‘The Remarkable Rumbelows League Cup Era…’
Football nostalgia has never been more prevalent than it is right now. This is partly because it’s become a lot easier to access archive footage, but I think it’s mostly a thriving business because modern day football has become so disconnected from the sport that people of my generation grew up watching that it’s only natural to feel a yearning for a time before identikit stadiums, pampered millionaires on the pitch and clueless tourists in the stands. One of the most prominent social media accounts to deal in football nostalgia is Stu’s Football Flashbacks (@stusfootyflash on Twitter) and so it makes sense that Stuart Steelyard, the man behind that account, has now published a book on football’s glorious past…
Get Ready For This, subtitled The Remarkable Rumbelows League Cup Era, charts the rise and fall of the electronics retailer Rumbelows as both a sponsor of the EFL Cup (currently branded as the Carabou Cup) and as a business generally. While this period only lasted for two wonderful seasons, it left an indelible mark on football supporters everywhere.
Beginning with a brief history of the formation of the EFL Cup through to the start of Rumbelows sponsorship of the competition in 1990 and culminating in the collapse of Rumbelows in 1995, Get Ready For This is a lovingly crafted, meticulously researched book written by somebody who clearly understands football fandom. Reading this book was like listening to a particularly enjoyable episode of Josh Widdicombe’s much-missed football podcast, Quickly Kevin.
While there is some occasional padding in the form of repetition (it must have been difficult to conjure up a few hundred pages about a relatively brief and niche period of English football), much of Steelyard’s debut book is fascinating and absorbing. Particularly enlightening are quotes and stories directly from the people involved at the time, whether that be football legends like Brian Clough or Alex Ferguson, to lower league players who were given a moment in the sun due to this strange little midweek competition, to the bosses and employees of Rumbelows itself, the great strength of this book is that everyone’s contribution is given equal weight – fitting for a competition that has proven a great leveller, with many giantkillings having occurred over the years. I also found it fascinating how much power the corporate sponsor of the EFL Cup was given at this time. Rumbelows were able to ring wholesale changes and their understanding of fan culture is what led to stuff like the infamous Rumbelows Sprint Challenge or Donald Trump, yes that one, conducting the fifth round draw on live television back in 1991. What a time to be alive.
Get Ready For This, despite recalling a time in footballing history that occurred just before I myself became a football fanatic (I’m a Coca Cola Cup man myself), threw me straight back to standing on the terraces at Belle Vue (home of Doncaster Rovers) as a kid. It’s hard to evoke the past without slipping into cloying sentimentality; the key is authenticity, and that’s what Steelyard has here. He authentically recounts a singular moment in English football history with warmth, humour and endless enthusiasm. Essential reading for hopeless football fanatics everywhere.