A People's History of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club

Here's a book written with a relatively small target audience in mind. By a happy coincidence, I happen to be part of that audience. The authors, Martin Cloake and Alan Fisher, obviously love Spurs and so they mustn't be expecting a huge payout as I can't see fans of other teams reading this. Which would be much the same for other clubs, I'd reckon.

As the title states, it's not a club history but a fans' history. This sets it apart from other books dealing with football clubs, with mixed results. You get a pretty interesting background of events that aren't reported on so often (club vs supporters club, ground redevelopment, for example) but you also miss much of the reason we, as fans, follow the clubs we choose - the football itself. That's not to say there's no mention of it, only that it's marginalised. But that's the point of the book.

As a technical achievement, it's just above average. There's none of the style of Jonathan Wilson or David Goldblatt and there are even a few spots that need a sub-editor (repeated sentences, spelling mistakes) - in my copy anyway.

So, sadly, it's just an okay read, sustained throughout by the subject matter. But only just.