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Family: Life, Death and Football: A Year on the Frontline with a Proper Club
Award-winning sports writer Michael Calvin turned up for the first day of pre-season training at Millwall FC and 333 days later he sat among the subs at Wembley.
Intimate and compelling, Calvin's book vividly portrays players and management as family men, close to their roots: "We're playing for the people who hate their jobs, who'd love our lives."
Forget the glitz of the Premier League - this is the beautiful game in all its raucus glory, essential reading for anyone whom football is a way of life.
Intimate and compelling, Calvin's book vividly portrays players and management as family men, close to their roots: "We're playing for the people who hate their jobs, who'd love our lives."
Forget the glitz of the Premier League - this is the beautiful game in all its raucus glory, essential reading for anyone whom football is a way of life.
320 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 26, 2010
17 people are currently reading
229 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
March 7, 2016
My favorite type of sports books are the kind in which the author embeds themselves with a team for a season or two to give the reader a behind the scenes look at what goes on. Michael Calvin's The Family is one of the best of these. His subject is Millwall Football Club, a league 1 club at the time. During the 2009–10 season they gained promotion to the championship via the playoffs. Through extensive interviews with players, staff, and supporters, Calvin recounts every kick. Millwall has achieved a special kind of notoriety within English football, facing its own unique set of challenges. From trying to overcome it's violent Hooligan past, to just trying to survive on a shoestring budget, well all the while trying to preserve everything that people love about the club.
Michael Calvin is one of the best Sportswriters working today, winning several prestigious prizes, so even if you're not a Millwall fan, this is worth reading!
Sent from my iPad
April 7, 2019
Ok let's get the jokes out of the way first:
- Yes some Millwall fans can read, some of us even enjoy it.
- No this book does not have words and pictures on alternating pages.
- No, you don't get a free knuckle duster with every copy of this book!
What you do get is an insightful and at times harrowing account of the realities of life at a small, financially destitute football club.
Calvin offers a thoughtful and pogniant look at the day to day routine of a club fighting for its life on an almost daily basis - a million miles away from the pampered lives of the Premier League Prima Donnas.
If you have even a passing interest in sports psychology, undercover journalism, football or Millwall (and believe me, as a died in the wool Millwall fan I can tell you that the last two are very different things) then Family is well worth a read.
Millwall are a unique club with a strong identity, which Calvin captures brilliantly. For me, the title is extremely apt, because Millwall has always been more about family and identity than it has about football.
"Millwall fans couldn't follow a sanitised football club. Their football is not a middle class diversion, where spectators graze in concession stands and leave early to get a seat on the tube. It's an act of faith undertaken by their forefathers... The game is in their DNA, a genetic inheritance," Calvin says of his experiences at The Den. For me, this completely hits the nail on the head.
3.5/5
- Yes some Millwall fans can read, some of us even enjoy it.
- No this book does not have words and pictures on alternating pages.
- No, you don't get a free knuckle duster with every copy of this book!
What you do get is an insightful and at times harrowing account of the realities of life at a small, financially destitute football club.
Calvin offers a thoughtful and pogniant look at the day to day routine of a club fighting for its life on an almost daily basis - a million miles away from the pampered lives of the Premier League Prima Donnas.
If you have even a passing interest in sports psychology, undercover journalism, football or Millwall (and believe me, as a died in the wool Millwall fan I can tell you that the last two are very different things) then Family is well worth a read.
Millwall are a unique club with a strong identity, which Calvin captures brilliantly. For me, the title is extremely apt, because Millwall has always been more about family and identity than it has about football.
"Millwall fans couldn't follow a sanitised football club. Their football is not a middle class diversion, where spectators graze in concession stands and leave early to get a seat on the tube. It's an act of faith undertaken by their forefathers... The game is in their DNA, a genetic inheritance," Calvin says of his experiences at The Den. For me, this completely hits the nail on the head.
3.5/5
January 1, 2022
No one likes them but Kenny Jackett and co don’t care. Calvin chose a good season to be embedded, as Millwall were due to make another run at the playoffs. The rare anomaly of a closely bonded, community club with an entrenched identity was so enchanting that the author ditches Watford and becomes “Proper Wall.”
April 7, 2012
I did not expect to engage with this as much as I did. Taking a broadly, but not entirely, chronological approach to covering the successful 2009-10 season, the writer has immersed himself in the club and gained rare levels of access to all echelons, from supporters to players and chairmen. The panorama revelas many interesting stories - no doubt compelling to a thoughful Millwall fan but also very resonant with the rest of us (i.e. match attendees).
