The Miracle of Castel di Sangro - Joe McGinnis (Miracle of Castel di Sangro - Joe McGinniss)

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Product:	Miracle of Castel di Sangro - Joe McGinniss
Date:	13/11/00 (72 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A good idea turned into a great story, this is a gripping read, all the more so because it is real

Disadvantages: McGinnis' style can be grating early on, and the ending is actually quite depressing

Having read a review of this book in the football magazine 'When Saturday Comes', I thought I knew what I was in for: American author, famous for political comment, gets bitten by the football bug during World Cup 94 in the USA and then decides to travel out to a small town in southern Italy to sample the atmosphere and the magic of a small-town club unexpectedly making it to the big time of Serie B.

Up to that point, everything was as expected - McGinnis' difficulties in settling in to life in a very foreign land as he attempts to learn the language and gain the confidence of the team and the locals are interesting to observe, but I have to admit that the way he went about some things would have annoyed most people, not least the shady characters in control of the football club.

You can see why they were annoyed at this upstart American sticking his nose into team affairs when he'd only discovered football a couple of years earlier, but his direct style begins to reveal quite a lot of background information about the murky history of the chairman and the president.

Nothing can be proved, and nothing can safely be said directly, but despite the tension, McGinnis stays with the team to the bitter end of a long, hard season, and the way he writes ensures that the reader really empathises with the players' struggles as they fight against relegation. He shares the agony of the players when one of the squad is tragically killed, and he experiences the ups and downs of football in all their glory!

It would be unfair to reveal the fate of the team, but suffice to say that the events at the end of the season give the reader a lift, but then you are brought crashing down to earth by the depressing revelation that everything you ever suspected about the chicanery in Italian football is true.

This is an excellent book, ideal for any football fan, but it is also interesting for the insights it gives you into the
role of the old criminal fraternity in Italian society (perhaps inadvertently, although by the end of the book you are in no doubt as to McGinnis' feelings on the subject). Highly recommended.

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