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Scotland's Quest for the World Cup: a Complete Record, 1950-1986
250 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 1986
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April 3, 2024
Bought for £2 in an Oxfam bookshop in Aberdeen in February 2024, and it was a great find to discover a book published in 1986 in such excellent condition.
The book covers, in real detail, every single Scotland World Cup qualifying campaign and finals tournament.
Author Clive Leatherdale gives interesting context for the circumstances and mood surrounding each campaign before giving each match a dedicated section, written in a newspaper match report style, something I thoroughly enjoyed as a former reporter myself. I particularly appreciated some of his turns of phrase and ability to conjure images of game situations with well-written and witty descriptions, many of which are very much of their time and not many that make it into modern reporting.
Complementing each report is a full record of the stadium, location, attendance, and team line-ups. The statistics provided throughout and in the various appendix pages are a great feature of the book, especially for football stattos.
My one criticism is that the author came across as overly negative throughout the book. So often the team was lucky to win, or terrible in defeat. It was very rare to read of a good win or an impressive performance. You might be tempted to think: 'Well, it is the Scotland national team.' And you'd be correct to an extent, but I still felt there were too many occasions that the author came across as the overly negative supporter finding faults wherever they can that all fans will know well.
The book covers, in real detail, every single Scotland World Cup qualifying campaign and finals tournament.
Author Clive Leatherdale gives interesting context for the circumstances and mood surrounding each campaign before giving each match a dedicated section, written in a newspaper match report style, something I thoroughly enjoyed as a former reporter myself. I particularly appreciated some of his turns of phrase and ability to conjure images of game situations with well-written and witty descriptions, many of which are very much of their time and not many that make it into modern reporting.
Complementing each report is a full record of the stadium, location, attendance, and team line-ups. The statistics provided throughout and in the various appendix pages are a great feature of the book, especially for football stattos.
My one criticism is that the author came across as overly negative throughout the book. So often the team was lucky to win, or terrible in defeat. It was very rare to read of a good win or an impressive performance. You might be tempted to think: 'Well, it is the Scotland national team.' And you'd be correct to an extent, but I still felt there were too many occasions that the author came across as the overly negative supporter finding faults wherever they can that all fans will know well.
Displaying 1 of 1 review