Association football (Soccer) Books

Book SynopsisHigh jinx and japes from Soccer Saturday''s roving reporter extraordinaire, Chris Kammy Kamara, whose boyish enthusiasm and often baffling, at-the-ground football reportage has given him cult status and an army of fans.Over the past decade, football results programme Soccer Saturday has become a television phenomenon, delivering goals and drama via a raft of ex-professional players positioned in TV studios and on precarious gangplanks in rusting stadiums around the country.At the heart of this success is free-wheeling pundit and roving reporter extraordinaire, Chris Kammy Kamara, the former footballer-turned-manager-turned-cult hero who has astounded and dumbfounded a legion of armchair fans with his crackpot catchphrases, hyperactive reporting style and Lionel Richie haircut.Mr Unbelievable is his rags to riches tale. As a player, Kammy trawled football''s outposts with the likes of Bradford City, Stoke City and Portsmouth where he suffered the slings, arrows and hurled bananas of racTrade Review"This book is unbelievable!" Jeff Stelling

Read more less

Book SynopsisCo-author Roy Collins has been a Sports columnist for over 16 years and is a personal friend of George Best. He was a chief sports writer on Today for ten years followed by the People Sport, and currently the Guardian and Sunday Telegraph.Trade ReviewBrilliantly raw * Sunday Times *His autobiography tells everything...this is a powerful, unexpectedly moving story * The Mirror *Fascinating-honest to the point of self-laceration-Best will always remain a breath-taking example of supreme talent and courage * Independent *Unquestionably the greatest -- Sir Alex FergusonWhere this book differs from the others - and there have been a few - is in Best's attempts to face his demons -- Michael Parkinson * Daily Telegraph *

Read more less

Book SynopsisDuncan Hamilton is the author of Provided You Don't Kiss Me: 20 Years with Brian Clough which won the William Hill Sports Book of the Year for 2007. In 2009, he was awarded the William Hill again, for Harold Larwood, as well as winning the prestigious Wisden Book of the Year for 2009 and Biography of the Year at the 2010 British Sports Book Awards. He lives in the Yorkshire Dales.Trade ReviewIn putting together Immortal: The Approved Biography of George Best, it must be said that author Duncan Hamilton has done little to redefine the genre. Instead, he has done everything he can with it as it is, he has pushed it, refined it, stretched it, lovingly touched up every corner of it until it is almost as perfect as it can be. In short, Hamilton has essentially won biography writing. […] what makes thisbook so wonderful, [is] the way that Hamilton patiently sets the scene, apparently meandering indulgently through the back stories of incidental characters, but actually drawing the reader deep into the 1960s, imperceptibly marking out the structures of sport, society and celebrity that the shockwave of Best’s arrival obliterated. * Mirror online *[An]evocative account, though that should not come as a surprise. The former newspaperman has become one of sport’s foremost biographers and he is in excellent form here with this account of a footballer who was once his hero. * The Times *A marriage of prose and detail so fine and fastidious that it takes the breath away. * Independent *This compulsively readable book will not be the last written about Best, but it may prove to be the most illuminating. * Independent on Sunday *What Duncan Hamilton’s impressively researched, definitive new biography, published on the 50th anniversary of Best’s United debut, captures is the artistry of the little Ulsterman. * Daily Mail *

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe FIFA World Cup is arguably the biggest sporting event on earth. This book is the first to focus on the business and management of the World Cup, taking the reader from the initial stages of bidding and hosting decisions, through planning and organisation, to the eventual legacies of the competition.The book introduces the global context in which the World Cup takes place, surveying the history and evolution of the tournament and the geopolitical background against which bidding and hosting decisions take place. It examines all the key issues and debates which surround the tournament, from governance and corruption to security and the media, and looks closely at the technical processes that create the event, from planning and finance to marketing and fan engagement. Analysis of the Women's World Cup is also embedded in every chapter, and the book also considers the significance of World Cup tournaments at age-group level.No sport business or management course is comTable of Contents1. Introduction, 2. A Brief History of the FIFA World Cup as a Business, 3. Bidding and Hosting Decisions, 4. Politics and Geopolitics in Staging the FIFA World Cup: What is at Stake for the Hosting Nations?, 5. Diplomacy, International Relations, Soft Power and the World Cup, 6. Competition Design of the World Cup, 7. An Integrity System Framework for the Governance of the Football World Cups, 8. Environment and Sustainability in FIFA World Cups, 9. Finance of the FIFA World Cup, 10. Planning and Organising FIFA World Cups, 11. Planning, Sourcing, and Managing Resources for FIFA World Cups, 12. Engaging Fans, 13. Managing Risk and Security, 14. Marketing, Sponsorship and Merchandising, 15. Broadcasting and the FIFA World Cup: Privatisation and Technology, 16. Digital and Social Media in the Business of the FIFA World Cup, 17. Culture and the World Cup: The Case of Qatar, 18. Afterword…

