The Silence of the Stands: Finding the Joy in Football's Lost Season

by Daniel Gray

Overview

LONGLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023
SHORTLISTED FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES SPORTS BOOK AWARDS 2023 - FOOTBALL BOOK OF THE YEAR

‘Powerful and poignant’ Henry Winter

‘Empathetic and poignant … the game’s answer to A Journal of the Plague Year’ Harry Pearson

‘The Durham City midfielder wore the resigned look of a man trying to find a jar of harissa in Farmfoods. Up front for Jarrow, a centre-forward darted around frenetically, as if chasing a kite during a hurricane...’

When football disappeared in March 2020, writer and broadcaster Daniel Gray used its absence to reflect on everything the game meant to him. That bred a pledge: whenever and wherever fans were allowed to return, he would be there.

The Silence of the Stands is the result of that pledge: a joyous travelogue documenting a precarious season, in which behind-closed-doors matches and travel restrictions combined to make trips to Kendal and Workington seem impossibly exotic.

Offering a poignant peek at a surreal age and a slab of social history from the two-metre-distanced tea bar queue, this is the moving, heartfelt and surprisingly uplifting story of a unique season that no one wishes to repeat.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781399404068
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	01/10/2023
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.55(d)

About the Author

Author and historian Daniel Gray is the writer of Stramash and Homage to Caledonia. For a short period in the early 1990s he was the finest left-back in his village, once marking Gordon Strachan's youngest son (the one who didn't become a footballer) out of the game. A Middlesbrough supporter, Daniel began attending football matches in 1988 and has never recovered. He has worked in a psychiatric hospital, a library and in television and politics. He loves staring out of train windows and lives in Leith with his wife and daughter. Follow him on Twitter at @d_gray_writer.

Table of Contents

Introduction - Jarrow 3 v 1 Durham City 7

1 Middlesbrough 1 v 1 Bournemouth 23

2 Lancaster City 1 v 2 Basford United 39

3 Workington 2 v 0 Mossley 57

4 Kendal Town 0 v 3 Tadcaster Albion 78

5 Southport 1 v 1 Alfreton Town 93

6 Cowdenbeath 2 v 0 Brechin City 110

7 Raith Rovers 3 v 1 Dundee 125

8 Rothbury 5 v 1 Forest Hall 140

9 Billingham Synthonia o v 2 West Auckland Town 156

Epilogue 171

Selected bibliography 175

Acknowledgements 176

Editorial Reviews

“When society locked down, football played on without fans. A powerful and poignant look at life behind closed doors.”” —Henry Winter

“Joy is at the heart of Gray's writing; his delight in the little things, humble settings and small human dramas involved in the game. From the dark of Covid, this breezy and bright love letter to football was produced. Smile. Enjoy.” —Jonathan Northcroft, Sunday Times

“A vivid, funny reminder of what was the weirdest time ever to be a football fan. Empathetic and poignant, it's the game's answer to A Journal of the Plague Year.” —Harry Pearson

“Gray is a master of observing and amplifying the things we love about football but wonder if anyone else even notices” —The Times

“Gray writes like Lowry paints. Superb” —BBC Radio

“Gray is an endearing and authentic football observer, and this book reaffirms the meaning and importance of football in so many ways.” —Ian Aspinall, Late Tackle magazine

“A joyous travelogue documenting a rocky season…offering a poignant peak at a surreal age and a slab of social history…moving, heartfelt and surprising uplifting.” —Four Four Two

“His peerless eye for the game's endless little oddities and charms is used to chronicle his own return to the terraces after the forced exile of lockdown. No-one else writes with such obvious appreciation and warmth for the game.” —The Scottish Times

“We're spoiled that the writer engaged with this task is Daniel Gray, who navigated complicated lockdown rules to produce this poetic account of football while the fans were locked out.” —Scotland on Sunday

“Covid could not stop football but it could stop fans from attending a game. It is a time that deserves to be recorded. It has found its peerless chronicler in Daniel Gray.” —The Daily Mail

“A joyous travelogue documenting a precarious season…moving, heartfelt and surprisingly uplifting” —When Saturday Comes

From the Publisher