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How Football (Nearly) Came Home: Adventures in Putin’s World Cup
The summer of 2018: England sweltered in the most sustained heatwave for 42 years, the government tore itself apart over deals and no deals, and hundreds of miles away, in a taciturn and strange state, the national football team did the unthinkable in the World Cup: they didn’t screw it up. The England team that touched down in Russia for the 2018 World Cup was a new-look outfit: there were no real stars, no overblown egos, and no dickheads. Still reeling from the wincing exit to Iceland in the 2016 Euros, expectations were at an all-time low. Qualification had been smooth if not spectacular, and pundits and fans alike were lukewarm about the team’s chances. Just avoiding embarrassment would have counted as some kind of success. As the tournament kicked off, a stunningly stage-managed occasion by Putin and his cronies at FIFA, we all took a deep inhale of breath and waited for the inevitable: technical ineptitude and crap penalties. How wrong we were. Over the next three weeks, as back home we dissolved in the heat, our football team gave us reason to believe. We squeaked a win against Tunisia, trounced Panama and had a great tactical defeat to Belgium to open up the draw to the final. We all bought waistcoats and eulogised Southgate’s calm, fatherly manner. We all fell in love with ‘Slabhead’, aka Harry Maguire. And we did it all to the tune of ‘It’s Coming Home’. Barney Ronay was there through the whole tournament, criss–crossing over Russia as he followed the England team, and the rest, on their quest for glory. Here, he captures the sights and sounds, the twists and turns, the bad food and the great football that contributed into making this World Cup one of the greatest of all time.
256 pages, Paperback
Published September 10, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
March 19, 2019
3.5
Barney Ronay is an able writer who chronicles the 2018 World Cup in Russia with a humor and style that make him stand out. However, I will never understand the pessimism and angst that English sports writers feel when they are writing about England. It’s almost like you’re not allowed to like them in order to get your credential. That’s why I was so glad to see that although Ronay adopted this attitude at the beginning of the book, even he could not help but be swept away by the joy that accompanied the glorious surprise that was England’s 2018 World Cup. Sometimes it's ok for football to be fun.
This may not be the best book that will be written on this tournament, but it is the first one (at least to my knowledge) and that’s important.
Barney Ronay is an able writer who chronicles the 2018 World Cup in Russia with a humor and style that make him stand out. However, I will never understand the pessimism and angst that English sports writers feel when they are writing about England. It’s almost like you’re not allowed to like them in order to get your credential. That’s why I was so glad to see that although Ronay adopted this attitude at the beginning of the book, even he could not help but be swept away by the joy that accompanied the glorious surprise that was England’s 2018 World Cup. Sometimes it's ok for football to be fun.
This may not be the best book that will be written on this tournament, but it is the first one (at least to my knowledge) and that’s important.
December 29, 2018
The great Irish sportswriter Con Houlihan once observed "I missed Italia 90. I was in Italy at the time". This is a quandary frequently faced by roving sports correspondents and acknowledged by Barney Ronay in “How Football (Nearly) Came Home”. Ronay spent six weeks travelling back-and-forth across Russia trying to get to grips with the 2018 World Cup when the real story of the tournament – the English public’s growing hysteria with their team’s progress in the competition - was happening over 2,000 miles away back home in Blighty.
This is the nagging feeling that Barney Ronay conveys throughout his book that, having been invited to what FIFA purport to be the greatest party on earth, you discover the real party is happening elsewhere. For football reporters, there are also the difficulties in getting a true insight into Russia or trying to take the pulse of the Russian people, when your employers are demanding you charge off to make your connecting flight so you can report on Tunisia versus Panama.
Thankfully, Barney Ronay remains the master of the idiosyncratic footballing analogy. Anybody familiar with Ronay’s Guardian columns will know his dexterous turn-of-phrase, with particular highlights here being his descriptions of Jose Mourinho (“looking like a semi-retired neo-Nazi PE teacher who’s spent the last three weeks sleeping in his car”) and the lumbering Belgian midfielder Marouane Fellaini (“the footballing equivalent of the pair of dirty wellies you keep in the boot of the car for days like these”).
