"It matters a great deal who is going to win, but not at all who won"
Football, Yesterday and today
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Tim Glynne-Jones, Carlton Books, London, 2003 and 2010. ISBN 978-1-847325-914
The book charts the development of football through a series of photographs – 1914 to present day. The style is to put two photos side by side, one from the past and the other from today. The first page shows training 1932 style alongside 2002.
The book covers, players, managers, England managers, stadia, goal celebrations, referees, policing, souvenirs, programmes, mascots, boots, the ball, refreshments, shirt numbers (1-11 or 80!), the role of TV and much more. In some ways nothing has changed, in other ways everything.
There are some iconic pictures:
Alf Ramsay refusing to allow George Cohen to swap shirts with an Argentinean player in the 1966 World Cup.
Bobby Moore with the World Cup trophy 1966.
Gazza’s tears in 1990.
Germany 1 England 5.
A 1952 photo of Arsenal’s Alex James shows him in shorts, of which Brian Clough comments in the foreword, “Alex James and his baggy shorts. Hell’s fire, my hand-me-down long trousers were higher up my angles than those shorts!”
There is a 1932 photo of the board into which half-time scores on other games were inserted. That brought back memories of the 1970s and 80s when one waited nervously for first news of how the other games were going. Now long before the information is displayed digitally, fans know everything from mobile phone updates, I-phone internet and pocket radios.
The modern game is well summed up in a picture of Gary Lewin in surgical gloves relaying by walkie-talkie, the state of an injured player.
Other highlights for me were:
The building and demolition of the Wembley twin towers.
The bench of two (1967) and the 2009 bench of six subs, manager, coaches and medical staff.
Pitch care – 1922 horse-pulled roller; modern age lighting rigs producing artificial sunlight to keep the grass growing.
Each spread has a paragraph or two of text by way of explanation. The text on autographs expresses sympathy for Thomas Hitzelberger and the length of time each autograph must take to sign!
That the caption on Page 39 does not match the photo is the only error I found.
The book is wonderful. It is a book I will return to again and again for reminders of football yesterday and today. The perfect birthday present for any lover of football.