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How Steeple Sinderby Wanderers Won the F.A. Cup
'But is this story believable? Ah, it all depends upon whether you want it to believe it.' J.L. Carr
Very strange and extremely funny, this uncategorizable novel is a surreal fantasy set, vaguely, in the early 1970s, during one highly memorable football season. Steeple Sinderby Wanderers, in their new all-buttercup-yellow stripe, start it by ravaging the Fenland League and end it with a phenomenal nail-biter against Glasgow Rangers.
Told through unreliable recollection, florid local newspaper coverage and bizarre committee minutes, How Steeple Sinderby Wanderers Won the F.A. Cup is somehow both entertaining and very moving. There will never be players again like Alex Slingsby, Sid 'the Shooting Star' Swift and the immortal milkman-turned-goalkeeper Monkey Tonks.
130 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1975
42 people are currently reading
729 people want to read
About the author
J.L. Carr
66 books177 followersCarr was born in Thirsk Junction, Carlton Miniott, Yorkshire, into a Wesleyan Methodist family. His father Joseph, the eleventh son of a farmer, went to work for the railways, eventually becoming a station master for the North Eastern Railway. Carr was given the same Christian name as his father and the middle name Lloyd, after David Lloyd George, the Liberal Chancellor of the Exchequer. He adopted the names Jim and James in adulthood. His brother Raymond, who was also a station master, called him Lloyd.
Carr's early life was shaped by failure. He attended the village school at Carlton Miniott. He failed the scholarship exam, which denied him a grammar school education, and on finishing his school career he also failed to gain admission to teacher training college. Interviewed at Goldsmiths' College, London, he was asked why he wanted to be a teacher. Carr answered: "Because it leaves so much time for other pursuits." He was not accepted. Over forty years later, after his novel The Harpole Report was a critical and popular success, he was invited to give a talk at Goldsmiths'. He replied that the college once had its chance of being addressed by him.
He worked for a year as an unqualified teacher — one of the lowest of the low in English education — at South Milford Primary School, where he became involved in a local amateur football team which was startlingly successful that year. This experience he developed into the novel How Steeple Sinderby Wanderers Won the F.A. Cup. He then successfully applied to a teacher training college in Dudley. In 1938 he took a year out from his teaching career to work as an exchange teacher in Huron, South Dakota in the Great Plains. Much of the year was a struggle to survive in what was a strangely different culture to him; his British salary converted into dollars was pitifully inadequate to meet American costs of living. This experience gave rise to his novel The Battle of Pollocks Crossing.
At the end of his year in the USA Carr continued his journey westward and found himself travelling through the Middle East and the Mediterranean as the Second World War loomed. He arrived in France in September 1939 and reached England, where he volunteered for service in the Royal Air Force. He was trained as an RAF photographer and stationed in West Africa, later serving in Britain as an intelligence officer, an experience he translated into fiction with A Season in Sinji.
At the end of the War he married Sally (Hilda Gladys Sexton) and returned to teaching. He was appointed headmaster of Highfields Primary School in Kettering, Northamptonshire, a post he filled from 1952 to 1967 in a typically idiosyncratic way which earned the devotion of staff and pupils alike. He returned to Huron, South Dakota, in 1957 to teach again on an exchange visit, when he wrote and published himself a social history of The Old Timers of Beadle County.
In 1967, having written two novels, he retired from teaching to devote himself to writing. He produced and published from his own Quince Tree Press a series of 'small books' designed to fit into a pocket: some of them selections from English poets, others brief monographs about historical events, or works of reference. In order to encourage children to read, each of the "small books" was given two prices, the lower of which applied only to children. As a result, Carr received several letters from adults in deliberately childish writing in an attempt to secure the discount.
He also carried on a single-handed campaign to preserve and restore the parish church of Saint Faith at Newton in the Willows, which had been vandalised and was threatened with redundancy. Carr, who appointed himself its guardian, came into conflict with the vicar of the benefice, and higher church authorities, in his attempts to save the church. The building was saved, but his crusade was also a failure in that redundancy was not averted and the building is now a scientific study centre.
Carr's early life was shaped by failure. He attended the village school at Carlton Miniott. He failed the scholarship exam, which denied him a grammar school education, and on finishing his school career he also failed to gain admission to teacher training college. Interviewed at Goldsmiths' College, London, he was asked why he wanted to be a teacher. Carr answered: "Because it leaves so much time for other pursuits." He was not accepted. Over forty years later, after his novel The Harpole Report was a critical and popular success, he was invited to give a talk at Goldsmiths'. He replied that the college once had its chance of being addressed by him.
He worked for a year as an unqualified teacher — one of the lowest of the low in English education — at South Milford Primary School, where he became involved in a local amateur football team which was startlingly successful that year. This experience he developed into the novel How Steeple Sinderby Wanderers Won the F.A. Cup. He then successfully applied to a teacher training college in Dudley. In 1938 he took a year out from his teaching career to work as an exchange teacher in Huron, South Dakota in the Great Plains. Much of the year was a struggle to survive in what was a strangely different culture to him; his British salary converted into dollars was pitifully inadequate to meet American costs of living. This experience gave rise to his novel The Battle of Pollocks Crossing.
At the end of his year in the USA Carr continued his journey westward and found himself travelling through the Middle East and the Mediterranean as the Second World War loomed. He arrived in France in September 1939 and reached England, where he volunteered for service in the Royal Air Force. He was trained as an RAF photographer and stationed in West Africa, later serving in Britain as an intelligence officer, an experience he translated into fiction with A Season in Sinji.
