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Rich Allen, who hangs out at Craven Cottage Newsround [my most recent internet addiction], has put together the second edition of The Fulham Review. The 2007-2008 version is subtitled “The Great Escape.” Unless you’ve been residing in a summer home on some other planet, you know very well the significance of that title. The book is a quick and very breezy read. The prose is eloquent, and to the point. It is knowledgeable, but also partisan in a beneficently hopeful way. There’s no name-calling, no slagging, and not too much flag-waving. Instead there’s good literate prose devoted to football – Fulhamish football that is.
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Rich is ably assisted by, among others, Following the Fulham’s Rob Griffin, Hammy End Chronicle’s Dave Harris, and With A Plum’s Daniel Olasky [Fulham’s bard if there is one]. Colin Baker of Championship at Best, provides statistical analysis accompanied by tight, cogent prose, and FulhamUSA’s friend Jon Hall [Ormandroyd] provides not only the exuberant color photos on the front and back covers, but also the brooding, mood-conveying, black-and-white snaps throughout the book.
What sort of book is this? Well, the main body consists of reports from each league and cup match … well, except for the League Cup replay at Bristol Rovers. Everyone must have been to exhausted, discouraged, or drunk to have done more than provide match state for this one. These reports are the personal observations of long-time, committed Fulham fans, and they are written shortly after the fact. There’s foreshadowing to be sure, but there’s no future knowledge on display. If you note some optimism at times of doom – and Rich was much more positive later in the day than I was – it isn’t of the variety of “Don’t worry guys. Keep reading. It’ll all come good at Pompey.”
In addition, there are feature articles on players, fan behavior, and even a dissection of Steve McLaren’s stint as England’s manager. The last few pages of the book consist of enough statistics and analysis to exhaust a SABREmatrician’s convention. I’ve been following this game since 1966, and Colin teaches me new ways to look at it what happens on the pitch just about every month.
I recently posted on CCN about the book and told Rich how much I was enjoying it. He was pleased to hear it, but wondered why – when such pains had been made to make the book easily available to the United States – there had been so little demand on this side of the water. Someone else later posted that things have tightened up financially on these shores, and that may be the reason. But it occurred to me that perhaps the never-ending transfer drumbeat had somehow shifted our collective attention on suffering through the new season rather than continuing to celebrate the one just gone.
Those of you who have read me on this site know how little respect I have for British sports journalism. I grow tired reporter laziness in fact checking, not to mention the cheerful willingness displayed by many to print and perpetuate outright lies if it’s a somewhat boring Wednesday mrning. Those of you who pick up and read this book will see that there are excellent English writers about football still. They are witty, erudite, intoxicating, and accurate. The fact that they are of such high quality and standards and are also Fulham fanatics shouldn’t surprise any of us.
Have I convinced you yet that this is a worthwhile purchase? If so, click on this link to get The Fulham Review 2007/2008 THE GREAT ESCAPE delivered to your mailbox.
http://www.godsfoot.com/
It’s 10 bucks American plus shipping. Enjoy!
And I promise not to try to sell you something again – at least until my band’s CD comes out in October.
Note: D P Hymel "HatterDon" - Senior Game Analyst and Writer
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Posted by: HatterDon on Monday, August 25, 2008 - 05:25 AM
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