The Beautiful Game? - Softcover

'This is a must read for all who love football', Delia Smith, The Times .'This is a quite magnificent book- With a splendid eye for important detail and a determination to ask difficult questions, Conn reminds us of what is important- Conn's greatest feat in a book that is well researched and written with searing honesty is to show the game's magnificent resilience', David Wash, The Sunday Times

Once, football proudly claimed to stand for passion, community, honour, even beauty. Today, football is about money. Its richest club, Manchester United, earned GBP175 million last year; yet since 1992 thirty-six of the Football League's seventy-two clubs have been insolvent. The game is in danger of losing its lifeblood - and its soul. David Conn, the game's most respected investigative journalist, sets out on a journey through the heart of our national game, exploring how the sport has failed - and who is to blame. Travelling to football's every outpost, Conn interviews players, managers, chairmen and fans, building up a picture of a game mired in crisis. At its heart, football is a game deeply loved by millions. This is a book for those who keep the faith, who believe that the sport itself, stripped of the greed and self-interest blighting its organisation, still has values, and can still be beautiful.