“How Football (Nearly) Came Home” doesn’t quite come close to tapping into the psyche of the Russian people or the mindset of Vladimir Putin (if you’re looking to find out who poisoned the Skirpals, this probably isn’t the book for you). But it is an intelligent and astute account of a curious World Cup, where Russia proved to be reasonably welcoming hosts, previous fan-favourites Brazil were the footballing villains, and England almost unbelievably managed to produce a squad of halfway-likeable human beings who – for once – weren’t utterly pathetic at playing tournament football.
This is the nagging feeling that Barney Ronay conveys throughout his book that, having been invited to what FIFA purport to be the greatest party on earth, you discover the real party is happening elsewhere. For football reporters, there are also the difficulties in getting a true insight into Russia or trying to take the pulse of the Russian people, when your employers are demanding you charge off to make your connecting flight so you can report on Tunisia versus Panama.
Thankfully, Barney Ronay remains the master of the idiosyncratic footballing analogy. Anybody familiar with Ronay’s Guardian columns will know his dexterous turn-of-phrase, with particular highlights here being his descriptions of Jose Mourinho (“looking like a semi-retired neo-Nazi PE teacher who’s spent the last three weeks sleeping in his car”) and the lumbering Belgian midfielder Marouane Fellaini (“the footballing equivalent of the pair of dirty wellies you keep in the boot of the car for days like these”).
“How Football (Nearly) Came Home” doesn’t quite come close to tapping into the psyche of the Russian people or the mindset of Vladimir Putin (if you’re looking to find out who poisoned the Skirpals, this probably isn’t the book for you). But it is an intelligent and astute account of a curious World Cup, where Russia proved to be reasonably welcoming hosts, previous fan-favourites Brazil were the footballing villains, and England almost unbelievably managed to produce a squad of halfway-likeable human beings who – for once – weren’t utterly pathetic at playing tournament football.
December 11, 2020
Great writing and fun.
I'm taking one star off because it seems to me that the author conveniently "forgot" about mentioning some unflattering details about England team and players, like goalkeeper just being a royal asshole in semi-finals and probably the crucial reason the England lost.
Not that I mind. Thanks, goalie! You were our 13-th player.
I'm taking one star off because it seems to me that the author conveniently "forgot" about mentioning some unflattering details about England team and players, like goalkeeper just being a royal asshole in semi-finals and probably the crucial reason the England lost.
Not that I mind. Thanks, goalie! You were our 13-th player.
November 23, 2022
As the 2022 World Cup gets underway in Qatar, it’s a nice moment to reflect with Barney Ronay on the tournament in Russia four years earlier.
Barney is not only one of my favorite football writers, he’s one of my favorite writers, period. Everything you find in his Guardian football (or ‘soccer’ when you want to annoy your British friends) is here as well. His intelligence, trademark wit, social awareness, self deprecation, as well as his snark, verbosity, and self righteousness are all on display here.
And what a tournament for all those things. Whether describing the dizzyingly corrupt ceremony where the tournament was awarded to Russia with such luminaries as David Cameron, Boris Johnson, and Vladimir Putin in attendance, or the sorrowful tournament arc of Lionel Messi (one of the world’s greatest players) Barney. In addition to being flummoxed by Russian people and geography, is always seemingly everywhere to add something hilariously sarcastic to add.
You don’t even have to be a football fan to enjoy Barney following England fans across the vast expanses of Russia to understand the joy that people who often have little of it in their lives, can get from this tournament. It being England of course however, there is usually more disappointment than joy.
All the same, Russia 2018 was a roller coaster for England fans and when you read Barney’s book, you suspect that even with the inevitable disappointment, they wouldn’t trade the ride for anything.
Barney is not only one of my favorite football writers, he’s one of my favorite writers, period. Everything you find in his Guardian football (or ‘soccer’ when you want to annoy your British friends) is here as well. His intelligence, trademark wit, social awareness, self deprecation, as well as his snark, verbosity, and self righteousness are all on display here.
And what a tournament for all those things. Whether describing the dizzyingly corrupt ceremony where the tournament was awarded to Russia with such luminaries as David Cameron, Boris Johnson, and Vladimir Putin in attendance, or the sorrowful tournament arc of Lionel Messi (one of the world’s greatest players) Barney. In addition to being flummoxed by Russian people and geography, is always seemingly everywhere to add something hilariously sarcastic to add.
