Behind the Curtain by Jonathan Wilson

Behind the Curtain Reviews

• 
  Pete

  Behind the Curtain : Travels in Eastern European Football (2006) by Jonathon Wilson catalogues much of Eastern European football from the years after WWII to the fall of Communism and beyond. It reads as part travel book, part sports book and part history book.
  Wilson wrote the really excellent Inverting the Pyramid about football tactics and is a fine writer as well as a keen observer of football. He also has a love of Eastern European Football that comes through in the book.
  The book covers Ukraine, Poland, Hungary, the former Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania, The Caucasus and Russia in long chapters that go through the history of national teams, major clubs, great players and great coaches.
  The political arrangements are followed by the deal and corruption of the modern era. Despite being a football book it prompts the question of why organise football well at all if society is collapsing. In places where football is used as a political tool it makes sense but in corrupt broken countries it's hard to justify running a club well. It does make you realise that well run clubs that are not corrupt are in many ways stranger than a club run by a local rich man.
  The book wouldn't be fun for anyone who isn't interested in football. It probably requires both an interest in football and an interest in Eastern Europe, but if you are interested in both then it's a well written, rewarding read.
  
• 
  Rob

  Writing any book about Eastern Europe must be a hazardous process. The chief problem involves a decision on whether to concentrate on life before the collapse of communism or what has ensued since. Most authors take the former course and so Wilson should be congratulated for attempting to tackling the chaotic, often anarchic, events of recent years.
  
  Wilson does well to capture the fast pace of change in Eastern Europe and the rise of previously unheralded clubs such as Litex Lovech and Groclin. The pace of events also proves to be his downfall though. It is quite possible that he should have waited until he was a bit older before writing the book (a mention of a 1992 school trip to Russia marks him out as startlingly young) and it is not clear if he travelled to the eastern Bloc before the end of the old systems, and recent astonishing events such as CSKA's UEFA Cup win and the huge sums dished out by the likes of Dynamo Moscow are relegated to the epilogue. He also states that "..for Steaua Bucharest, a second European Cup success is as far away as a second league title is for Ipswich". Steaua secured themselves a place in the semi final of the 2005-06 UEFA Cup - merely weeks after this book was published.
  
  Another frustration is the selective nature of the coverage. To be more authoritative, the book could have been a good deal longer, with a statistics section at the back listing league title winners in the various countries. It might also have benefitted from broad brush analysis and less reliance on the personalized accounts of whichever personality Wilson managed to track down at any particular time (interesting as some of these undoubtedly are.)
  
  East Germany - and Dynamo Berlin's run of league titles in the 1980s - is a major omission. It would have been fascinating to have Wilson's opinions on how the likes of Hansa Rostock and Dynamo Dresden have struggled in a united league. And what of Latvia? Their achievement in reaching the finals of Euro 2004 isn't mentioned at all.
  
  Overall, however, the pace with which I read this book is a testament to how interesting it is and Wilson is certainly a football writer to look out for in the future.
• 
  Helena Demirci

  Favourite quotes:
  
  'Injury time was approaching when Gavrila Balint headed what he believed was the goal that would give Steaua a 2-1 victory over their city rivals Dinamo in the 1988 Romanian Cup Final. As he raised his arms in celebration, though, the linesman raised his flag: offside. What followed has come to symbolise both the madness of football under the Ceausescu regime and the intensity of the rivalry between Dinamo and Steaua. According to most witnesses, Valentin Ceausescu, son of Nicolae and president of Steaua, signalled from the Communist Party box for his players to leave the field. 'A crazy day, a show of power', Mircea Lucescu, the Dinamo coach that day, told me. 'I said to their players, "come on, please, you are professionals", but they still went off. We were left standing around for half an hour waiting for somebody to tell us what to do'. Taking some kind of initiative, the Dinamo defender Ioan Andone dropped his shorts and waved his penis in protest at the Communist Party box, an act for which he received a one-year ban from football. The referee eventually abandoned the match and the cup was presented to Dinamo. 'We went home', Lucescu said, 'but the next day they took the cup off us because Ceausescu had decided that Steaua had won'.
  
