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The Game of Our Lives: The English Premier League and the Making of Modern Britain
The Game of Our Lives is a masterly portrait of contemporary Britain through the lens of soccer. In the last two decades soccer in the United Kingdom has made the transition from a peripheral dying sport to the very centre of British popular culture, from an economic basket-case to a booming entertainment industry that has conquered the world. What does it mean when soccer becomes so central to the private and public lives of the British people? Has it enriched this island nation or impoverished it?
From the goals, to the players, to the managers, to the money, David Goldblatt describes how the English Premier League was forged by Margaret Thatcher's Britain and an alliance of the big clubs — Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur — the Football Association and Rupert Murdoch's Sky TV. He identifies the real winners and losers in this extraordinary period, and explains how soccer has closely mirrored the wider political and...
872 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2014
69 people are currently reading
942 people want to read
About the author
David Goldblatt
78 books101 followersLibrarians note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
David Goldblatt is a highly experienced sports writer, broadcaster, and journalist. He is the author of The Ball is Round: A Global History of Football (Penguin, 2006), the definitive historical account of the world’s game. He has also written the World Football Yearbook (Dorling Kindersley, 2002), which was published in nine languages and ran to three editions.
As a journalist, he has written for most of the quality broadsheet newspapers including the Guardian, the Observer, the Financial Times, and The Independent on Sunday, as well as for magazines such as the New Statesman and the New Left Review. He is a regular reviewer of sports books for The Independent and The Times Literary Supplement and is currently the sports’ columnist for Prospect magazine.
As a freelance reporter he has worked for BBC Radio 4 and the BBC World Service, including producing documentaries on football in Jerusalem and the politics of football in Kenya. He has also appeared on other BBC radio programmes including The World Today, The World Tonight, The Sunday Morning Show, and Africa – Have Your Say.
In addition to his extensive writing and broadcasting career, he has also taught the sociology of sport at the University of Bristol and has run literacy programmes at both Bristol City and Bristol Rovers football clubs, as well as teaching sport, film, and media at the Watershed arts cinema, also in Bristol.
David Goldblatt is a highly experienced sports writer, broadcaster, and journalist. He is the author of The Ball is Round: A Global History of Football (Penguin, 2006), the definitive historical account of the world’s game. He has also written the World Football Yearbook (Dorling Kindersley, 2002), which was published in nine languages and ran to three editions.
As a journalist, he has written for most of the quality broadsheet newspapers including the Guardian, the Observer, the Financial Times, and The Independent on Sunday, as well as for magazines such as the New Statesman and the New Left Review. He is a regular reviewer of sports books for The Independent and The Times Literary Supplement and is currently the sports’ columnist for Prospect magazine.
As a freelance reporter he has worked for BBC Radio 4 and the BBC World Service, including producing documentaries on football in Jerusalem and the politics of football in Kenya. He has also appeared on other BBC radio programmes including The World Today, The World Tonight, The Sunday Morning Show, and Africa – Have Your Say.
In addition to his extensive writing and broadcasting career, he has also taught the sociology of sport at the University of Bristol and has run literacy programmes at both Bristol City and Bristol Rovers football clubs, as well as teaching sport, film, and media at the Watershed arts cinema, also in Bristol.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews
June 2, 2016
I wish I'd thought more of it.
Goldblatt is thorough and knowledgeable as always -- no fault to be found in his research. But at times I felt stuck in a well-written sociology thesis built on the standard academic/pop-political framework for modern Britain, the assumption that Margaret Thatcher's tenure destroyed everything that once was good and true about Britain, wrenching its destiny away from the social-democratic paradise that should have been. Goldblatt assumes the unassailable truth of this narrative, and slots the football* in neatly along that track.
Does it work? Sure -- the view of modern football as denatured is such a well-worn path, Goldblatt's task becomes simply matching parallel (if tired) narratives. But why couldn't he offer something different -- or at least an attempt at persuasion, with an implicit acknowledgment of differing views?
