WATFORD FOREVER

Affectionately rough-and-tumble portrait of a small-town British soccer team.

Like much of England in the mid-1970s, Watford, a nondescript suburb, was in terrible shape. “Its workforce had been decimated by factory closures, its heart torn out by idiotic town-planning and its identity subsumed in London’s never-ending sprawl,” writes former Sunday Telegraph journalist Preston. Its soccer team, Watford FC, was just as hangdog, “a bunch of complete no-hopers.” Enter Elton John, who, climbing to the height of his fame, bought the club in 1976, despite warnings that it would all end in tears. The team had a few good players but none of the vision that can guide a squad to victory, and there John’s mounds of pounds came in handy. The following year, he brought a winning manager into the picture in the person of the steady, evenhanded Graham Taylor, who once told the struggling lads that in the second half they “should just give it everything they had, playing without fear and always looking to attack,” adding, “You never know where it might take you.” Taylor’s understated faith in his players took them to unexpected heights, the stuff of which inspirational sports films are made. There’s a pointed morality tale running through the narrative, for, as Preston notes, the U.S. has no shortage of little towns that “seem somehow to have fallen off the map” and just need a shot in the arm to come around. Alas, all it takes is a sufficient number of civic-minded millionaires. As for Elton John, Preston does a skillfully understated job himself of bringing psychobiography into play in his exploration of what prompted the tormented star to buy the club in the first place.

A real-life Ted Lasso tale of a perennial underdog sparked to life—and fans of Sir Elton will enjoy it, too.