Book Description

Rivals is both the ultimate directory of football derbies and a collection of the stats that 'really matter' for the English League Clubs. Forget the dry and oft-quoted football facts, 'Rivals' arms the reader with a completely new set of fan-based stats. Find out which club has the highest 'nutter rating' (arrests per 1,000 attendance), or the worst 'Your ground's too big for you' ranking! Which club offers their supporters the worst 'Fans' value-for-money' (admission price as a ratio of 5 year league position!) There are many intriguing, often funny, stories behind the web of little publicised, though frequently intense, rivalries between clubs and fans. With many contributions from supporters, the book examines the extraordinary cult of British Football Derbies, looking at the inter-town and regional biases, stereotypes, and opinions that fans have about their footballing rivals. At 240pp, Rivals is a light-hearted collection of statistics, fans' testimony and boundless trivia. The book uncovers the amusing, bizarre, and sometimes alarming portraits of the intensity of fans' feelings, and the way in which they perceive other teams, towns and cities. It has a clear format pulling together diverse facts. Attractively designed with information given under headings allowing the reader to compare various facts on a club-to-club basis, the text can be read from cover to cover or dipped into.