Fever Pitch

Derek Hornby, Nick Hornby’s father, was the British chairman of London and Continental Railways. Throughout Fever Pitch, Nick never mentions his father’s business career or by name, but he was so successful that he was knighted in 1990. Nick’s mentions of his father pertain only to his role as the person who introduced him to the game of football at the age of 11. When Nick’s mother and father separate, Derek begins looking for ways to maintain a relationship with his son and suggests football. Although Derek often complains about Arsenal’s boring football, the first match they attend is at Highbury Stadium, so the seed is planted then that Nick will turn into a lifelong Arsenal fan.

Charlie George is an English football forward who played for Arsenal from 1968-1975. George was unique in that he was from Islington, only minutes from Highbury Stadium, and according to Hornby, was “Arsenal’s own, nurtured on the North Bank and in the youth team” (49). George went directly from the terraces of Highbury to playing for Arsenal’s youth team in 1966. George was also notorious for his temper on the pitch, his problems with various managers over the years, and his iconic status among younger fans and women.

Liam Brady is an Irish football midfielder who played for Arsenal from 1973-1980. He was widely considered one of the game’s best passers and best overall players in the late 1970s, but he left Arsenal to play in Italy following the 1979-80 season. Hornby says about Brady that he had never “felt so intensely about an Arsenal player; for five years he was the focus of the team, and therefore the centre of a very important part of myself” (111). With rumors swirling during the 1979-80 season about Brady’s imminent departure, it was cause for much anxiety for Hornby, and when he eventually did depart to play in Italy, Hornby compares losing him to losing his girlfriend only a few months later.

Jonathan is Hornby’s half-brother, who at the age of 13 begins accompanying Hornby to many Arsenal matches. When Hornby’s father remarries, he and his new wife have two children, whom Hornby does not learn about until years later. There is never any animosity, however, and Jonathan even begins looking up to Hornby as a role model. When his father moves back to England from France in 1980, Jonathan is similarly obsessed with football, and Hornby begins taking him along to Highbury to see Arsenal.

Charlie Nicholas is a former Scottish football striker who played for Arsenal from 1983 to 1989. Hornby describes him as “the hottest property in British football” when Arsenal signed Nicholas prior to the 1983 season (138). He had been a star while playing for Celtic F.C. in the Scottish league, but his time with Arsenal did not live up to expectations. At the same time that Nicholas comes to Arsenal in 1983, Hornby decides to pack up his teaching job and concentrate on becoming a writer. Therefore, Hornby sees his career as analogous to that of Nicholas, and that is especially the case when he begins receiving rejection letters from publishers.

Pete is a friend of Hornby’s who is introduced near the end of Part 2 of Fever Pitch. Because of his intense fandom, Hornby’s friends frequently attempt to introduce him to other Arsenal fans that they know, but all the previous meetings have been disappointments because the “blind date” turns out to not have near the same level of fandom. This is not the case with Pete, whom Hornby begins regularly attending matches with. Hornby meets Pete at a time in the 1980s when Arsenal is struggling and therefore his own interest was waning, but the new friendship renews his interest in the club. Hornby states that “Pete pushed me over the edge, and sometimes I don’t know whether to thank him for that or not” (145).

George Graham is a Scottish former player and manager in association football. Graham played for Arsenal from 1966-1972 as a midfielder and forward, playing a key role for the club’s Double year of 1970-71. He later served as manager for Arsenal from 1986-1995, leading the club to two league championships and two League Cup titles. Hornby is not overly excited when Graham is hired as manager in 1986, but he soon feels differently. He explains, “he turned Arsenal into something that anyone under the age of fifty could never have seen before at Highbury, and he saved, in all the ways the word implies, every single Arsenal fan” (160).