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Title: The Asterisk Years – The Edinburgh Establishment v Celtic
Author: Paul Larkin
Published: 19 Oct 2013
Synopsis
Were EBT’s Rangers only advantage?
Join author Paul Larkin as he takes you on a guided tour of the privilege,prejudice and prestige that was used to try and put Rangers at the top of European football and consign Celtic to the annals of history for good.
Running parallel to it are the author’s own experiences of growing up in poverty just two miles from where Celtic’s downfall was plotted, who managed to stop that plot and why Celtic survived and Rangers didn’t despite a firm grip on every aspect of Scottish society.
This is The Edinburgh Establishment…
Note: A documentary was made on this book which we’d recommend: link.
Review
(Review by Psychoheart)
Not another new book from Paul Larkin, does he ever stop?!”
As someone who features elsewhere on the Celtic Wiki books section, I can’t say I’m not a little jealous of Paul’s prolific numbers of releases as well as sales figures. Nevertheless, Paul returns with what is his seventh book in three years. Yes, seventh.
I’ve read all of the previous six and I’ve even contributed to a couple of the more recent efforts. Reading “From Albert With Love” inspired me to write my own book about my own favourite season, and that’s where “From Seville to Sevilla” was born. Since then I’ve caught up with Paul’s blogs in “Dougie, Dougie”, smiled at my own memories of stopping the ten while reading “Wim’s Tims”, went back to my own Celtic origins in “Poles ‘n’ Goals and Hesselink”, been part of the bampot journey in “By Any Means Necessary”, and perhaps most of all I enjoyed the fictional story of Sidney Dempsey in the non-fictional early 90s in “The Last Pearl Diver”.
Not only that, but I’ve been able to see Paul’s writing evolve over these series of books. I’ll admit, when I first read “From Albert With Love” I thought it was engrossing but could also have been polished up quite a bit and maybe a little longer. Maybe leaving you wanting more is a good thing! Compare that book with the more recent efforts and you can see that Paul has advanced as a writer by quite a distance.
What has kept me engrossed across all of the books is how Paul pours his own life into the pages for you to read. I, for one, really enjoy reading Celtic’s history through the eyes of those who experienced it. The different ways in which Celtic fans have come to be the way they are today fascinates me. The “Desert Island Tims” podcast by Billy No’Well has taken that to new levels. But back in literary works, Paul has a wonderful knack of dragging you into his own story. While I’m sure there are aspects of his life that mirror my own there are plenty of others which aren’t even close. Yet somehow I now feel like I’ve been there, thanks to these books.
The Asterisk Years, however, takes that a step further. If the previous books have been mainly entrenched in Paul’s life then this time he uses that to it’s full advantage to illustrate just how big a difference there can be within a couple of miles inside Scotland’s capital. The first half of this books sees Paul tell yet more stories of his own life, previously unseen, and while they are as encapsulating as ever there is a secondary goal on this occasion.
This time Paul is showing us how one half of society lives. The half most of us know well and live ourselves. The half that might like golf but would only be near an exclusive course collecting lost balls to sell on. This is Paul’s life, and he uses it expertly to paint the picture of the differences when the coin flips and we get to see how the other half live thanks to Paul’s unnamed contact on that side. Those people who play golf on those exclusive courses. Those we never see on the streets because they’re tucked up behind their gated driveways.
Those who tried to destroy Celtic.
If you’re a fan of Paul’s writing, you’ll enjoy the first half of this book as much as you’ve enjoyed any of his other books. But once you reach that second half it doesn’t matter if you’re a fan of Paul or not. If you’re a fan of Celtic you’ll very likely read the second half in anger as Paul illustrates just how much the Edinburgh Establishment – those golfers with the gates – tried to build up Rangers and destroy Celtic at the same time.
What worries me more than anything after reading this book is how much of it I actually knew already. A snippet here, a little bit of information there. Things I had picked up since the demise of Rangers, coupled with the rise of the internet bampot not letting things slide. Information that has leaked out already. But having the information is one thing. It takes the Asterisk Years to lay it all out in front of you and connect the dots in a way I haven’t seen done anywhere else.
It also suggests that there may well be more that we haven’t seen. More efforts to keep our team down and boost their own. More efforts away from football to keep the establishment and their friends on top. In fact, even as this book reached its launch date there was a story of David Murray wanting to build on designated green belt land around Edinburgh. Once you read this book that story suddenly jumps out at you in a way it may not have done previously.
I’ve heard it said that Paul’s books are an acquired taste. That may be true for the previous books, and is probably true for most books, but in this case I think there’s something for everyone.
Whether that’s putting an old story of Celtic’s financial difficulties in the 1990s into a new context, or just enjoying more of Paul’s life experiences, there’s something here for every Celtic supporter.
As such, I’d highly recommend you read this book and remember three things when you do.
1) The Edinburgh Establishment are still there, despite many bloody noses in recent years.
2) Sevco may not be Rangers, and may no longer have ties to the Edinburgh Establishment, but they still need watching very carefully because what happened previously is still having effects today.
3) We still won.
I bought this book on the basis of having heard the author promote it on ‘Beyond the Waves’ Celtic podcast. There is nothing in it about Celtic that any aficianado of the club will not already know. For those seeking to further their Celtic knowledge there are literally dozens of better Celtic books out there. As for the claim that it will expose the ways in which Celtic have suffered at the hands of the establishment over decades there is nothing in it that any devotee of Celtic Cyberspace will not have already encountered.
On ‘Beyond the Waves’ Paul Larkin played a game of show and tell suggesting that the book contained so much more than he could reveal on the podcast. In effect if you listen to that podcast then you can save yourself the bother of reading this book – there is nothing new in it.
The first 50% is largely a waste of time in terms of what the book purports to be about. Brogan, Rogan and Trevino’s description and analysis of the way in which the world of tennis reacted to the wild children of the ’70’s is interesting but takes up too much of the book if we examine the conclusions arrived at in relation to Celtic F.C.- the huns cheated – we know they cheated – and they were given every assistance to do so even after their death.
I am only glad it was on Kindle as it is not a book I would consider a great addition to my Celtic library – Tom Campbell and Pat Woods it is not.
In saying that perhaps I expected too much.
Product Details
- Format: Kindle Edition
- File Size: 18171 KB
- Print Length: 138 pages
- Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
- Publisher: Love Street 86 (19 Oct 2013)
- Sold by:Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
- Language: English
- ASIN: B00G1ER1YM