What do you think?
Rate this book
The Bottom Corner: A Season with the Dreamers of Non-League Football
In these days of oligarch owners, superstar managers and players on sky-high wages, the tide is turning towards the lower reaches of the pyramid as fans search for football with a soul.Plucky underdogs or perennial underachievers, your local non-league team offers hope, drama or at least a Saturday afternoon ritual that's been going for decades. Nige Tassell spends a season in the non-league world. He meets the raffle-ticket seller who wants her ashes scattered in the centre-circle. The envelope salesman who discovered a future England international. The ex-pros still playing with undiluted passion on Sunday mornings. He spends time at clubs looking for promotion to the Football League, clubs just aiming to get eleven players on a pitch every week, and everything in between.One thing unites they all inhabit the heartland of the beautiful game.'The Bottom Corner is a wonderful journey through life in the lower reaches of the football pyramid. A fascinating tale of a very different world of football from that of the overpaid stars of the television age' Barry Davies
313 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 1, 2016
39 people are currently reading
355 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews
March 10, 2018
I am a football fan from India who has supported Man United for almost 20 years now. Visiting Old Trafford last year was the equivalent of a footballing pilgrimage for me. After reading this book, I want to go see Dulwich Hamlet, Tranmere Rovers and even Bishop Sutton. That's the power and beauty of this book. It's a must must read for all football romantics like me who cannot have enough of the beautiful game. If life outside the boxes - the games on TV and the action on the pitch - interests you, then you will really enjoy this one. Similar to Harry Pearson's The Far Corner.
June 12, 2025
Nige Tassell is one of the best writers about sport and music in this country and this book about non league football is another great read
June 2, 2022
Great book detailing a season in the lower leagues,heart warming tales,tales of woe and tales of sadness,all brought together by a great writer and storyteller,if anyone ever asks you why you love football give them this book to read,was brought for me as a birthday present by my wife and I enjoyed the author that much I have purchased another 3 of his sport/football themed books.
January 14, 2023
Some interesting stories and anecdotes but generally felt like it bounced around too much, sort of abandoning a story for another one. Spent a lot of time looking up names, locations, leagues, etc throughout - so overall was quite informative.
May 2, 2025
Amazing. Beautiful. The perfect book for someone like me. Nige Tassell perfectly illustrates how it is to be involved in non league football whether it be a fan, volunteer, referee, coach, player, you name it. It’s not a hobby, it’s a part of you. Football heals, football hurts, it can give you the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, but don’t we bloody love it.
Incredible book and Tassell is an amazing writer. Would give this 6 stars if I could.
Big thank you to my partner for pointing this one out for me at Waterstones!
Incredible book and Tassell is an amazing writer. Would give this 6 stars if I could.
Big thank you to my partner for pointing this one out for me at Waterstones!
April 10, 2017
Non-League Football has enjoyed something of a renaissance in the internet age – news of its oddities spread quicker, youtube viewings of outrageous halfway line goals are common, results are available at fingertips and there will always be a small corner of the web to focus on your particular obsession.
But it’s the morass-like nature of non-league that can also make it seem unessential – Maidenhead United may float my boat but they are unlikely to float yours while debating a disallowed goal for Woking at Barrow is unlikely to rival the Great British Bake Off as a water cooler topic of conversation.
So distilling what makes the alleyways and ginnels of Non-League so persistently enjoyable is a tough job – no matter how much the BBC tried to pretend that Wayne Shaw’s pie eating antics were amusing as Sutton United took on Arsenal, most of us were simply exasperated while the sight of hoardings emblazoned with adverts for The Sun at Gander Green Lane was enough for many of us to plead to the Premier league fat cats that we did, after all, still prefer their version of the sport.
So Nige Tassell has done us all a great service by reminding us of what makes Non-League football a key part of the fabric of British soccer in his book The Bottom Corner.
