Before You Go

Lower League Life and Love at the Lamex

John Aizlewood and his 14-year-old son, Oscar, attended every Stevenage game of the 2024/25 season, home and away, league and cups. This is not merely the story of a season in the life of League One's smallest club; it’s the story of a father and son bonding through football, before the son takes his GCSEs and goes on to become a man.

Before You Go is a love story between father and son – of their love of football and of Stevenage FC.

By award-winning author, journalist and broadcaster John Aizlewood.

This compelling book offers a unique, fresh adventure into the heart and soul of lower-league football, as seen through the eyes of a vastly experienced, well-travelled football writer and his teenage son:

• John and his 14-year-old son, Oscar, attend every Stevenage FC – aka Boro – game of the 2024/25 season, home and away, league and cups, the narrative flowing from Stevenage FC’s season
• They travel by car, train and coach – and they explore every location they visit, whether they’re eating Blackpool’s finest fish’n’chips or smelling Rotherham’s indoor market
• They stand on the grave of a queen, they shout themselves hoarse, they gaze in wonder at team buses, they marvel at Stonehenge, squabble about tactics and about each other, and they eat too many culinarily challenged pies
• The book provides a cultural snapshot of England (and Wrexham) in 2024 and ’25 – the fixture list decides where they go, but each location has its own story

Before You Go is not only the saga of a season in the life of the smallest club in League One. It’s also the story of a father and son bonding and sharing their lives through football, before Oscar takes his GCSEs and goes on to become a man and before John moves, rather more reluctantly, into later life.

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• International estimated delivery times:
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• USA: 7 to 15 working days
• Rest of the World: 9 to 21 working days

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