Angol
We, Brits, are suckers for plucky losers, or so we're told. But more than this, we love to see an upset. In Underdog!, Tim Quelch calls upon a lifetime of watching struggling teams to show how improbable successes were achieved, such as humble Orient's promotion to Division One in 1962. The book highlights the key ingredients of their achievements, including inspired management, massive motivation and shrewd methods. It also captures the grinding hardships that struggling teams and their supporters frequently endure. Quelch looks at the fortunes of many teams around the country, including some non-league sides, conducting and drawing upon interviews with a wide number of footballers and managers in helping to tell the tale. This 50-year account is placed within the context of changing times - in and outside football; not only showing how differently the game has been played over the last half-century but also how home and working life has altered, with the latter having an important bearing on the former. This is a personal journey, too; a story of growing up and older with football played largely outside the fast lane.