This is all due to the author’s shrewd choice of topics. While the fortunes of Tranmere Rovers and Somerset’s Bishop Sutton FC over the course of the 2015-6 season are a thread that links the ten entertaining chapters in Tassell’s book, he’s chosen wisely to concentrate on subjects that reach beyond the humdrum events at a particular club.
Hence, we have examinations of former Premier Leaguers now plying their trade several divisions below (Julio Arca, Barry Hayles), FA Cup third round appearance makers (Eastleigh FC), clubs started up in protest (FC United of Manchester), prodigious goalscorers who may or may not be the new Jamie Vardy (Emley’s Ashley Flynn) and phoenix clubs (Hereford FC).
There’s also room for the hipsters of Dulwich Hamlet – who, as we suspected, are nothing of the sort but quite as genuine as the next bunch of anoraks – fan ownership in the shape of Lewes FC and the societal ecosystem of Hackney Marshes. All along, the smell of stale tea and sound of football boots being clattered together in an attempt to get rid of mud loom large.
English football’s siege mentality and unwillingness to mend its ways is evident too – the potty mouths of Hackney, uncompromising management style of Salford City’s Anthony Johnson and cliché spouting of Bishop Sutton’s Colin Merrick reminded me too much of my own generally unenjoyable days taking on the pub teams of Bracknell in the East Berks League but for all the huff and puff, there are stories such as that of United Glasgow, formed to provide a club to play for for asylum seekers.
Personally, I’ve most enjoyed my non-league experiences when I have had a team to support week-in and week-out and when taking in individual matches, the day quickly becomes more about the before and after, the drinks and the chance to visit somewhere new than the football itself. So, I’m less of an evangelist for the genre than many of my blogging peers such as The Real FA Cup and The Cold End. Tassell’s excellently written and good natured volume did remind me of what a treasure trove sport at this level can be, however.
But it’s the morass-like nature of non-league that can also make it seem unessential – Maidenhead United may float my boat but they are unlikely to float yours while debating a disallowed goal for Woking at Barrow is unlikely to rival the Great British Bake Off as a water cooler topic of conversation.
So distilling what makes the alleyways and ginnels of Non-League so persistently enjoyable is a tough job – no matter how much the BBC tried to pretend that Wayne Shaw’s pie eating antics were amusing as Sutton United took on Arsenal, most of us were simply exasperated while the sight of hoardings emblazoned with adverts for The Sun at Gander Green Lane was enough for many of us to plead to the Premier league fat cats that we did, after all, still prefer their version of the sport.
So Nige Tassell has done us all a great service by reminding us of what makes Non-League football a key part of the fabric of British soccer in his book The Bottom Corner.
This is all due to the author’s shrewd choice of topics. While the fortunes of Tranmere Rovers and Somerset’s Bishop Sutton FC over the course of the 2015-6 season are a thread that links the ten entertaining chapters in Tassell’s book, he’s chosen wisely to concentrate on subjects that reach beyond the humdrum events at a particular club.
Hence, we have examinations of former Premier Leaguers now plying their trade several divisions below (Julio Arca, Barry Hayles), FA Cup third round appearance makers (Eastleigh FC), clubs started up in protest (FC United of Manchester), prodigious goalscorers who may or may not be the new Jamie Vardy (Emley’s Ashley Flynn) and phoenix clubs (Hereford FC).
There’s also room for the hipsters of Dulwich Hamlet – who, as we suspected, are nothing of the sort but quite as genuine as the next bunch of anoraks – fan ownership in the shape of Lewes FC and the societal ecosystem of Hackney Marshes. All along, the smell of stale tea and sound of football boots being clattered together in an attempt to get rid of mud loom large.
English football’s siege mentality and unwillingness to mend its ways is evident too – the potty mouths of Hackney, uncompromising management style of Salford City’s Anthony Johnson and cliché spouting of Bishop Sutton’s Colin Merrick reminded me too much of my own generally unenjoyable days taking on the pub teams of Bracknell in the East Berks League but for all the huff and puff, there are stories such as that of United Glasgow, formed to provide a club to play for for asylum seekers.
