Russ Wilkins

This seasonal account by a Charlton Athletic supporter struck me as the vanity project of a frustrated sportswriter. The book is built around match reports, even including player ratings (even when all he has to go on is a radio broadcast) which are shorter versions of what one would find in the newspaper. Weekdays, particularly at the beginning and end of the books, feature his musings on rumors of transfers and managerial comings and goings throughout English football. The book's one unique, and welcome, feature is his trip to the pub after most matches to record the voice of the fan. The author is no stylist; annoyingly, he blames most of the team's woes on somebody he identifies only as 'JJ' , and although his spellings of English dictionary words is impeccable, he butchers names so badly that I had to stop and think who he was going on about even when he was talking about players and staff at the club I support. This is pretty thin gruel; it's difficult to imagine anybody but a Charlton supporter (and one without a newspaper subscription, at that) getting too excited about all this, especially a decade on.… (altro)