Sunday Afternoon World Cup Event with Author Todd Smith in conversation with Keith O'Brien!
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We are excited for this special Sunday afternoon event with author Todd Smith who will be in town to discuss his new book, Relegated: My Pints and Pies Journey From the Top to the Bottom of English Football. For fans of Ted Lasso and Welcome to Wrexham, this rollicking travel memoir by a middle-aged Midwesterner is a hilarious and heartfelt journey through the United Kingdom, its football clubs, and the rich traditions of English football culture.
In Relegated, Todd visits not only the best clubs but also the most out of the way and forgotten ones. In these places, like the Old Spotted Dog Ground in East London, the port town of Grimsby (once voted the worst city in England), and Arbroath on the north coast of Scotland, he begins to understand what it means to be a “true” supporter of this historic and cherished game. He meets pub owners, groundskeepers, fan club organizers, and professional and amateur players who show him a deeper love of the sport. He learns how communities rally around a club, how much joy and suffering they can take, and how football clubs—even the lesser-known ones—can bond people together in memories that last a lifetime.
A heartwarming account featuring pints, meat pies, a rainbow of team scarves and banners, and some very colorful slang, Relegated is the story of a man looking to transform himself while discovering the true meaning of English football.
About Todd Smith
Todd Smith is the director of a landscaping supply yard in south Minneapolis, the author of Hockey Strong: Stories of Sacrifice from Inside the NHL, and the cowriter of Brave Enough with Olympian Jessie Diggins. He has been a longtime contributing writer for the website of the Minnesota Wild. His work has also appeared in The Rake magazine, Minnesota Monthly, and Twin Cities METRO Magazine, where he penned a print column and a blog covering modern manhood and fatherhood. Smith runs the Donkey Soccer League, a Sunday morning game for assorted nitwits and out-of-shape, middle-aged scalawags in Minneapolis, where Smith lives with his wife and son.
About Keith O'Brien
Keith O’Brien is the New York Times bestselling author of Heartland: A Forgotten Place, an Impossible Dream, and the Miracle of Larry Bird; Charlie Hustle; Paradise Falls; Fly Girls; and Outside Shot. He has won the 2025 PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld award for biography; has been a finalist for the PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports writing; and has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The Atlantic, Rolling Stone, NPR, and This American Life. A native of Ohio, Keith lives in New Hampshire.
In Relegated, Todd visits not only the best clubs but also the most out of the way and forgotten ones. In these places, like the Old Spotted Dog Ground in East London, the port town of Grimsby (once voted the worst city in England), and Arbroath on the north coast of Scotland, he begins to understand what it means to be a “true” supporter of this historic and cherished game. He meets pub owners, groundskeepers, fan club organizers, and professional and amateur players who show him a deeper love of the sport. He learns how communities rally around a club, how much joy and suffering they can take, and how football clubs—even the lesser-known ones—can bond people together in memories that last a lifetime.
A heartwarming account featuring pints, meat pies, a rainbow of team scarves and banners, and some very colorful slang, Relegated is the story of a man looking to transform himself while discovering the true meaning of English football.
About Todd Smith
Todd Smith is the director of a landscaping supply yard in south Minneapolis, the author of Hockey Strong: Stories of Sacrifice from Inside the NHL, and the cowriter of Brave Enough with Olympian Jessie Diggins. He has been a longtime contributing writer for the website of the Minnesota Wild. His work has also appeared in The Rake magazine, Minnesota Monthly, and Twin Cities METRO Magazine, where he penned a print column and a blog covering modern manhood and fatherhood. Smith runs the Donkey Soccer League, a Sunday morning game for assorted nitwits and out-of-shape, middle-aged scalawags in Minneapolis, where Smith lives with his wife and son.
About Keith O'Brien
Keith O’Brien is the New York Times bestselling author of Heartland: A Forgotten Place, an Impossible Dream, and the Miracle of Larry Bird; Charlie Hustle; Paradise Falls; Fly Girls; and Outside Shot. He has won the 2025 PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld award for biography; has been a finalist for the PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports writing; and has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The Atlantic, Rolling Stone, NPR, and This American Life. A native of Ohio, Keith lives in New Hampshire.
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Where is it happening?
12 Spruce St., Acton, MA, United States, Massachusetts 01720
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.
Host or PublisherThe Silver Unicorn Bookstore
