Extra Time: A Season in the Life of a Football Fan

by Kevin Sampson

Any serious football fan will know, anyone who doesn't go to every game, home and away, from Arsenal to Vladikavkaz is a part-time supporter. Kevin Sampson gets to 90% of Liverpool's matches. His sharp, perceptive and very funny account of the agonies and ecstasies of following a sleeping giant will touch even the most recalcitrant Man Utd. fan, most of whom will recognise the ailment. His journeys take us from a pre-season friendly at Crewe to Chelsea, Celtic, Newcastle, and beyond. We meet Blackburn fish-ticklers and Bolton riot police; one-eyed barmaids and stewards with circular noses ; angry British Rail ticket inspectors and non-kinky masseuses. We follow the romantic progress of his bachelor friends Jegsy, and aging lothario and Danny, a shy bricklayer who's looking for a young Nessie Shankley. Most of all we follow the hopes and dreams of the football fan in all of us, a man of 36 who still falls asleep at night selecting his ideal 11 and awaiting the call from Roy Evans. This is a wry and wonderfully observed book for football fans everywhere.

Genres: Football

285 pages, Paperback

First published September 24, 1998

About the author

Kevin Sampson is the author of seven novels - Awaydays, Powder, Leisure, Outlaws, Clubland, Freshers and most recently, Stars are Stars - and a work of non-fiction, Extra Time. He lives and works in Liverpool.

Reviews

[Harold Good · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great read, especially for a football fan and even more so for a Liverpool fan. A life of a fan in one season (1997/98) that all football fans can relate too I’m sure - the highs and the lows- great stuff!
It’s well written and an easy read, I well recommend.