Extra Time

FEATURED IN THE SCOTSMAN'S SPORT BOOKS OF 2020
A collection of lyrical sweet-nothings whispered to late goals, local radio commentators, referees falling over and 47 other reminders of why we love football.
Despite its flaws and excesses, modern football is still sprinkled with simple yet beguiling delights. In his previous book Saturday, 3pm, Daniel Gray captured many of them. Now he is back with a further 50 short essays of prose poetry dedicated to the game's charming, technicolour minutiae.
From club lottos to undeserved wins, and from pitch-invading animals to the roar after a minute's silence, Extra Time is another romantic celebration of football fandom and its shared joys, habits, eccentricities and peculiarities. It is a salute to keepers going forward for corners, match balls landing on stand roofs and goals scored in quick succession.
These chapters offer a gleeful antidote to disillusionment with modern football, VAR and all. They are reminders of why we care and justifications for our devotion. Each warmly evokes this sport's blessed capacity to offer escape and diversion. Let us share the delight once more.

Author and historian Daniel Gray is the writer of Stramash and Homage to Caledonia. For a short period in the early 1990s he was the finest left-back in his village, once marking Gordon Strachan's youngest son (the one who didn't become a footballer) out of the game. A Middlesbrough supporter, Daniel began attending football matches in 1988 and has never recovered. He has worked in a psychiatric hospital, a library and in television and politics. He loves staring out of train windows and lives in Leith with his wife and daughter. Follow him on Twitter at @d_gray_writer.

Preface: Or, finding more things to love
1 Local radio commentators
2 Club lottos and sellers
3 Indirect free-kicks in the box
4 Main stands
5 Spotting a first-match fan
6 Soft-spot teams
7 Late fitness tests
8 Animals on the pitch
9 Booing a returning opposition player
10 The coin toss and changing ends
11 Getting annoyed at the mount of injury time set
12 100+ points a session
13 Scoring in quick succession
14 The Pools Panel
15 Not being able to sleep after a night match
16 Keepers celebrating a goal
17 Comebacks
18 Squad photographs
19 People patting police horses
20 Seeing retired players get fat
21 Jeering disallowed goals
22 Being in an empty ground
23 Clearing it off the line
24 Ball boys and girls
25 Holding a football
26 The referee falling over
27 Midweek Match of the Day
28 Hearing the players
29 Favourite and unlikely scorelines
30 Late goals
31 Being fickle
32 Goalkeepers going forward
33 A balletic piece of play
34 Cup draws
35 Not knowing the name of the person you sit with
36 Seeing a player in a non-football setting
37 An injury time catch
38 Songs unique to your club
39 Players celebrating a goal in front of you
40 When the ball goes over a stand roof
41 Climbing the stairs into the stand
42 Wins in a row
43 A goal back!
44 Team talks on the pitch
45 The roar after a minute's silence
46 Undeserved wins
47 Players applauding the away end
48 Spotting a ground while on holiday
49 Going with my daughter
50 The final whistle
Acknowledgements