Personally, I’ve most enjoyed my non-league experiences when I have had a team to support week-in and week-out and when taking in individual matches, the day quickly becomes more about the before and after, the drinks and the chance to visit somewhere new than the football itself. So, I’m less of an evangelist for the genre than many of my blogging peers such as The Real FA Cup and The Cold End. Tassell’s excellently written and good natured volume did remind me of what a treasure trove sport at this level can be, however.
December 16, 2019
A fascinating insight in to the passion and intensity of the lower league clubs and their fight to get in to ultimately the 3rd round of the FA Cup.
Well written and informative although a little generic in places well worth a read particularly if you like English football.
Well written and informative although a little generic in places well worth a read particularly if you like English football.
March 31, 2019
In The Bottom Corner, author Nige Tassell casts light on the non-league echelons of English football and explores the cast of characters involved in keeping afloat the clubs that live and die by individual results. Through this romanticised pallor, the reader is brought into a world underrepresented in slick, mainstream football media—a world that exists below that much vaunted line of professional demarcation, yet seems to actively push against it to remain apart.
Two narratives are presented in depth. Bishop Sutton, cellar dweller of the Toolstation Western League Division One, can barely muster a team to avoid the ignominy of a winless season. Tranmere Rovers (“a star-crossed football club that perpetually finds new and painful ways to kick its fans in the gut”), oh-so-close to a Premier League berth some 25 years ago, attempts to return to the professional league on the first try. No slickly crafted, feel-good tropes of miraculous comebacks and last-minute winners abound here. Instead, these two narratives serve to show just how tumultuous the going can be in non-league football, and how nothing is guaranteed amidst the turgid play of part-timers slugging away at each other for a shot at individual glory at the professional level.
In between these narratives and over ten fascinating chapters, characters emerge that provide shape and substance to non-league football. A Philippines international captain in the twilight of his career. A striker trying his best to get (back) into the national Gibraltar setup. A reluctant goal machine (“I’ve put eighty balls in the net”) who is also restricted in movement due to a driving ban. A young Sierra Leonean and Chelsea U-19 castoff looking for his place in football. Such vignettes serve to highlight the “tension between collective ambition, between team and self, is omnipresent, no matter what level”.
Only in the muddy scrabble of non-league could there be a motley bunch. Coaching staff and fans are well represented, of course, in the pages of The Bottom Corner. So are well-meaning footballing anoraks steeped in the glory of ‘groundhopping’ (“blokes who are forty-five onwards. We’re all trainspotters or ex-trainspotters), as well as the entrenched volunteers such as those at Salford FC refusing to move their food stalls despite Gary Neville’s insistence. Rarely is there disaffection amongst these types, and when there is, something glorious comes out of it—the formation of FC United of Manchester conceived at a series of curry houses comes to mind here.
Where there is glory, however, there is also tragedy. The deaths of two Worthing United players at Shoreham while commuting to a game bookends The Bottom Corner. There is also tragedy that touches on the inherent difficulties faced by non-league clubs and officials. An honest toiler misses training because he has been held in detention; a septuagenarian referee continues officiating out of love, but also because of a lack of young referees; and a successful team completely gutted when its gaffer takes his players and staff to a more competitive level. When BBC presenter Mark Chapman was quoted about non-league football, “I love it. It feels earthy, it feels real. It’s the noise, it’s the Bovril, it’s the smell of a pie that’s been there a week and a half”, he possibly didn’t have in mind the wound-up clubs, the sodden and empty pitches from cancelled games, and the clear lack of investment from England’s ruling football body. This is non-league reality.
Nige Tassell does a remarkable job bringing these stories together. He does, however, seem to spread himself a little thin at times. A such, many stories are naturally open-ended and lack a take-away lesson. A bit of context with the structure of non-league football would not go astray, particularly for someone not familiar with the vagaries of it. The Bottom Corner is a breezy read, and clearly—as has been previously discussed—contains plenty of special moments that will resound with the reader beyond the last page. There are also plenty of those ‘Oh, so that’s where that player ended up!’ moments.
