“In this book, Wilson tackles the perennial question of why Eastern European football isn’t very competitive with Western European, both at the club and national levels. Some things have changed since its publication in 2006, but, in general, the nations discussed—Ukraine, Poland, Hungary, the Balkans, Bulgaria, Romania, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Russia—are still in the situation he describes. At 300 pages, it is not an in-depth history of football in any of these countries, not by any means, but it gives the reader an overview of football during the communist era and in the first fifteen years following the collapse of the Soviet Union. As the title suggests, it’s a travelogue. He discusses matches he’s seen and people he’s interviewed as a football journalist and puts them into the greater historical context.” Bundesliga Fanatic
“When Jonathan Wilson entered Partizan stadium in Belgrade, he was frisked so efficiently that the police even took his Lemsip. That didn’t diminish his passion for the former Yugoslavia, an obsession that he blames on cold war spy movies and childhood holidays in Montenegro. Since then, he has huddled in brutalist football grounds from Slovenia to Azerbaijan, Sofia to St Petersburg, watching innumerable matches while working as a correspondent for a now-defunct website and the Financial Times. Behind the Curtain recounts his travels and gives a little footballing history of each country, focusing on prominent clubs or memorable incidents. Wilson obviously retains a particular affinity with the Serbs: he writes an unusually sensitive character sketch of Sinisa Mihajlovic, one of the most reviled men in European football, and even admits a sneaking warmth for the Delije, the hooligans closely associated with Arkan.” Guardian
“It was Christmas Eve and all through the house, nothing was stirring – because everyone had eaten too much barszcz, carp and cake during Wigilia dinner. When the time came to look under the Christmas tree for presents, little Decoy’s eyes lit up, as he saw what Santa Claus had brought. Mikołaj knew that Decoy liked reading books and also liked football, so it was a pleasant surprise to see books about football wrapped up neatly. One of the books received was ‘Behind the Curtain: Travels in Eastern European Football’ by Jonathan Wilson. Wilson is a football journalist who writes for Sports Illustrated and the UK-based newspapers The Independent and The Guardian. He specialises in writing about football tactics and also football based in ‘Eastern’ Europe – i.e. those countries lying behind the Iron Curtain before 1989/90. His articles analysing tactical nuances on the Guardian website prove particularly popular with readers there.” Polandian
8/26/2012 – Behind the Curtain: Travels in Eastern European Football – amazon
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