How Not to Run a Football Club - Official Discussion Thread

foggy

Well-known member
Finally (finally finally) it seems like some people are getting their copies, so I thought I'd make a thread here for your comments, questions etc, general chat. Looks like WH Smith had their copies ready to pick up yesterday and Blackpool Waterstones have most of the orders placed with them ready to pick up today (general stock for sale in shop not quite ready yet though) and have deliveries out in the post. Amazon has told people April which was in error and are now updating estimated delivery to next week.

Looking forward to all your thoughts. If you spot a typo, don't tell me for a few weeks, the amount of times I proofread it I don't think I could take it just yet!

Book signing/q+a has been postponed from this week as stock hasn't arrived at the Armfield Club and many won't have gotten their orders yet, but will sort out a new date soon.

Happy reading all. Thank you so much for buying, I hope it lives up to expectations. My twitter is @nathanjfogg, send me all your photos please!
 
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My Debit Card was charged today and the order on Amazon says despatched but not due until 2nd April weird 🤨
 
Finally (finally finally) it seems like some people are getting their copies, so I thought I'd make a thread here for your comments, questions etc, general chat. Looks like WH Smith had their copies ready to pick up yesterday and Blackpool Waterstones have most of the orders placed with them ready to pick up today (general stock for sale in shop not quite ready yet though) and have deliveries out in the post. Amazon has told people April which was in error and are now updating estimated delivery to next week.

Looking forward to all your thoughts. If you spot a typo, don't tell me for a few weeks, the amount of times I proofread it I don't think I could take it just yet!

Book signing/q+a has been postponed from this week as stock hasn't arrived at the Armfield Club and many won't have gotten their orders yet, but will sort out a new date soon.

Happy reading all. Thank you so much for buying, I hope it lives up to expectations. My twitter is @nathanjfogg, send me all your photos please!
Amazon have me down for 24/03 so forgive me if I give this thread a miss for now.
 
The Derby protest was slightly different to how you wrote it and the best bit was sneaking into corporate under the noses of the Oystons to speak to the match referee about what happened who was interested in the story and included it into his match report

Also the Huddersfield protest and pitch invasion was planned in Wetherspoons before the game with a smoke alarm being set of as the signal for the pitch invasion

Not finished the book yet but its decent to be fair

I hope you have something on Morecambe away in there
 
The Derby protest was slightly different to how you wrote it and the best bit was sneaking into corporate under the noses of the Oystons to speak to the match referee about what happened who was interested in the story and included it into his match report

Also the Huddersfield protest and pitch invasion was planned in Wetherspoons before the game with a smoke alarm being set of as the signal for the pitch invasion

Not finished the book yet but its decent to be fair

I hope you have something on Morecambe away in there
I wrote that the Derby protest was a group who moved around the stadium at the bottom, there may have been more to it but that is what happened.

Hudds was planned in advance days before the game. I spoke to people who had been in discussions with the police in the lead up to it. There may have been separate groups, but sources I've spoken to who were involved planned their moves before the day.
 
I wrote that the Derby protest was a group who moved around the stadium at the bottom, there may have been more to it but that is what happened.

Hudds was planned in advance days before the game. I spoke to people who had been in discussions with the police in the lead up to it. There may have been separate groups, but sources I've spoken to who were involved planned their moves before the day.
Hudds might have been but the plan was changed on the day of the match as someone told the Police there was going to be a pitch invasion on the 53rd minute

The fire alarm being set off in the South toilets was the signal for the pitch invasion earlier than planned

Nothing on Morecambe away either, thats a bit of an omission given how shit scared the Oystons were that day

Anyway well done its a decent read I've pretty much speed read it all today
 
Hudds might have been but the plan was changed on the day of the match as someone told the Police there was going to be a pitch invasion on the 53rd minute

The fire alarm being set off in the South toilets was the signal for the pitch invasion earlier than planned

Nothing on Morecambe away either, thats a bit of an omission given how shit scared the Oystons were that day

Anyway well done its a decent read I've pretty much speed read it all today
I was told by organisers that the plan was 46th minute to catch stewards off guard, as many would still be coming out of the concurse then anyway. They also said police told them beforehand they weren't going to stop it - just this once - as it was "civil disobedience in support of a cause". They already knew about the invasion before it happened.

They surrounded them but if you watch the video there's no attempt to stop people going on the pitch (other than a few enthusiastic stewards). They warned organisers if they did it again they'd have the police horses on to round them up - which could be true, could have been a bluff. It's very possible I spoke to some organisers and you spoke to others however, maybe different groups?

