Back o’ the Net!

About the Book: 

 This book is a reminder for those who have stood and suffered, sat, and celebrated, argued, fought and struggled as well as kept coming back, that supporting is more than just a game. I can assure you – it is much more important than that! DONALD C STEWART, Ayr United

It doesn’t matter where you are in the world or what stage you’re at in life – you never forget when you first set eyes on your football club.

Back o the Net! is an ode to the unwavering love that every football fan has for their club, comprising voices from many different walks of life. The devoted, the long suffering, the hometown fans, the ones who didn’t grow up living in the same town as their team, the winners and the losers. All with the same underlying tie – they are dedicated and devoted to the very end.

Whether it’s in the back o our net or theirs, we’ll always love our team.

I’m a firm believer that supporting your local team, the team you’ve been brought up with, is very important, and I always will. I’m a season ticket holder, have been a shareholder and, like thousands of Fifers, the Raith Rovers result is the first one I look for every week. GORDON BROWN, FORMER P.M. (2007-2010), Raith Rovers

We support our team, but we always remember the first time, the first place, the palace of the arts where we first watched them perform. DAVID McVEY, Kirkintilloch Rob Roy

You may change friends, you may change wife, but you never change football team. Always a Warrior. GEORG MATHISEN, Stenhousemuir

All royalties generated from sales of this book will be donated to Play Soccer Malawi’s Fishing for Football project and to Fans Supporting Foodbanks Scotland 

Reviews:

It helps if you’ve got an excellent band of contributors for a book like this and that’s certainly the case with this Scottish treasure. There are heart-warming tales and brilliant anecdotes by the bucketload. LATE TACKLE

About the Editors:

PAUL GOODWIN is the co-founder of the SFSA, an organisation which aims to provide fan representation, support community ownership and lead campaigns and research to improve the state of Scottish football. Since 2016, the organisation has run the SFSA Fans Awards. Paul has been featured on BBC Sports, Sky Sports, A View from the Terrace, and in Nutmeg and various other sports publications both in the UK and abroad. He is the Manager of Kippen FC, a team that he resurrected after it ceased playing in 2018; he also coaches Balfron High School’s senior football team.

DONALD C. STEWART is a battle-scarred veteran of Somerset Park where, at the age of 8 in 1973, he watched his hometown team draw with Peter Shilton’s Leicester City in the Texaco Cup (some fella called Alex Ferguson, playing for Ayr United at number 8, seeing out the twilight of his playing career). Since then, Donald C Stewart has enjoyed an eclectic career. Author, broadcaster, writer of note and reviewer, he is also a fully qualified nursery school teacher. A theatrical background has seen him review shows for over ten years – some of which were even worth going to. He writes two weekly boxing columns for RingSide Report. In his two weekly columns for the Scottish Football Supporters’ Association, he covers hot topics of the day and reimagines fitba fowk who have something to say, saying it in a different context – from drag competitions in Millport to dodgy pubs in Stirling.