Turncoat: How I Stopped Supporting Arsenal and Found a New Team

According to Eric Cantona, ‘You can change your wife, your politics, your religion, but never, never can you change your favourite football team.’ Matt Coughlan never had much time for Cantona and planned to break this taboo. Disillusioned with Arsenal, he went in search of a new team to support and embarked on a journey of discovery.

"Books on the life of a nonleague fan are rare... For any others fans disillusioned with the never-ending greed at the top of the game Matt’s search for something more down-to -earth is to be praised."

"He describes the matches he goes to and the people he meets along the way in an entertaining style... it’s fair to say the book may give other fans food for thought."

"Part memoir, part ethical inquiry, Coughlan''s book explores provocative questions about loyalty, identity, and what following a club truly means…Coughlan writes in an introspective, self-aware style inviting both agreement and critique. For any football supporter, it poses thoughtful questions about balancing tradition and one''s own ethical code."

Turncoat is the light-hearted story of one disillusioned Arsenal fan’s quest to find a new team while rediscovering the simple joys of watching football.

From sneaking out of bed to see Michael Thomas’s winner against Liverpool, to holding a season ticket for 16 years, Matt Coughlan was a dedicated Arsenal fan.

Then came the move to a new ground, kick-off times always being shunted around and the goalposts being moved when billionaires injected vast sums into rival teams, so the height of ambition became finishing fourth.

He became disillusioned with the modern game and drifted away from it, but he missed being part of the conversation in the pub and correcting friends on points of trivia. He started to watch non-league football and searched for a new team to follow.

On his journey, Matt rediscovers a love for the sport, gets into club boardrooms, talks with officials, finds out about community-owned clubs, learns about some historic old clubs and watches a mixed bag of football. But does he find a new team to support?

• | Author: Matt Coughlan
• | Publisher: Pitch Publishing Ltd
• | Publication Date: Aug 21, 2023
• | Number of Pages:
• | Language:
• | Binding: Paperback / softback
• | ISBN-13: 9781801504645
• | ISBN-10: 1801504644