley, Waveney Valley
Message: I am a bookseller and I have just sold a copy of Real Football Real Fans to a lady who had already read a borrowed copy. So delighted was she with the book that she just had to have a copy of her own!
Name Simon Parker, Bradford
Message: Simon Parker Bradford Real Football Real Fans is a literary feast for lower-league fans. ........... Fed up with the commercialised planet that used to be top flight football, he (William Barr) decided to spend a season following the proper game. Hence his review of the (2007/2008 League 2 ) season. He calls it a journey to the heart of football. .........Barr's book is essentially a series of match reports from every ground in the division. But it is much more than that. As well as supplying some interesting snippets of local history...... Barr also compiles his own unoffical league table of club pies. .......... Football books about the lower leagues can come across as smug and patronising. Barr totters on the line occasionally but his genuine love of the game....... wins through. Well worth tucking in to. (Reviewed by Simon Parker in his Down the lIne column in the Telegraph and Argus)
Name David Baker, Bungay Suffolk
Message: A Book of Real Football displayed in a style and manner which brings alive why Football is played by players who play to enjoy the sport and Fans who genuinely week after week loyally support their Teams regardless of their results. A must, for all sportsman, it gives pleasure and exhileration in each Chapter and brings 'alive' why there is such dedication by all involved at this level.
Name Professor David Hughes, Monmouth
Message: I thoroughly enjoyed the book - funny, thoughtful and a cracking read.
Name Frank Morrow, Norwich
Message: Please note that this messageboard now requires that all fields are filled before a posting can be submitted!
Name Jane Smith, Scotland
Message: This is a very funny book, empathetic, strong on observation and realistic, honest detail. The book charts the swing in football towards celebrity, WAGS, big money, while the second division club supporters trudge on, supporting their teams, week after week, through thick and thin. It is very of the moment. Football fans - real ones who stick with a team throughout their lives, are the potential readers and word-of-mouth market for this book. The detail on the pies, grounds, supporters' songs, humour, rain, travel to matches and grounds, is very real and convincing. It is excellent, well researched, and thorough.
Name George Clare, Welling Garden City
Message: William Barr has given us back 3 o'clock on a Saturday afternoon football, the pools, Bob Danvers Walker and, above all pies and hot bovril. But this isn't a book of nostalgia, it's hard-nosed Division 2 where real football is alive and kicking. Take a break from the Premiership and the ghosted celebrity soccer biographies and read this lovely book. It's subtitled 'a journey to the heart of football' but it also takes you to the parts of England you may not visit every weekend - Grimsby, Mansfield, Accrington and Barnet. You'll find them full of surprises, scandals and humour. And you'll never pass Dagenham and Redbridge again without stopping for a pie or three.
Name Tom Bristow, UK
Message: I heard about this from a friend who is a Rotherham fan. Although I support a Championship side and watch Premier League games on TV, I decided to give it a go because, like many people, I love football and hate seeing it selling its soul to the money men. The author spent last season seeing a game at every League 2 club and meeting some of the fans, supporters club members and local characters. The style of writing reminds me a lot of Michael Palin's travel programmes with wry observations and real enthusiasm for the local communities he visits. There is some really interesting stuff in there and the author's banter with the locals and warmth for these often forgotten towns makes for an engaging read. As for the football, there is a snappy report on each match but best of all is the way Barr explores the place League 2 football has in contrast to the mega bucks of the Premier League and what it is like to follow teams in that division. His arguments which he develops throughout the book are clear and well structured and provide an analysis of a system which is designed to make the rich clubs richer and poor clubs poorer - we all know this, but the strength of this book lies in the way the author explains it in the context of the clubs he visits. However, it's not all doom and gloom - what also emerges, is a picture of a league where clubs genuinely engage with their fans and a real taste of supporting the likes of Accrington Stanley. This book is a must for all fans of the clubs involved (how many other books are there on the likes of Morcambe or MK Dons...?) but also a great read for anyone who fears for the heart and soul of football. As for me, I've started going to the odd game at my nearest lower league team (Brentford) for a more authentic footballing experience. It's the football equivalent of supporting your local butcher over going to Tesco or spending your Saturday morning browsing Portobello Market rather than trawling round the soulless new shopping mall Westfield. This book is all about real football, real fans and real life.
Name Jennifer Kelly, Macclesfield, Cheshire
Message: Just wanted to say what a refreshing read and it always makes me happy to see my beloved Macclesfield Town featured in anything about 'Real Football!' As the sole 'Real' football fan out of a group of Premier League puppets, i will be buying this book for as many of them as possible to show them what they are missing.
Name Michael Mroziak, Buffalo, New York State, USA
Message: Once I'm done Christmas shopping for my wife and daughters, this will be my treat to myself. (I first learned of this book on thisislincolnshire.co.uk, and what I've sampled I LOVE!)
Name David Austin, Winterton-on-Sea
Message: I laughed a lot reading your book.It is very original and very funny.
Name Hunter Davies - author and broadcaster, The Lake District
Message: Wish I'd done this book - such fun to go to every bottom division club and see some top fans, great atmosphere, some middling pies and of course some real football. I particularly liked the walks round the town, as if on an urban safari to a strange land, before each game.