Football, the People's Shame

Asks what has happened to English football and how we can launch a revolution amongst English fandom in order not just to take back control of the game, but invent new ways our society and economy can work in the interest of the people again.

Football has always been the People's Game and even after three decades of clubs being loaded with debt, ticket prices hiked, and fans blasted with gambling ads, football persists as a source of solidarity, civic engagement and national and international pride. 

Football: The People's Shame asks how we can reclaim the Game from the corporations and oligarchs who have stolen it from us, using accessible language and common-sense examples to:

• lay out exactly why football is in the dire state it is
• explore football history to show it hasn’t always been the way it is now
• look at how they do things differently in other countries
• introduce a new model of ownership drawing on research by respected academics
• suggest how to organise locally in order to force through change at national level

Arguing for a new organisational model for the sport and its players, one that respects its contribution to local communities and the national economies, The People’s Shame is a clarion call to the fans to begin demanding something new. Football is more than just a sport, and our passion for the game can and should become an engine for change.