You don’t even have to be a football fan to enjoy Barney following England fans across the vast expanses of Russia to understand the joy that people who often have little of it in their lives, can get from this tournament. It being England of course however, there is usually more disappointment than joy.
All the same, Russia 2018 was a roller coaster for England fans and when you read Barney’s book, you suspect that even with the inevitable disappointment, they wouldn’t trade the ride for anything.
October 8, 2019
This is a jolly book about England in the 2018 World Cup that also touches on some serious issues about FIFA and the corruption. Russia features a lot luckily as I am reading this for #redoctoberrussianreads
October 25, 2019
I enjoyed this book immensely and read it just over the weekend (it's just over 220 pages and the pages are small).
Fits beautifully in the palm of your hand so is great to read on your lunchbreak at work.
The 2018 world cup was one of the ones I followed very closely, so it was really nice to read, what is effectively Barney's world cup diary, as he was in Russia, covering it for The Guardian.
If you read Barney's normal columns in the Guardian, you will already be used to his unique style (what's called whimsical aphorisms). He is a talented journalist with a great turn of phrase.
Read his articles for free on the Guardian website to get a feel for the style, and if you like it, get this book! It's been a perfect way to re-live the World Cup some 5 months after it ended.
It was the hottest summer for 40 years in the UK and 'it's coming home' has been in the air alright. Barney alludes to this overall feeling of goodwill towards the England team in his book, along with the title being a play on words (England being knocked out in the semis after extra time, being the how it 'almost' came home in the book's title).
The book is full of all around observations made by Barney on his adventure through Russia, a look at the other teams and the themes of the world cup (VAR awared goals, Neymar being the all around villain, the usual hysteria, which always follows Brazil at world cups, brutalist Soviet-era architecture, huge distances and flights, former closed nuclear cities).
If you read Barney's 2 weekly columns in the Guardian, you will love this! And it proved the perfect accompaniment to my memories of one of the better world cups on record.
It includes a lot of Barney's shrewd observations about Russia, the absolute state of FIFA, world cup, various teams - and is teeming with wry humour, which as an Englishman, he, naturally, does exceptionally well!
A must-read for Barney's fans!
Fits beautifully in the palm of your hand so is great to read on your lunchbreak at work.
The 2018 world cup was one of the ones I followed very closely, so it was really nice to read, what is effectively Barney's world cup diary, as he was in Russia, covering it for The Guardian.
If you read Barney's normal columns in the Guardian, you will already be used to his unique style (what's called whimsical aphorisms). He is a talented journalist with a great turn of phrase.
Read his articles for free on the Guardian website to get a feel for the style, and if you like it, get this book! It's been a perfect way to re-live the World Cup some 5 months after it ended.
It was the hottest summer for 40 years in the UK and 'it's coming home' has been in the air alright. Barney alludes to this overall feeling of goodwill towards the England team in his book, along with the title being a play on words (England being knocked out in the semis after extra time, being the how it 'almost' came home in the book's title).
The book is full of all around observations made by Barney on his adventure through Russia, a look at the other teams and the themes of the world cup (VAR awared goals, Neymar being the all around villain, the usual hysteria, which always follows Brazil at world cups, brutalist Soviet-era architecture, huge distances and flights, former closed nuclear cities).
If you read Barney's 2 weekly columns in the Guardian, you will love this! And it proved the perfect accompaniment to my memories of one of the better world cups on record.
It includes a lot of Barney's shrewd observations about Russia, the absolute state of FIFA, world cup, various teams - and is teeming with wry humour, which as an Englishman, he, naturally, does exceptionally well!
A must-read for Barney's fans!
August 13, 2020
In How Football (Nearly) Came Home: Adventures in Putin’s World Cup, Barney Ronay, senior sports writer for The Guardian, outlines his experiences and insights during the World Cup 2018 in Russia. Structured chronologically around Ronay’s journey, the book transports readers around Russia, mostly following England’s campaign competition, but also to the other games Ronay watched.
