There was a time, not so long ago, when the FA Cup really
mattered.
When fans would go to extraordinary lengths to get tickets for Wembley and when the biggest teams of the day...
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Who is...
Matthew Eastley?
Matthew Eastley was born in 1966, the greatest year of the 20th century for all fans of English football. His boyhood footballing memories, though, centre around the FA Cup Final and he grew up during the 1970s, a fabulous decade for this world-famous competition. Fascinated with football from an early age he immersed himself in a world of FKS football stickers, Subbuteo, The Big Match and Match of the Day. But everything paled into insignificance when FA Cup Final day came around.
During the 1970s, like millions of other football fanatics, he would rise early and settle in front of the television to watch almost seven hours of FA Cup build up and action. It was always his dream to go to an FA Cup Final. Sadly, this has never happened and does not look likely to. So, by way of some kind of compensation, he set out to trace those fans who were fortunate enough...
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Testimonials / Media Coverage
"From Bovril to Champagne - when the FA Cup really mattered" has been featured in Backpass magazine, the Manchester Evening News, the East Anglian Daily Times, the Kent and Sussex Courier, the Newham Recorder, and the Shields Gazette.
Matt has been interviewed on LBC, BBC Radio Kent, BBC Radio Suffolk, BBC Radio Leeds, BBC Radio Newcastle and Sun-FM (Sunderland).
Read the reviews on Amazon here: Click here
Testimonials
"I read your book and loved it. Great nostalgia for those of us no longer in the first flush of youth. I loved the mentions of Cup Final It's A Knockout and all that, and thought it evoked very effectively a bygone era for the FA Cup. Good work."
Martin Kelner,
Guardian newspaper columnist and radio presenter
"I enjoyed the book very much and found it very evocative of a time the FA cup had real importance in football, and social, circles. The stories of the fans rang true and I liked, as well, the where-are-they-now aspect of the supporters.
Well done."
Mark Pougatch, BBC journalist and broadcaster
"very well structured and great content. I like the way you switch between characters in each Cup Final, raise the atmosphere as the day approaches, and the little summaries of 'where they are now'.
Dean Goodman, Arsenal fan
Absolutely brilliant. Your research has been spot on and second to none. I have not been able to put the book down since. The entire book is one of respect for the true supporter.
Les Wake, Leeds fan
After a marathon reading session I have read your book. That alone should tell you what I thought of it, it’s a real page turner that I found impossible to put down.
Ian Brunton, Manchester United fan
"From Bovril To Champagne" is a wonderful summary of a golden age in English football ... the 1970s ... when winning the main domestic cup was so much more important than it often seems to be in more modern times. Author Matt Eastley's research is simply phenomenal.
Chris Wood, Liverpool fan
