The FA Cup: The Complete Story review

When I was younger the FA Cup provided one of the rare opportunities to watch football on television. I would either stay up and watch the game or wait the replay the next day. So when I saw The FA Cup: The Complete Story (Aurum Press, 2005) by Guy Lloyd and Nick Holt sitting on the shelves of a discount bookstore I just had to grab it.

The book gives a summary of every season of the competition from its beginnings in 1871 until 2005 final. It is a great reference guide for all those interested in this great competition. Its not necessary to read the book from start to finish as I did, as you can just open it to a page and find out what happened in that year. The summaries for each season range from one page to three or four pages. For me, what I found interesting were the teams that were winning the competition in its early days and how they now reside in the lower echelons of the English leagues, and teams that have won the competition consistently over its many years. Overall, the book is well written with the general text being interspersed with interesting and odd facts about players which helps break up some of the monotony of the text. It is a must read for all fans of the English game.