“The beautiful game at its best”
In a world of $50 million transfers and players making $100,000 a week, Millwall FC still represents the working class of England.
They embody the everyday struggles of their fans and the realities of real life. Millwall is not a star-studded club of millionaires and WAGs, but rather a family of true footballers and fans. Millwall fights for the little guy in a world where the big clubs in the big leagues get all the attention. You won’t find Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, or even Michael Owen, but you will find footballers that have a special bond with their supporters.
“We’re playing for people who hate their jobs, who’d love our lives. Let’s give them something special.” This is a theme that every Millwall player lives by. Players don’t just play for themselves; they play for their community and their fans. The players don’t do it for a paycheck, but rather because they have a pure and burning passion for the beautiful game, a game that allows supporters to take a moment away from the real world and journey into a world where dreams can come true.
Yes, Millwall has been burdened by hooliganism and violence, but this is not something that truly defines the club. In Family: Life, Death and Football: A Year on the Frontline with a Proper Club, Michael Calvin shows the reader that this club is simply misunderstood. He shows us more positives than negatives, more heroes than hooligans, and more dreams than disasters.
This book is a renewing journey. You reconnect with the beautiful game as you remember there is footballing life outside the Premier League.
Some may say Millwall has fallen because of its unsavory reputation or its occasional violence, but it has risen in the minds of its fans. It is club that earned promotion even though the pundits thought there was no chance in hell that would ever happen. It is a place where young players see if they have what it takes to be a pro and where veterans see if they have enough in the tank to keep being a pro. It is a place of redemption amongst failures, courage amongst fear, and family above club.
Millwall is trying to move forward and move up. They want to leave the nonsense behind and be a club the entire world would be proud of. The funny thing is anyone that knows the true Milwall is already proud beyond belief.
This is a fantastic title, think Friday Night Lights for the beautiful game.
