So much more than that

Football's culture is complex and controversial. Debates rage over rules, transfers, wages and rich owners who prioritise income streams and elite league status. But the sport has a nobler side. Clubs become families who celebrate the good times and collectively mourn tragic events. This community culture is embedded in football and the same questions have been asked for generations. What is a fair salary? How can we help to educate and support children and families in need? Who stands up for the rights of the voiceless? This book journeys through the industrial heartlands in and around Glasgow, Birmingham and Manchester to explore how migration, industry and the aspirations of working-class people and their employers influenced the early structure and culture of English and Scottish football. Often serious, sometimes funny, it reveals how ordinary people experienced life and the rise of the beautiful game in the 19th and 20th centuries, drawing on material from club archives, newspapers, personal anecdotes and military records.