How Football (Nearly) Came Home combines detailed analysis of events on and off the field in Russia. In this book Ronay demonstrates his ability to vividly recreate matches, capturing tactical details and the emotions in the stadium. As readers of his columns will know Ronay enjoys a simile or two, and he deploys them in this book with the prowess that marks his much loved newspaper columns. His description of Jordan Henderson in the Tunisia game as –‘ shuttling forward with that upright gait, like a Calvary officer galloping through the ranks’ – is spot on. Ronay also taps into the general mood and atmosphere among the fans inside the stadium during games, both bringing the games alive and providing new details and perspectives for those who caught the games on TV. I was surprised, however, that there was no mention of the Pussy Riot protest in the final.
Ronay is a reliable tour guide of Russia, painting detailed pictures of the places he sees, the people he saw and the food he ate (or didn’t eat). He does so with wit and intelligence and avoids falling back on lazy stereotypes. Moreover, he’s self-aware, quick to point out the limits of his knowledge and how his British centric positionality might be clouding his judgment. As the short bibliography at the back of the book evidences, Ronay has done his homework and the historical, sociological and political background he adds to contextualize his experiences makes this book more than a summary of his thoughts. A few images, however, would have broken up and added another layer to the reader’s experience.
What I enjoyed most about this book is how he took us ‘back stage’, sharing information on what reporting on a World Cup actually looks like. Ronay tells us about the mechanics of his job, little details such as the atmosphere in the press seats and the standard journalist’s diet. These tidbits of information could (and probably should) be boring, but are instead livened up by his prose. A particular highlight is his description of the mixed zone, where he described himself as a ‘callow recruit’ in the Nang Delta, ‘straight off the boat and holding his gun backwards’.
The book contains a couple of sloppy editorial mistakes but nothing to ruin to its flow. Obviously this book can only be as long as Ronay’s journey and there is only so much he can say about his experiences with Russian transport and cuisine but it did seem a little short. Perhaps this is because it is such an easy read or perhaps it is a technique to reflect the World Cup’s pace and ephemerality.
Overall, this was a really fun read and I hope he is commissioned to relay his adventures at Qatar 2022.
How Football (Nearly) Came Home combines detailed analysis of events on and off the field in Russia. In this book Ronay demonstrates his ability to vividly recreate matches, capturing tactical details and the emotions in the stadium. As readers of his columns will know Ronay enjoys a simile or two, and he deploys them in this book with the prowess that marks his much loved newspaper columns. His description of Jordan Henderson in the Tunisia game as –‘ shuttling forward with that upright gait, like a Calvary officer galloping through the ranks’ – is spot on. Ronay also taps into the general mood and atmosphere among the fans inside the stadium during games, both bringing the games alive and providing new details and perspectives for those who caught the games on TV. I was surprised, however, that there was no mention of the Pussy Riot protest in the final.
Ronay is a reliable tour guide of Russia, painting detailed pictures of the places he sees, the people he saw and the food he ate (or didn’t eat). He does so with wit and intelligence and avoids falling back on lazy stereotypes. Moreover, he’s self-aware, quick to point out the limits of his knowledge and how his British centric positionality might be clouding his judgment. As the short bibliography at the back of the book evidences, Ronay has done his homework and the historical, sociological and political background he adds to contextualize his experiences makes this book more than a summary of his thoughts. A few images, however, would have broken up and added another layer to the reader’s experience.
What I enjoyed most about this book is how he took us ‘back stage’, sharing information on what reporting on a World Cup actually looks like. Ronay tells us about the mechanics of his job, little details such as the atmosphere in the press seats and the standard journalist’s diet. These tidbits of information could (and probably should) be boring, but are instead livened up by his prose. A particular highlight is his description of the mixed zone, where he described himself as a ‘callow recruit’ in the Nang Delta, ‘straight off the boat and holding his gun backwards’.
The book contains a couple of sloppy editorial mistakes but nothing to ruin to its flow. Obviously this book can only be as long as Ronay’s journey and there is only so much he can say about his experiences with Russian transport and cuisine but it did seem a little short. Perhaps this is because it is such an easy read or perhaps it is a technique to reflect the World Cup’s pace and ephemerality.
Overall, this was a really fun read and I hope he is commissioned to relay his adventures at Qatar 2022.
July 25, 2019
Barney Ronay is without a doubt one of the best sports writers about, his columns in The Guardian across all sports are a must read. A man who takes his sport seriously but not too seriously and his writing has a wit and lightness of touch.
All of that carries over in this book which is effectively his diary of World Cup 2018. His travels and travails as he crosses Russia following England and catching other games when he can. The title might make you think this is one of those jingoistic Engerland style books but nothing could be further from the truth. Ronay observes from afar the growing enthusiasm for the team at home with a wry eye. He also tries to place that enthusiasm in a different light when compared to previous years suggesting that it was a very different beast - reclaiming Three Lions from the patriotic, Brexiteer anthem it at times appeared to have become and restoring it's irony and humour. I'm not entirely convinced by the argument as it is partly the view form afar and partly the view I think he would like to have of how England reacted to the team's progress but he makes a strong case.
The book isn't just about England though and as enjoyable are the pieces on other teams, players and games as well as his experiences of Russia.
All of that carries over in this book which is effectively his diary of World Cup 2018. His travels and travails as he crosses Russia following England and catching other games when he can. The title might make you think this is one of those jingoistic Engerland style books but nothing could be further from the truth. Ronay observes from afar the growing enthusiasm for the team at home with a wry eye. He also tries to place that enthusiasm in a different light when compared to previous years suggesting that it was a very different beast - reclaiming Three Lions from the patriotic, Brexiteer anthem it at times appeared to have become and restoring it's irony and humour. I'm not entirely convinced by the argument as it is partly the view form afar and partly the view I think he would like to have of how England reacted to the team's progress but he makes a strong case.
The book isn't just about England though and as enjoyable are the pieces on other teams, players and games as well as his experiences of Russia.
May 22, 2019
Even if it's still not quite a year since the 2018 Russia World Cup, this enjoyable and well written and very funny book that looks back on those few summer weeks when we all thought it was coming home, is a joy for both fans of the beautiful game and those who enjoy a good read.
With the memories, both good and not so good, still lingering, I really enjoyed being taken back to those nights down the pub watching the qualifiers and the penalties in the Columbia match with best mates. That Saturday afternoon at a BBQ watching the Sweden match in a friend's garden with lots of other friends and sizzling sausages and bountiful burgers and that night in a local social sports club with close family, where Croatia were the party poopers.
Despite then result, it was a fun time and the sun was shining and although unlike Barney, I wasn't there, but like boarding the Tardis, he took me back to Russia where I could relive it all again and although this time I knew the outcome it was just as enjoyable and exciting on the page as it was in reality.
A must read for all international football fans especially us fans of England.
With the memories, both good and not so good, still lingering, I really enjoyed being taken back to those nights down the pub watching the qualifiers and the penalties in the Columbia match with best mates. That Saturday afternoon at a BBQ watching the Sweden match in a friend's garden with lots of other friends and sizzling sausages and bountiful burgers and that night in a local social sports club with close family, where Croatia were the party poopers.
Despite then result, it was a fun time and the sun was shining and although unlike Barney, I wasn't there, but like boarding the Tardis, he took me back to Russia where I could relive it all again and although this time I knew the outcome it was just as enjoyable and exciting on the page as it was in reality.
A must read for all international football fans especially us fans of England.
September 18, 2022
This is pretty much Barney Ronay's World Cup diary as he travelled around Russia in 2018, written in a similar style to his Guardian columns. Whilst the title suggests a focus just on England, and England's run to the semi finals is primarily the focus even though it was difficult for Ronat to gauge the situation in England whilst thousands of miles away, it isn't the only thing about this book.
There are observations about Russia as a host and how it found its way to hosting the World Cup in the first place (hint: FIFA is pretty corrupt), as well as FIFA as an organisation, a few teams such as Spain and especially Brazil (who have become the bad guys) as well as Lionel Messi.
If you're expecting an in depth piece into Russia, this isn't it. It doesn't pretend to be either. Ronay is a football journalist in Russia on work. And if you want a fly-on-the-wall book about a team such as Pete Davies' All Played Out about Italia 90', then this isn't it either. It's a breezy, quite humorous read about an excellent World Cup tournament.
There are observations about Russia as a host and how it found its way to hosting the World Cup in the first place (hint: FIFA is pretty corrupt), as well as FIFA as an organisation, a few teams such as Spain and especially Brazil (who have become the bad guys) as well as Lionel Messi.
