Look Away Now! Part One: A History of Football on the Television - Beginnings to 1999 - Look Away Now, #1

Look Away Now! is a reference to a phrase used by newscasters in the 1970s and is still used, to less effect, today. It evoked the vitality of the game in our culture for many years; to some, the saturated football coverage and its controlling impact on the game means the phrase is relevant in a different context.

The book is a history of the relationship between football and television. These two cultural phenomena have dominated people's leisure time to differing degrees over that time. The story is one of change, pioneering technology, personalities worth celebrating and the generation of wealth from TV revenues that handed most of the power in the game to broadcasters, whilst taking it away from the game's genuine supporters. It examines all aspects of football on television, its personalities, the programmes and the various stand-offs between broadcasters and the game's authorities.

Part One of the story charts the evolution of television outside broadcasts, the football itself as influenced by goals, World Cups and television interviews, the rights deals that have defined the modern game, and how programming has reflected football's relationship with society through its many iterations. The years until 1999 feature pioneering producers and presenters and an eventual realisation in the boardrooms of English football that money was there to be made.