At the end of the War he married Sally (Hilda Gladys Sexton) and returned to teaching. He was appointed headmaster of Highfields Primary School in Kettering, Northamptonshire, a post he filled from 1952 to 1967 in a typically idiosyncratic way which earned the devotion of staff and pupils alike. He returned to Huron, South Dakota, in 1957 to teach again on an exchange visit, when he wrote and published himself a social history of The Old Timers of Beadle County.
In 1967, having written two novels, he retired from teaching to devote himself to writing. He produced and published from his own Quince Tree Press a series of 'small books' designed to fit into a pocket: some of them selections from English poets, others brief monographs about historical events, or works of reference. In order to encourage children to read, each of the "small books" was given two prices, the lower of which applied only to children. As a result, Carr received several letters from adults in deliberately childish writing in an attempt to secure the discount.
He also carried on a single-handed campaign to preserve and restore the parish church of Saint Faith at Newton in the Willows, which had been vandalised and was threatened with redundancy. Carr, who appointed himself its guardian, came into conflict with the vicar of the benefice, and higher church authorities, in his attempts to save the church. The building was saved, but his crusade was also a failure in that redundancy was not averted and the building is now a scientific study centre.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 167 reviews
October 7, 2023
Very funny and utterly charming. Carr is my favourite literary discovery of the '20s. 😀
July 25, 2019
I read this rather charming short novel as a little light relief before starting on the remaining books on this year's Booker longlist.
At heart it is a wish fulfilment fantasy about a village football team who, by following a mysterious Hungarian guru's plan, succeed in achieving every small football club's impossible dream, proceeding all the way to the F.A. Cup final and winning that too. If that were all there was to the story, it would be at best an interesting oddity and an enjoyable comic fantasy, but Carr's genius is making everything double edged, by choosing to tell the story from much later after everything has fallen apart. By concentrating on the details and acute observations of the realities of life in small rural communities, he succeeds in adding a more interesting layer to the story, indeed the narrator is much more interested in the characters and their machinations than in the game itself.
At heart it is a wish fulfilment fantasy about a village football team who, by following a mysterious Hungarian guru's plan, succeed in achieving every small football club's impossible dream, proceeding all the way to the F.A. Cup final and winning that too. If that were all there was to the story, it would be at best an interesting oddity and an enjoyable comic fantasy, but Carr's genius is making everything double edged, by choosing to tell the story from much later after everything has fallen apart. By concentrating on the details and acute observations of the realities of life in small rural communities, he succeeds in adding a more interesting layer to the story, indeed the narrator is much more interested in the characters and their machinations than in the game itself.
July 19, 2023
A Month in the Countryis one of my all time favourite books, so I was interested to read something else by its author J.L. Carr.
This one initially caught my eye because of its title, but when I read a few of the reviews, I was convinced that it was a book I wanted to read…..I certainly wasn’t disappointed.
Steeple Sinderby Wanderers are only a village football team, but they have big ambitions, plus a couple of pretty good players….one who had retired, but who still has plenty of talent, and one whose professional career has been cut short by tragedy.
Add to this several team members who make up in brawn and determination what they may lack in actual skill, and the team’s indefatigable Chairman, Mr. Fangfoss, who’s drive, enthusiasm and influence in many things drives them on.
And then, of course, there’s the headmaster who applies his considerable intellect to producing a set of seven observations, in a way rules for playing more successful football, which he calls his Postulations –I had to look it up!
It’s hard to describe what I loved about this book, but I really did love it, the writing is great….sometimes quirky, sometimes funny, sometimes a little unbelievable really, but always entertaining.
There’s a wonderful cast of characters….at times I was reminded a little of the kind of humour in Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons, as I followed the fortunes of the underdog team that became giant killers.
I love finding these little gems of books……
This one initially caught my eye because of its title, but when I read a few of the reviews, I was convinced that it was a book I wanted to read…..I certainly wasn’t disappointed.
Steeple Sinderby Wanderers are only a village football team, but they have big ambitions, plus a couple of pretty good players….one who had retired, but who still has plenty of talent, and one whose professional career has been cut short by tragedy.
Add to this several team members who make up in brawn and determination what they may lack in actual skill, and the team’s indefatigable Chairman, Mr. Fangfoss, who’s drive, enthusiasm and influence in many things drives them on.
And then, of course, there’s the headmaster who applies his considerable intellect to producing a set of seven observations, in a way rules for playing more successful football, which he calls his Postulations –I had to look it up!
It’s hard to describe what I loved about this book, but I really did love it, the writing is great….sometimes quirky, sometimes funny, sometimes a little unbelievable really, but always entertaining.
There’s a wonderful cast of characters….at times I was reminded a little of the kind of humour in Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons, as I followed the fortunes of the underdog team that became giant killers.
I love finding these little gems of books……
November 16, 2025
How Steeple Sinderby Wanders Won the FA Cup is the story of an English village football team that wins it all, thanks to the contributions of a bunch of free-thinkers and weirdos. This includes a Hungarian schoolmaster who comes up with seven “Postulations of Football,” an outrageously old-fashioned chairman who refuses to bow to money or fame, a former pro driven by the need to forget his wife’s tragic accident, and another former pro driven by religious fervor. It’s a true underdog fantasy on all levels: not only the triumph of the amateur over the professional, but also the village over the city, creativity over entrenched ideas, and integrity over material reward.
Given the title, there’s no doubt about the ultimate outcome, and Carr doesn’t even make a pretense of suspense. Rather, he presents the story as a charmed moment, where everything simply goes right. He also ends the story on a sad note, because a moment like this cannot last and will likely never come again in a single lifetime.
Given the title, there’s no doubt about the ultimate outcome, and Carr doesn’t even make a pretense of suspense. Rather, he presents the story as a charmed moment, where everything simply goes right. He also ends the story on a sad note, because a moment like this cannot last and will likely never come again in a single lifetime.
And it hurts. Times I could vomit remembering. I have to stop and lean on a wall or something. Fancy! This street-once a great flood of fans! And the orchard of fruitless trees black with a mob stunned into silence! And Parson's Plow, our forwards flickering up and across it-silent now as in a dream! Alex, Sid and all the lads!
And it is so sad to know that those days, win or lose, can't return. Nor those remembered faces be gathered into one place again.
January 9, 2020
This is some kind of wonderful.
September 5, 2020
Another book that reaches out of the mists of time to touch my face... I first came across this name in the pages of my Rhodri Jones in Grade 6, and often wondered what it could possibly be like? What a curious title, after all. Carr's A Month in the Country happens to be one of my all-time favourite books, a magnificent Proustian madeleine of a novella, and as fine a rendering of a vanished rural England as you are likely to find in print. Add to that lashings of Great War trauma, and you have the makings of a timeless classic, one whose status has only been enhanced in the decades since, its cause furthered further by the wonderful Channel 4 movie of the same name.
Interestingly, Carr ends Sinderby on much that same note, one of plangent nostalgia and a narrator felled by breathtaking grief at the passage of time. Otherwise, Sinderby is a perfectly charming novel, full of gentle wit and humour, semi-convincingly evoking the glorious Road to Wembley that an unheralded village team rode all the way to eternal glory. I say semi because Leicester City proved once and for all that fairy tales on the football pitch do come true, even at real-life odds of 5000-1. And how fitting that the Foxes feature very early in the book. I can't help but wonder what happened to sales of THIS book during THAT season.
Carr's view of Englishness is both idiosyncratic and highly indulgent, a take that is not necessarily shared by the likes of me. To the robbed citizens of the extinct Empire, English nostalgia acts mainly as a strong emetic, even when it is wrapped in prelapsarian innocence such as this. Still, if you find that your faith in humanity is failing a little, if you are feeling listless and shopworn, you could do worse than to turn to Jim Carr's prose as a restorative to the spirit. He had a bittersweet and loving take on the foibles of his fellow man, one that doesn't grow old even on repeated acquaintance. Sinji next, perhaps?
Interestingly, Carr ends Sinderby on much that same note, one of plangent nostalgia and a narrator felled by breathtaking grief at the passage of time. Otherwise, Sinderby is a perfectly charming novel, full of gentle wit and humour, semi-convincingly evoking the glorious Road to Wembley that an unheralded village team rode all the way to eternal glory. I say semi because Leicester City proved once and for all that fairy tales on the football pitch do come true, even at real-life odds of 5000-1. And how fitting that the Foxes feature very early in the book. I can't help but wonder what happened to sales of THIS book during THAT season.
Carr's view of Englishness is both idiosyncratic and highly indulgent, a take that is not necessarily shared by the likes of me. To the robbed citizens of the extinct Empire, English nostalgia acts mainly as a strong emetic, even when it is wrapped in prelapsarian innocence such as this. Still, if you find that your faith in humanity is failing a little, if you are feeling listless and shopworn, you could do worse than to turn to Jim Carr's prose as a restorative to the spirit. He had a bittersweet and loving take on the foibles of his fellow man, one that doesn't grow old even on repeated acquaintance. Sinji next, perhaps?
May 23, 2017
Nachdem mich Ein Monat auf dem Land begeistert hatte, war für mich klar, dass ich auch dieses Buch lesen würde, und das, obwohl ich mich für Fußball überhaupt nicht interessiere. Es hat vor allem mit der Erzählhaltung und dem Tonfall zu tun, dass mich Carrs Bücher so ansprechen.
Die letzten 40 Seiten habe ich heute in einem Strandkorb sitzend in Hohwacht gelesen, und als ich gerade das Buch zuschlug, kam ein weißgekleideter Herr auf eine Personengruppe in meiner Nähe zu, die ich zuvor gar nicht wahrgenommen hatte. Lautstark begrüßte er die "Betroffenen", wusste sogleich zu berichten, dass heute nur Penner unterwegs sein, und begann die Armen nun zu belehren: an welchen Stränden es sauber & schön wäre, dass die Leute aber zu faul seien, 100 Meter zu gehen; dass alle unter 35 ständig ihr Smartphone griffbereit hätten; ob die denn wirklich glaubten, dass sie so unerhört wichtig seien? Hier hoffte ich vergeblich, dass der Lautsprecher diese Frage einmal kurz reflektieren möge. Kurzum: Innerhalb weniger Minuten hatte ich das Gefühl, jemand habe einen Eimer mit Unrat über mich entleert.
Was das mit den Büchern von J.L. Carr zu tun hat? Vielleicht gar nicht so wenig. Seine Erzähler haben ihre eigenen Sorgen (um die sie weder Aufhebens machen noch viele Worte darüber verlieren) und versuchen, abseits des so oft als normal empfundenen Alltags, der laut ist und fixiert aufs Populäre, sich auf das zu besinnen, was ihr Leben ausmacht. Sich in den Dienst einer Sache zu stellen, auch dort, wo Ansehen und Anerkennung nicht eben wahrscheinlich sind, schreckt sie nicht ab. Fast, scheint es, ist die milde Melancholie die Medizin, mit der der Erzähler wieder ans Leben anzuknüpfen vermag.
Der Erzähler von "Wie die Steeple Sinderby Wanderers den Pokal holten" ist in der Dorfmannschaft des Fleckens Sinderby Mädchen für alles und kümmert sich um sämtliche Belange der Mannschaft; nur als Spieler tritt er nicht auf.
Wovon er in diesem Entwurf zur offiziellen Mannschaftschronik berichtet, klingt wie ein Märchen: Die zusammengewürfelte Dorfmannschaft gewinnt mit der Strategie eines ungarischen Gelehrten Spiel um Spiel und tritt schließlich zum Endspiel um den Pokal an.
Auch wenn es einige Spielberichte in dem Roman gibt, erzählt mit viel britischem Humor, ist das eigentliche Thema doch nicht der Fußball, sondern wie Gemeinschaft und der Traum vom Erfolg das Leben verändern kann.
Ein sehr schöner Roman; ruhig, unaufgeregt und very british.
Die letzten 40 Seiten habe ich heute in einem Strandkorb sitzend in Hohwacht gelesen, und als ich gerade das Buch zuschlug, kam ein weißgekleideter Herr auf eine Personengruppe in meiner Nähe zu, die ich zuvor gar nicht wahrgenommen hatte. Lautstark begrüßte er die "Betroffenen", wusste sogleich zu berichten, dass heute nur Penner unterwegs sein, und begann die Armen nun zu belehren: an welchen Stränden es sauber & schön wäre, dass die Leute aber zu faul seien, 100 Meter zu gehen; dass alle unter 35 ständig ihr Smartphone griffbereit hätten; ob die denn wirklich glaubten, dass sie so unerhört wichtig seien? Hier hoffte ich vergeblich, dass der Lautsprecher diese Frage einmal kurz reflektieren möge. Kurzum: Innerhalb weniger Minuten hatte ich das Gefühl, jemand habe einen Eimer mit Unrat über mich entleert.
Was das mit den Büchern von J.L. Carr zu tun hat? Vielleicht gar nicht so wenig. Seine Erzähler haben ihre eigenen Sorgen (um die sie weder Aufhebens machen noch viele Worte darüber verlieren) und versuchen, abseits des so oft als normal empfundenen Alltags, der laut ist und fixiert aufs Populäre, sich auf das zu besinnen, was ihr Leben ausmacht. Sich in den Dienst einer Sache zu stellen, auch dort, wo Ansehen und Anerkennung nicht eben wahrscheinlich sind, schreckt sie nicht ab. Fast, scheint es, ist die milde Melancholie die Medizin, mit der der Erzähler wieder ans Leben anzuknüpfen vermag.
Der Erzähler von "Wie die Steeple Sinderby Wanderers den Pokal holten" ist in der Dorfmannschaft des Fleckens Sinderby Mädchen für alles und kümmert sich um sämtliche Belange der Mannschaft; nur als Spieler tritt er nicht auf.
Wovon er in diesem Entwurf zur offiziellen Mannschaftschronik berichtet, klingt wie ein Märchen: Die zusammengewürfelte Dorfmannschaft gewinnt mit der Strategie eines ungarischen Gelehrten Spiel um Spiel und tritt schließlich zum Endspiel um den Pokal an.
Auch wenn es einige Spielberichte in dem Roman gibt, erzählt mit viel britischem Humor, ist das eigentliche Thema doch nicht der Fußball, sondern wie Gemeinschaft und der Traum vom Erfolg das Leben verändern kann.
Ein sehr schöner Roman; ruhig, unaufgeregt und very british.
May 13, 2020
The British writer and publisher J. L. Carr is undoubtedly best known for his masterpiece, A Month in the Country (1980), a book I truly adore. Nevertheless, this author is much more than a one-book wonder as his excellent 1975 novella, How Steeple Sinderby Wanderers Won the FA Cup, clearly demonstrates.
I loved this tale of the plucky underdogs – titular non-leaguers Steeple Sinderby Wanderers – overcoming all the odds to beat the mighty Glasgow Rangers, scooping the much-prized FA Cup in the process. Although very different in style to Carr’s most famous work, How Steeple Sinderby… shares something of that novella’s tone, an air of wistfulness and longing for halcyon times past.
In short, the book charts the progress of a village football team who, through a combination of talent, discipline and determination, achieve their dream of going all the way to cup final and snatching victory in the game’s closing minutes.
And then the truly magnificent Slingsby, who had withstood this assault like a rock, gathered the ball and, on the turn, squeezed a fierce low kick from the scrum. And one wondered… one wondered if this had been plotted months ago when this village side was still lost in the obscurity of the midland plains. It had been All or Nothing. Nothing if McGarrity had scored, Nothing if Wilmslow hadn’t risen from the earth… If, if, if… (p.111)
Crucial to the team are its key players: centre forward Sid Smith, a once-promising striker now lured out of retirement; Monkey Tonks, the local milkman whose strength and agility make him an ideal candidate for goalkeeper; and last but not least, Alan Slingsby, whose earlier career at Aston Villa was cut short due to his wife’s need for round-the-clock care.
To read the rest of my review, please visit:
https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2020...
I loved this tale of the plucky underdogs – titular non-leaguers Steeple Sinderby Wanderers – overcoming all the odds to beat the mighty Glasgow Rangers, scooping the much-prized FA Cup in the process. Although very different in style to Carr’s most famous work, How Steeple Sinderby… shares something of that novella’s tone, an air of wistfulness and longing for halcyon times past.
In short, the book charts the progress of a village football team who, through a combination of talent, discipline and determination, achieve their dream of going all the way to cup final and snatching victory in the game’s closing minutes.
And then the truly magnificent Slingsby, who had withstood this assault like a rock, gathered the ball and, on the turn, squeezed a fierce low kick from the scrum. And one wondered… one wondered if this had been plotted months ago when this village side was still lost in the obscurity of the midland plains. It had been All or Nothing. Nothing if McGarrity had scored, Nothing if Wilmslow hadn’t risen from the earth… If, if, if… (p.111)
Crucial to the team are its key players: centre forward Sid Smith, a once-promising striker now lured out of retirement; Monkey Tonks, the local milkman whose strength and agility make him an ideal candidate for goalkeeper; and last but not least, Alan Slingsby, whose earlier career at Aston Villa was cut short due to his wife’s need for round-the-clock care.
To read the rest of my review, please visit:
https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2020...
August 14, 2019
Il mondo si divide in due sottoinsiemi principali.
Conservatori e progressisti? No.
Oriente e Occidente? No.
Il mondo si divide fra i tifosi di squadre di primo livello e tifosi delle cosiddette “piccole”. Per i primi, l’eliminazione ai quarti in Champions o un terzo posto sono un dramma passeggero: l’anno prossimo ci si riprova, male che vada nell’arco di un decennio qualcosa di buono succederà.
Per un tifoso di una “piccola”, l’anno di una retrocessione è una pietra miliare, un momento dopo il quale nulla sarà più come prima. Passeranno anni, probabilmente lustri, prima di poterlo vagamente dimenticare. Una finale persa ai playoff per andare in B lascia senza parole (letteralmente) per settimane. So quel che dico.
In questo adorabile romanzo del 1975, James Lloys Carr immagina una squadra di infima categoria farsi strada nel tabellone di Coppa d’Inghilterra superando una sfida dopo l’altra, professionisti inclusi. Un percorso immaginabile per la formula di alcune competizioni nazionali (quella inglese e quella francese, ad esempio), non in Italia, dove pure abbiamo avuto dei casi altrettanto intriganti ma sempre e soltanto nell’ambito professionistico. Nel romanzo di Carr, l’incedere vittorioso dei Wanderers è reso possibile dalle teorie di un luminare ungherese espatriato in UK, da un intelligente e fiero presidente-proprietario e dalla magia di una intera popolazione. E come accade nei migliori romanzi sportivi, il calcio è l’occasione per raccontare una certa Inghilterra – quella degli anni Settanta nello specifico – e mille umanità mosse dal sogno, dal ricordo, dal desiderio di riscatto.
Chiaro, siamo lontani dall’infinitamente splendido Soriano e forse persino da un accattivante Nick Hornby, per restare in ambito calcistico. Ma vale davvero la pena spenderci qualche ora, perdersi fra i suoi irrisestibili personaggi e godersi una scrittura dei tempi che furono.
http://capitolo23.com/2019/08/14/come...
Conservatori e progressisti? No.
Oriente e Occidente? No.
Il mondo si divide fra i tifosi di squadre di primo livello e tifosi delle cosiddette “piccole”. Per i primi, l’eliminazione ai quarti in Champions o un terzo posto sono un dramma passeggero: l’anno prossimo ci si riprova, male che vada nell’arco di un decennio qualcosa di buono succederà.
Per un tifoso di una “piccola”, l’anno di una retrocessione è una pietra miliare, un momento dopo il quale nulla sarà più come prima. Passeranno anni, probabilmente lustri, prima di poterlo vagamente dimenticare. Una finale persa ai playoff per andare in B lascia senza parole (letteralmente) per settimane. So quel che dico.
In questo adorabile romanzo del 1975, James Lloys Carr immagina una squadra di infima categoria farsi strada nel tabellone di Coppa d’Inghilterra superando una sfida dopo l’altra, professionisti inclusi. Un percorso immaginabile per la formula di alcune competizioni nazionali (quella inglese e quella francese, ad esempio), non in Italia, dove pure abbiamo avuto dei casi altrettanto intriganti ma sempre e soltanto nell’ambito professionistico. Nel romanzo di Carr, l’incedere vittorioso dei Wanderers è reso possibile dalle teorie di un luminare ungherese espatriato in UK, da un intelligente e fiero presidente-proprietario e dalla magia di una intera popolazione. E come accade nei migliori romanzi sportivi, il calcio è l’occasione per raccontare una certa Inghilterra – quella degli anni Settanta nello specifico – e mille umanità mosse dal sogno, dal ricordo, dal desiderio di riscatto.
Chiaro, siamo lontani dall’infinitamente splendido Soriano e forse persino da un accattivante Nick Hornby, per restare in ambito calcistico. Ma vale davvero la pena spenderci qualche ora, perdersi fra i suoi irrisestibili personaggi e godersi una scrittura dei tempi che furono.
http://capitolo23.com/2019/08/14/come...
October 8, 2020
I love football and I love England. Sorry I know this makes me a bad leftist. This book made me cry several times, either from laughing or from being sad.
“Mr Gidner,” he said, “I know what you’re looking for. But it’s gone, and it’ll never come back.”
Then - and only for an instant - our Chairman gave himself away. “And more’s the pity, lad,” he said.
“Mr Gidner,” he said, “I know what you’re looking for. But it’s gone, and it’ll never come back.”
Then - and only for an instant - our Chairman gave himself away. “And more’s the pity, lad,” he said.
November 8, 2019
The incredible Leicester City side that pulled what arguably has been the most endearing and unsuspected rabbit out of a priceless hat in 2016, might in all probability have been influenced by the fictional exploits of the motely crew that is Steeple Sinderby Wanderers. The factual miracle of Claudio Ranieri's side has an eerie similarity (excepting the decrepit facilities of the Wanderers and a home turf that is barely above water level) to the fortitude of Alex Slingsby's side.
This moving laugh riot by J.L.Carr has all the ingredients of a sure shot bestseller. Hilarious protagonists, a heartwarming swarm of humanity to egg on their heroes and a multitude of chaotic settings all make for one captivating roller coaster of a read. The humour is fantastic and the plot is just about perfect - neither overcooked nor underdone. The road to Wembley from the unremarkable village of Fenland is the brainchild of the indefatigably resourceful Professor Kossuth a Hungarian immigrant. Extrapolating his ingenious teaching methods at school to the game of football, Kossuth with the able backing of Mr.Fangfoss, who is the Chairman of virtually everything that could conceivably need chairing at Fenland, manages to mould together a team of diverse characters.
Sporting an attire that is buttercup yellow the, Sinderby Wanderers' main stars are Monkey Tonks a goal keeper who before the trials has never kicked or grabbed a football in his life, the Shooting Star Swift who once was a rising star for a 1st Division side but who is now leading a reclusive life and Alexander Slinngsby, who has sacrificed a potential career in football to tend to his invalid wife Diana. This team strung up on short notice follows 7 precepts postulated by Kossuth and popularly known as the Kossuth postulates.
How Steeple Sinderby Wanderers proceed to demolish every opponent, obscure and decorated before finally dismantling the much vaunted Glasgow Rangers at the hallowed turf of Wembley takes up a major portion of this endearingly rib tickling book.
This moving laugh riot by J.L.Carr has all the ingredients of a sure shot bestseller. Hilarious protagonists, a heartwarming swarm of humanity to egg on their heroes and a multitude of chaotic settings all make for one captivating roller coaster of a read. The humour is fantastic and the plot is just about perfect - neither overcooked nor underdone. The road to Wembley from the unremarkable village of Fenland is the brainchild of the indefatigably resourceful Professor Kossuth a Hungarian immigrant. Extrapolating his ingenious teaching methods at school to the game of football, Kossuth with the able backing of Mr.Fangfoss, who is the Chairman of virtually everything that could conceivably need chairing at Fenland, manages to mould together a team of diverse characters.
Sporting an attire that is buttercup yellow the, Sinderby Wanderers' main stars are Monkey Tonks a goal keeper who before the trials has never kicked or grabbed a football in his life, the Shooting Star Swift who once was a rising star for a 1st Division side but who is now leading a reclusive life and Alexander Slinngsby, who has sacrificed a potential career in football to tend to his invalid wife Diana. This team strung up on short notice follows 7 precepts postulated by Kossuth and popularly known as the Kossuth postulates.
How Steeple Sinderby Wanderers proceed to demolish every opponent, obscure and decorated before finally dismantling the much vaunted Glasgow Rangers at the hallowed turf of Wembley takes up a major portion of this endearingly rib tickling book.
July 26, 2025
so, Saunatag und Saunabuch beendet...
Ja, es ist eine nette, am vielen Stellen humorige und herzliche Geschichte über einen Amateurverein, der "aus dem Nichts" einen prestigeträchtigen Pokal gewinnt.
Aber gefühlt spielt das alles Anfang der 20/03er Jahre, und es ist bei weitem nicht so ... schön und beeindruckend wie der Monat auf dem Land...
Ja, es ist eine nette, am vielen Stellen humorige und herzliche Geschichte über einen Amateurverein, der "aus dem Nichts" einen prestigeträchtigen Pokal gewinnt.
Aber gefühlt spielt das alles Anfang der 20/03er Jahre, und es ist bei weitem nicht so ... schön und beeindruckend wie der Monat auf dem Land...
June 20, 2023
What fun! Brilliant comic writing, and such a portrait of England as it always/never was.
Now I have a long list of Carr's novels I have to read.
Now I have a long list of Carr's novels I have to read.
June 26, 2025
Eine 1975 erschienene englisch Satire über eine Zuguck-Sporart, die mich überhaupt nicht interessiert: Fußball. Zumindest weiß ich genug über die Regeln und die Geschichte des Sports, um mitdenken zu können und die satirisierten Hintergründe zu erkennen. Außerdem ist J.L. Carr Meister der Erzählökonomie und braucht nur 130 Seiten für die launige Geschichte der Dorfmannschaft, die mit Hilfe der kühlen Analyse eines ungarischen Intellektuellen eine Strategie für den englischen Pokalgewinn findet. Wirklich lustig fand ich die Seitenhiebe auf die Strukturen und Gemeinheiten im Landleben, weit weg von jedem Landliebe-Idyll, außerdem war ich überrascht, dass die Mechanismen von Kommerzialisierung und Medienausschlachtung des Fußballs offensichtlich vor 50 Jahren bereits dieselben wie heute waren.
Ein Fußballfan hat sicher großes Vergnügen an dem Roman.
Ein Fußballfan hat sicher großes Vergnügen an dem Roman.
May 23, 2020
One of the funniest, and most poignant books I've read for many years. You don't actually need to like football to enjoy it.
January 27, 2026
Wunder gibt es immer wieder - vor allem im Fußball - wenn der David im Pokal den Goliath schlägt. In J.L. Carrs Roman geht es um die Sinderby Wanderers, eine Dorf- und Amateurmannschaft, die den F.A. Cup in England gewinnt.
Klingt spannend? Ist es aber nicht.
Der Roman ist langweilig für die, die den Fußball nicht lieben und enttäuschend für die, die ihn lieben - wie mich. Literarisch wirklich unterstes Regal.
Zwei Sterne gibt es für die kleine Dosis englischer Fußballromantik, die ab und zu durchschimmert.
Klingt spannend? Ist es aber nicht.
Der Roman ist langweilig für die, die den Fußball nicht lieben und enttäuschend für die, die ihn lieben - wie mich. Literarisch wirklich unterstes Regal.
Zwei Sterne gibt es für die kleine Dosis englischer Fußballromantik, die ab und zu durchschimmert.
December 26, 2025
call me joe mcgowan bc this was wonderful and I am now a diehard football fan, get me to the 2026 FA cup stat
December 7, 2019
A fantastic book. Sharp, witty, and poignant.
September 23, 2020
A cute little satire about English football, which I needed after a heavy week and some rather heavy reads of late. I think the FA Cup is one of the greatest competitions in all of sport because even the smallest amateur clubs are competing alongside the likes of the big Manchester and London clubs. Steeple Sinderby Wanderers is one such minnow, comprised of milk men, the local parson, and a few rough gems who have fallen into oblivion. They follow a simple footballing philosophy but also use to their advantage an uneven pitch that partially floods as a means of besting their superiors. Carr is writing a comedy; the narration is unreliable - a lovestruck amateur reporter piecing together their famous season through observation, newspaper clippings, and hearsay - and the events hyperbolic, but he is envisaging the story of every small club's dream, and the football action he writes is anything but far-fetched, aside from perhaps the match against Manchester United. What I really enjoyed about the novel was the behind-the-scenes look at managing a small football club: ticket sales, parking, sponsors, kits, enterprising ownership. Carr does well in presenting the myriad aspects of the club's brush with fame, and like his Booker-nominated A Month in the Country, the prose is steeped in the nostalgia of witnessing an extraordinary series of events unfold before you while knowing that it's too good to last. The idiomatic British wit often went over my head, which is my only real critique. Otherwise, it's a nice book on football, up there with Fever Pitch, Home and Away, and The Boy on the Shed, if you're looking for any other titles.
April 6, 2020
"I often wish I could have known the end at the beginning, so that each detail could have been savored as it happened. But then, life isn't a gramaphone record one can play again and again [...] It is Now or Never for most of us, and we havent the time. But we shall tomorrow..."
What a gorgeous, charming, moving book. And all in 123 pages...For anyone who has ever watched a Sunday league match in some quiet English village, with pylons and forests buttressing the water-logged pitches. For anyone who has ever had a group of friends they've loved, fallen in love with, have never imagined life without, and woken one day to find that life doesn't halt because our heart wishes it so. Time moves on and people leave town, they 'come in and out of our lives like busboys in a restaurant' (Stephen King). And one day all that's left is to stand on the town common at dusk, a place once loud with the cries and hooting of children becoming adults becoming friends, and remembering all that has passed, and that will continue to pass.
What a gorgeous, charming, moving book. And all in 123 pages...For anyone who has ever watched a Sunday league match in some quiet English village, with pylons and forests buttressing the water-logged pitches. For anyone who has ever had a group of friends they've loved, fallen in love with, have never imagined life without, and woken one day to find that life doesn't halt because our heart wishes it so. Time moves on and people leave town, they 'come in and out of our lives like busboys in a restaurant' (Stephen King). And one day all that's left is to stand on the town common at dusk, a place once loud with the cries and hooting of children becoming adults becoming friends, and remembering all that has passed, and that will continue to pass.
July 10, 2019
Read this on a drowsy afternoon. I happened to see it in the library, having read (and loved) a month in the country some time before that.
It is very different, but there is one thing that holds true for both books: they’re books about a time that is now past, which has never and will never come again into the lives of those who lived it. And it is that mixed ache of melancholy and nostalgia and love that makes his books glow for me.
But anyway, this book is obviously a lot more lighthearted. It’s astonishingly funny, and weirdly plausible. I loved the cast of characters. Would absolutely read this again and again.
It is very different, but there is one thing that holds true for both books: they’re books about a time that is now past, which has never and will never come again into the lives of those who lived it. And it is that mixed ache of melancholy and nostalgia and love that makes his books glow for me.
But anyway, this book is obviously a lot more lighthearted. It’s astonishingly funny, and weirdly plausible. I loved the cast of characters. Would absolutely read this again and again.
September 1, 2019
Funny, well written... absolute gem of 122 pages...!
October 31, 2021
‘’Your boots are part of your feet. Lads, we must think football and dream football. All eleven of us and the reserves! If we’re beaten, we must leave the pitch knowing there was nothing, nothing, NOTHING at all we’d left undone that we could have done. That way, I, for one, won’t mind losing. And believe me, a match can hang on a worn stud, a stride lost, an instant’s lapse of concentration.’’
Rappt och roligt, men med en gnutta allvar! Steeple Sinderby Wanderers består av ett riktigt hopplock av stadens lokala invånare. En kyrkoherde har visat sig vara en riktigt kvick och lysande yttermittfältare, och stadens mjölkbud har en historia av att ta emot varandra boll som kommit emot honom och har således fått axla rollen som målvakt. Och sen har vi ju stadens stora stjärna Alex Slingsby, som nyligen har kommit tillbaka efter en proffskarriär i storklubbarna för att ta hand om sin sjuka fru. Och nu ska han istället leda sitt Steeple Sinderby mot vinst efter vinst. Det är en humoristisk och fantasifull bok, men den skildrar likväl livet på den engelska landsbygden som utgör kontraster mot livet (och klubbarna) i storstäderna. Lagets omklädningsrum är i form av en gammal tågkupé, och spelarna är genuint glada så länge fotbollsplanen håller sig över vattenytan. Mmm, en liten berättelse om hur ett lokalt lag kommer från ingenstans och tar sig upp och upp i tabellen för att sedan vinna hela jäkla cupen. Superkul läsning, rekommenderas till exakt alla!
Rappt och roligt, men med en gnutta allvar! Steeple Sinderby Wanderers består av ett riktigt hopplock av stadens lokala invånare. En kyrkoherde har visat sig vara en riktigt kvick och lysande yttermittfältare, och stadens mjölkbud har en historia av att ta emot varandra boll som kommit emot honom och har således fått axla rollen som målvakt. Och sen har vi ju stadens stora stjärna Alex Slingsby, som nyligen har kommit tillbaka efter en proffskarriär i storklubbarna för att ta hand om sin sjuka fru. Och nu ska han istället leda sitt Steeple Sinderby mot vinst efter vinst. Det är en humoristisk och fantasifull bok, men den skildrar likväl livet på den engelska landsbygden som utgör kontraster mot livet (och klubbarna) i storstäderna. Lagets omklädningsrum är i form av en gammal tågkupé, och spelarna är genuint glada så länge fotbollsplanen håller sig över vattenytan. Mmm, en liten berättelse om hur ett lokalt lag kommer från ingenstans och tar sig upp och upp i tabellen för att sedan vinna hela jäkla cupen. Superkul läsning, rekommenderas till exakt alla!
September 4, 2022
No surprise to learn that this book is about a small village football team from Steeple Sinderby, winning the FA Cup. It is an account of the success as written by Joe Gidner who has been employed by the Committee to write the Official History of what happened, and this book is his “rough sketch” or first draft with lots of insider information and nostalgia thrown in. There are some very imaginative and humorous scenes which I really enjoyed, in particular the traffic jam caused by Manchester United away fans. The style is a bit old fashioned and tongue in cheek and this is fine by me, excepting some of the stereotyping of the female characters, which is jarring when they feature, which they don’t much. The characters are mainly there to provide humour, except for Diana, wife of Alex Slingsby, the most talented player in the team, who had had a horrific accident and was paralysed. This is heartbreaking, although mostly glossed over. The male characters in the book, memorably the eccentric Mr Fangfoss, The Chairman, is the most prominently featured character; of his time, but overall, his decisions were for the good of all. I don’t know that I particularly enjoyed knowing the ending, and I can’t help wondering if it would have been better to build up the tension.
April 16, 2023
Having read and loved A Month In The Country by the same author, I decided to read another of his, and chose this. Partly it was because I have always been a fan and watcher of non-league football, and partly because I love the magic of the FA Cup. The final hook was that I imagined it would have the same ‘small’ loveliness of A Month. It did, and had a huge dollop of whimsy on top. It captures the various characters well, creates a largely believable story but intertwines it with just enough fallacy to leave a reader in no doubt. There are moments of humour that have transcended the decades since it was written, and a couple of sentences that drag it back if read with a modern sensibility, but they’re still more comments on the prevailing wind at the time than anything else. Added to that are a few moments of violence that are described in a not completely innocent way, short, sharp and to the point. They’re a surprise, but a welcome one to illustrate that life isn’t always roses. It’s a story that many of us will be able to pull pieces of our own realities from (especially if you ever played or watched football, or volunteered for an organisation or club). It’s also a tale of regret and the passing of time. A beautiful little way to spend a couple of hours, all-told.
November 5, 2021
3.5 Stars
Quite a charming little story, very English, very true to it’s 70s time. Though much joy is lost as the names are not so common to know.
Quite a charming little story, very English, very true to it’s 70s time. Though much joy is lost as the names are not so common to know.
December 4, 2023
Weirdly enough, you might need some interest in football to understand this book… which I do not possess. Funny in some places, my dad would love it.
May 14, 2024
Divertido y bien narrado. Sin ser inolvidable es una buena historia.
January 4, 2025
I don't give a flying free kick about football, and honestly I never would've read this if I didn't already like Carr. It was okay, good enough to persevere to the end... but I wouldn't go so far as to say it was good. Definitely not a patch on A Month in the Country. Not especially recommended unless you're a massive football fan, and probably not even then.
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