Paul Tomkins (1)

Full disclosure: I’ve liked Paul Tomkins' writing since his work for Liverpool’s website circa 2004. I’d known of him as an intelligent poster on various fora, but his being given extended room to muse on the week’s events for Liverpool was a pleasure. I’ve followed his work since and been a member of his forum since it began. For the most part he’s a voice of sanity in the midst of the shrieking mobs of internet fandom. He rarely jerks the knee, instead trying to see the bigger picture.

They Dared To Dream is essentially a book of two halves, the first a compilation of columns written during Liverpool’s 2013/14 season, the second a series of specially commissioned pieces. What’s great about that first half is watching the season unfold, from a gutsy but unspectacular start through a run of absolutely glorious form before it all ends in heroic failure. It’s fascinating to watch Tomkins and company try to make sense of it all and the natural storyline provided by the season itself glues the pieces together nicely. I wasn’t quite so keen on the second half purely due to the lack of structure that makes the first half compelling. There’s no drop off in quality, it simply didn’t have the compelling narrative to glue everything together. Nonetheless there’s a well-chosen selection of articles here to please all fans, ranging from heavy duty statistical analysis, through discussions of club philosophy and musings on the possible implications of FFP for Liverpool’s future.… (meer)

If you've got Tomkins' other books this one's inessential but if you're looking for an introduction to one of the smartest football writers around, particularly on the subject of Liverpool, then this is an excellent place to start. As the title might suggest it's a sort of greatest hits and doesn't quite hang together as his other, more focused, books do. As ever though, Tomkins near unique combination, which conveys his passion for his team and the game without clouding his more rational judgement, more than compensates. The final section might prove tough going for those without a head for statistics and I'm uncertain as to whether trying to mathematically prove who were the best and worst signings actually proves anything or tells us anything we didn't know already.

Fascinating as ever but probably the least of his books so far, still miles ahead of most other football writers though.… (meer)