  'When they made the trip to Armenia to face Dinamo Yerevan in September 1949, Dinamo Moscow were on their way to a fifth league title. After thirty five minutes though, they found themselves 3-0 down... That, clearly, wouldn't do, so General Blinov, deputy minister of the Ministry of State Security, telephoned the government room at the stadium and ordered the Armenian Minister of the Interior, Comrade Grigoryan, to take measures to ensure victory for Dinamo Moscow... When the teams came out for the second half, a sinister figure in a black coat took up a position behind the Yerevan goal, every now and again hissing 'Miss!' When the goalkeeper went to gather a shot'.
• 
  Paul

  As summarized in the title, this book is an introduction to the tragicomedy Eastern Europe and the history of its football (soccer). The fall of the iron curtain, the Bosnian war, intra-Soviet geopolitics, transitions from communism, disappointments in democracy, you get to see them all through the lens of football.
• 
  Richard Todd

  A superb advertisement for east European football. Well judged balance between history, culture and football.
• 
  Matt Roylance

  This really is an excellent book. Although the fact that it was published in 2006 means that I would really love to see an updated version, it is still wholly relevant. Wilson combines a social, cultural and political history of the breakdown of the iron curtain with stories of great players, teams & generations from all over this fascinating part of the world. I feel that I now understand not just the football of the region, past & present in more depth, but the legacy of its past as well in a social and political sense as well. I can’t recommend this highly enough.
• 
  Geoff

  Devoured this book because it appealed to my inner football/history/geography geek. Some great and disturbing stories are revealed. The author is clearly astonishingly knowledgable about the subject and obviously has a love of Eastern Europe (some bits and peoples more than others) Some amazingly exotic clubs and players referenced. Read the book in four days. Loved it but I’m not sure how many other people in the world are as as sad as me 😃
• 
  Kevin Montgomery

  A very enjoyable travelogue through East European football in mid 2000s. Detailed yet readable account which nicely uses the political and social context of the former Soviet bloc countries in describing the development of their football
• 
  Nick Grammos

  As much a book about the Wall, and how football was played. Imagine Death of Stalin the movie with football at the centre of the storyline.
• 
  C M

  Behind the Curtain is the ultimate book on football and politics in Eastern Europe. Jonathan Wilson has long covered football in post-communist Europe for a variety of soccer blogs and magazines and combines rich historical detail with passionate and lively accounts of trips to the big and small teams of the region. Divided into chapters on specific countries (often within subregions), Wilson describes many famous historic stories about famous and mythical clubs, games or players -- often in excruciating and at times confusing detail -- but also tells lively stories of his personal trips through the region in which he interviewed the who is who in East European football. While the book is at times overly detailed, and does require quite some previous knowledge about the region to fully appreciate, it is an amazing work that belongs to the best books on football and politics.
• 
  Andhika Padmawan

  It took me a while to finish this book, since I'm only interested in Aranycsapat, the mighty Hungary national team in the 1950s. And then I lost my interest to read the rest because I'm not familiar with teams from Bulgaria, Georgia, Armenia, Ukraine, Bosnia and Herzegovina. But the story of Eduard Streltsov of USSR made me able to finish the book. This book is for people who want to understand the concept and history of football in Eastern Europe. Jonathan was able to brought this fairy tale into the book. Well done indeed.
• 
  Michael

  A good book and an interesting insight into football in Eastern Europe. My only issues with the book were the fact it was a little difficult to really get into, and the fact it was quite the book I was excepting, I half excepted it to be a Travel Log/Historical football book, but I wasn't too disappointed really.
• 
  Kealan

  A comprehensive account of football in Eastern Europe both before and after the fall of communism. What was merely a tool of by the regime became the plaything of oligarchs post-1989. My only criticism is the overwhelming level of detail; the sheer number of players, officials, etc. can be hard to keep track of. And why was the former Czechoslovakia omitted?
• 
  Adam Edwards

  Not for the casual fan - when it’s good it’s very good and there’s some fascinating stories and histories to uncover. However, it can get a bit samey - when you don’t know the ins-and-outs of Eastern European football to begin with, some club and player names all start to sound the same which can gloss over some intricacies - the gist comes across, though. A good book for an aficionado.
• 
  Robin Peake

  A great holiday read, but not a great commute read - the chapters need to be broken up to help you pick up where you left off.
  