Read more less

Book SynopsisSimon Hughes is a journalist and author. He writes for the Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph and The Independent, as well as Liverpool Football Club's official magazine. Red Machine won the Antonio Ghirelli prize for Italian soccer foreign book of the year in 2014. His other titles include Secret Diary of a Liverpool Scout and The Torres Story. Simon's latest book, Men in White Suits: Liverpool in the 1990s, the Players' Stories is the inside story behind the decline of Liverpool FC, as told by a host of influential characters associated with the team during this tumultuous period in the club's history.Trade ReviewThe best Liverpool author around, investigating one of the most enduring questions in British club football: why Liverpool, imperious for so long, so abruptly and completely stopped winning titles from the 1990s. That is some combination. A captivating book which is essential reading for all fans of the game, whether Liverpool supporters or not. * Ian Herbert, Chief Sportswriter, The Independent *

Read more less

Book Synopsis''The only book that will give you a hangover'' Chris Evans Breakfast Show---The hilarious, no holds barred autobiography from sporting legend and broadcaster Alan Brazil.As Alan recounts tales from his extraordinary life, he relives the sporting occasions, radio broadcasts and famously long drinking sessions that have defined his career. He takes readers inside the talkSPORT studio for a behind-the-scenes view of his most memorable interviews, and talks for the first time about the on-pitch rivalries and dressing room debriefs of his footballing career.With his typically outspoken and irreverent delivery, Alan shares everything from his thoughts on how the sports he loves have changed to his top tips for picking winners (and many losers) at Cheltenham. And he revels in wine-soaked jaunts in the South of France and late-night supermarket sweeps with Ray Parlour - if you can keep up.Packed full of never-before-told stories, Trade ReviewThe only book that will give you a hangover. * Chris Evans Breakfast Show *Brazil is a natural raconteur. * The Times *A breathless romp, a highlights reel of Men Behaving Badly with a bit of football and broadcasting sandwiched between boozing sessions. * Mail on Sunday *It's fantastic! * Chris Evans *A snapshot of a life well lived. * Daily Telegraph *

Read more less

Book Synopsis One of the greatest players of all time, Duncan Edwards's story is one of tragic heroism, brilliantly and movingly told in this superb biography. From a working-class Dudley upbringing, Edwards rose to great heights at Manchester United. In only five years, he helped United to win two league championships and to reach the semi-finals of the European Cup. Among the Busby Babes - United's young, homegrown team - he was the player they all looked to, someone who could (and did) play in any position and still be the best on the pitch. Edwards made his England debut in a game against Scotland at the age of 18 years and 183 days, becoming his country's youngest international since the Second World War - a record which stood until Michael Owen's debut over forty years later. He went on to play 18 games for his country, including all four of the qualifying matched for the 1958 World Cup, in which he was expected to

Read more less

Book Synopsis''If we can sell Newcastle Brown to Japan, and if Wimbledon can make it to the First Division, there is surely no achievement beyond our reach.'' Margaret ThatcherThe Crazy Gang is the story of a football miracle. Promoted to the Football League in 1977, Wimbledon FC was a small team from south London that against the odds went all the way to the top of the First Division, then to win the FA Cup, in only just over a decade. With no money, scant resources and a blend of youth players and offcuts from other clubs, they were christened ''Rag-Arse Rovers''. They played hard on the pitch and partied hard off it.Dave ''Harry'' Bassett was the manager who drilled a fierce fighting spirit into his players, an unbreakable team ethos, but he was also an underrated master tactician and pioneer of innovative training methods. Wally Downes was the midfield fulcrum of the Dons, but also the ringleader for the various acts of debauchery and general silliness that earned the club thTrade ReviewA barrel of laughs. * The Sun *As you'd expect, it's warts and all, muck and bullets and any other cliché you care to mention. Don't dare miss it! * Sheffield Star *

