The Great English Final: "Fascinating and Superbly Researched"

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11 Jul

The Great English Final: "Fascinating and Superbly Researched"

Already described as a "fine study" by FourFourTwo David Tossell's book The Great English Final has this week been lauded by his peers at the Football Writers' Association - as part of their online coverage ahead of Saturday's FA Cup Final between Manchester City and Wigan Athletic.

Tossell's book looks back at the 1953 FA Cup Final between Blackpool and Bolton Wanderers, and the FWA piece, which also reflects on the final and features a brief interview with Tossell, describes his work as a "fascinating and superbly researched book".

It goes on to report; "The Great English Final – David Tossell has separated fact from fiction, including doubts surrounding the scorers of two goals, of one of the greatest games Wembley has ever staged."

The 1953 FA Cup Final had everything: seven goals, a dramatic comeback and, in Stanley Matthews, a fairytale hero.

Sixty years on, this legendary game has come to represent a golden age - the year when Queen Elizabeth II was crowned and a British expedition conquered Everest; and Tossell also looks at the cultural importance of the match as Britain broke free from post-war austerity, with pre-Coronation television sales taking the Cup Final into more homes than ever before.

In 1953, Britain clung to the old-fashioned values epitomised by Matthews while bracing itself for a new consumer-driven age under its young monarch. Football was on the threshold of similar change. Five months later, the England team would be torn apart by Hungary and the national game would never be the same again. Yet the 1953 FA Cup Final would live forever.

Click here for more information on The Great English Final.