  Fascinating insights into the Hungarian international team of the 50s, and into the demise of the great Ukrainian domestic teams though
• 
  Brian

  Love Jonathon Wilson. An in-depth, anecdotal look at the power clubs, players and managers of Eastern European football. Favorite chapter was the one on Ukraine - love watching Shakhtar!
• 
  John Costello

  Very enjoyable and interesting
• 
  Brenda Stahl

  Interesting review with some cultural pedagogy. For anyone watching the championships right now, this is such an introspective look at some of these countries.
• 
  Matt Narode

  Solid read with the WC in Russia and Croatia making it to the final.
• 
  Edwin Setiadi

  What footballing life is like in Eastern Europe
  
  This is a romantic book about life as a football reporter in Eastern Europe, a place where the beautiful game is played a little bit differently, where the line between sports and politics is a little less clear, but with passion for the game unmistakably resonates the universal love like in any other parts of the world.
  
  The book tells the tales of local heroes and legends, the larger than life characters, the rise and fall of the local teams, and the memorable moments in their respective national team’s history. It tells the anecdotes such as why so many supporters eat sunflower seeds in Georgia, or which club’s vice president have pictures of Britney Spears in his leather-bound notebook. And of course it tells about all the iconic football matches - the Dynamo Kyiv, the Spartak Moscow, the Red Star Belgrade, the Steaua Bucharest, the CSKA Sofia, the Hajduk Split -, including the ones that the author, Jonathan Wilson, attended himself, from the big name derbies to an invigorated match in the 3rd division pitch in the Bulgarian FA Cup.
  
  The book also tells about the many stories outside the football field that define the environment of the region. Such as the hatred among the former Yugoslavian countries that are reflected in the matches, the deep mistrust of everyday people in Romania, the hooliganism problem in Hungary, the chilling atmosphere during the dictatorship of Stalin, and the many incredible personal stories such as what happened when French player Youri Djorkaeff went to his ancestral home Armenia, or the story of the last plane leaving Bosnia before the war broke in 1992 that was carrying a future football superstar Hasan Salihamidžić.
  
  Meanwhile, as in other many walks of life in Eastern Europe, corruption and bribery are rampant, while match fixing is not uncommon. And while the countries from Baltic to Balkan to Caucasus have transitioned from a communist subject into independent countries, plenty of the embedded old structures are still pretty much in place in their societies, with Soviet/Yugoslav control replaced by local dictators or oligarchs or gangs of mafia that have vested interests in the football matches.
  
  Thus, reporting about football in this part of the world becomes an intricate job, as it often deals more with the likes of prostitutes, kidnappings and even assassinations than just another injury update or a transfer rumor. This, in short, is what makes this book mighty interesting.
• 
  Tiago

  This book was written in 2006, so there is a couple of information that did not age quite well (namely the promise of a better Russian football at the UEFA level following the CSKA Moscow win against Sporting CP in 2005). Nevertheless it is an enjoyable read peppered with some fascinating stories and characters from eastern european countries.
  
  Jonathan Wilson, a journalist, traveled to countries such as Ukraine, Georgia, Romania, Bulgaria, Armenia, Russia, Yugoslavia and so on to watch some games and talk to football personalities (current and old). Throughout the book and we have a commom thread. Football in those eastern countries are on the decline, corruption is rampant, and the post-communist era led to the elevation of some shady people to positions of power in football. Another fact that led to this decline was the genesis of the Champions League in the 90s. Exactly during the same period these countries were reeling from the decline of their communist regimes. Wilson has a very british way to tell stories. Even someone who was never heard about him could deduce he as from England after reading a couple of paragraphs. Of course, all the analogies he makes uses England examples.
  
