Paul French is an Arsenal fan who has put together a book – Prawns In The Game: how football got where it is today! £9.99 rrp (published by Dewi Lewis Media Ltd), but £6.59 from Amazon.

This is a no balls about it blatant plug for the tome, which I agreed to because Paul’s a Gooner and it’s tied in with a competition we’re running to win copies of the book. Only that’s not up yet for reasons to do with the non-arrival of some details about ladies underwear (seriously, it’ll make sense next week), so I’ll post something to alert regulars for when the comp goes live.

As for the book, let’s start with the press release. Here goes:

(Begins) Something grotesque is going on in the beautiful game. Money rather than sport now rules the roost. Stadium names are sold off to the highest bidder and players often seem no more than overpaid and over-sexed celebrities. Their every action, both on and off the pitch, is fodder for the tabloids as the players themselves argue over whether it’s 100k or 120k a week in their pay packets.

Paul French has talked to leading football pundits as well as to fans from clubs all over the country. Whether they’re Reds or Blues they share one thing in common: they’re sick and tired of the greed that seems to run through the game they love. They’re tired of big businesses slapping their names and logos everywhere, and they hate seeing footballers earn more in a week than they do in a year, particularly when they struggle to even afford the rising admission charge to matches.

‘Prawns in The Game’ is the book those fans will need to read to understand how football has ended up where it is today. From the formation of the very first football club to the creation of Arsenal’s Emirates stadium, Prawns in the Game tells the fascinating story.

This is the only book about the commercialisation of the game written by a fan for the fans. You’ll laugh, you’ll get angry and you’ll find out: how did the prawn sandwich brigade take over the national sport? (Ends)

Okay, that’s the PR blurb. Now me again. I had time to skim read it on the tube a week back. Paul’s argument is that the game has been changed for the worse due to the arrival of big money into football. And it started long before Sky TV and the Premiership. It’s an interesting view, and well presented.

For what it’s worth, my own view is that football was a lot more interesting in the 1960s and early 1970s because any team in the top flight could seriously aspire to win the title. So over the season as a whole, teams never ran away with the title due to the decent players being spread around more of the clubs than they are today. Now, on an annual basis, you don’t look outside the big four for who is likely to lift the pot come May. It’s the summit of any other team’s ambition to break the trend and qualify for the Champions league. Not a good state of affairs by any means. As to whether or not, as Paul believes, that I’d enjoy my football more by following a fans created team like FC United or AFC Wimbledon, I am not sure. Certainly be easier on the pocket though, couldn’t argue with that.