HIGHLIGHTED PASSAGE (pg. 272):
Upon coaching staff of phoenix club Hereford FC returning to the abandoned Edgar Road home ground of the wound-up Hereford United:
STARS: 4/5
FULL TIME SCORE: An entertaining, end-to-end slog in a 3-2 FA Vase tie. Featuring a dog on the pitch.
Two narratives are presented in depth. Bishop Sutton, cellar dweller of the Toolstation Western League Division One, can barely muster a team to avoid the ignominy of a winless season. Tranmere Rovers (“a star-crossed football club that perpetually finds new and painful ways to kick its fans in the gut”), oh-so-close to a Premier League berth some 25 years ago, attempts to return to the professional league on the first try. No slickly crafted, feel-good tropes of miraculous comebacks and last-minute winners abound here. Instead, these two narratives serve to show just how tumultuous the going can be in non-league football, and how nothing is guaranteed amidst the turgid play of part-timers slugging away at each other for a shot at individual glory at the professional level.
In between these narratives and over ten fascinating chapters, characters emerge that provide shape and substance to non-league football. A Philippines international captain in the twilight of his career. A striker trying his best to get (back) into the national Gibraltar setup. A reluctant goal machine (“I’ve put eighty balls in the net”) who is also restricted in movement due to a driving ban. A young Sierra Leonean and Chelsea U-19 castoff looking for his place in football. Such vignettes serve to highlight the “tension between collective ambition, between team and self, is omnipresent, no matter what level”.
Only in the muddy scrabble of non-league could there be a motley bunch. Coaching staff and fans are well represented, of course, in the pages of The Bottom Corner. So are well-meaning footballing anoraks steeped in the glory of ‘groundhopping’ (“blokes who are forty-five onwards. We’re all trainspotters or ex-trainspotters), as well as the entrenched volunteers such as those at Salford FC refusing to move their food stalls despite Gary Neville’s insistence. Rarely is there disaffection amongst these types, and when there is, something glorious comes out of it—the formation of FC United of Manchester conceived at a series of curry houses comes to mind here.
Where there is glory, however, there is also tragedy. The deaths of two Worthing United players at Shoreham while commuting to a game bookends The Bottom Corner. There is also tragedy that touches on the inherent difficulties faced by non-league clubs and officials. An honest toiler misses training because he has been held in detention; a septuagenarian referee continues officiating out of love, but also because of a lack of young referees; and a successful team completely gutted when its gaffer takes his players and staff to a more competitive level. When BBC presenter Mark Chapman was quoted about non-league football, “I love it. It feels earthy, it feels real. It’s the noise, it’s the Bovril, it’s the smell of a pie that’s been there a week and a half”, he possibly didn’t have in mind the wound-up clubs, the sodden and empty pitches from cancelled games, and the clear lack of investment from England’s ruling football body. This is non-league reality.
Nige Tassell does a remarkable job bringing these stories together. He does, however, seem to spread himself a little thin at times. A such, many stories are naturally open-ended and lack a take-away lesson. A bit of context with the structure of non-league football would not go astray, particularly for someone not familiar with the vagaries of it. The Bottom Corner is a breezy read, and clearly—as has been previously discussed—contains plenty of special moments that will resound with the reader beyond the last page. There are also plenty of those ‘Oh, so that’s where that player ended up!’ moments.
HIGHLIGHTED PASSAGE (pg. 272):
Upon coaching staff of phoenix club Hereford FC returning to the abandoned Edgar Road home ground of the wound-up Hereford United:
“In the home dressing room, the detritus of the final training session lay everywhere—muddy shirts, screwed-up socks and mildewing towels. Upstairs in the bar, the beer had been festering in the pipes for six months, while a selection of mince pies lay untouched on a tray. The Christmas decorations were still up. Everything seemed to be waiting for the arrival of a crack forensics team to dust for prints.”
