John Nicholson from F365 has written a book which explores the reasons why we’re so obsessed with football. His column, ‘A Very Northern Mind‘ has proved very popular and he’s transferred his appealing writing style to his book, We Ate All The Pies.

Here’s a little snippet from the book which looks at our protest: It would seem that the fans who buy this crappola have fallen for the idea that the more official club merchandise you buy, the bigger fan it shows you to be, which has always been a spurious notion at best. An interesting development at Manchester United, one of the biggest surveryors of merchandise, is the wearing of the green-and-yellow scarves as a protest against the club’s current owners. Green and yellow being the original colours of Newton Heath, the club United grew from. So it seems in the twenty-first century merchandise can even be used to make political statements. What next? The Man United urban guerilla outfit? Club-sponsored petrol bombs maybe? Hurry, buy your club Armalite rifle while stocks last!

If you’re not convinced yet, take a look at another excerpt from F365.

Sid Lowe from The Guardian says: Two words guaranteed to make any piece of writing worth reading: John and Nicholson… even when you don’t agree with him you sort of wish you did. In fact, you wonder if you even agree with yourself any more.

BiteBack Publishing have given us three copies of this book, worth £9.99, to give away if you answer this simple question.

The book refers to the ‘prawn sandwich brigade’ on several occasions, a term coined by our very own Roy Keane. But after which game did he criticise this section of support?

Send your answer, full name and address to: republik_of_mancunia_competition@hotmail.co.uk




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