The "story" of the season comes with an ensemble cast of characters but some rise to prominence as key players (for want of a better word) with the heroic Neil Harris and manager Kenny Jackett like poles around which the others buzz. There are some great moments within the stories told and some low points too, reminding the reader that, while football places a poor second to life, it can be one of the rare things that unites disparate communities, particularly in times of trouble. This is clearly shown and I was astonished at how progressive a club like Millwall, that I had pigeonholed for their history, could be in their measures for community cohesion.
It is on the pitch, however, and with the tactical dealings of jackett, including his supreme man-management, that this book really excelled. I can honestly say that I learnt more about management from the interludes at half-time and in training sessions in this book than I did from either of the major 500+ page Alex Ferguson biographies.
If I were to accord a reason for not adding the fifth star (and I di have to consider it seriously) it would be that I feel the emphasis on club rather skirted over the fanbase issues that Millwall has. Sure they are mentioned - as bookends as well as in the main text but not interrogated to the extent that would either give closure on the awful reputation or confirm it as part of the larger picture.
Saying all that, I would love him to do a write up on the mighty QPR. Now that would be a 5 star story!
The "story" of the season comes with an ensemble cast of characters but some rise to prominence as key players (for want of a better word) with the heroic Neil Harris and manager Kenny Jackett like poles around which the others buzz. There are some great moments within the stories told and some low points too, reminding the reader that, while football places a poor second to life, it can be one of the rare things that unites disparate communities, particularly in times of trouble. This is clearly shown and I was astonished at how progressive a club like Millwall, that I had pigeonholed for their history, could be in their measures for community cohesion.
It is on the pitch, however, and with the tactical dealings of jackett, including his supreme man-management, that this book really excelled. I can honestly say that I learnt more about management from the interludes at half-time and in training sessions in this book than I did from either of the major 500+ page Alex Ferguson biographies.
If I were to accord a reason for not adding the fifth star (and I di have to consider it seriously) it would be that I feel the emphasis on club rather skirted over the fanbase issues that Millwall has. Sure they are mentioned - as bookends as well as in the main text but not interrogated to the extent that would either give closure on the awful reputation or confirm it as part of the larger picture.
Saying all that, I would love him to do a write up on the mighty QPR. Now that would be a 5 star story!
April 11, 2021
There has been a recent trend for journalists to spend a season with close access to a club, but this seems to predate most of them while also being superior. Perhaps it is choosing a club the size of 2010 Milwall rather than the elite clubs and slicker PR teams that facilitates this, but Calvin managed to cover many aspects of the day to day life of a club as well as the personal issues of the people involved, players, coaches and board members alike.
The usual problem with this type of book is an obsequious attitude towards the manager, presumably on the basis that the journalist is already close and unwilling to be shunned once the book is published. Calvin still seems to be close to Kenny Jackett but is respectful rather than fawning, and lets the assistant manager explain what he does so well (Jackett is clearly a good manager at League One level as subsequent jobs have demonstrated) - there are no managerial 'masterclasses' as in those Guardiola books. Calvin seems to have a good word for anyone with the possible exceptions of Hughes-Mason and Lewis Grabban and while he admits his bias, it is hard to know how objectively he has covered the season. He appears to condone the overtly macho attitude of the squad, but criticises those that act similarly on fan messageboards, or outside the ground.
Crucially he made sure he focused on The Human Story. Not every goal is described in full detail, and he is selective over which matches to focus on, which prevents the book getting too repetitive. He is excessively fawning towards Neil Harris (a middle class politician would never be afforded the same blue-collar hero worship by Calvin as the privately educated Milwall legend) but generally lets his contacts do the talking, so the story is told by different voices. The alpha male figures tend to dominate both the dressing room and the narrative, and there are fewer direct contributions from the younger players, but at least the reader is told what the team themselves said in the dressing room; this was direct speech, not hearsay from a coach the next day.
Though the first team dominates, Calvin also goes to reserve team matches, a youth game and a non-league match during a scouting mission, as well as covering the anti-racism community work. These different events and voices ensure that this is a book about the club, and not just the first team squad, although this also enables Calvin to air some of his gripes about aspects of the modern game. These come from pithy (and rather jarring) aphorisms rather than lengthy passages, but I think they were dispensable, and I also think he overplays the financial hardship of the squad. One younger player triples his salary to 7k a week meaning that even fringe players were on 60k a year, only for the youth players is this breadline stuff.
