'Albion Albion' (Soccer Violence/ Sci Fi)

[lukemorningstar]

My brother had this book lying around many years ago. So long ago that I hadn't even started reading Pan (and I started way too young!) I remember being scared by the excellent cover (grinning skull in footie kit) and I can almost remember the blurb word for word, something about 'coachloads of Spurs fans' being 'burned alive by Villa fans' which was pretty unnerving considering I was a young Spurs fan growing up in Wood Green (near Tottenham)

Has anyone read it? My brother remembers the book but not whether it was any good. I wonder how it stacks up in the light of the pretty graphic modern films on the subject such as 'Football Factory' 'Green Street' etc.

Oh, and can anyone reproduce that excellent cover?!

Incidentally, seeing as I have strayed into the 'aggro' section, my brother also had an excellent collection (hidden away with his smokes and occasional 'adult' magazine no doubt) of 'Skinhead' and the and those I was reading illicitly at a ridiculously young age. In fact, I remember getting a very peculiar perspective on what might be called foreplay from a book called 'Suedehead' - has anyone got a scan of that cover too? Or am I now just taking liberties?

Col

[dem bones]

Can't help with 'Dick Morland's Albion, Albion (Nel, 1976), but here's the 'Richard Allen' one.

Franklin's review of Suedehead (which went on to feature in Paperback Fanatic #9!)

[franklinmarsh]

I read Albion! Albion! a couple of times and wish I had a copy now. I thought we'd discussed it on the old board or somewhere. Fantastic Fiction shows it was rereleased with a not-so-good cover.
If I flog my memory, all the promised football violence had taken place in the past, and the book proper was set in a totalitarian England divided into four quarters - blue, red, green and yellow, based on the colours of the most popular football teams when the divide happened. The only other things that spring to mind was the worst insult you could give anyone was to call them a 'reffer' and the front of the book had an endorsement from Time Out - 'makes A Clockwork Orange seem like a tame fantasy'.

[dem bones]

the only reference to it i could find was this one, on the A Clockwork Orange thread ... by er, Franklin Marsh on Oct 13th, 2005 (!).

Does anyone remember Albion! Albion! a book which portrayed Britain divided into four sections based on football lines. I purchased this because the Time Out review ' makes A Clockwork Orange seem like a tame fantasy' was emblazoned on the cover. It didn't.

[franklinmarsh]

At least I'm consistent!

This is quite interesting - the book came out as by Dick Morland, a pseudonym, of Reginald Hill, the man behind Dalziel and Pascoe, It's been reissued under the name Singelton's Law.