Second City

'The 2009 season brought my club to a new low. Heed the warning: "Adandon all hope, ye who enter here." 'Second City,' is the follow up to Neal Horgan's critically acclaimed account of Cork City FC's 2008 season, entitled 'Death of a Football Club?' This book chronicles Cork City FC's infamous 2009 season. Horgan brings you into the dressing room on numerous occasions as club chairman, Tom Coughlan, attempts to explain to the players why it is that the Revenue Commissioners are seeking to wind up Cork City FC in the High Court. Horgan argues that the lack of an over-arching plan for full-time professional football in Ireland provides a context for the 'annus horribilis' experienced at Cork City FC in 2009 as bounced cheques, delayed payments, evictions, pay cuts and a return to part-time football become the issues that dominate the players' lives. In the unfolding drama, that quickly turns from comedy to tragedy, there are appearances by Roy Keane and Ipswich Town, Dermot Desmond and Glasgow Celtic, fans group FORAS, Christiano Ronaldo and the great Real Madrid in a sporting story which wil have a deep resonance with Irish football fans today.