Football Books I Love: The Bottom Corner, by Nige Tassell

Whisper it quietly, but non-league football is in danger of becoming trendy. A cursory glance at the Isthmian League Premier Division (in English, non-league football’s third tier), for example, shows five teams averaging crowds of over 1,000 per game. This level of support would have been unthinkable back in 2005, when I first wandered through the turnstiles at Sutton United’s Gander Green Lane as a wide-eyed seven-year-old.

This growth has come in part from the growing sense of disillusionment that is affecting many fans of Premier League clubs. Supporters are frustrated with rising prices, sanitised atmospheres, and players whose luxury lifestyles mean that they are far removed from those who come to watch them strut their stuff. The quality on the pitch at the top level is arguably better than ever, but this is a mere footnote in the quest for the ultimate soul of the beautiful game.

The masses turning their backs on the Premier League are often finding an entertaining and homely alternative in the lower reaches of the football pyramid. In The Bottom Corner, Nige Tassell spends a season travelling around a series of non-league clubs, from Bishop Sutton to FC United of Manchester, exploring the appeal of it all.

This appeal is represented in the way that representatives of the clubs he visits are so open with their time, explaining the context of where they’re currently at, as well as sharing their wildest hopes and dreams. The book features an interview with Julio Arca, for example, then playing for South Shields in the Northern League Division Two just a couple of years after leaving Middlesbrough. Another chapter sees Tassell chat with Salford City’s joint managers, Anthony Johnson and Bernard Morley, fresh from their newfound fame as stars of the Class of ’92: Out of Their League documentary. Just as refreshing, though, is the spotlight shone on the unsung heroes of grassroots football – the likes of the chairman of the Hackney & Leyton Football league, Johnnie Walker, and long-standing referee John Kyte.

What’s more, Tassell writes an engrossing account of several stories in non-league football, with the book’s success showing there is value in football below the Premier League. With such a breadth to the non-league game, there is always an interesting story somewhere, and Tassell looks to pick up on these. From the Ascot United player who’s famous in the Philippines to the search for the next Jamie Vardy, Tassell provides intriguing coverage of the material that is often missed by the mainstream media.

Amateur Hour too highlights these stories that all too often go unnoticed. For example, the story of the formation of Sporting Khalsa through the Sikh community, the unprecedented Wembley dominance of Whitley Bay FC, and how Bournemouth’s Premier League side was almost a different club entirely are all covered in the book’s first five chapters.

Published in 2016, The Bottom Corner captures a time when the non-league football bandwagon was starting to gather pace. His trip to Dulwich Hamlet sees Tassell marvel at the club’s strong attendance figures, which have since nearly doubled in the subsequent years despite the side still being in the same division. In a sense, then, Tassell was ahead of his time. The English lower leagues going from strength to strength means that there are now more people than ever keen to read about it. A lover of non-league football myself, having fervently supported Sutton United for more or less my entire life, Amateur Hour combines the successful elements of Harry Pearson’s The Far Corner and Nige Tassell’s The Bottom Corner to produce something that I hope this growing audience will love.

About Johnnie Lowery

Johnnie is a football writer. His first book, Six Added Minutes, was written while he was at university and published in November 2019. With strong reviews from the likes of Jeremy Vine and Jacqui Oatley, it is selling well online. His second book, Match Fit, explores mental health in football, and was shortlisted at the 2024 Charles Tyrwhitt Sports Book Awards. Amateur Hour, which is due to be released in May 2025, is all about watching non-league football in the lockdown-affected 2020/21 season