Some of this is understandable as Milwall are a different club to most, and their crowds are not members of the prawn sandwich brigade. But even if the testosterone posturing is revealed to often be for show, the praise towards the club was a bit too much for me, despite many revealing insights and details.
The usual problem with this type of book is an obsequious attitude towards the manager, presumably on the basis that the journalist is already close and unwilling to be shunned once the book is published. Calvin still seems to be close to Kenny Jackett but is respectful rather than fawning, and lets the assistant manager explain what he does so well (Jackett is clearly a good manager at League One level as subsequent jobs have demonstrated) - there are no managerial 'masterclasses' as in those Guardiola books. Calvin seems to have a good word for anyone with the possible exceptions of Hughes-Mason and Lewis Grabban and while he admits his bias, it is hard to know how objectively he has covered the season. He appears to condone the overtly macho attitude of the squad, but criticises those that act similarly on fan messageboards, or outside the ground.
Crucially he made sure he focused on The Human Story. Not every goal is described in full detail, and he is selective over which matches to focus on, which prevents the book getting too repetitive. He is excessively fawning towards Neil Harris (a middle class politician would never be afforded the same blue-collar hero worship by Calvin as the privately educated Milwall legend) but generally lets his contacts do the talking, so the story is told by different voices. The alpha male figures tend to dominate both the dressing room and the narrative, and there are fewer direct contributions from the younger players, but at least the reader is told what the team themselves said in the dressing room; this was direct speech, not hearsay from a coach the next day.
Though the first team dominates, Calvin also goes to reserve team matches, a youth game and a non-league match during a scouting mission, as well as covering the anti-racism community work. These different events and voices ensure that this is a book about the club, and not just the first team squad, although this also enables Calvin to air some of his gripes about aspects of the modern game. These come from pithy (and rather jarring) aphorisms rather than lengthy passages, but I think they were dispensable, and I also think he overplays the financial hardship of the squad. One younger player triples his salary to 7k a week meaning that even fringe players were on 60k a year, only for the youth players is this breadline stuff.
Some of this is understandable as Milwall are a different club to most, and their crowds are not members of the prawn sandwich brigade. But even if the testosterone posturing is revealed to often be for show, the praise towards the club was a bit too much for me, despite many revealing insights and details.
March 27, 2020
Great football books tell you something you didn't already know and The Family certainly delivers on that front.
Michael Calvin's boyhood friendship with Millwall manager Kenny Jackett granted him unbelievable access to an entire club for a season and he paints a vivid picture of England's most notorious and misunderstood clubs. Like most people, I had no fondness for Millwall before Reading this book but found myself rooting for them as their season unfolded. Even Calvin, a boyhood Watford fan, finds himself cheering on Millwall when they later face the Hornets, summing up the incredible bond he forged with the management and players.
At the heart of the book is manager Jackett, whose decency shines through in a world that is ruthless and unforgiving., but what really shines through is how harsh life as a footballer can be. Every injury feels like the end of the world while most members of the squad are doomed to a career of unfulfilled promise.
Reading the book almost a decade on, you know which youngsters will go on to enjoy success and which will slide away into obscurity. So it's somewhat ironic that Lewis Grabban, written off by pretty much everyone at Millwall for a lack of hunger and determination, is the one player in the book who will later move for vast amounts of money.
It's hard for one book to sum up what an entire football club encapsulates, from working-class fans right through to the millionaires who run the club, but The Family comes as close as anything I've read. Wonderful stuff.
Michael Calvin's boyhood friendship with Millwall manager Kenny Jackett granted him unbelievable access to an entire club for a season and he paints a vivid picture of England's most notorious and misunderstood clubs. Like most people, I had no fondness for Millwall before Reading this book but found myself rooting for them as their season unfolded. Even Calvin, a boyhood Watford fan, finds himself cheering on Millwall when they later face the Hornets, summing up the incredible bond he forged with the management and players.
At the heart of the book is manager Jackett, whose decency shines through in a world that is ruthless and unforgiving., but what really shines through is how harsh life as a footballer can be. Every injury feels like the end of the world while most members of the squad are doomed to a career of unfulfilled promise.
Reading the book almost a decade on, you know which youngsters will go on to enjoy success and which will slide away into obscurity. So it's somewhat ironic that Lewis Grabban, written off by pretty much everyone at Millwall for a lack of hunger and determination, is the one player in the book who will later move for vast amounts of money.
It's hard for one book to sum up what an entire football club encapsulates, from working-class fans right through to the millionaires who run the club, but The Family comes as close as anything I've read. Wonderful stuff.
