Toffs Selling Off Stock

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Originally Posted by JamesWales

I think they have always tracked official replica kits to be honest. I remember looking to buy one when I was about 16 or whatever (and I didn't) and it was a decent outlay for someone on a washing up and occasional dessert counter wage

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I think there was a change of ownership or something there about fifteen years ago and maybe their prices changed then - there were also less shirts available than there had been. I went through a phase of buying Toffs shirts between about 1995 and 2005 and they were quite significantly cheaper than the latest kit available in the club shop then.

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Originally Posted by Bluebirdman Of Alcathays

He might be a middle class home counties boy now but I'm not sure he was then and as Jordi points out, he writes about a time before Italia 90 and Sky, so it's not his fault it was part of that wave.

You're right about the universal thing though. Football fans (including me) tend to get a bit snooty about how we're represented because we're a broader church than people realise.

There's a chapter in the book where he follows Cambridge for a couple of years while at university and while there gets in an argument with another student who's adamant he couldn't be into literature and football at the same time. That was how we were seen by some back then and then it flipped to a certain extent. I'm not sure who won in the end. I don't see many people reading a Penguin classic at half time. (Eating one, perhaps).

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He had a comfortable background as James pointed out. The middle class thing wasn't a dig, just part of saying how his book reflects a particular experience of being a fan that isn't one that resonated with me.

I agree with you about the broader church than we're shown to be comment and I think that's one of the good things about the book (and film), showing a different side to being a football fan than is usually portrayed

I think Nick Hornby's a very good author, High Fidelity is excellent (and the film's not bad either)

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Originally Posted by Jordi Culé

Tim Parks author of 'A Season in Verona' is English.

You might be thinking Bill Buford who wrote 'Among the Thugs'?

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No I haven't heard of that. James mentioned Miracle of Castel di Sangro, that's what I was thinking of.

Had a royal mail notification that mine has been delivered this morning but I have read a lot of people have had their orders refunded. Just to keep an eye out if anyone did buy anything late last week.