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Reviews
of Football in the Digital Age
David
Conn, When Saturday Comes, May 2000:
"This is the latest impressive contribution from Professor
Jonathan Michie and his colleagues at Birkbeck College to the
campaign for football to be run for the benefit of those who
love it, not just the few who make money out of it.....A unified
programme emerges from these pages, a call for widespread supporter
ownership and involvement in the running of clubs...The supporters'
fightback has evolved from gut-instinct distaste of greedy Premiership
chaiemen to a considered alternative manifesto. This admirable
book represents another landmark in that process."
Four Four Two, May 2000
"Football in the Digital Age is refreshingly contemporary.
It...will be read by concerned fans who will then set about
changing the many things that ail the game."
Manchester United Magazine, May 2000:
"Football in the Digital Age...takes a serious approach
to what is, after all, a serious issue: the future of our game.
For students of football whose interest goes deeper than the
4-4-2 formation and the offside trap, this is as comprehensive
textbook as you will ever find."
Alex Reid, Morning Star :
"The
fightback to reclaim the people's game is well under way and
books such as Football in the Digital Age are a great
example of this. Chapters range from issues surrounding the
football task force, to first-hand accounts from those at the
heart of the campaign to stop the BSkyB from taking over Manchester
United and an insider's report from the Monopolies and Mergers
Commission on the same subject - and a whole lot more. The editors'
last book, A Game of Two Halves, played a huge part in
mobilising supporters into presenting their demands on the game
as a united force - and received widespread acclaim as a result.
This latest publication develops further the themes in the earlier
book, looking at how it is possible for fans - and not just
shareholders - to organise against the corporate takeover of
their game and how they can influence the decision-making process
at their own clubs. Football in the Digital Age is an
easily accessible book, with its short but extremely informative
chapters written by experts in a whole host of subjects relating
to the game. Contributor after contributor rails against the
monopolies and cartels which try to wield their financial muscle
through every facet of the game. Yes, football is just a game,
but as this book shows, it is one which has important social
and cultural implications and deserves greater respect than
just a glance at the results on a Saturday afternoon. So, when
that history of the game is written, Birkbeck College's department
of management will take a central place in the story of how
football was won over as a democratic force."
From
Amazon.co.uk:
A thought-provoking analysis of the future of football
It’s
a measure of the startling transformations that the national
game has undergone in the last few years, that one of the most
interesting books to be published on football this year is not
the ghost-written revelations of an England striker or the bitter
score-settling of an ex-manager, but rather a collection of
academic essays. Forget the goals and the glory, the penalty
shoot-outs and the sex scandals, “Football in the Digital Age”
deals with what is really happening to the modern game. The
editors have assembled a wide-range of essays dealing with the
critical issues facing football in this country: how clubs are
financed, European Union legislation, restrictive practices,
media acquisitions and the case for independent regulation.
There are more than thirty essays and while their quality varies
somewhat, the overall collection is impressively comprehensive
and in-depth, and manages to be continually thought-provoking
and intelligent. Although essentially an academic work, there
is enough here to inform and challenge anybody interested in
the future of British football, from fans wishing to have more
say in the running of their local club, to economists and policy-makers
interested in this increasingly important sector of the economy.
tom.campbell@nmkadapt.co.uk
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