I Hate Football – A fan’s Memoir
Written by John Firth. First Published by Peakpublish 2009
This is a book about a Sheffield Wednesday fan, how he was bitten with the football bug in 1966, not the World Cup Final but Wednesday losing 2-3 to Everton in the FA Cup Final. Although he went to see both Sheffield League clubs it was Wednesday that hooked him which was not a surprise with his parents being ardent fans.
Sheffield Wednesday are a truly YoYo club since John Frith started supporting them and he really gets across the true emotions of elation and despair that he has experienced.
They were long standing members of the old First Division and were one of the initial teams there at the start of the Premier League. However after 8 seasons they slipped down to the Championship and John quite eloquently explains the new disconnect between the Premier League and the rest and the elite mega rich teams and those that make up the numbers.
John eludes to the fact that the most satisfying game and trip of his football career was to Cardiff for a Play Off Final which they won but was also an amazing football friendly experience.
Players, managers and owners are rightly praised and pilloried and John is able to get to meet some of the main actors.
Throughout there is a thread through the book about the club and pub scene in Sheffield which he explains was lively, enjoyable and sometimes confrontational.
There are some parts of the book concerning fan confrontations that I was not comfortable with but on the whole the book was entertaining and truly put across the love/hate relationship that you endure when following Sheffield Wednesday.
Payonthegate 