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Unfit and Improper Persons
- Publisher
- Bloomsbury Publishing
- Publish Date
- 12 October 2023
- Run Time
- 10 hours 22 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
What to expect
‘A very funny book that tackles some serious football issues.’ Gary Lineker
'Witty and wise.' Clare Balding
‘Brilliant. Blows the lid off football. Hilarious, detailed and insightful.’ Alan Davies
—-
Ever dreamed of setting up your own football club?
Join the team behind The Price of Football podcast as they start a (fictional) football club and discover what’s really going on behind the scenes of the beautiful game.
Buying a football club will set you back a few quid, but you’ve also got to pass the Premier League and EFL's ‘fit and proper persons test’. That all seems like a bit of a faff to the team behind the award-winning podcast The Price of Football, so acclaimed comedy writer Kevin Day, football finance expert Kieran Maguire and producer Guy Kilty start an imaginary club instead.
In Unfit and Improper Persons they take West Park Rovers on a hilarious journey from the lowest level of the FA pyramid right up to the English Football League, the Premier League and, if fortune favours the fictional, into the heart of Europe.
At least that’s the plan, but inevitably they face a few challenges along the way. Where to find a shirt sponsor? What should the mascot be – is a dog called Rover too obvious? Can they pay the women’s team the same as the men’s team? (Spoiler alert: hardly anyone else does.) And how can they get Messi to the Kleanwell Stadium next season, like they promised the fans?
Roofing over the toilets, paying the electric on the floodlights, salary caps, parachute payments and avoiding bankruptcy, never mind relegation – owning a football club isn’t all about stuffing prawn sarnies and quaffing champagne in the directors’ box.
Unfit and Improper Persons is informed, funny and, thanks to exclusive interviews with those who’ve been there, done that, it lays bare the labyrinthine world of football finance.
Critics Review
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A very funny book that tackles some serious football issues.
Gary Lineker
-
Brilliant. Blows the lid off football. Hilarious, detailed and insightful.
Alan Davies
-
Witty and wise.
Clare Balding
-
I loved this book ... Great authors, terrible football club owners.
Josh Widdicombe
See more reviews See fewer reviews
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A great read … and level of detail … wherever your club is in the pyramid there’ll be something of interest for you.
Tony Livesey, BBC Radio 5 Live
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This helpful, entertaining and funny book is written by a Palace fan and a Brighton fan so I just want to know who won the fight!
Jo Brand
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Kevin Day asks the right questions and Kieran Maguire is impressive with his research... The machinations of football finance are laid bare, and somehow this sheds light on to the actual games themselves.
the Guardian
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The writers fuse humour and fiction with rigorous analysis ... An entertaining and often intriguing book.
FourFourTwo
User Reviews
No reviews yet.
Details
- Author
- Kevin Day, Kieran Maguire, Guy Kilty
- Narrator
- Guy Kilty, Kevin Day, Kieran Maguire
- Duration
- 10 hours 22 minutes
- Release Date
- 12 October 2023
- ISBN
- 9781399407519
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Bloomsbury Publishing
- Genre
- Association football (Soccer), Sports management and facilities, Finance and the finance industry, Humour, Sports teams and clubs, Industry and industrial studies
Synopsis
Bloomsbury presents Unfit and Improper Persons by David Bowles and Guadalupe Garcia McCall, read by Kevin Day, Kieran Maguire and Guy Kilty.‘A very funny book that tackles some serious football issues.’ Gary Lineker'Witty and wise.' Clare Balding ‘Brilliant. Blows the lid off football. Hilarious, detailed and insightful.’ Alan Davies—- Ever dreamed of setting up your own football club? Join the team behind The Price of Football podcast as they start a (fictional) football club and discover what’s really going on behind the scenes of the beautiful game.Buying a football club will set you back a few quid, but you’ve also got to pass the Premier League and EFL's ‘fit and proper persons test’. That all seems like a bit of a faff to the team behind the award-winning podcast The Price of Football, so acclaimed comedy writer Kevin Day, football finance expert Kieran Maguire and producer Guy Kilty start an imaginary club instead.In Unfit and Improper Persons they take West Park Rovers on a hilarious journey from the lowest level of the FA pyramid right up to the English Football League, the Premier League and, if fortune favours the fictional, into the heart of Europe.At least that’s the plan, but inevitably they face a few challenges along the way. Where to find a shirt sponsor? What should the mascot be – is a dog called Rover too obvious? Can they pay the women’s team the same as the men’s team? (Spoiler alert: hardly anyone else does.) And how can they get Messi to the Kleanwell Stadium next season, like they promised the fans?Roofing over the toilets, paying the electric on the floodlights, salary caps, parachute payments and avoiding bankruptcy, never mind relegation – owning a football club isn’t all about stuffing prawn sarnies and quaffing champagne in the directors’ box.Unfit and Improper Persons is informed, funny and, thanks to exclusive interviews with those who’ve been there, done that, it lays bare the labyrinthine world of football finance.
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