Football, the People's Shame: How to Revolutionise a National Sport

by Micky Kerr

Asks what has happened to English football and how we can launch a revolution amongst English fandom in order not just to take back control of the game, but invent new ways our society and economy can work in the interest of the people again.Despite thirty plus years of rampant commercialization and marketization, football and football clubs remain central to many sources of solidarity, civic engagement and national and international pride. This book explores the history of the people’s game, looks at how it has become less and less the province of the people and more and more the plaything of oligarchs, billionaires and commercial interests, and explains why and how we need to take it back.Football's importance not just to local communities but to local and national economies is used as the jumping-off point to argue for a new economic model for the sport, one based on the idea of the public-commons partnership. These partnerships and the reorganising of production around them offer a theoretically grounded and fully worked through alternative to current models and propose an entirely different set of relationships between citizens, the state and each other, one more in keeping with the principles that underly the traditions from which football and its deeply felt and lived allegiances belong.As neoliberalism continues to exploit English fandom’s love for the game, loading up clubs with debt, hiking ticket and shirt prices, blasting them with adverts and exposing them to unscrupulous gambling companies, Football, the People's Shame seeks to be a clarion call to the fans to break out of their passivity and fatalism and begin to demand something new, offering a workable set of progressive alternatives while also daring to dream big about a complete transformation of the current depressing reality. Football is more than just a sport. It’s a way of life, a vital social, political and economic dynamo and fan’s deep and abiding passion for the game can and should become the engine through which society is reorganised.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

400 pages, Paperback

Published December 3, 2024

Reviews

[Keen Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Put simply, football is at odds with the business world, and therefore, ultimately, it doesn’t strictly belong there.”

Kerr does a nice job of covering the origins of the modern game and I laughed when I read how the FA was founded by a group of Cambridge University graduates – of course! Why else would you think such an institution would be so historically and consistently out of step with at least 90% of the people it’s supposed to serve and help.

We see how the game responded to the changing nature of the working class and industrialisation, it may have been codified and ruled by the upper classes but it was very much a working man’s game. Originally the FA were against paying players, wishing to preserve it for the elite and keep it amateur, as only the rich could afford “amateur” pursuits.

Kerr cites the vital role that Rule 34 played in football ensured that club culture was maintained and that the game belonged firmly in the hands of the people. This changed in 1983 when Irving Scholar, the then Spurs chairman wrote to the FA, telling them that he intended to flout Rule 34. The FA didn’t even bother to respond, and so he went ahead with his aggressive bid to squeeze as much money out of the club as he could for himself.

From 1888 to 1992 there were very few case of clubs going into liquidation. We see that in the 30 odd years of the Premiership era, over 60 clubs have fell into administration. He’s also very good on how gambling, alcohol and junk food products have muscled their way into the game. Kerr compares England with what has happened across various parts of the footballing world, like in Argentina and surprisingly the MLS over in America, which actually breaks the neo-liberalist mould in terms of how it’s set up. But perhaps the most notable example of all lies in Germany where they brought in the 50+1 law in 1998, thus blocking external investors from taking over the majority stake in a club.

“It acts as a safeguarding measure, preventing wealthy individuals or corporate entities from controlling bigger clubs and using them as private commercial enterprises. As a result, German clubs are democratically run, with members (or supporters) enjoying a majority of the voting rights – at least 51%.”

Also as well as being considerably cheaper, every season ticket sold in the Bundesliga includes free public transport to the ground. They also offer up to 50% concessions for children, the elderly and disabled supporters. In short Germany and the Bundesliga are leagues ahead of the EPL adopting a more progressive and reasoned approach which caters for fans rather than just corporate shareholders.

“In England, our clubs are governed autocratically for us, not democratically with us.”

German fans also protested against the introduction of Monday night fixtures due to the impact it would have on supporters being able to travel and still meet work commitments the following day. We see the sheer sense of collective, social and political will that is concerned with more than financial outcomes is both impressive and inspiring. Though even Germany has some exceptions with the likes of RB Leipzig. But either way it puts the smug, corrupt and bloated EPL to great shame.

At one point he talks about some of the top flight clubs in Scotland which have been to varying extents, being taken over by the fans – and looking at the SPL at the time of writing it’s interesting to note that the current league is the most exciting, entertaining and competitive in living memory with only three points separating the three top teams – and Hearts the team who have been top of the league since the closing months of 2025 are the largest majority fan owned club in the UK. Also Motherwell, the team sitting in 4th position, have been widely recognised by fans and the media alike as playing the most attractive football in Scotland, are also majority fan owned. Another majority fan owned club - St Mirren - comfortably defeated the Irish multi-millionaire backed Glasgow giants Celtic to win the season’s League Cup.

