When Saturday Comes: The Half Decent Football Book (When Saturday Comes Magazine) Review

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(More customer reviews)An encyclopedia of British football compiled by the staff of When Saturday Comes, one of the best-written and engaging soccer periodicals on the market. If you're not interested in every club in the United Kingdom, or if you feel no affinity to British culture, this book is not for you. But if you enjoy the writing of Nick Hornby or Ian Plenderleith, this is a great A to Z guide of British football (current only through the 2005-06 season, the year the work was published).

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The best chants, the funniest nicknames, the greatest headlines and enough little-known facts to keep the average football supporter entertained and entertaining for several seasons. This is the story of the greatest game on earth, from abandoned matches' to Yeovil Town', via celebrity fans, mascots, punditry and superstitions, written from the fan's point of view and with a separate entry for every club in the English and Scottish leagues. Who cares why, if Torquay United's strikers had been more prolific in the 1950s, England may never have won the World Cup; or where football hooliganism actually began; or who the hell Captain Henry Blythe Thornhill Wakelam is? We do. Because as every true student of the game knows: it's important.

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The Fix: Soccer and Organized Crime Review

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(More customer reviews)I started reading this book on Sunday night, and I finished it on Monday night. I ate this book up like a hungry lover of the most beautiful game in the world; hungry for information, hungry for nostalgia but most of all, hungry for the truth. Declan Hill has written a book which is astounding in all its parts; the meticulous research, skill in following leads, tying up various and diverse pieces of information, a thorough and intelligent analysis of the game, the power structures of corruption, the legal obstacles and the people. Not only is his writing fluid and his reasoning logical, it is also accessible. He presents a highly complex subject in plain English which allows the reader to follow him on a journey around the world in concrete, rational and credible steps, to reach his or her own conclusion. This book does not tell you what to think, it gives you the information, and the freedom to do so.


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The Fix is the most explosive story of sports corruption in a generation. Intriguing, riveting, and compelling, it tells the story of an investigative journalist who sets out to examine the world of match-fixing in professional soccer.From the IntroductionUnderstand how gambling fixers work to corrupt a soccer game and you will understand how they move into a basketball league, a cricket tournament, or a tennis match (all places, by the way, that criminal fixers have moved into). My views on soccer have changed. I still love the Saturday-morning game between amateurs: the camaraderie and the fresh smell of grass. But the professional game leaves me cold. I hope you will understand why after reading the book. I think you may never look at sport in the same way again.From the Hardcover edition.

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