STARS: 4/5
FULL TIME SCORE: An entertaining, end-to-end slog in a 3-2 FA Vase tie. Featuring a dog on the pitch.
August 10, 2025
BOOK REVIEW | The Bottom Corner
Hope, Glory, and Non-League Football
✍🏻 Nige Tassell
“‘All of the board here will stand with the fans to watch the game. No one will sit in the stand. I was a fan before I got involved with the club, after all. And the players are fans, the players are owners.’”
The English football pyramid has four professional tiers, but just steps down from the Premiere League is home to amateur and semi-pro teams with long histories, community-centered boards, and lifelong, diehard fans.
A few years ago, I fell in love with a non-league club in Merseyside, England, whose history dates back to 1884. The community and fans are some of the most welcoming and wonderful people I have ever met and Tassell captures the energy of being at a non-league match perfectly.
“But any team can beat any other team in this league on their day.”
I admire that Tassell does not shy away from capturing the defeats in non-league club’s stories, highlighting team’s best previous performances and top-league finishes, while also including financial troubles facing clubs when they are promoted to the next level up.
What I enjoy the most about this book is Tassell’s blending of match performances and recounting with stories of the people behind each club. The Bottom Corner provides insight into the experiences of players at the non-league level, who may be aiming to reach the professional tiers or may choose their non-league club for the rest of their career, as well as the managers and board members who often battle financial uncertainties in the battle for promotion, or in avoiding being relegated down a tier.
The heart of non-league is the volunteers, who are essential for a club’s ability to function, ticketing, grounds keeping, club media, and who also create and foster the positive community surrounding the club. You can definitely feel that in this book.
“Another season awaits. Another adventure ready to unfold. Another attempt to escape the bottom corner.”
I am adding Tassell’s other works to my TBR and I highly, highly recommend this book, whether or not you’re a non-league fan (yet 😉).
Hope, Glory, and Non-League Football
✍🏻 Nige Tassell
“‘All of the board here will stand with the fans to watch the game. No one will sit in the stand. I was a fan before I got involved with the club, after all. And the players are fans, the players are owners.’”
The English football pyramid has four professional tiers, but just steps down from the Premiere League is home to amateur and semi-pro teams with long histories, community-centered boards, and lifelong, diehard fans.
A few years ago, I fell in love with a non-league club in Merseyside, England, whose history dates back to 1884. The community and fans are some of the most welcoming and wonderful people I have ever met and Tassell captures the energy of being at a non-league match perfectly.
“But any team can beat any other team in this league on their day.”
I admire that Tassell does not shy away from capturing the defeats in non-league club’s stories, highlighting team’s best previous performances and top-league finishes, while also including financial troubles facing clubs when they are promoted to the next level up.
What I enjoy the most about this book is Tassell’s blending of match performances and recounting with stories of the people behind each club. The Bottom Corner provides insight into the experiences of players at the non-league level, who may be aiming to reach the professional tiers or may choose their non-league club for the rest of their career, as well as the managers and board members who often battle financial uncertainties in the battle for promotion, or in avoiding being relegated down a tier.
The heart of non-league is the volunteers, who are essential for a club’s ability to function, ticketing, grounds keeping, club media, and who also create and foster the positive community surrounding the club. You can definitely feel that in this book.
“Another season awaits. Another adventure ready to unfold. Another attempt to escape the bottom corner.”
I am adding Tassell’s other works to my TBR and I highly, highly recommend this book, whether or not you’re a non-league fan (yet 😉).
May 4, 2017
Inspiring book about several non-League footballers, their clubs, fans and managers. The stories are unique yet they share a common theme: love for football. From the few lucky non-League international footballers, to your average mince pie-and-Red Bull Sunday league goalkeeper, from fallen giants who struggle to return to the Football League, to the lowest of the lowest, who can't even win a game each season in the depths of English football.