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisShortlisted for Football Book of the Year (Sports Book Awards)''Gripping'' Daily Mail''Moving... chronicles two remarkable lives'' Guardian''Razor-sharp tactical analysis'' Irish Independent''Wilson is a fine, nuanced writer'' Times Literary SupplementThe story of Jack and Bobby Charlton, and a family that characterised English football for decadesIn later life Jack and Bobby didn''t get on and barely spoke but the lives of these very different brothers from the coalfield tell the story of late twentieth-century English football: the tensions between flair and industry, between individuality and the collective, between right and left, between middle- and working-classes, between exile and home.Jack was open, charismatic, selfish and pig-headed; Bobby was guarded, shy, polite and reserved to the point of reclusiveness. They were very different Trade ReviewRazor-sharp tactical analysis and an intriguing angle of its own * Irish Independent *Gripping * Daily Mail *Wilson is a fine, nuanced writer * TLS *Compelling... gets to the heart of Bobby and Jackie * Late Tackle Magazine *This is a social history, yet surprisingly moving as it chronicles two remarkable lives * Guardian *A powerful chronicle of the transformation of English soccer and society through the prism of two very different characters * Irish Times *Tells a familar, yet extraordinary, tale exceptionally well, illuminated and refreshed by Wilson's particular perspectives and insights * When Saturday Comes Magazine *A book that Jonathan Wilson was born to write... He has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the game... There is much poignancy in their stories -- Books of the Year * Irish Examiner *Explores the careers and personalities of Bobby and Jack Charlton, who we discover could not have been more different, and Wilson is meticulous in providing all manner of nuggets -- Sports Books of the Year * The Times *Wilson skilfully interweaves the stories of brothers with polar opposite personalities who also happened to be two of the most iconic footballing figures in the last century, using their respective career trajectories to tell a broader story of what it said about English and (sometimes) Irish society of the time of their heydays * The 42 *

Read more less

Book SynopsisA complete history of the Tigers, from the author of the acclaimed Look Back in Amber.

Read more less

Book SynopsisSo you thought you knew everything about Manchester City, did you? Well, think again.

Read more less

Book SynopsisLONGLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR PRIZE 2020'One of the funniest books I've read' Arthur Mathews, co-writer of Father TedWidely regarded as one of the best football books ever written, The Far Corner was a vivid portrait of the sport in the north-east and of the people who bring such passion to it. Now, a generation later, Harry Pearson returns to the region to discover how much things have changed - and how much they have remained the same.  In the mid-1990s, Kevin Keegan brought sporting romance and expectation of trophies to Newcastle, Sunderland moved the the Stadium of Light backed by a wealthy consortium, Middlesbrough signed one of the best Brazilians of the era and won their first major trophy - even little Darlington had a former safe-cracker turned kitchen magnate in charge, promising the world. The region even provided England's two k

Read more less

Book SynopsisVincent Kompany relives a spectacular and unique season for Manchester City, in which as club captain he led the Blues to a unique Treble success of Premier League, FA Cup and Carabao Cup triumphs. Told from his unique viewpoint, this is the definitive account of a remarkable campaign.  After Manchester City had won the Premier League title in 2018, collecting a record number of points along the way, the pressure was on for them to go one better in 2019 - but instead they went two better, winning every single major domestic trophy, starting with the Community Shield. In this frank and compelling book, Kompany tells the dramatic story of Manchester City's record-breaking season. In the league, they faced a formidable challenge from Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool that went all the way to the final game of the campaign. He takes the reader behind the scenes, to give them an insight into how manager Pep Guardiola inspired them and came up with the ri

Read more less

Book SynopsisWith a foreword by England legend Kelly Smith, the country''s all-time record goalscorer and a player widely considered one of the best to have played the game.The exciting story of one of the fastest growing sports in the world, played by over 30 million girls and women. Over 25 million people tuned in for the Americans'' 2015 Women''s World Cup final victory - the most-watched football match in United States history. The Making of the Women''s World Cup details the most incredible tales from previous Women''s World Cups, including: Carli Lloyd''s 13-minute hat trick and the worldwide movement set off by 2015How Japan made their country smile for the first time since the devastating tsunamiThe USA''s World Cup triumph on home soil in 1999Germany''s back-to-back titles in 2003 and 2007 Marta''s magic: The birth of a Brazilian iconHow Kelly Smith announced her arrival with the kiss of a bootThe beginnings of Australia''s

Read more less

Book SynopsisFor fans of books by Jimmy Bullard, Paul Merson, The Sidemen and the F2 FreestylersMessi might be the most skilful, Ronaldo might have the best shot, but according to FIFA it''s 16-stone Adebayo Akinfenwa who''s the strongest footballer in the world. With a larger-than-life personality to match, it''s no wonder ''The Beast'' has become an icon, attracting millions of social media followers, launching his own clothing label, and still banging in the goals for Wycombe Wanderers. With such fame and adoration, it''s easy to forget that Bayo is one of the hardest-working footballers around. His mental strength has had to be equal to his physical. Told by English clubs he was ''too big'' to play football, he joined Lithuanian team FK Atlantas as a teenager where he faced widespread racial abuse. A career of grafting in the lower leagues of English and Welsh football followed, with spells at Barry Town, Torquay, Swansea, Gillingham, Northampton and AFC Wimble

