Interesting insight into the Ultra world

Well narrated insight into the Ultra world on and off the terraces and around the cities in Italy.

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Deep insight

Tobias manages to really get to the heart of the ultra with his time at Cosenza - far beyond the headlines and usual journalistic castigation of the ultras. Not to say they are not very unsavoury characters at times. The Cosenza stories, interspersed with other tales from around Italy over the decades make for a good balance. Really enjoyed it.

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Brilliant listen & read

I’d read this book when it came out, as I’m a massive fan of Tobias’ writings.
It’s a great read, but I’d say the audible version is an even better listen!
The narrator really brings the characters to life and the narration flows along so smoothly.

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Well researched

This book is really well researched and gives a shocking insight into the world of the ultra’s.. I found the recording quality was a little muffled, not enough to put me off listening to it, it’s just not crystal clear but it’s definitely listenable .. don’t let that put you off it’s very good

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Incredible book.

The best book I’ve ever read on this subject. An absolute must for football fans and anyone else for that matter.

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A unique insight into a unique culture.

Italian fans and Ultras has a certain passion you can not find other places. It helped to giving a more intense certain look by keeping to a handful of Ultras groups and clubs, and going into details to the people surrounding them. A great both judgmental and nonjudgmental look at certain actions and decisions, while giving great in-depth background details to explain it.

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And I thought Ultras were just hardcore Italian fans..

As the author highlights this is not a book about football - but he provides a remarkable explanation of how deeply Ultras are embedded into Italian society. The Roman equivalent of Green Street this is not! Depressingly, menace and violence is never more than a few seconds away- and this is a very long book - but throw in political extremism of all types, racism, religion and (less frequently) morality and you get an idea of the depth of this book. Absolutely remarkable - so comprehensive and well researched. The length of the book is a challenge but Tobias continues to add so much “evidence” that reinforces his explanation as to how embedded Ultras are in Italian society. Hardcore fans they may be - but football is presented as being incidental rather than integral! Frankly - good luck Italy, your challenges run deep! Great achievement from Tobias, well narrated by Adam.

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Excellent

For anyone who has an interest in football, fandom, politics, Italy, fanaticism or the curious nature of the most vociferous groups...have a read/listen.

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Engrossing, Peculiar, Well Worth It

Fantastic book - fascinating context, great anecdotes. Sometimes haunting, sometimes sad, sometimes infuriating. Always interesting.

My only small criticism of the audiobook was the narrator’s chosen pronunciation of “Serie A”. Seemed curious to mix the Italian and English in that case - particularly as most listeners will be familiar with it as “Serie Ah”

Didn’t ruin it by any stretch but worth bringing up!

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Balanced insights

Learned a lot about the Italian ultra scene. Writer was fully immersed in the world and expressed himself eloquently.

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