Where the Cool Kids Hung Out: The Chic Years of the UEFA Cup

by Steven Scragg

Where the Cool Kids Hung Out is the story of the UEFA Cup's glory years, when it was a tournament that boasted a stronger field of teams than its senior siblings, the European Cup and the European Cup Winners' Cup. Since then it has drifted into its poor current form as the Europa League, the Champions League having siphoned off most of Europe's biggest clubs. Yet the UEFA Cup enjoyed some very stylish years, no more so than during the two-legged final period. It was an era when Ipswich Town swept to glory, Liverpool conditioned themselves to conquer the continent, Tottenham Hotspur twice captured the cup and Dundee United came agonisingly close. It was also a time when Borussia MÖnchengladbach made their name, Real Madrid regenerated as a force and Serie A came to dominate. Drawing on an encyclopaedic knowledge of the tournament plus interviews with players, journalists and fans who lived and loved the competition, Steven Scragg brings you the definitive account of the UEFA Cup's halcyon days.

Genres: Football, Sports, History, Nonfiction

257 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 12, 2020

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a sucker for books about football, in whatever form they come or whichever subject they tackle. But especially if they deal with the soccer of the past.

'Every football era has great beauty and unbearable ugliness. We just forget the rough edges the further time elapses from those personally impressionable eras."

Steven Scragg's sequel to his very good A Tournament Frozen in Time (about the now defunct Cup Winners Cup which I read last year) is an even-better in-depth overview of the history of the UEFA Cup - now monstrously named Europa League. Oddities, patterns, runs, surprises, long-forgotten matches all came back to my memory. Cause I am a child of the football of the 80s and 90s. Where minnows met giants (Norwich knocking out Bayern for eg) or surprise packages making it up to the final (Videoton, Austria Salzburg, Bordeaux) within inches of claiming the biggest scalp or unexpected finals like IFK Göteborg vs Dundee Utd or Español vs Bayer Leverkusen.

Cause really the UEFA Cup was where the cool kids hung out.

[Mac · Rating 3 out of 5]

Feels like a harsh 3*. More like 3.5*. If the majority of the book was closer in tone to the Afterword (cantankerous tone and all), it'd be higher. This was one I'd been very excited to read for some time, but it falls into the trap of a lot of books like this with its sometimes endless-feeling match recaps. I did appreciate how it was structured, though it also meant it got repetitive at times. Essentially, more of a focus on people and characters rather than just match results would have helped this massively. Still look forward to reading Scragg's first book, but maybe with tempered expectations.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the idea of this book more than reading it. Beautiful cover, good period of football and an interesting competition but too many descriptions of match outcomes rather than getting behind the stories with insights and opinions from those involved

[Ollie Hale · Rating 4 out of 5]

74/100

[Cesare Teutonico · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book for any football lover...well written and sincerely passionate about the "good old times"...

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bad idea reading this on holiday, as it has prompted several ideas for a new Football Manager save and I'm away from my laptop!

[Ipswichblade · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book in parts, the history bits were very good but the match reports were a bit repetitive