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Welcome to Wanderland
Author(s): Michael Visontay ISBN: 9781743792568 Binding: Paperback Published: 2016-08-01 Welcome to Wanderland follows the West Sydney Wanderers dramatic journey on and off the football field, through interviews with administrators and players, and most of all through the fascinating stories of its dedicated supporters. Created on a shoestring, in their first four years the club won the premiership, reached three grand finals and won the coveted Asian Champions League. This extraordinary on-field success was coupled with a remarkable engagement with the people of western Sydney. The Western Sydney Wanderers have the greatest fan base of any club in the A-League. The Wanderers story underwent several dramatic twists after police and football administrators targeted supporters, leading to boycotts and a power struggle which vindicated the fans. Meanwhile, on the pitch, the team is flying high again. The team will have great seasons and lean, the staff and players will come and go but the self-esteem they have liberated is permanent.
304 pages, Paperback
Published August 1, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 19, 2018
There is no escaping that this book about the first four full A-League seasons of the Western Sydney Wanderers football club is a rather mediocre book which appears to have been rushed into release by a publisher who did no either expect a more accurate or engaging manuscript from the author, nor did a good enough job editing what was received.
Having been engaged with the Wanderers as a foundation member I believe I have a pretty decent handle on the club, the players, the fans, the politics and other aspects that informed this book. At times Visontay does a reasonable job. His interviews with several fans are fairly decent stabs at oral history. In fact, if he had stuck to that as his modus operandi it would have been a far better book.
Instead the author peppers his text with these interviews and a few player and coaches' testaments, relying on newspaper articles and other non-cited sources to produce an analysis of the history of the club, how it performed in the competitions it appeared in during the years 2012-2016, and making some wildly inaccurate or irrelevant observations. For example, in looking at the three Spanish players' and their impact on one game in the 2015/16 season Visontay then refers to Mitch Nichols & Romeo Castelen, who are NOT Spanish. He also totally ignores or misinterprets players and strategies that drove the success of the club during its initial two seasons.
In summary, this book is only for Wanderers' completists. I look forward to a far more accurate, far more worthy text someday down the road that is more learned in its analysis of the club's histiry both on and off the field.
Having been engaged with the Wanderers as a foundation member I believe I have a pretty decent handle on the club, the players, the fans, the politics and other aspects that informed this book. At times Visontay does a reasonable job. His interviews with several fans are fairly decent stabs at oral history. In fact, if he had stuck to that as his modus operandi it would have been a far better book.
Instead the author peppers his text with these interviews and a few player and coaches' testaments, relying on newspaper articles and other non-cited sources to produce an analysis of the history of the club, how it performed in the competitions it appeared in during the years 2012-2016, and making some wildly inaccurate or irrelevant observations. For example, in looking at the three Spanish players' and their impact on one game in the 2015/16 season Visontay then refers to Mitch Nichols & Romeo Castelen, who are NOT Spanish. He also totally ignores or misinterprets players and strategies that drove the success of the club during its initial two seasons.
In summary, this book is only for Wanderers' completists. I look forward to a far more accurate, far more worthy text someday down the road that is more learned in its analysis of the club's histiry both on and off the field.
October 13, 2023
A nice book to have for Wanderers fans. Enjoyed resding about the history and bought back excellent memories and recollections of my experience at the time.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews