Hugging Strangers: The Frequent Lows and Occasional Highs of Football Fandom

by Jon Berry

What is it like to follow one of English football's perennial non-achievers? Hugging Strangers is a celebration of what it means to support your club through thick and thin. It speaks to all who love the game but are lumbered - by way of family, geography or plain bad luck - with a team whose glory days are few and far between. At the end of the 1963/64 season Birmingham City stayed in the first division by winning on the last day of the campaign. In the 55 years that followed, the Blues kept either survival or promotion for the final fixture on a further 12 occasions. Stir in nine relegations, eight promotions, along with play-off failures and embarrassing exits from cup competitions and you'll have an idea of what it means to be a Blues fan. But you don't have to be a Birmingham fan to enjoy this book. This light-hearted collection of tales from a lifelong, hopeless football addict will strike a chord with anyone who has asked themselves quite why they allow this simple game to assume such importance in their lives.

Genres: Sports

256 pages, Paperback

Published October 1, 2020

Reviews

[Ben Banyard · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a Birmingham City fan of 32 years, I absolutely loved this book. Unlike the author, when I moved away from the city in the mid-90s I rarely returned apart from paying visits to see my family. Since then I've only watched the mighty Blues play twice, but despite this armchair-bound self-exile I still think (and mainly worry) about the club's fortunes at least once every hour on average. I found this to be an entertaining, often very funny book which crystalises everything that following the Blues is about, which in rational terms pretty much amounts to self-harm even at my own arm's length, let alone travelling up and down the country many times each season. I'm not sure how much this would appeal to fans of other clubs, but quite frankly, who cares? It's the book I didn't realise I'd been waiting for ever since I was coerced into visiting St Andrews for a match towards the fag end of 1988-89, coincidentally just after relegation to Division Three (League One as it is now) had been confirmed... Highly recommended.

[Jonny Brick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Birmingham fan zeroes in on the pain and pleasure of following a team over decades. Perfect for Brummies and non, and a great addition to football fan literature. Funny too.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.0