Who Ate all the Squid?: Football Adventures in South Korea

by Devon Rowcliffe

Overview

When a struggling Korean football club wants to transform its fortunes, who does it turn to? A former Chelsea manager and a trio of players with Premier League experience, of course. Who Ate All the Squid?: Football Adventures in South Korea charts the year Ian Porterfield managed faltering K League giant Busan IPark. The Sunderland FA Cup legend lured three players from English football out to Korea: striker Jamie Cureton, an ex-England youth international who turned down Manchester United; Andy Cooke, a former Burnley and Stoke City forward who started his career building cowsheds; and Jon Olav Hjelde, who bolstered Nottingham Forest after achieving UEFA Champions League heroics with Rosenborg. How will the players cope with South Korea's unfamiliar culture and language? Can the Brits overcome personal demons, including car crashes, divorces and alcoholism? And does a British football revolution really stand a chance of succeeding in Northeast Asia? The book also casts a humorous glimpse at the world's game inside South Korea.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781785316814
Publisher:	Pitch Publishing Ltd
Publication date:	12/01/2020
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Devon Rowcliffe is a freelance political commentator and columnist for Loonie Politics. His writing has appeared in iPolitics, Tyee, Great British Politics, Independent Australia, Hong Kong Free Press and Straits Times (Singapore). He holds a master’s degree in political science from the University of Toronto.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements 7

Busan I'cons Squad List 8

Introduction - Chief Executive Chokeholds 9

1 Stadium Moats and Cracked Skulls 14

2 The Silly Bowing Dance (or, Don't Forget to Shake Your Muffler) 19

3 Rocket Launchers and 12-Lane Motorways (or, You Can't See Me!) 28

4 Sober Supporters and Player Punch-Ups 39

5 Supporters Have Kit, But Players Don't 49

6 Alcohol - No; Stolen Military Flares - Yes 57

7 Sleep-Deprived and Without a Toilet 67

8 Could You Switch Off the Floodlights? The Air Force is Cross 79

9 Plagues of Locusts and Flashy Foreigners 87

10 Democracy Protesters Support the Military Team 95

11 Death By Electric Fan (or, Don't Forget to Smear Red Bean Paste on Your Door) 105

12 Football? On a Saturday?!? Ridiculous! 115

13 Friday Naiveté (or, Build, Build, Build) 123

14 Colgó los Guayos (Hang Up the Football Boots) 132

15 We'll Show Those Neo-Colonialist Bastards 143

16 The Confrontation (or, Even Manchester United Took Time to Build) 148

17 Cureton's Debut (or, Busan's Treble of Embarrassment) 162

18 The British Revolution 171

19 Squad Squabbles and Empty World Cup Stadiums 181

20 Airing Dirty Laundry in the Newspapers 191

21 Best Mates with Local Derby Rivals 204

22 Dog Injures Player (or, Pregnancies Aplenty) 215

23 Big Bugs and Bodyguards (or, Uninterested Club Owners) 225

24 Divorces and Drubbings 237

25 Greener Pastures and Manitoba Dreamin' 243

26 Food Poisoning and a 335kph Breeze 249

27 Baseball Riots, Vanishing Nepalese and Furious Chickens 259

28 Smashing Chairs and Perilous Buses 266

29 Football Hooligans and Picnicking Families 274

30 Match Fixing and Farewell Letters 281

31 Season of Sorrow 289

Epilogue 300

Sources 317