Thanks for your kind words. I don't know if anyone really brought up Morecambe when I interview them, but there was so much stuff there's gonna be bits that's slip through the net. I'll have to ask you about it if there's ever a 'definitive edition' reprint
 
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The only criticisms are how Raggy and Steve Reed are portrayed and how its all a bit of a BST/Knights bias in regards to the protests

I can tell who you spoke to

But anyway well done 👏
 
I was told by organisers that the plan was 46th minute to catch stewards off guard, as many would still be coming out of the concurse then anyway. They also said police told them beforehand they weren't going to stop it - just this once - as it was "civil disobedience in support of a cause". They already knew about the invasion before it happened.

They surrounded them but if you watch the video there's no attempt to stop people going on the pitch (other than a few enthusiastic stewards). They warned organisers if they did it again they'd have the police horses on to round them up - which could be true, could have been a bluff. It's very possible I spoke to some organisers and you spoke to others however, maybe different groups?

Thanks for your kind words. I don't know if anyone really brought up Morecambe when I interview them, but there was so much stuff there's gonna be bits that's slip through the net. I'll have to ask you about it if there's ever a 'definitive edition' reprint
At the pre-march briefing the police told us if there was a pitch invasion they couldn’t deploy the horses if everyone sat down
 
I was told by organisers that the plan was 46th minute to catch stewards off guard, as many would still be coming out of the concurse then anyway. They also said police told them beforehand they weren't going to stop it - just this once - as it was "civil disobedience in support of a cause". They already knew about the invasion before it happened.

They surrounded them but if you watch the video there's no attempt to stop people going on the pitch (other than a few enthusiastic stewards). They warned organisers if they did it again they'd have the police horses on to round them up - which could be true, could have been a bluff. It's very possible I spoke to some organisers and you spoke to others however, maybe different groups?

Thanks for your kind words. I don't know if anyone really brought up Morecambe when I interview them, but there was so much stuff there's gonna be bits that's slip through the net. I'll have to ask you about it if there's ever a 'definitive edition' reprint
Indeed with regard to the protests. The meeting with the local cops in the lead up was all smoke and mirrors discussion with having to word everything very carefully. The Inspector in charge, who some on here will know, but who moved on a few years ago, his exact words were that the protest would be allowed as it was "an act of civil disobedience in furtherance of a cause". And the cops could therefore see fit to just observe. Which for the most part they did.

It was also mentioned about sitting down in the centre circle, and then horses could not be brought in to either charge or attempt to move anyone.

It helped with that Inspector being not only a huge football fan. But also his club having seen fan protests. He related to everything, although there was the warning that should there be any repeat at a League game then it would be a different matter. Though of course there was then Lancaster in preseason at a much lower level.

Even the meeting with the cops the week after a sort of debrief, the cops actually didn't want to take any action, but of course were being pushed by a certain family.
 
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My Amazon order was showing as due next Saturday 25th.

Just received email saying now arriving on Sunday 20th 😃
 
The protests were mainly orchestrated by the Knights, so that’s accurate. Raggy & SR did their own thing, which was also brilliant.
Classic photo used for the cover. Really sums up that period.
The main aggression towards the scum wasn’t orchestrated by the TKs at all. It was usually something that just happened such as Owen and his bodyguard getting attacked at Morecambe and also by lads who jumped off the tram as he was on his way back from Fleetwood, the windows in the main entrance of the West being smashed the day after I wrote my apology, the Derby protest and the scaling of the balcony by lads who had nothing to do with the TKs. Think the TKs sometimes thought a bit too much of themselves personally especially as at a couple of their meetings that I went to they said they didn’t want to do anything that saw them break the law 🤔
 
The main aggression towards the scum wasn’t orchestrated by the TKs at all. It was usually something that just happened such as Owen and his bodyguard getting attacked at Morecambe and also by lads who jumped off the tram as he was on his way back from Fleetwood, the windows in the main entrance of the West being smashed the day after I wrote my apology, the Derby protest and the scaling of the balcony by lads who had nothing to do with the TKs. Think the TKs sometimes thought a bit too much of themselves personally especially as at a couple of their meetings that I went to they said they didn’t want to do anything that saw them break the law 🤔
I would respectfully disagree, certainly about "thought a bit too much of themselves". Very disappointing from you to be honest.
 
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