Over the last few weeks of staying at home I've finished two books about the beautiful game. They're both about the game in England, but on opposite ends of the table.
First up is 'And sometimes the dog was busy!', an autobiography written by Fergus Moore, with help from his co-author Roger Slater.
You say you've never heard of Fergus Moore? That's not a surprise. Moore has spent his rather long career playing non-league football, and the book is a recap of his, technically still continuing, career. He was originally signed to Brentford's youth team in 1989, but after a little over a year he was told he was being released. For the next 30 years he played for 16 different teams, many of them multiple times, and currently he's the manager, and still a player for, Edgware Town FC.
All of the teams he's played for have been between level 7 and level 10 of the English pyramid. For comparison's sake, if you read
my recap of my visit to England last April, you'll remember I went and saw non-league Wealdstone FC. They play in the National League South (for now, their official promotion to the National League will likely come this week) which is level 6 in the table. The pyramid is rather straight forward through the first 5 levels, each tier is one nation-wide league. Level 6 splits into two leagues, north and south. Below that the leagues expand rapidly, with four leagues at level 7, seven at level 8, all the way down to level 20. Some levels have over 50 leagues assigned to them.
So, needless to say, Fergus Moore hasn't been playing for the riches or the fame. In fact, quite often he's playing for free, or if he's lucky for expenses like gas money to get to games. Its pretty clear he plays for the love of the game. In some ways, as he says, he plays because he's addicted to the game. He doesn't know what he'd do otherwise. Much of the book is a chronological recap of his playing seasons. He clearly either took good notes or has a great memory, as more most games he can remember goals and major incidents, going back to the early 90's. All of his teams have been based around London, where he maintains a 40 hour a week job on top of playing soccer.
In-between chapters about various seasons he inserts chapters more focused on a specific aspect of the game. Referees, Cup competitions, balancing soccer and family, etc. He has won some fame at this point, being the oldest player to play in the FA Cup in multiple years, and his ongoing career has caught the attention of die-hard football fans. Overall its an interesting look at non-league soccer.
The book can be a bit repetitive, 30 years of a career can get that way, especially when you're not building to any one event, its just one year after the next. Moore also has a lot of concerns about his place in the squad over his career, and hearing him doubt himself again can get a bit wearing.
I would give the book 4 (of 5) stars if, like me, you're interested in non-league soccer. I picked it up while ordering a Wealdstone kit from the club shop (Fergus had three different stints at Wealdstone while the club was in leagues lower than they are now, and is a bit of a club legend). You'd probably have a hard time finding a physical copy on this side of the Atlantic, but I noticed a eBook version is available through Amazon. If you're not much of a non-league fan I'd probably lower the rating to three stars. Interesting in that case, but it might feel a bit long.
My second book is 'Bloody Confused!' by Chuck Culpepper.
Culpepper is a long-time sportswriter, currently with the Washington Post. In the mid-2000's he took time away from his career and moved to London, where he re-discovered being a fan by following an EPL team. That team was Portsmouth. The book is a retelling of the first year and a half of his trip into English fandom, . He arrives in London in early 2006 and spends the rest of the 2005-06 season just getting a feel for the EPL. Over the summer he decides he's going to pick a team to root for, and eventually settles on Portsmouth, for a number of reasons, early in the 2006-07 season. The rest of the book recaps his experiences following Portsmouth from Fratton Park and away day trips to Newcastle and Blackburn among others. Portsmouth would have its best season in 50 years that year, but since have fallen down three leagues, though recovered and made it back up to League One a couple of years ago.
Its a fun recounting of trips from London to Portsmouth, and Portsmouth away matches. As an American who's done just a little of that there are some parallels to my experiences. His friendship with a trip of guys who are die-hard fans (one of which wears an blue bear mascot suit in the stands each game) includes some great stores.
He does lay the "clueless American" on a little thick. Multiple times he manages to not go to games because he's not able to get a ticket, having no buying history with the club, but doesn't figure that out until he gets to the stadium. As somebody who's first game in England was a local derby (Blackburn hosting Preston) I had no issue planning ahead, contacting the club, explaining that I was flying over and thus would have no buying history, and still managing to get a ticket. He also manages to screw up getting from London to Blackburn for a Portsmouth match, something I had no issue with. May times he talks about places "no American has heard of", like Fulham. Fulham, in 2006. Fulham, who earned the nickname Fulham USA in 2006 for having Brian McBride and Carlos Bocanegra on the roster and adding Clint Dempsey midseason. If there was any EPL team American soccer fans knew in 2006, it was Fulham.
Despite that, It was a good read. Nothing amazing, I'm not going to keep the book in my collection, but I certainly don't regret having read it. I'd give it 3 stars.
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