In 13 years football has come a long, long way--from the troubled years of the mid-to-late 80s to the glamorous and glossy boom years of the 90s. Power, Corruption and Pies is essentially a collection of articles, editorials and general ramblings from the footie fanzine When Saturday Comes, which was first published in 1986.
The articles are given chronologically and vary greatly in their type and style from serious editorials to amusing comment and personal rants. It's easy to see, with hindsight, the changing face of the game in the writing and it is interesting to discover what peoples views on landmark events in the ascension of the game were in the past.
Writers and contributors express their fears over actions such as the creation of the Premier League in 1992, the end of terrestrial TV's grip on coverage of top-flight football and what it meant to be English when Graham Taylor was manager of the national side. Many of the articles are well-written and highly amusing, and it is good to be able to pick up a book which gets into the real nitty-gritty of football and its ills.
Power, Corruption and Pies will appeal to football's thinking fans, the type who are dedicated to their own team but don't close their eyes to what is happening all around in the game. It is an unlikely monument to one of the most intriguing periods in the development of a sport so appealing all around the world, and a volume which the reader will dip into time and again.
