Football's journey from the playing fields of Victorian public schools to the television screens of millions is a fascinating one. From modest origins, football rapidly took a grip on the affections and loyalties of the late nineteenth-century working classes and was transformed into a business involving thousands of paying spectators and the buying and selling of 'star' players.
After the golden age of the 1940's and 50's, attendances declined towards a nadir reached in the 1980's, only to re-emerge stronger than ever with the arrival of the Premier League as a global phenomenon in the 1990's. This book takes the reader on a journey through clanking turnstiles, recreating the changing experiences of watching and playing football throughout the twentieth century.