If you're expecting an in depth piece into Russia, this isn't it. It doesn't pretend to be either. Ronay is a football journalist in Russia on work. And if you want a fly-on-the-wall book about a team such as Pete Davies' All Played Out about Italia 90', then this isn't it either. It's a breezy, quite humorous read about an excellent World Cup tournament.
January 6, 2020
Did it make me yearn for the good old days! It wasn't as much about England and the general feeling of euphoria as I'd have liked (although there was some useful explanation as to why singing "it's coming home" was not triumphalist or egoistical or god forbid to be taken seriously but merely a very english kind of reaction to something that doesn't happen). The writer is cut off from England itself, being in Russia, so naturally his narrative expands to focus on other things. But this put blinkers on being able to explore the real impact of the run and also made for a bit of a sadly understated conclusion. (I can immediately disprove the author's assumption that no one cried about the result.)
Nice insights as to how the news process works with sports, though.
Nice insights as to how the news process works with sports, though.
October 24, 2024
There are good football books which can aspire to great literature, give a sense of time and place and of being at a tournament or in the midst of the action. This is far from being one of those, in fact i`m at somewhat of a loss to know what this book is about.
It`s not a travel book per se, it says little about Russia and isn`t an account of the 2018 World Cup either, it`s sort of a mish mash of the authors musings about the competition, a few experiences as he moves about the country, his views of the sense of exceptionalism that has historically being associated with the England team and perhaps how we have moved on from the hooligan element and dark days of the 1980s (albeit it is there still, lurking just below the surface).
It`s not even particularly funny.
Not recommended.
It`s not a travel book per se, it says little about Russia and isn`t an account of the 2018 World Cup either, it`s sort of a mish mash of the authors musings about the competition, a few experiences as he moves about the country, his views of the sense of exceptionalism that has historically being associated with the England team and perhaps how we have moved on from the hooligan element and dark days of the 1980s (albeit it is there still, lurking just below the surface).
It`s not even particularly funny.
Not recommended.
June 8, 2020
A nostalgic look back at one of the best summers of my life. Barney is probably my favourite football journalist, and this read like one long column of his - Insightful, witty, warm. It provides real behind the scenes detail of what it is like to report at a major tournament like the World Cup, painting a vivid picture of the madness, the hustle and bustle, the sheer exhaustion of it all. And obviously England's brilliantly thrilling, exciting, excruciatingly entertaining journey as they rode the wave of millions of pissed up England fans joyously lobbing pints in the air in pubs all across the country to the World Cup Semi-Final.
May 16, 2019
I THOROUGHLY enjoyed this book, and binge read it in just a few sittings. It was great. The author is genuinely funny, and he does a great job of capturing the spirit of the 2018 World Cup in general. Of course, it is written by an England fan and journalist, so it undoubtedly focuses on England. However, even for the non-England fans, there is great analysis of Spain's reliance on tiqui-taca, Germany's collapse, and Brazil's long-term decline. A very fun book for any World Cup fan, but even more so for an England fan.
May 15, 2022
Barney Ronay is possibly the best football writer on the planet, which explains why this book is consistently superb. The pages turn seamlessly, his distinctly spectacular style of writing populating the narrative with dollops of chuckle-inducing humour. Ronay embellishes the exposition with historical nuggets, increasing the scope of his storytelling and preventing it from ever becoming monotonously mundane. 'How Football (Nearly) Came Home' is a must-read for football fans. As for those who don't love football? You will most certainly love Ronay.
September 12, 2019
Almost a year after the tournament that allowed England football fans to once again embrace the spectacle that shows us that there are people in rooms, houses and avenues all over the world that feel the same about the beautiful game, I joined Barney on his adventures in Russia. His fabulous array of anecdotes transported me once again back to Moscow and beyond. Once again, I was in the summer of summers. Thank you for allowing me to join you and to relive the adventure.
January 3, 2019
Much like the summer of 2018, the best summer of my life, I didn't want this book to end. Great stuff from my main football writer man Barney Ronay (particularly enjoyed the moment when he compared the sound of a Harry Maguire header to that of a frozen cow carcass hitting cobbles after being hurled from a seventeenth-floor window).
January 9, 2020
A speedy run through the World Cup 2018, focussing on England and the author’s travel around Russia. Also looks into the issue of “what did it all mean”, concluding “not that much”. The football side us well written, but you don’t get much of a picture of Russia. Then again, I think that is how the author feels too!