A more open mind might have let Goldblatt see broader benefits to the middle class-ization of football; his admission to decreasing acceptance of public xenophobia and ethnic intolerance almost feels backhanded within the sea of woe. (Denunciations of changing supporter demographics always strike me as loaded: are new supporters simultaneously damned for not watching what came before and damned for signing on now?) Entertaining the idea that football's positive market signals of the 1990s and 2000s, like Thatcher's governments' long tenure, could have been traceable to truly positive developments rather than cynical commercial/political manipulation would have made for a better book -- and an argument we don't see regularly from the WSC/Guardian smart set.
N.B. The American publisher's subtitle does a disservice to Goldblatt's work. The Premier League is a factor in his analysis, but not at all the center -- that emphasis mis-sells the book. Presumably someone decided the U.S. name recognition of the "EPL" brand would help sales vs. the accuracy of "English football" or a translation to "soccer", but it was a poor choice.
* I usually say "soccer", but this book is so closely bound to English culture, the American usage felt out of place even in a review.
Goldblatt is thorough and knowledgeable as always -- no fault to be found in his research. But at times I felt stuck in a well-written sociology thesis built on the standard academic/pop-political framework for modern Britain, the assumption that Margaret Thatcher's tenure destroyed everything that once was good and true about Britain, wrenching its destiny away from the social-democratic paradise that should have been. Goldblatt assumes the unassailable truth of this narrative, and slots the football* in neatly along that track.
Does it work? Sure -- the view of modern football as denatured is such a well-worn path, Goldblatt's task becomes simply matching parallel (if tired) narratives. But why couldn't he offer something different -- or at least an attempt at persuasion, with an implicit acknowledgment of differing views?
A more open mind might have let Goldblatt see broader benefits to the middle class-ization of football; his admission to decreasing acceptance of public xenophobia and ethnic intolerance almost feels backhanded within the sea of woe. (Denunciations of changing supporter demographics always strike me as loaded: are new supporters simultaneously damned for not watching what came before and damned for signing on now?) Entertaining the idea that football's positive market signals of the 1990s and 2000s, like Thatcher's governments' long tenure, could have been traceable to truly positive developments rather than cynical commercial/political manipulation would have made for a better book -- and an argument we don't see regularly from the WSC/Guardian smart set.
N.B. The American publisher's subtitle does a disservice to Goldblatt's work. The Premier League is a factor in his analysis, but not at all the center -- that emphasis mis-sells the book. Presumably someone decided the U.S. name recognition of the "EPL" brand would help sales vs. the accuracy of "English football" or a translation to "soccer", but it was a poor choice.
* I usually say "soccer", but this book is so closely bound to English culture, the American usage felt out of place even in a review.
April 6, 2016
A must-read book for football fans even though it won't tell them much they don't know already about what's happened to football in the last 25 years. The sad fact is that however scandalous and incompetent football's ruling elites are, however venal, money grubbing and overpaid football managers and players are and however overhyped and overpriced premier league football is, once you get hooked from childhood and devoted to following your team, it's impossible to give it all up in disgust.
The only saving grace (and it's not really any comfort) , as David Goldblatt so eloquently shows, is that what has happened to football has merely mirrored what's been happening in the rest of society.
The only saving grace (and it's not really any comfort) , as David Goldblatt so eloquently shows, is that what has happened to football has merely mirrored what's been happening in the rest of society.
June 13, 2024
75% sociology of Britain with some anecdotes about soccer thrown in. I thought this book was something else to be honest
June 21, 2024
Jonathan Kingin "The Game of Our Lives: The Meaning and Making of English Football" (Penguin, 2014) on palkittu tietokirja brittifutiksen poliittisista, sosiaalisista ja taloudellisista kiemuroista. Kiinnostavinta mahtoi olla lukea etnisistä vähemmistöistä jalkapallokentillä ja rasismista. Hetkittäin kirja tuntui jo vähän vanhentuneelta, sillä noin kymmenessä vuodessa on ehtinyt tapahtua yhtä jo toista!
