Having recently obtained a copy of the brand-new book, European Football's Greatest Grounds 'One Hundred Must-See Football Venues' by Leon Gladwell I felt the need to write a review in the hope that any Football enthusiasts, admirers of architecture, keen historians or someone with an admiration of stunning photography should not miss out on what is an absolute masterpiece.
I could easily review and sum up this book in one short sentence...
A STUNNING BOOK; JUST BUY IT!
Doing so would allow me to get back to the hardback book consisting of 350+ pages packed full of wonderful vibrant photos which tell their own story and are accompanied by excellent descriptive writing that gives an insight into the stadium's history and the cultural and social makeup of the many different towns and cities across Europe from the Faroe Islands to Armenia.
This book is the work of Leon Gladwell; he spent 2 years travelling all over Europe to visit, photograph and uncover the many quirky and fascinating stories that every ground conjures up.
One of the great things about this book is the vast spectrum of grounds and stadiums that it covers, as you turn each page you go from the old to new, from Great Yarmouth Town's Wellesley Recreation Ground and the world's oldest football stand that is still in use to the brand spanking new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, from a sparse piece of barren land in the Outer Hebrides to a ground in Belgium that is in the shadow of a once thriving industrial past.
This book takes you on a groundhopping journey through Europe, a continent that is one of the smallest in the world behind Australia, but the pictures tell a different story with the vast changes in the landscape and the cultural and economic contrasts no more so highlighted by a photo of a decommissioned Russian fighter jet on a terrace in Moscow to a modern day architectural masterpiece in Hungary that cost millions to build, from ski jumps in Finland towering over a football pitch like a gigantic playground slide to a ground in Georgia that is surrounded by a thick stone wall of a castle that has no doubt seen many battles.
Even now, as I write this review and look back through the book for reference, I find myself engulfed in it again and completely forget the task In hand!
I've tried to pick my favourite out of Leon's top 100 and change my mind every time I look through it! As the author states in the introduction his choices will no doubt create debate as every reader will have their own ideas of which ground should or should not be included, but for me personally, as it stands my favourite is The Estadio Silvestre Carrillo in Santa Cruz De La Palma, Spain, the stadium looks like a mountain has grown around it!
WWII GERMAN BUNKERS FOR GOALPOSTS
It's not just the architectural genius of some of the stadiums or the quirkiness of the many terraces that capture the eye, it's also the beautiful settings and jaw-dropping landscapes that add a mind-provoking backdrop to the overall picture, the many different buildings in view of the grounds tell the story of a previous time along with famous landmarks and historical structures, from a huge WWII bunker in Hamburg to the Eiffel Tower in Paris, from a mosque in Istanbul to the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Tuscany and from the Harland and Wolf twin cranes in Belfast of Titanic fame to remains from the Roman Empire in Rome.
I am running out of superlatives for this book, a book that I can't put down and keep going back to, it's akin to a brilliant series on Netflix that you binge-watch and recommend to your friends or like watching Only Fools and Horses on Dave, a classic that you can watch over and over again for the umpteenth time but never tire of it and see things you hadn't noticed before!
Anyway, before I get carried away I'll make this short and sweet and refer back to my original comment...
A STUNNING BOOK, JUST BUY IT!
This book now occupies prime position on my bookshelf for everyone to see, and I can say without any hesitation... it's a masterpiece!
And in the words of a football commentator...
"Leon Gladwell... Take a bow son, Take a bow"
European Football's Greatest Grounds "One Hundred Must-See Football Venues" is published by Pitch Publishing and is available to buy by clicking the link below.
As well as Amazon the book is also available at all good book shops.
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