During the author's extensive travels through suburban England, we encounter peculiar creatures: groundhoppers who are well on track to visiting the #1000 new football ground, scouts who are never home and clock up mile after mile in the hope of discovering the new Jamie Vardy, chairmen who dream of their clubs one day playing in the premiership whilst most of their counterparts struggle to retain 11 players season in, season out and are busy with more common tasks, such as washing the kit after match day or running the club's bar.
All in all, "The Bottom Corner" makes for a great read!
During the author's extensive travels through suburban England, we encounter peculiar creatures: groundhoppers who are well on track to visiting the #1000 new football ground, scouts who are never home and clock up mile after mile in the hope of discovering the new Jamie Vardy, chairmen who dream of their clubs one day playing in the premiership whilst most of their counterparts struggle to retain 11 players season in, season out and are busy with more common tasks, such as washing the kit after match day or running the club's bar.
All in all, "The Bottom Corner" makes for a great read!
April 2, 2018
This is a very good book which looks at all aspects of footballing life below the top four divisions. What impresses is the depth of the coverage: the author spends time at Tranmere Rovers, expected to bounce straight back into League 2 from the National League, but also visits the casual Sunday footballers playing on Hackney Marshes. What's more, he interviews international players plying their trade below the fourth tier, writes about a so-called hipster non-league club and pays regular visits to a side struggling at the tenth level of English football.
'The Bottom Corner' is interesting and well-written.
'The Bottom Corner' is interesting and well-written.
February 12, 2018
Tassell spends time with a variety of non-League teams, players and officials in the 2015/16 season. Subjects range from the travails of newly non-league Tranmere Rovers to Sunday’s on Hackney Marshes. Always respectful of his subjects, Tassell’s prose flows nicely and he avoids the crime of many writers of this type of book the weak pun. Overall it’s an excellent addition to the burgeoning football book market.
Only one concern, never write off a Northern League team in the Vase and Tassel should have perhaps investigated why this is true.
Only one concern, never write off a Northern League team in the Vase and Tassel should have perhaps investigated why this is true.
January 27, 2019
As a follower of Non-League football myself, I found this book quite engrossing.
The format was tidy, accounting for the season and off-season on a month by month basis, and concentrating on only a couple of clubs each chapter. I would, though, have preferred to read about more teams from the middle the pyramid, my only slight criticism being that the book seems more focused on National League, and then clubs right at the bottom of the pyramid.
But that really doesn't detract from providing a well written account of life at the Bottom Corner. of British football
The format was tidy, accounting for the season and off-season on a month by month basis, and concentrating on only a couple of clubs each chapter. I would, though, have preferred to read about more teams from the middle the pyramid, my only slight criticism being that the book seems more focused on National League, and then clubs right at the bottom of the pyramid.
But that really doesn't detract from providing a well written account of life at the Bottom Corner. of British football
December 16, 2020
When my team dropped into non league I was devastated. However the years spent watching them in non league football (before finally being promoted out of it) were the most enjoyable in my 40 years of watching live football.
Non league football is real football, not plastic like the Premier League.
Those who support non league teams do so not for the glory but because they love their team.
This is a great book about a great side of English football that is completely overlooked by the BBC.
Non league football is real football, not plastic like the Premier League.
Those who support non league teams do so not for the glory but because they love their team.
This is a great book about a great side of English football that is completely overlooked by the BBC.
October 28, 2017
My only gripe about this book are the superlatives that adorn the cover "fascinating" "sharp and insightful" "extraordinary". That's only because this captures so well so many of my experiences enjoying the wonder that is non-league football. A celebration of the real game. Thanks for sharing. I should have written a book myself!
May 27, 2018
Life in the football non-leagues of England, all the way down to the 9th level and a trip to Hackney Marshes to meet the various people who keep the small teams going.