February 7, 2021
Journalist Michael Calvin's account of his time embedded with Millwall is enjoyable, if extraordinarily one-eyed.
There's no doubt Millwall has a bad name in English football - a byword for racism and bigotry. And no doubt either that, as a club, it has tried to overcome that, becoming the first EFL club to achieve Kick It Out's Intermediate Race Equality Standard.
But that doesn't change the fact that there is a reason for the reputation. Striker Lewis Grabban is subjected to racist abuse from his own fans, but Calvin then seems to be mystified when his form and attitude drops. Similarly, Millwall fans referring to a rival team (from an area known for its travelling community) as 'pikeys' is dismissed as the actions of a 'scallywag', with only 'sensitive souls' likely to take offence.
Ultimately, Calvin's clear affection for the club and its staff wins out. Similarly to another of his books (Living on the Volcano, in which he relayed a series of insights from football managers as great truths, notwithstanding the subsequent success or failure of those managers), if you only read this you'd think the Millwall staff were only stuck in League One because of their uncompromising loyalty.
You also can never quite shake the feeling that Calvin romanticises a lost era of football, and sees Millwall as the last bastion of that world's values. Millwall is spit and sawdust, the real working man's club. Other clubs exist here to be patronisingly respected or gently mocked. And while Calvin does the necessary throat-clearing to denounce hooligan violence, there's a distinct air of illicit thrill to the descriptions of clashes between West Ham and Millwall fans.
To the less partisan reader, however, some of it comes off as beyond parody. Every half-time team talk recounted is a variation on "We're facking Millwall, we want it more!", and however accurate a representation of Kenny Jackett's words that might be, at least a couple could have been cut from the final draft. As could the cringeworthy misquoting of Jay-Z's '99 Problems'.
There's no doubt Millwall has a bad name in English football - a byword for racism and bigotry. And no doubt either that, as a club, it has tried to overcome that, becoming the first EFL club to achieve Kick It Out's Intermediate Race Equality Standard.
But that doesn't change the fact that there is a reason for the reputation. Striker Lewis Grabban is subjected to racist abuse from his own fans, but Calvin then seems to be mystified when his form and attitude drops. Similarly, Millwall fans referring to a rival team (from an area known for its travelling community) as 'pikeys' is dismissed as the actions of a 'scallywag', with only 'sensitive souls' likely to take offence.
Ultimately, Calvin's clear affection for the club and its staff wins out. Similarly to another of his books (Living on the Volcano, in which he relayed a series of insights from football managers as great truths, notwithstanding the subsequent success or failure of those managers), if you only read this you'd think the Millwall staff were only stuck in League One because of their uncompromising loyalty.
You also can never quite shake the feeling that Calvin romanticises a lost era of football, and sees Millwall as the last bastion of that world's values. Millwall is spit and sawdust, the real working man's club. Other clubs exist here to be patronisingly respected or gently mocked. And while Calvin does the necessary throat-clearing to denounce hooligan violence, there's a distinct air of illicit thrill to the descriptions of clashes between West Ham and Millwall fans.
To the less partisan reader, however, some of it comes off as beyond parody. Every half-time team talk recounted is a variation on "We're facking Millwall, we want it more!", and however accurate a representation of Kenny Jackett's words that might be, at least a couple could have been cut from the final draft. As could the cringeworthy misquoting of Jay-Z's '99 Problems'.
April 9, 2019
One of the things I love about Michael Calvin's writing is that it can be so engaging, his prose pushes past any potential need to be invested in the subject matter.
Up until now, however.
Having never been a Millwall fan, I was intrigued to read about the inner-workings of a club with a bad rep — and if any man could make me care about a club I have no interest in, it should be our boy Calvin.
Sadly, on this occasion, he falls a tad short.
For fans of the club, like the author himself, this will be heartfelt and insightful look at just what makes Millwall tick.
Sadly, for this football fan who has nailed a very different colour scarf to the mast, it quickly became a slog.
Up until now, however.
Having never been a Millwall fan, I was intrigued to read about the inner-workings of a club with a bad rep — and if any man could make me care about a club I have no interest in, it should be our boy Calvin.
Sadly, on this occasion, he falls a tad short.
For fans of the club, like the author himself, this will be heartfelt and insightful look at just what makes Millwall tick.
Sadly, for this football fan who has nailed a very different colour scarf to the mast, it quickly became a slog.
May 10, 2021
One of Calvin's best
Calvin is great but if i had to criticise it would be that a lot of his stuff comes across as a little overly sentimental. You get the impression that everyone in football is a saint. Not in this. Thoroughly level headed,but a passionate account of a season without drifting into misty-eyes reverence for his subjects. Great stuff
Calvin is great but if i had to criticise it would be that a lot of his stuff comes across as a little overly sentimental. You get the impression that everyone in football is a saint. Not in this. Thoroughly level headed,but a passionate account of a season without drifting into misty-eyes reverence for his subjects. Great stuff
January 11, 2018
The Wall
I don't support Millwall but I have a great admiration for the club and what it stands for after reading this book.
I really enjoyed getting to know bits about Kenny Jackett and some of the characters in the strong dressing room.
Give it a read it's excellent
I don't support Millwall but I have a great admiration for the club and what it stands for after reading this book.
I really enjoyed getting to know bits about Kenny Jackett and some of the characters in the strong dressing room.
Give it a read it's excellent
October 15, 2018
Was a great insight into a club that, as a West Ham fan, I should wish nothing but ill on. But here I am reading about Millwall and finding an affinity for them. A really great insight into the challenges of running a football club that doesn't have the luxury of having a healthy bank balance.
March 9, 2019
Really enjoyed this book. Great illustration of what goes into running a football club in England and how the parts of an organization work together. On a side note, I think Millwall fans would fit right into the 700 level at the Vet.
June 15, 2019
All good journalism should be insightful and this really changed my perception of Millwall. It’s not a fluffy PR exercise but shows the human side of players and fans alike in the year they chased promotion.
July 3, 2020
If you are an English football fan, this could be your book. Especially if you are a long-time fan. The author, a fine sportswriter, spent a season embedded with Millwall F.C.
A fascinating look behind the scenes.
A fascinating look behind the scenes.
November 24, 2021
Of all the books I've read, this upended how I think about the subject the most. Calvin uses his friendship with the gaffer to get under the skin of a tough club. Forget your prejudices, this is a stunning piece of non-fiction.
February 10, 2025
Nice one
Decent if you like football. Probably the best if you like milwall. I don’t but it was still interesting for all the behind the scenes stuff and shit and stuff
It basically follows the season in which they got promoted to the championship.
Good to hear Omar Beckles is a good bloke too
Decent if you like football. Probably the best if you like milwall. I don’t but it was still interesting for all the behind the scenes stuff and shit and stuff
It basically follows the season in which they got promoted to the championship.
Good to hear Omar Beckles is a good bloke too
March 23, 2018
An early one from Calvin that has been re-packaged. The ins and outs of Millwall football club, its players, staff and supporters gave a fascinating insight into difficult times in the beautiful game. Calvin was given pretty much unrestricted access for a year and plays out the story of that year, with its ups and downs, very well.
April 19, 2020
Good book, enjoyed it.
September 18, 2020
Great book about a season with Millwall in 2009/2010
June 11, 2021
Some interesting insights, but he's got his tongue so far up some of their arses I'm surprised they can walk, nevermind run to play football.
August 21, 2021
An absolute emotional rollercoaster of a book!
October 22, 2021
As good an insight into Millwall and football as you can get. Great read.
December 11, 2021
A superb read. Heartily recommended
January 25, 2014
A study of Millwall and of football in the English lower leagues. We follow Millwall under Kenny Jackett and learn much about the cut and thrust of life at South London's working class club. What we get isn't a superficial glossy puff publication, but a deep, measured and almost forensic examination of lower league football and those who organise, devote time and work within it. This is both a plus and a minus. While we learn a fair amount about the mechanics of the general, the specifics of the Millwall football season tend to get glossed over somewhat. While we hear about injury after injury and contract negotiations and scouting reports in detail, while months of games seem to pass with little comment. A very interesting book though and a fine detailed approach to dissecting a single club in a specific area of football. For that, the book more than deserves the praise it has received. Well worth a read if football is your thing.
October 13, 2014
Excellent in-depth study of a lower league football club: fan expectations; bad reputations; transfer strategies; player worries; career-ending injuries; the governors; trialists; youth team hopefuls; the scouting system; managing men (and boys); and trying to win games. Not for nothing is Millwall's home ground called The (Lion's) Den!
January 10, 2016
My type of sports bio...a year in the life of a team. Quite eye-opening in terms of the violence and ill will that takes place either on or at the pitch during a professional soccer game. Very revealing.
February 4, 2016
Does excellently to connect people to Millwall - a football club notorious for alienating anyone that isn't a supporter.
April 29, 2017
One of the best sports books Ive ever read.
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews