The Quiet Fan

by Ian Plenderleith

Who is the Quiet Fan? It s you, me and almost everyone who follows football. But for years we ve been marginalised by the hooligans, the fanatics, the obsessives and the angry. Only the passionate , it seems, can say that they love their clubs and love the game. This quiet fan is finally speaking up and it s time to reclaim the middle ground. In a memoir recounting the combined folly and delights of supporting Lincoln City, Scotland and Rangers (it s complicated), Ian Plenderleith speaks up for the fans you never notice - the quiet ones sitting (or standing) among the howlers, the shouters and the fist-shakers. From a grim and foul-mouthed fourth division encounter in early 1970s Lincolnshire through to a star-studded orgy of fireworks and excess in 21st century New York, he examines the role of football as a reassuring, ever-present background to life's thrills, pains and fluctuations. In a pacy, wit-driven mixture of observation, anecdotes and analysis, this book looks anew at the way we watch and relate to football. How it can be a fundamental part of our lives, but without completely blanketing some other important issues like love, death, divorce and the Birmingham post-punk indie scene. How football is, of course, so much more than a game, but perhaps just slightly less than the universe. Ever since Fever Pitch and the wave of hard man football literature 20 years ago, we ve been told that the only way to express our love for football is through extreme, absurd, violent or negative emotions. The Quiet Fan sees things differently. Magnificent, frustrating, invigorating football is our game too.

Genres: Sports, Football, Soccer

256 pages, Paperback

Published August 23, 2018

About the author

My latest book (published September 2025) is another collection of football short stories, The Last Amateur (Halcyon Publishing), and is "inspired by the amorality, the greed, and the somehow still irresistible allure of the modern game", to quote the cover blurb. It follows my book about being an amateur ref (Reffing Hell, 2022) and my counter-Hornby supporter's memoir The Quiet Fan (2018). That book was preceded by my historical analysis of the wildly entertaining North American Soccer League of the 1970s - 'Rock n Roll Soccer', which was published in the UK by Icon Books in 2014, and by Thomas Dunne in the US in 2015. My debut was back in 2001, For Whom the Ball Rolls (Orion Books), my first foray into football fiction.

The rest of my life has been spent playing, coaching, reffing, watching and reporting on football, with occasional interference from family and friends.

Reviews

[Tim Bradford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Soulful and perceptive memoir that is cleverly structured around a selection of memorable (for him) football matches.

One of my favourite authors - he's also a first class raconteur, high energy referee and used to run a boutique record label.

[Lee Harker · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very entertaining book which works brilliantly on a number of levels, and is the perfect read for the “ordinary” football fan.
The reality of being a supporter of a perennially under achieving lower league team (as am I) really strikes a chord, and the football prose is cleverly interwoven with many other angst ridden aspects of life’s journey from teenager to adult, all delivered with humour in a heartfelt and poignant way.
Well worth a look 👍🙂

[Dan Klonowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

A slower read than I thought it might be for me, a budding futbol fan. Once I got to the last chapter however, I flew through it, gaining insight on how the game as a whole has changed from a labor of love to, in too many markets, just another capitalistic push for profit. I do love that the author ends his memoir on the simple joys of enjoying the game for the game, especially in traversing the field as a referee - something that he and I share.

[Tony · Rating 2 out of 5]

Don't be so hard on yourself mate.