Books : A Season with Verona

Rating: - A Season to Remember!
A great book loosely based upon Verona's epic 2000-2001 Season in Serie A. The book is in diary form, so the author, like the reader, doesn't know the eventual outcome when he writes each chapter. This somehow adds to the excitement whilst reading it.

As well as Verona the book covers many asides in all sorts of areas such as Italian politics, hooliganism, life in Italy, the Italian language, racism, the difference between the north and the south, the bias towards the big clubs and the Italian police's awful treatment of away fans.

My favourite part was the description of the regular supporters of Verona, and their travels to away games (the first chapter is an absolute classic). Parks clearly adores Italy and his enthusiasm for the country is infectious (I challenge anyone not to want to stand on Verona's Curva Sud after reading this book). Parks also gets to interview some of the players, management and club owners which adds to the pure adventure of the unfolding tale.

At the end of the day - despite all the differences between Italy and England - the comforting fact to know is that being a fan of any football team, especially a small, unfashionable one, is essentially the same.

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Rating: - Fantastic Football Writer
A wonderful book that is opened by one of the best chapters ever written. Tim Parks experiences with his fellow Verona fans are a great read, and the opening game away to Bari is a masterstroke of football journalism. Amazing. Five Stars

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Rating: - Football culture from the inside
Writing about football culture from the outside is all well and good but Park pulls this off properly- he joins and is accepted by a loyal (not to say nuts) bunch of Hellas Verona fans and shares their passion for the club, travelling the length and breadth of Italy in a beautifully described odyssey. Full of interesting characters and gives a fascinating insight into Italian football culture and the life of the country as a whole.

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Rating: - Forza Gialloblu!
Parks - an Englishman who has lived and worked in Italy for some 20 years - spends a year following his local football team: provincial alsorans, Hellas Verona. He travels the length and breadth of the country, attending every match of the 2000/01 season; a campaign which dissolves into a desperate struggle to maintain Serie A status. Set in the style of a match by match diary - the first few months are written from the perspective of an ordinary fan; but when the club get wind of the book, Parks is invited to spend time with the management and playing staff.

Reading as part travel, part soccer book - it offers a fascinating insight into Italian fan culture: the hierarchical power struggles within the 'Brigate Gialloblu' - the club's notorious followers; allegiances (strictly adhered) with a select few Serie A peers; and the equanimous acceptance of season end match fixing. The access granted to the squad enables a close observation of the rarefied atmosphere in which a professional football club operates: pampered but secluded players, concerned more with their own careers than of possible relegation; the morose and under pressure head coach, cutting an isolated figure when results go against him; the financial burdens of keeping an unfashionable club afloat amongst the top echelon. Italy's regional idiosyncrasies, stereotypes, and rivalries are also explored: the Veronese are regarded by outsiders as parochial, uncouth racists; indeed the Brigate initially treat an Englishman within their ranks, with a mixture of suspicion and bemusement. For extra flavour, the book is peppered throughout with Italian dialect, helping to bring the myriad of colourful and passionate characters encountered to life.

The author's obvious enthusiasm for his adopted club and country is both endearing and infectious; inevitably, it's all too easy to become engaged in his team's plight. Football fans everywhere will empathize with the agony and ecstasy, the nail-biting obsessiveness, Parks has to endure over the course of what turns into a dramatic season; and - with writers' serendipity - climaxes in the most thrilling denouement. A splendid read.

Forza Gialloblu!

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Rating: - Forza Gialloblu!
Parks - an Englishman who has lived and worked in Italy for some 20 years - spends a year following his local football team: provincial alsorans, Hellas Verona. He travels the length and breadth of the country, attending every match of the 2000/01 season; a campaign which dissolves into a desperate struggle to maintain Serie A status. Set in the style of a match by match diary - the first few months are written from the perspective of an ordinary fan; but when the club get wind of the book, Parks is invited to spend time with the management and playing staff.

Reading as part travel, part soccer book - it offers a fascinating insight into Italian fan culture: the hierarchical power struggles within the 'Brigate Gialloblu' - the club's notorious followers; allegiances (strictly adhered) with a select few Serie A peers; and the equanimous acceptance of season end match fixing. The access granted to the squad enables a close observation of the rarefied atmosphere in which a professional football club operates: pampered but secluded players, concerned more with their own careers than of possible relegation; the morose and under pressure head coach, cutting an isolated figure when results go against him; the financial burdens of keeping an unfashionable club afloat amongst the top echelon. Italy's regional idiosyncrasies, stereotypes, and rivalries are also explored: the Veronese are regarded by outsiders as parochial, uncouth racists; indeed the Brigate initially treat an Englishman within their ranks, with a mixture of suspicion and bemusement. For extra flavour, the book is peppered throughout with Italian dialect, helping to bring the myriad of colourful and passionate characters encountered to life.

The author's obvious enthusiasm for his adopted club and country is both endearing and infectious; inevitably, it's all too easy to become engaged in his team's plight. Football fans everywhere will empathize with the agony and ecstasy, the nail-biting obsessiveness, Parks has to endure over the course of what turns into a dramatic season; and - with writers' serendipity - climaxes in the most thrilling denouement. A splendid read.

Forza Gialloblu!

Ronnie Pander