BOOK REVIEWS

The A-Z Of Weird & Wonderful Football Shirts by Richard Johnson

Rhapsody In Blue by Neil Fitzsimon

What Was Football Like In The 1980s by Richard Crooks RICHARD Johnson’s love affair with the football shirt began when he was seduced by the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, in particular the contrast between Argentina’s blue-and-white stripes and West Germany’s vivid green. An obsession had begun; for almost 35 years, he has collected hundreds of shirts, many of which feature in his A-Z, usually accompanied by some pithy anecdote.

With the possible exception of Johnson’s World Cup Classics, ‘tasteful’ is not a word you would use to describe the majority of shirts from around the globe. We have garish anniversary shirts, all-star shirts and an incredible number featuring food of every description: from sausages to beans, tomatoes and olives; one even features Ché Guevara.

Among the banned shirts is one worn for eight matches by Fiorentina in 1992-93 before someone realised that the sleeve design featured a series of linked swastikas. Brash, lurid, kitschy and often very funny, this has to be a contender for lavatory book of the year.

Another tale of footballing love is told by Neil Fitzsimon who professes his devotion for the Chelsea team of the early 1970s in Rhapsody In Blue.

Chelsea had some very good players: Bonetti, Hollins, Harris, McCreadie, Cooke, Hutchinson, Osgood, Cooke and Hudson. Thanks to Stamford Bridge’s proximity to London’s Kings Road, they considered themselves to be a glamour club, but that rarely translated into on-field success. Nevertheless, Rhapsody in Blue offers a reminder of how life used to be – when a 13-year-old could travel across London to a match on his own despite his gran’s concerns. Halcyon days.

I was disappointed he never went to his old mate’s reunion dinner, but delighted to see he retains his enmity for selected opponents. 19-6 Neil.

Finally, if you want to know how much football has changed, Richard Crooks’ What Was Football Like In The 1980s gives the starkest reminder.

In 1983/84, copier firm Canon became the first sponsor of the four English divisions for which they paid £3.3 million. The prize for winning the league title was £50,000. Couldn’t get a decent full back for fifty grand a week nowadays.

There are plenty more where this came from in what is an enjoyable, dip-in-and-out book likely to be the source of many pub quiz questions.

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