June 2, 2021
Decent read, humorous account of a journalist’s journey through the World Cup and following England through the rounds, and that isn’t said very often! I always enjoy reading official accounts of tournaments and chose this one and it didn’t disappoint. Decent, no -frills read, especially good for long journeys and holidays.
January 20, 2019
Barney Ronay might have his own table in Pseuds Corner but here he's right on the money. The only book you need about the year football came home, only to then discover that it'd left its keys at the office.
February 25, 2019
Entertaining. Short, Engaging. A nice succinct summary of a tournament so recent that I actually can remember the events that are chronicled. And you can get a sense of the mounting excitement and the impact as various superstar nations are sent home earlier than they expected. A nice read.
March 29, 2020
Nostalgic trip through last summer's ebullient haze of sunshine, football and beer. Ronay skilfully weaves together Russia's sportswashing and England's inferiority complex along with his trademark liberal use of hilarious analogy.
February 17, 2025
A great (audio)book, about a summer drenched in nostalgia for me. Ronay's writing makes me watch football differently, leaves me grasping for my own metaphors. On paper, his should feel strained, but somehow, in the context of his work, they squeeze nearly into place. A lovely book.
January 15, 2019
Great account of what nearly was by one of the most humorous and readable sports writers going. A few genuine laugh out loud moments in this overview of the 2018 World Cup.
February 20, 2019
Good memories of a smashing summer and World Cup, written by one of the best current journalists.
May 3, 2020
Brilliant reportage, zooming in and then out to focus on the great tournament. Moral of the story: writers must love late nights and short-haul flights.
February 11, 2026
the period covered by this book is probably the happiest month or two of my life
think the the author is aware that in a lot of ways the more interesting story is what happened at home and how what it felt like to be English changed momentarily
can't really mark it down for that, Ronay was covering what he saw and he does cover that in a way that is both informative and funny
also funny the idea of Gianni Infantino being described as understated at this point, how things change in ~8 years
think the the author is aware that in a lot of ways the more interesting story is what happened at home and how what it felt like to be English changed momentarily
can't really mark it down for that, Ronay was covering what he saw and he does cover that in a way that is both informative and funny
also funny the idea of Gianni Infantino being described as understated at this point, how things change in ~8 years
October 21, 2025
A very easy to read and enjoyable re-telling of the world cup. Reading 7 years later provides a nostalgia element to it which meant I particularly enjoyed the descriptions of specific matches and footballing details that I had forgotten. Ronay's descriptions of Messi performances and Neymar antics sparked little flashbacks to where I was and what I was doing at the time, which is a testament to his knack of picking up on the worthwhile moments.
There were moments when talking about England expectations and disappointments where it bordered on repetitive but Ronay's writing struck a nice tone and didn't make me cringe or roll my eyes as it so often can when handled more glibly.
There were some nice behind-the-scenes insights into the experience of a journalist at these tournaments, little details that are interesting either because they are very expected or completely surprising.
He delves into Russian politics which, like the football world, has evolved and developed a lot since 2018 - however whilst the football changes provide an amusing dramatic irony to his analysis - the political analysis can feel a bit depressing and jarring in hindsight, with the lighter tone of the book not reflecting what has developed since. However there is clearly a great deal of care and thought that has gone into Ronay's depiction of the country itself - each location he visited being painted quite vividly showing the research of someone keen to give each locale the respect it deserved.
A few typo errors throughout that sometimes threw me out of my flow but generally a well-written and thoughtful read which takes itself just serious enough to carry some weight but keeps the tone light enough for a book about a song about football.
There were moments when talking about England expectations and disappointments where it bordered on repetitive but Ronay's writing struck a nice tone and didn't make me cringe or roll my eyes as it so often can when handled more glibly.
There were some nice behind-the-scenes insights into the experience of a journalist at these tournaments, little details that are interesting either because they are very expected or completely surprising.
He delves into Russian politics which, like the football world, has evolved and developed a lot since 2018 - however whilst the football changes provide an amusing dramatic irony to his analysis - the political analysis can feel a bit depressing and jarring in hindsight, with the lighter tone of the book not reflecting what has developed since. However there is clearly a great deal of care and thought that has gone into Ronay's depiction of the country itself - each location he visited being painted quite vividly showing the research of someone keen to give each locale the respect it deserved.