Read
August 21, 2022If you're looking to read a book that ties the formation of the Premier League to the rise and fall of Thacherism in Britain, this is the book for you. But be warned -- this is not a sports book. It's sociology through the lens of football, only a history in the sense that it references things that happened in the past in order to make a point. It's a cogent book, but I occasionally found Goldblatt's thinking hard to pin down -- as much as he seems to appreciate the slightly less racist/sexist world of football today, I get the sense that he'd trade all that progress for the pre-Premier League fan culture.
June 10, 2023
A really interesting take on the Premier League but it was much broader than that and more about English soccer and society. Hard to follow the density of English cultural references at time but I learned a lot.
October 6, 2016
This would have been a MUCH better book if Goldblatt had left the section on Northern Irish football out of it. Why? Simply because with this section he completely undoes the feeling you have previously in the book of it been well thought out and thoroughly well researched- the section on Northern Irish football is littered with factual inaccuracies, and 'coloured' throughout with Goldblatt's own personal views on the given situations being described, which has a distinctive pro-Irish Nationalist taint- he has every right to hold those views, but it is disappointing to see his own views take away from the factual accuracy of what he is discussing.
Otherwise this is an interesting read, though you get the impression that he has perhaps bitten off more than he can chew, as some subjects seem to get 'brushed on' without much depth- frankly, this book could have been twice the length it is due to the myriad of topics available under it's title!
Otherwise this is an interesting read, though you get the impression that he has perhaps bitten off more than he can chew, as some subjects seem to get 'brushed on' without much depth- frankly, this book could have been twice the length it is due to the myriad of topics available under it's title!
January 9, 2016
Disappointing. Goldblatt has a brilliant mind, can write very well and knows his onions. Yet, the book manages to be overambitious, stretched too thin and wilfully ignoring many pertinent factors of the contemporary game - most notably booming football podcasting scene for instance. Worse of all, there is kind of lame conclusion to it all.
May 15, 2019
Essentially a sociology of English football, I read this a few months ago and recall quite enjoying it but being slightly disappointed by the ending where the author sums the whole book up through a rather tokenistic four page conclusion. Definitely worth a look if you're prepared to make time for a football read, though.
October 26, 2015
Brilliance. A simple word to describe the immaculate amount of great research and effort put into the making of this book. Good job David Goldblatt, this is certainly a great accomplishment, for all competitors to reckon with.
November 13, 2016
Worthy but dull - almost the polar opposite of the premier league itself.
February 9, 2023
Goldblatt documents the state of football in contemporary Great Britain in a series of essays. His style is much like what he writes online: clear, acerbic, astute, but somehow not penetrating enough on balance.
Perhaps the book could have benefited from an overarching thesis. It becomes clear that he laments the state football has gotten itself into, but much of this is backwards looking and nostalgic. It is difficult to find reasons to explain to a new fan—anyone taking up the sport since 2000, say—why any of this is bad.
For example, while he misses the sense of the carnivalesque at football matches, he never quite articulates what such acts were subverting. Maybe the sense of carnival is gone because the fans are more sedate and less spontaneously fun. That may be, but it is difficult discern what has been lost as a consequence.
Apparently, according to his telling, there is no streaking and the public address systems are louder. These hardly have anything to do with the product on the pitch, which Goldblatt has to admit is top notch. And fans still sing songs and bring tifo to matches; the Premier League is still a fan-fueled spectacle, perhaps even more so now than it ever was. It is clear from his telling that there were more pitch invasions in the past, and several deadly stadium disasters.
That players and fans are safer now, or that pitches are better maintained, are hardly bad things, and these things happened thanks to an influx of capital. Goldblatt’s attitude is that the whole experience is more anodyne, less authentic, and more corporate, and that for these reasons alone is somehow worse. Sure, ticket prices are higher now, but there are more ways for more fans the Premier League on TV from all across the globe to watch, and the product looks better than ever.
It’s these kind of contradictions that give the sense that Goldblatt is choosing what he wants to see. The main contention, as he sees it, is that the Premier League is emblematic of everything else wrong in Britain: an unequal playing ground where the rich teams get richer, where regulation is absent and neoliberalism runs amok. The teams were built by the Victorian working class and are now owned by sketchy, greedy foreign billionaires, or by idiot savant native multimillionaires who think their success will translate into success on the pitch. This is the central narrative of the book, as he relentlessly castigates the ruling elites for their venality and incompetence along the way.
