Conference Season (Football Autobiography)

Disillusioned with the corporate ownership, mega-bucks culture, and overpaid prima donnas, of the Premiership, Steve Leach embarked on a journey to rediscover the soul of professional football.

His journey, over the 2012/13 season, took him to twenty-four different Football Conference towns and fixtures, visiting venues as diverse as the Impact Arena in Alfreton, Stonebridge Road in Ebbsfleet, and Luton's Kenilworth Road.

Encountering dancing bears at Nuneaton, demented screamers at Barrow, and 'badger pasties' at rural Forest Green - Steve unearthed the stories behind the places and people - it was a journey that showed just how football and communities intertwine, and mean something. As the season progressed Steve relished how unfancied teams of part-timers, such as Braintree Town and Dartford, could defeat higher status opponents, and watched 'big name' clubs such as Luton Town and Lincoln City struggle to make an impact. Throughout all this, his anguish grew at the prospect of his beloved Stockport County getting relegated.

Conference Season is a warm and discerning celebration of the diversity of towns and clubs which feature in the Conference, and of the supporters who turn up week-after-week to cheer their teams on.