Extra Time (50 Further Delights of Modern Football) - Daniel Gray

Balloons on the pitch. Goalkeepers going forward for corners. The crowd whistling to bring full-time closer. Jeering a disallowed opposition goal. The ball being cleared off the line. Can we count the ways in which we love football ... the little things which make it mean so much? Extra Time offers a half-century of joyous prose poetry salutes to the beautiful game. Each short chapter sings with affections for the game. This is relatable, observational writing on sometimes tender and always universal themes; the sportswriting equivalent of a comforting hug. Whimsical, engaging and elegantly written, Extra Time will be loved by fans of Saturday, 3pm and new readers under football's spell. In short, anyone who has ever felt the exultation of watching their team score two goals in quick succession, revelled in an irrational dislike of a certain club or cherished a local radio commentator. Extra Time will help renew its readers' love of football. It will grow faith in the shared experiences of being a follower of the game - a comforting feeling that no supporter is alone in his or her eccentricities. The book demonstrates that, in a world coming apart at the seams, this sport and its technicolour minutiae offer an escape needed now more than ever. These 50 nuggets of pleasure are a sweet medicine in the face of disillusionment with modern football VAR and all; reminders of why we care and justifications for our devotion. It is time to start counting the love again.