Jon Spurling - Get It On: How the ’70s Rocked Football

You always know youre going to get a fascinating read from Spurling, but this is his most vivid book yet sheer joy! For us old geezers its like being miraculously transported back to the 1970s. And for younger readers I can promise you quite an education.

patrick barclay

A fascinating, funny and poignant stroll down memory lane of an era that shaped the modern game. The 70s was the decade when English football went pop. It exploded. Football went from black and white to colour. Players became personalities. Football went from short back and sides to sideburns and mullets. It began with Englands squad singing Back Home, which sold 100,000 copies a day, as they headed to the World Cup and sadly continued with England staying back home when they didnt qualify for the 74 and 78 World Cups. Even then, the show went on, changing football for ever.

henry winter

Jon Spurlings brilliant, non-judgemental, superbly researched and anecdote-laden book is a wonderful telling of when football and all those involved in it were dragged out of the footballing dark ages of the 1960s and into the money-fuelled and fame-filled combination of excess and success that it has become today.

guillem balagu

Bringing football history to vibrant life is Jon Spurlings gift and it is also a gift to the reader. He transports us back to a time when the mavericks and marvels challenged convention during the 1970s. It was a fascinating period of old meeting new in the games evolution and Spurlings storytelling, insights and eye for character and social context shine through.

amy lawrence

Get It Onis the superbly told story of the decade when football became flash. It has a cast to die for from Big Mal to Old Big Ead, through Bestie, Bowles and the Doc. You can smell the Brut and taste the Watneys Party Seven. A brilliant history of footballers you thought you knew but didnt.

tim rich, author of the quality of madness:a life of marcelo bielsa

A wonderfully evocative portrait of an incredible decade for English football. It pulls together cultural history seamlessly and brings to life the major characters from the era.

michael cox, author of zonal marking: the making of modern
european football

The big teams, events and personalities, and intriguing new angles on familiar tales Many of the key figures are no longer with us, but the indefatigable Spurling tracked down many of them and recorded their memories before they left.

david winner, author of brilliant orange:
the neurotic genius of dutch football

Cracking tales from the terraces amid betrayal in the boardrooms.

tim marshall, author of dirty northern b*st*rds! and other
tales from the terraces: the story of britains football chants

For the Spurls girls xxx

vii

Have you seen em? Prancing round the field like a bunch of male models, kissing and cuddling? In my day when you scored a goal you got a brisk handshake. Now you get covered in love bites.

R upert R igsby, R ising D amp

The air is rancid with beer and onions and belching and worse.

The language is a gross purple of obscenity.

A rthur H opcraft on football grounds
in The Football Man,1968

One time, I had a great night in the casino, cashed in all my chips, shoved my winnings into a paper bag and next morning walked straight to a car showroom where I bought a brand new Jag.
In cash. Now thats not anormal thing to do

G eorge B est , speaking in 2004