The problem is that he can’t admit that anything good has come out of this. Football in Britain has largely moved past some of the worst hooliganism and racism. Teams have hired more foreign players and mangers, increasing diversity. The same could be said of the owners. In order to stick to his socialist narrative, Goldblatt overlooks much of this progress, failing to acknowledge the good with the bad. One chief example: the formerly working-class workers (the players) are now paid well at the top tier.
On some other key points, his arguments are critically flawed. He notes that Great Britain lost the 2018 World Cup bid because (in brief) it failed to bribe enough. It is hard to understand what his stance, is: whether Great Britain should have not tried at all, because the rest of the world is more corrupt—or that Britain should have spent more public money, just more corruptly.
Similarly, he goes at some length trashing the FA, without really documenting how the FA has (as he broadly alleges) underfunded football development. If so, this would have gone a long way to supporting his contention that there is very good reason England has only gotten so far in the World Cup.
He devotes a small section on gender, noting the increasing inclusion of women in some areas of the sport, but does not deal with LGBTQ issues, which seems an oversight. There is also a long chapter on football in Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and England, which is interesting from a historical perspective but does not seem to fit into the main narrative.
In the end, Goldblatt does not articulate a vision for what football in Britain should become. There is no turning point that he identifies where football in Britain could have gone down a different, contrary path. The sport, like the rest of British society, must evolve to stay relevant.
The fundamental problem that he never reconciles is that the Premier League is more popular, richer, more inclusive, and simply better than ever, but it got there thanks to the sometimes unseemly chaos of poorly regulated capitalism. While I would like to agree with him at times, he needs to convince readers, and if he was trying to make such an argument, he fails.
Perhaps the book could have benefited from an overarching thesis. It becomes clear that he laments the state football has gotten itself into, but much of this is backwards looking and nostalgic. It is difficult to find reasons to explain to a new fan—anyone taking up the sport since 2000, say—why any of this is bad.
For example, while he misses the sense of the carnivalesque at football matches, he never quite articulates what such acts were subverting. Maybe the sense of carnival is gone because the fans are more sedate and less spontaneously fun. That may be, but it is difficult discern what has been lost as a consequence.
Apparently, according to his telling, there is no streaking and the public address systems are louder. These hardly have anything to do with the product on the pitch, which Goldblatt has to admit is top notch. And fans still sing songs and bring tifo to matches; the Premier League is still a fan-fueled spectacle, perhaps even more so now than it ever was. It is clear from his telling that there were more pitch invasions in the past, and several deadly stadium disasters.
That players and fans are safer now, or that pitches are better maintained, are hardly bad things, and these things happened thanks to an influx of capital. Goldblatt’s attitude is that the whole experience is more anodyne, less authentic, and more corporate, and that for these reasons alone is somehow worse. Sure, ticket prices are higher now, but there are more ways for more fans the Premier League on TV from all across the globe to watch, and the product looks better than ever.
It’s these kind of contradictions that give the sense that Goldblatt is choosing what he wants to see. The main contention, as he sees it, is that the Premier League is emblematic of everything else wrong in Britain: an unequal playing ground where the rich teams get richer, where regulation is absent and neoliberalism runs amok. The teams were built by the Victorian working class and are now owned by sketchy, greedy foreign billionaires, or by idiot savant native multimillionaires who think their success will translate into success on the pitch. This is the central narrative of the book, as he relentlessly castigates the ruling elites for their venality and incompetence along the way.
The problem is that he can’t admit that anything good has come out of this. Football in Britain has largely moved past some of the worst hooliganism and racism. Teams have hired more foreign players and mangers, increasing diversity. The same could be said of the owners. In order to stick to his socialist narrative, Goldblatt overlooks much of this progress, failing to acknowledge the good with the bad. One chief example: the formerly working-class workers (the players) are now paid well at the top tier.
