There probably won't be a more up front, in your face, warts and all account of England's 1998 World Cup campaign in France than Eddy Brimson's Tear Gas and Ticket Touts: With the England Fans at the World Cup. And why shouldn't Eddy cash in? The main argument of the book is that everyone else has and that the whole event was ruined by manipulative French ticket touts, corrupt police and football authorities, a baying press pack keen to magnify the slightest transgression of the English fans. Oh, and the fact that England also lost in the second round.

As a devout Watford fan, Brimson hits the World Cup trail, ending up in the carnage of rioting English fans on the streets of Marseilles. His arguments and conclusions are violent and crude, but undoubtedly reflect the beliefs of the average England fan, the only figure to come out of the book with any credit. Brimson is particularly good on evoking the atmosphere of the big matches and his description of the climactic England versus Argentina match is a great account of the agony and the ecstasy which anyone who watched the match must have felt. This is a great book for football fans, but its aggressive approach to terrace violence and sausage eaters (Brimson's term for Germans) may well leave some readers cold. --Jerry Brotton