A few typo errors throughout that sometimes threw me out of my flow but generally a well-written and thoughtful read which takes itself just serious enough to carry some weight but keeps the tone light enough for a book about a song about football.
January 20, 2021
“For England, Russia 2018 was fun, thrilling, silly, escapist. And for once it felt as though the heaviness and the angst was left behind somewhere else.”
Barney Ronay is one of my favourite football writers, writing here about one of my favourite football topics: England at the 2018 World Cup. It ended in heartbreak, but what came before was magical and delirious, and Ronay captures it all perfectly: the hilarity, the disbelief, the sudden, unexpected love the whole country seemed to have for the national team.
The chapter ‘England, and the End Of All That’ was particularly enjoyable, covering England’s game versus Colombia. I remember watching it: the frustration, turning to pure happiness - until the 93rd minute, when everything came crashing down, followed by almost another hour of unbearable tension until Jordan Pickford saved the penalty and Eric Dier, unimaginably, scored the winner. Still can’t believe it happened, the way it happened, over a year on.
An insightful, humorous, vividly-written book to relive the World Cup, brilliantly capturing the wonder of England in the summer of 2018. Probably 4.5 stars.
Barney Ronay is one of my favourite football writers, writing here about one of my favourite football topics: England at the 2018 World Cup. It ended in heartbreak, but what came before was magical and delirious, and Ronay captures it all perfectly: the hilarity, the disbelief, the sudden, unexpected love the whole country seemed to have for the national team.
The chapter ‘England, and the End Of All That’ was particularly enjoyable, covering England’s game versus Colombia. I remember watching it: the frustration, turning to pure happiness - until the 93rd minute, when everything came crashing down, followed by almost another hour of unbearable tension until Jordan Pickford saved the penalty and Eric Dier, unimaginably, scored the winner. Still can’t believe it happened, the way it happened, over a year on.
“The natural state of the football fan is discontent, fatalism, gloom, misery and brooding paranoia. Nobody comes to this sport looking for blue skies and seamless good-news stories. But sometimes you do still get them, those days where it all just flows, where every detail feels soft.”
An insightful, humorous, vividly-written book to relive the World Cup, brilliantly capturing the wonder of England in the summer of 2018. Probably 4.5 stars.
April 15, 2021
Ronay is one of the few writers whose work I would want to read no matter the subject matter, so I was surprised that I didn't enjoy this more.
The surprise was mainly because he writes as he usually does, finding creative but astute metaphors (Fellaini's selection against Brazil being like 'those Wellies in the cupboard for occasions such as these') and managing to keep a level head against the patriotic giddiness without being a Giles Coren-esque contrarian for the sake of it.
But reading this I felt a certain sense of detachment, with events described a little too concisely and rarely transporting you to the stadium. The balance is always difficult, and I wouldn't have wanted more match reports, but the proportion of travelling to the stadium compared to the matches was high, and without the personal interactions that make for entertaining travel writing.
This is now the third book I've read by Ronay and I wonder whether his writing is better suited to articles than books. It's strange, because he does funny and serious well in equal measure, and I agree with a lot of what he says (for example, had England lost on penalties to Colombia would all the national metaphors about unity now be irrelevant?). But for me Clive, if anything he wrote it too well.
The surprise was mainly because he writes as he usually does, finding creative but astute metaphors (Fellaini's selection against Brazil being like 'those Wellies in the cupboard for occasions such as these') and managing to keep a level head against the patriotic giddiness without being a Giles Coren-esque contrarian for the sake of it.
But reading this I felt a certain sense of detachment, with events described a little too concisely and rarely transporting you to the stadium. The balance is always difficult, and I wouldn't have wanted more match reports, but the proportion of travelling to the stadium compared to the matches was high, and without the personal interactions that make for entertaining travel writing.
This is now the third book I've read by Ronay and I wonder whether his writing is better suited to articles than books. It's strange, because he does funny and serious well in equal measure, and I agree with a lot of what he says (for example, had England lost on penalties to Colombia would all the national metaphors about unity now be irrelevant?). But for me Clive, if anything he wrote it too well.
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