A Year With Verona – Tim Parks

Neither the best nor the worst football book I’ve ever read, this has the selling point of being as much about Italian culture as about Italian football specifically. I learnt a lot about the divided nature of the rickety state and the ubiquitous corruption – the latter being especially important to the state of Italian football right now. Where the author really struggles is in trying to explain away the shocking racism of the fans as a semi-ironic declaration of independent-mindedness. No it isn’t, it’s racism.