The pride and passion of simply following England has a habit of turning into something nasty. Is it down to laddish excess or is this the legacy of hundreds of years spent invading other lands for king and country? This book finds some surprising answers to these questions that have troubled the football authorities, police and politicians for more than a decade. Along the way it discovers that it is not all bad news either. Football tells more than a few home truths about England. Anger and joy, boisterous celebration and street confrontations, the prize of victory and the despair of yet another penalty shoot-out: these are the moments that no England fan will ever forget. The book explores what those moments say about the English as a nation, with contributions from John Peel, Billy Bragg, Dominik Diamond, Pete Davies and John Williams. Music and nostalgia, tabloid excesses and public-order policing, the fate of the English male and the misery of losing out to our bitterest rivals one more time are detailed as part of a bigger picture beyond the touchline.