On some other key points, his arguments are critically flawed. He notes that Great Britain lost the 2018 World Cup bid because (in brief) it failed to bribe enough. It is hard to understand what his stance, is: whether Great Britain should have not tried at all, because the rest of the world is more corrupt—or that Britain should have spent more public money, just more corruptly.
Similarly, he goes at some length trashing the FA, without really documenting how the FA has (as he broadly alleges) underfunded football development. If so, this would have gone a long way to supporting his contention that there is very good reason England has only gotten so far in the World Cup.
He devotes a small section on gender, noting the increasing inclusion of women in some areas of the sport, but does not deal with LGBTQ issues, which seems an oversight. There is also a long chapter on football in Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and England, which is interesting from a historical perspective but does not seem to fit into the main narrative.
In the end, Goldblatt does not articulate a vision for what football in Britain should become. There is no turning point that he identifies where football in Britain could have gone down a different, contrary path. The sport, like the rest of British society, must evolve to stay relevant.
The fundamental problem that he never reconciles is that the Premier League is more popular, richer, more inclusive, and simply better than ever, but it got there thanks to the sometimes unseemly chaos of poorly regulated capitalism. While I would like to agree with him at times, he needs to convince readers, and if he was trying to make such an argument, he fails.
August 19, 2018
This was an intriguing subject but its detached analysis of English football (as well as commentary on Wales, Ireland and Scotland despite the cross of St George on the cover) meant that it lacked a bit of the life and emotion that is really part of the game's appeal, and was a bit of a dry read.
I thought the structure itself was quite good, discussing the abstract of football and the match experience, before looking more specifically at regional differences and identity, and the FA. The problem was that it trod a fine line between putting the football in context and stating things already known by someone who attends or follows football. On the one hand, the historical context of the now too frequent minute's silence (there were barely any until the 1990s) was quite interesting, on the other hand I know what the warm up is like because I've seen some.
The best chapter for me was on race, as it was approached with a proper historian's eye, rather than the lazy journalist trope of Ron Atkinson bringing black players to West Brom (who weren't even the first team to field 3 black players). Not afraid to quote racist terms verbatim, he made good use of primary source material to present a more balanced account. This was the strength of the book overall too, as Goldblatt described the regions I know about accurately rather than as someone who once heard a joke about Coventry and 'knows' it's a 60's block of concrete.
Perhaps there was less material to work with, but the sections on gender and the FA felt very short, and he completely avoided the political nature of the banned women's football (namely that matches were fundraisers for war charities) and doesn't even address why the FA might not have taken kindly to this. Yet he does devote a page to David Beckham, so it's not as though Goldblatt wanted to avoid the detail.
I really expected to enjoy this, and the foundations were there - I gather Goldblatt is left-wing but despite comments on the distribution of wealth, he was more balanced on fan-ownership than When Saturday Comes, and he had actually done proper research. But I'm not sure who this would suit - a British football fan would find it too geeky or would have followed enough of the modern game that too little of it would be revelatory, and a foreigner would probably be lost on the distinctions between Hull, Leicester and Bristol, however astutely discussed.
I thought the structure itself was quite good, discussing the abstract of football and the match experience, before looking more specifically at regional differences and identity, and the FA. The problem was that it trod a fine line between putting the football in context and stating things already known by someone who attends or follows football. On the one hand, the historical context of the now too frequent minute's silence (there were barely any until the 1990s) was quite interesting, on the other hand I know what the warm up is like because I've seen some.
The best chapter for me was on race, as it was approached with a proper historian's eye, rather than the lazy journalist trope of Ron Atkinson bringing black players to West Brom (who weren't even the first team to field 3 black players). Not afraid to quote racist terms verbatim, he made good use of primary source material to present a more balanced account. This was the strength of the book overall too, as Goldblatt described the regions I know about accurately rather than as someone who once heard a joke about Coventry and 'knows' it's a 60's block of concrete.
Perhaps there was less material to work with, but the sections on gender and the FA felt very short, and he completely avoided the political nature of the banned women's football (namely that matches were fundraisers for war charities) and doesn't even address why the FA might not have taken kindly to this. Yet he does devote a page to David Beckham, so it's not as though Goldblatt wanted to avoid the detail.
