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An
Epic Swindle: 44 Months With A Pair Of Cowboys
Written by Brian Reade
Quercus Publishing Plc, £12.99
Reviewed by 18/5/2011
The above is an in depth account of how Liverpool football club almost
bled to death as a civil war raged at every level as the `two American
cowboys` Hicks and Gillett played a game of `divide-and-rule`.
Brian Reade has managed to elucidate non-football related text in a style
that leads to easy reading, I am a passionate red and have his previous
book `Forty-Three Years with the Same Bird`(MacMillan, 2008) which is
about his relationship with LFC as a supporter. I read `Epic Swindle`
over a weekend which is not always possible in trying to assimilate financial
information and business concepts, institutions etc. His warmth and scouse
humour run through his writing. It cannot have been straightforward, (even
though Mr Reade is a journalist) to gather all the strands of information
from often, secretive organisations and individuals. Although, as a Kop
Season Ticket Holder and one of those who took part in the `sit-ins` after
the Home games v Sunderland and Blackpool, I was aware of events but was`nt
in touch with the website forums etc. This book fills the gap.
Also, it charts a radicalisation of LFC supporters, as `cybernet-terrorists`
- the image of `Gordon Geckos` on Wall St and in the City of London losing
the plot as they are bombarded with emails, texts, etc makes me proud
of fellow supporters. In this City of Radicals Year this is a fitting
work of literature.
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