The dark side of football.... "Guvnors" (Guvnors - Francis Mickey, Peter Walsh)

Member Name: numenius

Product:	Guvnors - Francis Mickey, Peter Walsh
Date:	30/11/00 (967 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A point of view you never read before.

Disadvantages: Could convince you it was all fun!

Guvnors is a cracking book. Some may not consider it a sports book, but it is certainly football related. Written by Mickey Francis with Peter Walsh (Francis is by his own description an ex "football hooligan",Walsh is a journalist and writer).
For 15 years Francis was involved in the gang warfare that made English football infamous across europe.

A leader of the Manchester City "Firm", Frances was eventually imprisoned when the police began using undercover squads to tackle the various Firms throughout the country. The book describes how Francis became involved, his childhood, and how the "buzz" of the fight became all consuming. What is refreshing is that he is no apologist,unlike some books written by ex prisoners, he doesnt try to blame the police or anyone else, he simply tells it like it was and explains how he and others involved viewed it. Francis tells how to those involved a point of honour was to be able to take punishment as well as give it, and the aim was to take on rival firms rather than "ordinary" fans. The text is littered with references to characters with names like "Mad Roy", "The Beer Monsters" and so on, and it is a really easy book to become involved in. Not normaly a subject I'd read about, I found this book hard to put down and read it through in 24 hours. While you don't come away from the book condoning what happened (Francis doesnt ask you to), you certainly come away with a viewpoint on a situation which you did not have before. Which to me, is the mark of a good book.

Published by Milo books 1997. 194 pp.

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