Author Michael James Talbot wrote on Tuesday 17th July 2012, '
`The research of the early history of Small Heath Alliance and Small Heath F.C. is complete. It is now available as a download, from Kindle, on Amazon.co.uk'
See this free sample below from the e-book.
INTRODUCTION.
Birmingham City was formed from another club whose origins go back to Victorian times. We owe so much to the players of Small Heath Alliance who later became Small Heath F.C. whose hearts were filled with enthusiasm for football. Had it not been for those players and the club officials who also had a passion for the sport, the modern “Blues” team would never have existed in its current form. Victorian Britain was the age of the horse and carriage, of cloth caps and extravagant beards. The creation of a half-day off on a Saturday from work was one of the main reasons why football became popular to the working class and became the peoples’ game.
I have spent many a happy hour researching the newspapers of the Victorian era for information about the Small Heath teams. The match reports were usually a day or so out of date and tightly packed in narrow rows of tiny print in the publications. Newspapers did not always have illustrations and the reports on soccer were quite boring when compared to the glossy magazines you can read today. It was not until the 4th January 1890 that the London Daily Graphic started to publish pictures which were drawings. Lloyds Weekly Newspaper then regularly added an image of a footballer with a pen picture of their career. Following that brief match reports’ by some newspapers were published on the Sunday........................................
