I picked this book up because a mate of mine hovered around the edges of Bromley’s first team many years ago (as a player that is. Not a stalker). I wasn’t aware that Dave Roberts had already documented his love affair with one of south London’s less finer clubs in “Bromley Boys”, which also became a film. As books go, it’s very much a read of two halves.

The premise is simple enough – starting in 1968, would the 14 year old Roberts ever see his team make it to Wembley? What would the next 50 years reveal? Well, at the risk of being a little unkind, it suggests that whilst the barrel wasn’t being scraped, it had certainly been heavily plumbed for “Bromley Boys” and “Home and Away” which charts his travels to non league grounds around the country.

Here and there it’s quite funny, and it’s always very self aware and depreciating- in fact at times too much so. The quirks of the hardcore fans, the dismal rivalries and the idiosyncrasies of non-league grounds, the mug collecting are bought to life and will raise a smile with anyone whose watched a sport away from the glamour of the spotlight.

However, the central problem for me is that for a significant proportion of the story, Roberts is living thousands of miles away from Bromley and relies upon Twitter and YouTube to follow his team, having told his early years as a supporter already. This made me curious about the life events that had caused Roberts to live so far afield, but parents, wives and children are only mentioned in passing as and when the story needs it. I found myself unengaged by the long distance supporting stories, and denied the personal story that sounded more interesting.

“Bromley Boy” seems a well regarded book (less so as a film), so that may be a better place to start.

This was just great. I'm missing football and all the characters during the lockdown at the moment and although I've never watched football at Bromley or won a non league mug collecting competition I loved the nostalgia. Lots of laugh out loud moments such as his attempts to get a girlfriend and the football club's sandwich theif.

The happiest I’ve ever been in one single moment, apart from when I first held my daughter, was when Ireland scored a 4th goal in Tallinn to all but guarantee a place in Euro 2012. I knew I was going to be able to watch Ireland play in a major international tournament – my footballing dream since I had watched every minute possible of USA’94 as a 10 year old.

For Dave Roberts, his dream was to see his beloved Bromley FC play at Wembley, the English national football stadium. The Long, Long Road to Wembley is Roberts account of his love affair with his local non-league football team. From the age of 13, he fantasised about his local team making it to a cup final and living up to the previous legendary Bromley teams that had won the FA Amateur Cup.

The book focuses on two phases in Roberts and the club’s lives. Firstly, Roberts recounts with brilliant humour the period when he was 13 to 20ish and attending every game. When Bromley was the centre of his universe as he tried to figure out who he was. He recounts the characters, fashion trends and most of all the defeats as Bromley crashed out of the cup every year. It captures the essence both of being a fan and of growing up. It also wonderfully captures the sense of community that football can bring when its not being played in 80,000 seater stadiums where tickets cost £80.

Inevitably, real life eventually gets in the way and Roberts goes more than 30 years without seeing Bromley play. He remains a fan, getting sent the local paper by his Mum so he could stay in touch with results. The second half of the book focuses on his return to watching Bromley live after returning to the UK and the eventual Cup run that Roberts had fantasised about for more than 40 years. Roberts gets sucked right back into his devoted fandom, and obsessive collecting of programmes and club mugs.

The book is brilliantly funny throughout. Roberts has a wonderful way with words and a self-depreciating yet still joyful take on life. The Long, Long Road to Wembley is a joy to read and a beautiful take on the meaning of football, fandom and friendship

A great read. Well written and great for any football fan.
Thank you to both NetGalley and publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my review