I really expected to enjoy this, and the foundations were there - I gather Goldblatt is left-wing but despite comments on the distribution of wealth, he was more balanced on fan-ownership than When Saturday Comes, and he had actually done proper research. But I'm not sure who this would suit - a British football fan would find it too geeky or would have followed enough of the modern game that too little of it would be revelatory, and a foreigner would probably be lost on the distinctions between Hull, Leicester and Bristol, however astutely discussed.
July 11, 2021
It shouldn't come as any surprise to anyone that football, being that it is an intersection of entertainment and sporting endeavours, represents one of the largest problematic industries in the world. Whilst manufacturing industries are worse, football is insidious, and is rife with problems that are all too commonly ignored in favour of spectacle. As the birthplace of the sport, England should strive to be different, but too often succumbs to the same instances. I'm writing this the day before England play Italy in the 2020 Euros Final, and the issues within this book (published in 2015) are all still too prevalent. Racism and classism are becoming stratified and solidified within the U.K., with the social good in the Covid-19 pandemic to feed children coming not from elected officials, but from footballers. At individual levels, many footballers are good people, however, it is the wider institution that is the problem. The F.A., UEFA and FIFA are very well and good to call out issues against referees, but fail to act on issues of substance, with reductionary and tokenistic gestures (often, there are harsher fines for flares being lit than a player being racially abused).
The English also have a problem with nationalistic ideation when it comes to the Three Lions and football. It's a reported fact that cases of domestic abuse rise when England lose. While the travelling hooliganism of the 80's and 90's may be fading away, the drunken, and all too often excusable, behaviour of fans is disgusting. We have witnessed a tournament where English fans have booed opponent's national anthems, made a young German girl cry, and then proceed to mock her further on Twitter. If England win, it should not something to be proud of, representing these sorts of fans.
The English also have a problem with nationalistic ideation when it comes to the Three Lions and football. It's a reported fact that cases of domestic abuse rise when England lose. While the travelling hooliganism of the 80's and 90's may be fading away, the drunken, and all too often excusable, behaviour of fans is disgusting. We have witnessed a tournament where English fans have booed opponent's national anthems, made a young German girl cry, and then proceed to mock her further on Twitter. If England win, it should not something to be proud of, representing these sorts of fans.
August 11, 2023
This book to me was like reading meandering intellectual essays. Indeed the last 70 pages, nearly 20 percent of the pages, were bibliography, notes and index showing how much this was like a thesis. And with lines like "it is almost a sine qua non" some of it is hard to read, even when it was in English. Also, having been released in 2014, it is now out of date in places, e.g. before Leicester won the Premier League and FA Cup but this book summarises football teams in the Midlands: "A measure of the relative decline in football in the Midlands is that the League Cup and short-term Premiership survival represents the summit of regional achievement in the last twenty years". Not true anymore. Plus bits of it just aren't as interesting as other bits, like a delve in the quality of pies at different English football grounds not being that interesting to me. And some bits could have been better. Like a chapter on the "politics of gender" being dominated by men with just a couple of pages about women in football - I think in 2023 this chapter, and indeed the book as a whole, would have featured a lot more about women footballers.
With the subject, linking British football to wider society - for example changes in the extent of racism on the terraces is linked with changes to the law following the murder of Stephen Lawrence - and with it being seemingly well-researched, and overly clever, I can see why it won an award - the William Hill Sports book of the year 2015. But for me I would probably have enjoyed a more lowbrow football book so only 3-stars.
⭐⭐⭐
With the subject, linking British football to wider society - for example changes in the extent of racism on the terraces is linked with changes to the law following the murder of Stephen Lawrence - and with it being seemingly well-researched, and overly clever, I can see why it won an award - the William Hill Sports book of the year 2015. But for me I would probably have enjoyed a more lowbrow football book so only 3-stars.
⭐⭐⭐
October 31, 2022
Paperback.
Definitions:
"Football" is to be understood as "soccer."
Football is the worlds greatest treasure, there is no argument. And therefore, "England is paradise."
