Overview

"'The 2009 season brought my club to a new low. Heed the warning: ""Adandon all hope, ye who enter here."" 'Second City, ' is the follow up to Neal Horgan's critically acclaimed account of Cork City FC's 2008 season, entitled 'Death of a Football Club?'This book chronicles Cork City FC's infamous 2009 season. Horgan brings you into the dressing room as club chairman, Tom Coughlan, attempts to explain to the players just why it is that the Revenue Commissioners are seeking to wind up Cork City FC in the High Court. Horgan mixes contemporaneous diary entries together with retrospective commentary. In the latter he concludes that the absence of a plan by the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) for professional football in Ireland was the root cause for the 'annus horribilis' experienced by Cork City FC in 2009 as bounced cheques, delayed payments, evictions, pay cuts and a return to part-time football become the issues that dominate the players' lives. In the unfolding drama, that quickly turns from comedy to tragedy, there are fleeting appearances from Roy Keane and Ipswich Town, Dermot Desmond and Glasgow Celtic, and Christiano Ronaldo and Real Madrid in a sporting story which wil have a deep resonance for Irish football fans."

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9780993062254

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Praise for SECOND CITY The most entertaining and insightful account of the life of a League of Ireland footballer that you will ever read Daniel McDonnell, The Irish Independent An essential antidote to the caricature of the pampered professional footballer, this remarkably candid player's account of a season in hell for Cork City also succeeds as a love letter to the enduring power of dressing room solidarity - not to mention the benefits of gallows humour - in the face of almost daily adversity Liam Mackey, The Irish Examiner Horgan captures one of the most turbulent seasons endured by an Irish football club with an account that will have you bubbling with anger and laughing on the same page. Some of the off the field tricks pulled on the players - from a lack of payment to the infamous story of the bus driver that refused to travel to an away game - will leave you startled but the obvious camaraderie within the team during such difficult times is vividly brought life. This book is not just a must read for League of Ireland supporters but an account that any football fan should read Alan Smith, The Guardian Once again Horgan succeeds in bringing us inside the dressing room, the team bus and the mind of a League of Ireland player in a way I don't think anybody else has. Second City is a thoughtful, astute and brutally honest account of life at one the country's biggest and best football clubs during what were particularly challenging times for it and an already troubled league. It is a wonderful account of the often bizarre world Horgan and his team mates inhabited, one told with affection and, sometimes, justifiable anger. I laughed a lot only for it dawn on me more than once that I should have been crying but I have a better understanding now of the league I've been covering for 25 years and the people who play in it than I had before picking this up. Anyone, regardless of their club loyalties, who wants to know what is really going on in the game they love should read it too. That they'll enjoy the read immensely might be considered a bonus Emmet Malone, The Irish Times

"Praise for SECOND CITY ""The most entertaining and insightful account of the life of a League of Ireland footballer that you will ever read"" Daniel McDonnell, The Irish Independent ""An essential antidote to the caricature of the pampered professional footballer, this remarkably candid player's account of a season in hell for Cork City also succeeds as a love letter to the enduring power of dressing room solidarity - not to mention the benefits of gallows humour - in the face of almost daily adversity"" Liam Mackey, The Irish Examiner ""Horgan captures one of the most turbulent seasons endured by an Irish football club with an account that will have you bubbling with anger and laughing on the same page. Some of the off the field tricks pulled on the players - from a lack of payment to the infamous story of the bus driver that refused to travel to an away game - will leave you startled but the obvious camaraderie within the team during such difficult times is vividly brought life. This book is not just a must read for League of Ireland supporters but an account that any football fan should read"" Alan Smith, The Guardian ""Once again Horgan succeeds in bringing us inside the dressing room, the team bus and the mind of a League of Ireland player in a way I don't think anybody else has. Second City is a thoughtful, astute and brutally honest account of life at one the country's biggest and best football clubs during what were particularly challenging times for it and an already troubled league. It is a wonderful account of the often bizarre world Horgan and his team mates inhabited, one told with affection and, sometimes, justifiable anger. I laughed a lot only for it dawn on me more than once that I should have been crying but I have a better understanding now of the league I've been covering for 25 years and the people who play in it than I had before picking this up. Anyone, regardless of their club loyalties, who wants to know what is really going on in the game they love should read it too. That they'll enjoy the read immensely might be considered a bonus"" Emmet Malone, The Irish Times"

Author Information

The author, Neal Horgan, is a former professional footballer. He is regular contributor to the Irish Examiner's sporting pages, a former Solicitor, Horgan now works as a Barrister. This is his second book.

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