The Title: The story of the First Division

A nice way to tell the story of the First Division. With humor, data, and enough information and background to understand what happened during every season. It's easy to read and understand. Very enjoyable.

You need to be a football history fanatic to appreciate this. The style, which the writer uses for his Guardian contributions, is too journalistic and very wearing to read for page after page.

Let me first admit that I am a fan of Scott Murray's work, both long-form and of the shorter variety. A pioneer of internet Minute-by-Minute football reports, Scott is still among the best (probably still *the* best) in that format, and his liveblogging of golf's Major Tournaments is absolutely peerless. Speaking of golf, one of my favourite sporting books of recent years was Murray's "Phantom of the Open" (which I heartily recommend, whether or not you actually care for the good walk spoiled), and so I read "The Title" with high expectations. I was not disappointed. I consider myself reasonably knowledgeable about football, particularly the last 15 years of the pre-Premier-League era, but I learned something new on every page, a goofy grin plastered all over my face throughout (yes, it's funny, too.) I bought my dad a copy. He's in his 70s now (can that really be so?), and an annoyingly encyclopaedic fan of the game, but he wouldn't stop texting me about things he was reading in "The Title" of which he had previously been blissfully unaware. I don't think he'd ever once admitted to a gap in his knowledge to me before. Entertaining and erudite, it's easy to recommend "The Title" to anyone with an interest in either: a) the history of English football; or b) good writing about great stories.

As an American, the English Premier League didn't really register with me until the turn of the century when I got digital cable and henceforth, Fox Soccer Channel. But not even Michelle Lissell nor Bobby McMahon could clue me in about the dark ages before the Premier League started in 1992. My knowledge was limited to the odd reference heard on Monty Python (I always thought Coventry City had never won the FA Cup but apparently that changed in 1987) and the odd news story that made it to these shores which unfortunately was usually about hooliganism or other disastrous events. Thankfully, Scott Murray has written this book to enlighten us Yanks and, frankly, probably a lot of other nationalities too. It's comprehensive starting from the forming of the league in the late 19th century and goes all the way to the last season before the Premier League started. He covers the rises and falls of multiple teams and always plugs in a good anecdote to keep things humorous. This is a great book to read if you want to learn about the pre-Premier League days.

I am really glad I bought this book. The author has a wonderfully light style of writing that makes this 104 year Odyssey a joy to read. The anecdotes are well chosen and although seasons can be raced through, you never feel short changed by it. He covers the eccentrics of the early game. Aston Villa played one game in a storm so bad that a Central defender donned an overcoat & their star winger borrowed an umbrella for while he was playing! This is all lightly hablndled but when he deals with the tragedies of Bradford, Hillsbrough & the muchly forgotten Burnden Park crush, the tone is appropriately sombre. An excellent take on a fine subject. Highly recommended.

From 1965/66 sweet memories. I (living in Holland) always took on the radio on saturday afternoons to follow a live account of a match. And afterwards the results. Midway the '70's I went to London to see matches (once 5 in 7 days). TV screening of matches came via BBC MOTD in the early '80's. Now I have off coarse most matches live. This book is very sweet reading.

Excellent, comprehensive history of the English top flight, and a reminder that not only did football exist before the advent of the Premier League, but it was just as exhilarating in its own way. Murray's turn of phrase delivers some laugh-out-loud moments and even those who consider themselves experts on the beautiful game will wallow happily in the wealth of stats on offer. Loved it. The perfect birthday/Christmas/Cup-win present for any footy fan.

A good read and contains some interesting nuggets, but I thought that the author over-extended himself by attempting a complete history all the way from 1888-1992. At times he had to rush through some seasons and periods just to cover them, and as a result the coverage and depth was at times uneven. Scott is a Guardian 'minute by minute' reporter and I think his writing is better when it is more focused on one particular thing. So in this book, the best bits were the detailed accounts of forgotten incidents, such as Stanley Matthews falling out completely with Stoke; whereas by the end it was galloping along so quickly that things like Heysel and Hillsborough and their effect on the domestic league get barely a paragraph. It may therefore have been a slightly over-ambitious project, but still very entertaining and interesting.

An excellent read - football did not begin in 1992! Fantastically researched, some wonderful turns of phrase and done great humour injected, often suitably dry. One error though - 1985/86 season - Ian Rush 's late goal at Tottenham secured a 2-1 win, not a draw.