David Goldblatt's imperious study on football in England, comparing the pre-Premier League era to the current form of top-flight English football gives current viewers an appreciation for what it is now because of where it's been. (To explain exactly what that transformation was in a review would be a ridiculous endeavor)
What I will say about the book is that it was very well put together, and diligently researched. The information was rich and insightful. There was truly no stone left unturned as Goldblatt discussed football's complex role in England's social, political, and economic makeup. There is almost no tactical or "on-field" analysis, but rather it views the game on an intellectual plane, conceptualizing just how influential a sport has been on one of the globe's most-influential countries.
Read if you are a football fan and really want to broaden your understanding of the PL. If you are anyone else, maybe not a great "starting-out" read.
Disclaimer:
(This book did not take me two years to read. I picked it, put it down, just to pick it up and put it down some more and then finally to pick it up and finish it.)
Definitions:
"Football" is to be understood as "soccer."
Football is the worlds greatest treasure, there is no argument. And therefore, "England is paradise."
David Goldblatt's imperious study on football in England, comparing the pre-Premier League era to the current form of top-flight English football gives current viewers an appreciation for what it is now because of where it's been. (To explain exactly what that transformation was in a review would be a ridiculous endeavor)
What I will say about the book is that it was very well put together, and diligently researched. The information was rich and insightful. There was truly no stone left unturned as Goldblatt discussed football's complex role in England's social, political, and economic makeup. There is almost no tactical or "on-field" analysis, but rather it views the game on an intellectual plane, conceptualizing just how influential a sport has been on one of the globe's most-influential countries.
Read if you are a football fan and really want to broaden your understanding of the PL. If you are anyone else, maybe not a great "starting-out" read.
Disclaimer:
(This book did not take me two years to read. I picked it, put it down, just to pick it up and put it down some more and then finally to pick it up and finish it.)
June 1, 2024
This is the third Goldblatt book I have read, and the third five-star review I have left. The style of his prose and depth of his research is unmatched in sports writing. I particularly enjoyed how this book adopted a different structure to his other vehicles - a thematic, essayistic approach in contrast to previous books organised around chronology (‘The Games’) and geography (‘The Age of Football’).
Within some of these themes, Goldblatt’s (at times depressing) analysis has proven to be incredibly prescient. The Premier League has become more streamlined as a distinct, homogenised commercial product, and the rise of state ownership and financial fair play rules threatens to turn this homogeneity into a closed shop. The incredibly detailed section on ‘cowboy’ owners, where Goldblatt explains the plight of each wronged club a considerable level of detail, mirrors the continued mismanagement of British football clubs by owners who forgo any level of financial management in favour of treating clubs as assets of prestige. Meanwhile, the boom of women’s football in the ten years since this book was published mirrors Goldblatt’s optimism for greater gender equality in the sport.
I thought it was an excellent read, and I look forward to whatever Goldblatt publishes next.
Within some of these themes, Goldblatt’s (at times depressing) analysis has proven to be incredibly prescient. The Premier League has become more streamlined as a distinct, homogenised commercial product, and the rise of state ownership and financial fair play rules threatens to turn this homogeneity into a closed shop. The incredibly detailed section on ‘cowboy’ owners, where Goldblatt explains the plight of each wronged club a considerable level of detail, mirrors the continued mismanagement of British football clubs by owners who forgo any level of financial management in favour of treating clubs as assets of prestige. Meanwhile, the boom of women’s football in the ten years since this book was published mirrors Goldblatt’s optimism for greater gender equality in the sport.
I thought it was an excellent read, and I look forward to whatever Goldblatt publishes next.
January 17, 2019
Considering myself a fairly avid soccer fan, this book was informative on aspects of the soccer world in England that I had no idea even existed. Goldblatt has done his thorough research to explain the evolution of the sport in one of the most infamous nations where it is played. Soccer really boils down to finances at the end of the day, and a lot of the economy in a surrounding area can affect how the team located there performs. It was a little boring at times to hear facts listed off when Goldblatt was supporting a claim to the sport's evolution, but at least he was basing his thoughts off of realistic empirical data, as well as valuable anecdotes. Certainly a book that I would recommend to any person interested in soccer, or sports economics.
