COFFEE table material – this 223-page tome takes a photographic look at football from 1900 to 1992, ending without coincidence before the inception of the Premier League.

Features on individual legends and introductory chapters on different ages in the game also provide a few words along with captions that can be a little inaccurate – Charlton’s Tony Curbishley being one example. The flat-cap, suited-and-booted banks of big crowds contrast strongly with the modern prawn sandwich brigade.

Many of the game’s iconic moments, such as Bobby Moore lifting the Jules Rimet Trophy (right) and Vinnie Jones getting up close and personal with Gazza, are also here. However, my favourite images are less well-known such as Jack Charlton’s not-so-crafty fag during a Leeds United training session and then Liverpool physio Bob Paisley giving the injured Emlyn Hughes a piggy back off the pitch.

Other gems are Argentinian World Cup winner Ossie Ardlies taking a throw-in, watched by a handful of OAPs during a reserve game on a Luton parks pitch and a bunch of 1950s WAGs leaning over a perimeter wall with their make-up-filled handbags sitting in a neat line pitchside.

If any further evidence is needed of football’s forever lost past, meanwhile, turn to page 105 and witness the sight of an FA Cup final-winning team being mobbed by thousands during an open-top bus reception past Blackpool Tower.