“There is no distance between supporter and club, because the two are merged into one entity.”

I suppose in short what Kerr is advocating for is really a type of socialism in the game and the story of football very much mirrors the story of capitalism itself. Like capitalism in general, it’s a familiar one, hyper-gentrification as a result of speculation, opportunism and not least, outright criminality. Time and time again we sit back and watch as yet another, cynical financial interest finds seemingly endless ways to take these core ideas and distort and manipulate them for immense private gain, usually at the expense of the fans, clubs and ideas that were once their lifeblood. It’s incredible that so many oil rich dictatorships, Russian oligarchs and American kleptocrat billionaires are now controlling so many top English football clubs.

“A football club is a community asset, so why shouldn’t this be reflected in its ownership structure?”

I’m not so sure about some of Kerr's ideas and solutions such as advocating for still advertising alcohol and gambling services during matches, just because they are collectively owned? That’s a terrible idea and just as morally bankrupt and irresponsible as billionaire corporations doing the same thing. But overall this was a really good read, Kerr has done his research, he writes well and makes so many interesting points .

“It’s important to be aware of a constant process of faux reinvention-indeed this is partly why neo-liberalism has survived for so long. It offers the illusion of change, however in reality the economic principles that underpin it are always maintained.”

[Brayden Raymond · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this book certainly has its moments. The author is right about a lot in theory but with my education background there is certainly a lack of numbers and other breakdowns of the "how" to back some of it up. I'm sure with time the author could create an even more comprehensive outlook on this. Though credit for trying nonetheless and producing numbers that they could. I think 3 stars is fitting only because I think there was room for the author to include more case studies on successful clubs that are fan owned and operated and there was certainly room to discuss the drawbacks of the MLS style system which was notably absent.

[Isaac Wade · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seems like pie in the sky stuff until backed up with examples of the radical ideas in action elsewhere. The best example of this is the chapter on creating a public gambling company; something that seems mad until it's pointed out that Finland and Norway have exactly that and so did the UK (!) until new labour came in. Football is an interesting little case study in the moving of the Overton window since the 80's and neoliberalism's spread

[Callum Law · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was recommended a podcast the author was on before the release of the book and due to the way he talks and expresses his passion on the topic I gave the book a go.

I did enjoy the way the book is written, it is clearly thought out and researched but can still recognise the passion and interest in the text. Absolutely agree with the premise and ideology behind the book regarding the state of the sport in England and change is required to ensure it remains 'the people's game'. However, I don't see it happening anytime soon and I think that's why the book is thought provoking, it offers some belief, a spark, an idea that does bring football back to the people.

Beyond the initial belief and imagination of what football would be like if it was revolutionised and nationalised in the country, I just can't picture a way in which it happens. The author mentions recent governmental projects that have cost the nation billions, like track and trace and HS2 as examples of affordability, but these projects despite their ridiculous funding were also failures. So how could you trust a government to one, nationalise the sport, two, govern and fairly regulate it, and three why would they do it to football when they haven't nationalised the energy sector or public transport?

On top of this, the change in football governance and regulation in Britain requires protest and unification of football fans in the country which is rare as it is. However you can see this growing as we have recently seen fans of Manchester United and Everton but also Manchester city and Liverpool unite over rising ticket prices for match going fans. Contrastingly, the efforts from these sets of fans didn't gain the traction they deserved in the media as this wouldn't bring in as much attention as potential transfer sagas or what a player was up to at the weekend which is a part of the current problem.

The book as a whole is great and is worth the read, even if you are sceptical about the end result being achievable, it will at least get you thinking of what this change could look like. I don't disagree with the author and his aims and proposed course of action to achieve mass change within the sport, I just don't see it happening in the near future due to the numerous cogs required to be aligned all at the same time.

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to really like this book. I like Micky, he comes across as a decent bloke whenever I've heard him. But it's a book that goes a bit overboard. We start with "the German 50+1 model and the MLS' salary cap are good ideas" then suddenly we're on to nationalised breweries and the government buying Manchester City.

Heart's in the right place. And I guess if you're gonna call for change, go big. But it all got a bit much for me.

Maybe he's right and I'm just too small-minded/embedded in the system to see it.

[Steven Vinnicombe · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting insightful informative read about reclaiming English football for the fans .
A well researched study of ways for all fans to get back clubs and make them more viable without relying on foreign millionaires .

[Tbrowne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting book would love to see a move towards this idea.

[Stefan Persson · Rating 1 out of 5]

super generic...what do you want to say with this book mr author? nothing new is being presented. don't waste your time if you're contemplating reading this one.