That’s Football – But Not As We Know It!

A review of That’s Football – But Not as we Know it! By Neil Sambrook – 231102

Many a football manager, facing the serried masses of the press to explain away a 6-0 thrashing, has resorted to the trite excuse that it is a game of fine margins. And it is true to a certain extent. A dodgy offside decision, a piece of instantly convincing simulation in the box, a flash of brilliance, a calamitous mistake can turn the course of a tightly contested match. What ifs are a vibrant topic of conversation as fans leave the stadium and discuss what they have just witnessed and continue the discussion in a nearby hostelry.

Drawing on his encyclopaedic knowledge of the 1960s and 70s, football writer, Neil Sambrook, has turned what-ifery from the trivial matchday incident to a macrocosmic level, wondering what would have happened if certain events in 1960s and 1970s football had turned out differently. How would Celtic have fared if they had entered the English Football League the season after they had won the European Cup? What would have happened if England had scored an equaliser in their decisive World Cup qualifier at Wembley against Poland? Would things have turned out differently if Gordon Banks had been in goal instead of Peter Bonetti in the 1970 World Cup quarter-final?

And then there is the enigma of George Best. Would his career been any different if he had signed for Chelsea? A pale and somewhat larger shadow of his former stuff did strut his stuff for Fulham briefly, the only time I saw the legend play in the flesh.

For football fans tired of anaemic ghosted “autobiographies”, this is both a nostalgic trip to the time when football was football and also a thought-provoking alternative look at many of the era’s key moments which is sure to provoke many a debate over a pint or three. Excellent stuff.