The English Disease | Legacy

I thoroughly enjoyed the whole series, particularly because it featured clubs and fans I know well in an era I lived through. Interesting that the comments prove how divisive football can be.

This podcast was a bit all over the shop, and it was difficult to take anything conclusive from it. When I read the blurb I imagined a balanced , journalistic investigation into hooliganism, its origins and re-emergence in the 2020s. Instead it went over on too many tangents , ending with Sam talking about his own anger and reflections on Upton Park. “…feeling like… nothingness”. I also think Sam needs to simplify his language …I felt myself cringe listening to him at times over hamming his descriptions .

This is well worth a listen. It goes to places I didn’t expect it to - and poses important questions that you either don’t have time to think about or didn’t realise you needed to. Great production values too. Highly recommend!

Quite a poignant and interesting take on both football violence and the journalists formative years. While some of it feels like you’re on an interesting journey, discovering with him, there are elements that feel condescending towards people he is claiming to try and understand. You wonder about how he judges himself having transitioned from a working class background into a different realm. There are sweeping misguided views that some of his subjects hold that would not stand up to scrutiny or facts. At the same time it’s ironic that his views seep through unchallenged and are at times condescending. They create another noise in the room, from someone shouting with their fingers in their ears instead of checking the legitimacy of the claims of a large group of alienated people. Throughout he makes lots of interesting and relevant links and like many good works of non fiction it’s open and almost brave. This makes it both interesting and flawed, but in a strange way the flaws add something. Well worth a listen and I will look to see what he does next. Oh and his dad is great!