Fan

In 1989, eighteen-year-old John Finch spends his Saturdays following Nottingham Forest F. C. up and down the country and the rest of the week trudging the streets of his hometown as a postal worker. 2004 sees Finch teaching in a secondary school, delaying the inevitable onslaught of parenthood. Fan glides between 1989 and 2004, leading inexorably towards the FA Cup semi-final at Hillsborough, the worst sporting disaster in British history, and the true impact of that tragic day. A book of personal and collective tragedy; it's about growing up and not growing up, about manhood and about what makes a man, and above all, about football's role in reflecting a society that is never more than a stone's throw away from the shattering point. "In spare, atmospheric prose, Rhodes alternates between past and present, between home and away, exploring the neglect that led to the tragedy, the massive cultural changes that followed, and the lure of soccer, crowds, and violence for aimless young men... An affecting novel, one that is as dark and haunting as its subject."

Author: Danny Rhodes

Publisher: Arcadia Books

Released Date: 2014

ISBN: 9781909807808