An Epic Swindle: 44 Months With A Pair Of Cowboys

Written by Brian Reade
Quercus Publishing Plc, £12.99

Reviewed by Bandana Rossa 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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