Football My Arse!: The Funniest Football Book You'll Ever Read

by Ricky Tomlinson, Mike Bassett (Foreword)

From one of Britain's best-loved actors and comedians comes this collection of hilarious anecdotes about football, with stories about the stars themselves, the fans, the girlfriends, the managers, every aspect of the beautiful—and occasionally ridiculous—game. Recounted with Ricky Tomlinson's trademark wit, this is a bright and brilliantly entertaining collection that will delight football fans everywhere.

Genres: Football

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Scott Gardner]

For a book which claims to be the funniest you will read , fails to live up to it , hardly a smile raised

[Mike Steven]

Pretty much every damn football anecdote that you'll ever want. Sadly it comes across as a list rather than a proper book and there's no doubt that for some of the stories the humour is derived in actually being able to see the error, alternatively, a lot of the stories seem to me that you had to be there.



It also contains my pet hate of extreme double standards. Old players are given respect and described as 'characters' for doing things like shagging around and getting pissed. Tomlinson berates modern football for being full of spoilt fancy dans and having no characters and, if there's an example of a modern footballer sleeping around or getting pissed, then they are lambasted for it.



There is also the added annoying factor of Tomlinson's constant referrals to his fictional manager Mike Bassett. "If Mike Bassett had been there . . ." Tomlinson hilariously adds after ever third anecdote.



This was a gift someone got me at Christmas. Their logic was obviously that I like books and I like football so I'd love a book about football. A thoughtful gift and I'm grateful for the sentiment but in retrospect, I'd rather have the cash.

[Dimitris]

Very funny, read it in 2 days

[Ken]

Not too sure why I read this. It's a bunch o anecdotes taken largely out of context. It reads like a tabloid.