Along the way we'll meet a former head of the FA, a shipping container, a live bull, tragedy but above all we'll meet hope. No matter what level you are its the hope that keeps you going.
Along the way we'll meet a former head of the FA, a shipping container, a live bull, tragedy but above all we'll meet hope. No matter what level you are its the hope that keeps you going.
January 25, 2020
Качество чтива, прямо скажем, хромает - всё-таки чувствуется, что писал журналист, а не писатель. Не хватало глубины, какими бы оборотами автор свои истории не приукрашал. Но очень атмосферно, хоть иногда даже пафосно. Сразу думал ставить тройку, но как раз атмосферность стала залогом поднятия оценки до четырёх.
February 2, 2021
A decent football read. Jumps from place to place (introducing new places and people throughout) so it can feel a bit loosely linked. Nige's distaste for the upper echelons of football occasionally seeps into the chapters, which makes it seem a bit embittered at times. It has whetted my appetite for non-league football after the covid era, though.
September 2, 2022
A wonderful heartwarming story about the type of soccer (football) that's played away from the bright lights of TV. Told on a calendar basis the story wanders through grounds, clubs, players and people associated with the hundreds of teams outside the top tiers of England. Funny, moving and sincere it's a great story that any fan of the game can relate to.
November 5, 2024
I very much enjoyed this look at the lower echelons of English football, particularly the Tranmere sections. Real football with non glory hunting fans. No big team fans. Never got this need for some fans, North and South of the Scottish border, who seem to also follow a 'big' team along with their local team.
February 17, 2025
3.5 stars probably more fair, a nice read that covers a lot of interesting stories but lacks that bit of oomph to really grip you. Perfect book for the tube when reading 10/15 pages at a time tho as it’s very readable and pleasant. Beautiful tribute at the end to 2 players who sadly died - very well written book
April 6, 2019
So well written.
I bought the hard copy of this for a friend
who loves football. Out of idle curiosity
I bought the kindle version. Quite surprised
and delighted by how well written it is.
Great story telling
I bought the hard copy of this for a friend
who loves football. Out of idle curiosity
I bought the kindle version. Quite surprised
and delighted by how well written it is.
Great story telling
January 28, 2021
This book was so much fun. I wanted to learn more about non-league football and this book absolutely delivered. Ranging from a variety of perspectives, Nige collects one of the best books on the sport I've ever read. I will probably return to this book later to read again.
January 1, 2023
I read 45 books in 2022 – this was the best. Comfortably in my top 10 books of all-time and perhaps top 5 football books I’ve ever read.
If you want a sense of just how important and embedded football culture is in England, read this.
If you want a sense of just how important and embedded football culture is in England, read this.
May 1, 2023
Slightly dated, interesting to read up on where the mentioned teams are these days. Really enjoy non fiction where the author can pick out the most interesting element and read more like a narrative. Love reading Tassell books
July 9, 2023
As a follower of a non league club since early childhood many of the stories resonated. A brilliantly written journey of one season across the different steps of the non league pyramid - thanks for your time and efforts Nige - I really enjoyed this!
January 8, 2024
Lively, wide-ranging portraits of the lower levels of English football. After reading this, I now want to buy a tiny equity stake in a non-league club—not for investment returns, but for fun and to part of the environment, even if it’s only from a distance.
February 19, 2024
An insightful account of life in the lower tiers of non-league football with the unlikely internationals, the groundhoppers and the volunteers keeping it all going. A world away from the Premier League.
January 21, 2025
Loved this book. Over the years, I've followed a number of non-League teams dependent on where I lived at the time.
This is a great insight into the running of teams at various levels of the Football pyramid, amusing in places and thought provoking in others.
A great read!
This is a great insight into the running of teams at various levels of the Football pyramid, amusing in places and thought provoking in others.
A great read!
February 12, 2018
The subject matter won’t appeal to everyone but if it does seem appealing, you will not be disappointed. Great reporting and stories that tug at your heart strings.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews