Book Review: A Fine Line - How The Spireites (Almost) Reached The FA Cup Final by Matthew Rhodes

A little bit of a departure for me, with this one. I haven't reviewed a football book on the blog before, but knowing many of you, like me, follow the sport in the winter, I thought that you would be interested in this stirring local tale.

it is Matthew Rhodes' first book and if the name seems familiar, he is the former Senior Sports Editor for North Derbyshire Radio, who interviewed me regularly over the last couple of seasons about Derbyshires fortunes.

Now a freelance sports journalist, he provides live audio commentaries and written match reports for Flash Score, but has returned to his first love, Chesterfield FC, for his first book.

I hope there are many more, because he tells this tale in engaging fashion, helped by eye witness reports and comments from fans, writers, players and administrators alike.

And what a tale it is. Although not a Chesterfield fan as such, I follow their results and those of Burton Albion because of the local connection and clearly recall the astonished reaction, as the 'Derbyshire minnows' made the semi-final of the FA Cup. And oh so nearly got to Wembley.

It is hard to believe that this is now thirty years ago, but Matt's account makes it as fresh as if it happened last season. Managed by former Tottenham and Derby star John Duncan and with a young, soon to be star in Kevin Davies, who later played once for England, the side also featured Sean Dyche, who has since become a highly-respected manager, heavily influenced, as he says, by Duncan.

A lot of the book brought back memories for me as a child and a young man, queuing for cup tickets in the old-fashioned way and hoping they wouldn't run out before you reached the front of the line. Going to matches in conditions that were far from the sanitised stadia of today and in some ways all the better for it. 

It makes for an exciting read. History records what happened, of course, but Matt Rhodes has done a really fine job in bringing together many disparate strands and making this the definitive account of how a little local club came within a disallowed goal of Wembley. He has even included an interview with referee David Elleray, which gives a unique perspective on the thought process behind the goal that never was.

Chesterfield drew that first, enthralling game 3-3, against an opposition side that included such players as Ravanelli, Festa and Juninho. They couldn't raise themselves to such heights in the replay, but what a cup run, what a season and what memories they made. It put Chesterfield on the map and made local legends of all of those involved.

I would heartily recommend this book to all Chesterfield fans, as well as those who enjoy a good tale of underdogs mixing it with the big boys. 

Nice work, Matt. In football parlance, the boy done well!