Reviews...
‘What Duncan Holley doesn’t know about Saints could be written on the back of a postage stamp with a very thick magic marker. The astounding thing is how he and the team at Hagiology Publishing keep coming up with ideas for Saints-related books. Just when you think the well has been visited for the last time, they produce another book.
On the surface, SUITED and BOOTED, Duncan’s pictorial history of Southampton FC from 1885 to 1939 may not appear to be a book for the modern day Saints fan... Staring out at us from the black-and-white, and sometimes tinted, photographs are a bohemian blend of public school chaps brimful of Corinthian spirit; slick-haired sharpies whose card schools would deprive you of your house; and fearsome looking creatures you would not want to meet in daylight hours, with half a dozen of your biggest mates all toting pickaxe handles.
Of course, there are heroes in here who will be known to any self-respecting Saints fan. Eddie Bates sneaks into the last two team-pictures and then there is Ted Drake, whose story is all too familiar, as the Southampton-born striker made 71 appearances for Saints before Arsenal came a-calling and he was sold to balance the books...
SUITED and BOOTED embodies the maxim that every picture tells a story. The captions provide the background and context, but are an understudy to a stellar assemblage of pictures from Duncan’s collection, some of them never seen before... The book has an expensive, high-end feel and look to it, indicative of the love and care that has been lavished on it by all involved... another must-have for anybody who calls himself a Southampton supporter – or anyone who delights in football’s history and culture.' (John May, Saints Matchday Programme)
Purchase Suited and Booted direct
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