  If the post-communist football in these countries are corrupt and used as money laundering by some shady people, during the communist era the corruption was quite the same. The main difference was that politics was heavily involved. The regime used sports as propaganda or, in some case, there was a clear "favorite team" of the leader. In the case of Soviet Union and Yugoslavia we could also see some nationalistic trends infused in football (Ucrania and Armenia vs Russia / Croatia vs Serbia vs Bosnia-Herzegovina vs Slovenia).
  
  The book deserves 3,5 stars out of the 5 but I am rounding it down to 3 because I believe the book deserved a 20/25 page appendix listing the historical results of the leagues covered (league champions, cup champions, and UEFA competition highlights).
• 
  Simon Jones

  This is a very pleasurable read. Jonathan Wilson delights in investigating football culture in the less-glamorous parts of Europe, and as someone who lived in Poland and attended Legia Warsaw matches for a number of years, I totally understand that.
  The central theme of the book from start to finish is corruption, which seems to be a depressing fact of football life in Central and Eastern Europe. Or, at least, seemed to be in 2006, when 'Behind the Curtain' was published. And this is my one minor quibble. Is the same true now? In 2006, the Premier League was won by Chelsea, with Manchester United 2nd and Liverpool 3rd. No big difference there, you might say. However, in the book, Wilson writes about 'the big 4' of Polish football: Legia, Wisla Krakow, Amica Wronki and Groclin Grodzisk. The latter two don't exist any more and Wisla are a pale shadow of the club they were. I don't know if the same is true in other sections, but a lot of the chapter about Poland has been rendered redundant by radical changes. An updated version would be welcome.
  But as I note, this is a small criticism, and it's hardly the author's fault that the football landscape in 2021 in some countries isn't remotely the same as it was in 2006. I devoured this book in a couple of weeks and thoroughly enjoyed it.
• 
  Diego Guerra

  This is a fantastic read. It is, mind you, quite dated - the book is over 15 years old now - but still relevant, and very enjoyable if you're willing to leave that aside and read as if you're in the mid-2000s. I would really love an updated version though, telling us more about how football has fared in each country since the first edition.
  
  'Behind the Curtain' is not intended to be an exhaustive survey of football in Eastern Europe, and anyone expecting that may be disappointed, but the focus and stories chosen in each chapter really appeal to my tastes - they form a great mix of football and social history, and left me wanting to, I don't know, watch a game of football in Split but also read a book on Nicolae Ceaușescu (perhaps not at the same time). Jonathan Wilson is an absolute nerd but I wouldn't have it any different - he's the very best when it comes to football writing.
  
  Given how much I had enjoyed 'Inverting the Pyramid' and countless articles in the Blizzard and other publications, I do wonder why it took me so long to tackle another one of his books. I am now between 'Names Heard Long Ago' and 'Angels with Dirty Faces' on what to read next.
• 
  Ryan Boros

  Red football
  Giant killers
  Waves of corruption
  
  Really interesting book about soccer in Eastern Europe. Cool to learn about some of these former powerhouse clubs: who was army, who was secret police, and who were the resistance clubs. It's wild how while the Communist systems were oppressive, they collective pressure to keep it's good football players in Easter Europe made little teams like Georgia's Dinamo Tbilisi into powerhouses in the Soviet League and Euro champion contenders. Then the sadness that the breakup of that system has led to so much corruption and obscurity. I would have liked a bit more of the Yugoslavian teams during Soviet times, but more recent war cast a bigger shadow. Good book for soccer history enthusiasts.
• 
  Paul

  Fascinating and slightly depressing travels around Eastern European football, from journalist Jonathan Wilson. On his travels from Armenia to the former Yugoslav countries, Poland to Russia recurrent stories emerge of once great teams struggling to survive in the modern era. The level of corruption and fraud that has been accepted in the new free market world of modern football is such a sad story that comes out again and again from the countries visited. Bring back state control and politically controlled leagues! The book was written over 10 years ago now, and things may have moved on a bit in some places, but there are some great tales in here.
• 
  Joe

  A really enjoyable and interesting read. This book covers football, politics, history and geography / travel. So it combines a lot of topics I'm very interested in so this was a nice read for me. Some really good background and nuggets of information re some Eastern European football clubs which I enjoyed finding out about.
  
  The book was released in 2005 so a little dated but still an excellent book.