January 13, 2019
This is not you average football book. It is much more ambitious. This book is about football's place in society & how it has been changed by it. It is part a history but it is in parts a polemic, a work of sociology & politics. It is written by someone who loves the game but is not frightened to see its flaws. I especially enjoyed the chapter cataloging the malfeasance of those of so many "businessmen" who have owned many of our clubs up & down the country. The eminent social historian David Kynaston, in his review in the Guardian,described this book as being exceptional & very nearly a great. That judgement is good enough for me.
September 24, 2021
As an American who didn't play soccer growing up and only got into it in the last few years, I find so much of the game fascinating, but don't know much about it as a whole, especially outside of the past 5 years or so. I've always preferred the English Football System to others so was glad to find this book at a library book sale. Overall, it was good, but a lot of the subject matter was way deeper than I expected and required a lot for me to digest. Glad I read it, but not one I'd read again. Was surprised to learn how much of the system, particularly in finances, is a house of cards. Maybe its changed in the last 5-10 years since publication, but probably not that much.
November 4, 2018
Excellent Primer to English Football Culture
The perfect place to start for someone interested in English (and British) football culture. Goldblatt has an entertaining style even as he goes through some of the more mundane details. Highlights are the stadium-game day experience, but covers race, politics, gender, money, etc. Honestly assessed both the triumphs and the underlying malaise (and decay of public interests in face of super charged private business).
The perfect place to start for someone interested in English (and British) football culture. Goldblatt has an entertaining style even as he goes through some of the more mundane details. Highlights are the stadium-game day experience, but covers race, politics, gender, money, etc. Honestly assessed both the triumphs and the underlying malaise (and decay of public interests in face of super charged private business).
April 11, 2022
This book is interesting, but a bit of hard read. It takes a long deep look at areas of football that are often just skimmed over by other books such as how clubs are exploited by money launderers , the roots of racism in football and the political roles of each of the UK’s National team. My problem with the book is that the author takes a long long long time to get to a point in a paragraph and sometimes you get lost in his words.
Overall, it takes a cynical look at English football.
Overall, it takes a cynical look at English football.
February 23, 2018
If you're looking for a sociological approach, this might be the book for you, but there's really nothing earth-shattering even if you're a casual fan of the Premier League. Big chasm between the rich and poor teams, racism still in place due to the old guard, a nationalist approach to the game - all covered in sometimes overwhelming detail.
December 31, 2019
Book is probably mistitled, as it's more about the growth of modern football in Great Britain and Ireland, than primarily the Premier League, but it's excellent nonetheless. Brits probably already know a lot of what's here, but finding the economic, social, cultural and political connections, changes and drivers in British football is fascinating for a Yank.
December 31, 2020
Glad I read this book and am grateful to have been given it as a gift years ago. I am a huge sports fan in general, including English soccer/football COYS. My daughter is a sports business major. I'd say this book is worth a read for deep geek soccer buffs and perhaps sports business participants. The content is there, but it reads a bit dry and academic.
March 14, 2017
This is a long winded dissertation on English society surronding football. It is as dry witted as the Sahara. The degree in which I slogged through the book was exhaustive. I will not recommend this book to even the most die hard of fans.
September 3, 2017
Very comprehensive book in less than 300 pages about the various aspects of soccer (football) in England, including the culture, the clubs in each region, racism and sexism, and England's place in the world game.
December 7, 2018
For some inexplicable reason football and books do not seem to go well together. The Game of Our Lives is a good book, thoroughly researched, and I am inclined to fully agree with the majority of the points David Goldblatt is making. Yet it is painfully dull. Perhaps it tries to be too many things at once.
abandoned-dnf
January 20, 2023I really wanted to love this book but it is really more of a sociological study of Britain than it is about soccer, and after about 100 pages I just recognized that I’ve read better soccer books and that I’m just not that interested.
May 4, 2017
Goldblatt does an exceptional job of chronicling the rise and transformation of the English Premier League coincided with British society. The book is a bit bland at times but overall enjoyable.
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