Dedicated followers of the English game with book tokens to spare in the wake of the holiday period could do worse than invest in this solid look at the way football across the water has been transformed in recent years although prospective purchasers should ideally be teary eyed romantics with a devotion to the good old days on the terraces.
The author fits, rather snugly, into the category and in his generally well researched account of the arrival of the big money men at clubs around he makes it fairly clear that he has little time for those who feel any of what has gone on over the past decade or so might be described as progress.
For those interested in what has gone on behind the scenes as clubs like Manchester United, Newcastle and Tottenham have been transformed Conn presents a series of well documented and detailed tales. Little of what is contained in The Football Business is especially new but the account of, for instance, United's emergence as a leader of soccer's financial revolution reveals a wealth of interesting detail without disappearing up the succession of trivial alleyways which books about one particular club have a habit of visiting.
The book, therefore, provides an interesting insight into events at a range of clubs as well an overview of the merchandising, television and other commercial issues which Conn feels so certain have gone such a long way towards destroying the game he clearly loves.
A failing of the book, however is that Conn doesn't seriously differentiate between the likes of Martin Edwards (a rugby fan who inherited much of his holding in a club, bought much of the rest in a way which would be illegal today and has been looking to get out as profitably as possible ever since) and Jack Walker who, having transformed an ailing club, has established elaborate financial structures at Blackburn with its long term prosperity rather than his short term wealth at heart.
In some places the bitterness displayed by Conn is truly remarkable which is something of a pity given that many of his grievances are firmly backed up by the facts he presents and his argument scarcely benefits from the tone employed. Nevertheless it is a useful and interesting assessment of the current state of a revolution in which this author is clearly dismayed to concede he is on the losing side.
