Football is at the heart of British national identity. Through more than forty fascinating stories, "Football Nation" reveals the hidden and not-so-hidden history of the game since 1945. From the mass audiences of austerity Britain when footballers were amateurs through the arrival of the Premiership after the Hillsborough disaster to the present day when top-flight players command a higher weekly wage than the average spectator can earn in a year, Andrew Ward and John Williams reveal the truth about the national game as it once was and is today. "Football Nation" is informed, wryly amusing, often surprising and always vastly entertaining. It offers an entirely fresh perspective on the history of the beautiful game in Britain.

Author Biography

Andrew Ward is a freelance writer. His football books include Kicking and Screaming (with Rogan Taylor), Football Strangest Matches, Ward's Soccerpedia and Barnsley: A Study in Football, 1953-59 (with Ian Alister). He lives in Stroud, Gloucestershire. John Williams is an academic researcher and lecturer in the sociology of sport at the University of Leicester. He has pioneered football research since his studies of hooliganism in the late-1970s and has written twelve books on football and fan culture, the most recent being The Miracle of Istanbul (with Stephen Hopkins) and Groove Armada: Benitez, Anfield and the New Spanish Fury (with Ramon Llopis). He lives in Leicester.