Read more less

Book Synopsis*** SHORTLISTED FOR SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT BOOK OF THE YEAR AT THE SUNDAY TIMES SPORTS BOOK AWARDS 2023 ***''fascinating, frank, funny'' Jim White, Daily Telegraph''insightful'' Henry Winter, The Times''very entertaining ... great stories'' Hawksbee & Jacobs, talkSPORT radio''an incredible book'' The Football Show, Sky Sports News''Yeah, I''m all that plus a bag of chips''''Come round my house and we''ll have a fight on the front lawn''''I''m as chuffed as a badger at the start of the mating season''''I thought his bum cheeks looked very pert''Football management is like being a potato - you''re never too far from the sack and everyone is constantly chipping away at you. It''s not for the faint-hearted and unless you''ve got skin as thick as rhino and, more importantly, a wicked sense of humour, you''ve no chance of surviving.IaTrade Reviewa kaleidoscope of anecdotes and detours packed with wisdom acquired on the hoof. -- Kevin Garside * The i newspaper *

Read more less

Book SynopsisARSENAL: THE STORY OF A FOOTBALL CLUB IN 101 LIVES tells the history of the Gunners through the biographies of key individuals associated with the club from its formation in the gas-lit days of Victorian Britain through to the present day. From David Danskin, the Scottish mechanical engineer and footballer who was the driving force behind the team raised at Dial Square, a workshop at the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich, to Arsene Wenger, the longest-serving and most successful manager in Arsenal's history. The in-depth stories of the characters - players, managers, chairmen - here paint a fascinating picture of how the club - indeed, the game of football itself - has developed from workers playing for fun to today's multi-million-pound business.

Read more less

Book SynopsisEver wondered what it's REALLY like to be a Premier League footballer?My name is James Milner and I'm not a Ribena-holic.Let me share insights into what it's like being a professional footballer, across my different experiences with Newcastle, Aston Villa, Manchester City and now Liverpool (not forgetting a six-match loan spell at Swindon). Plus my highs - and a few too many lows - playing for England.There isn't a current player who's been playing Premier League football as long as I have, and that gives me a pretty rare perspective into how the top-flight game has changed over the past seventeen years.In this book, I explain how a footballer's working week unfolds - what we eat and how we prepare for matches technically, tactically, mentally and physically - and talk you through the ups and downs of a matchday. I reveal my penalty-taking techniques, half-time team talks and the differences between playing against Lionel Messi, Wilfried Zaha and Jimmy Bullard.I've played for managers ranging from Terry Venables, Peter Reid and Sir Bobby Robson to Martin O'Neill, Fabio Capello and Jurgen Klopp. I tell you what it's like sharing a training ground and a dressing-room with team-mates such as Lee Bowyer, Mario Balotelli and Mo Salah. I also reveal the behind-the-scenes work that went into Liverpool's Champions League success - and the celebrations that followed.So this isn't an autobiography. The whole point of Ask A Footballer is that you, the fans, asked me questions and I have used my own experiences to answer them. I hope you like it, and don't find it too boring.

Read more less

Book Synopsis'One of the best football books I've ever read.' John Motson on Provided You Don't Kiss Me'Some people believe football is a matter of life and death. I am very disappointed by that attitude. I can assure you it's much more important than that' - Bill ShanklyWhat Shankly said isn't even half-true. In fact, it's bollocks. Football isn't the be-all and end-all of everything. If nothing else, I know that much.As a player, Thom Callaghan was defined by the winning goal he scored in an FA Cup final. The goal wasn't the blessing he imagined it would be. His whole career was defined by that brief moment of glory.With his playing days over, Callaghan, still a local hero, is tempted back to his old club as caretaker manager. His task to rescue it from relegation. He's got the job solely on the recommendation of his former boss and mentor Frank Mallory, now desperately ill and responsible for the team's precipitous decline.Callaghan is pitched into the Premier League during the last months of the 1996-1997 season, where - among reputations more gilded than his own - he finds himself pitted against the likes of Alex Ferguson's Manchester United, chasing their fourth title in five years, and also one of the newest recruits to the English game, Arsene Wenger.Can Callaghan save his club from what seems the inevitability of the drop? Does Mallory - eccentric, inspirational and manipulative - even want him to succeed? What if the prize of a personal triumph isn't worth it in the end?Injury Time is the first novel from the multiple award-winning sportswriter Duncan Hamilton.Trade Review'What I enjoy most about this beautifully written and tender account of the relationship between a nervous young provincial reporter and a football genius is the sense of genuine proximity to its subject, so that Clough's obvious flaws seem forgivable and even beguiling, rather than cruel and unbearable. Wonderful book' Russel Brand, Guardian on Provided You Don't Kiss Me'One of the best football books I've ever read.' John Motson on Provided You Don't Kiss MeHamilton...expresses the passion that millions like him, in pursuit of happiness and belonging, feel for the beautiful game. Simply magnificent * Mail on Sunday *A marriage of prose and detail so fine and fastidious that it takes the breath away * Independent *Justifiably prize-winning * Mail on Sunday *A convincing behind the scenes re-enactment of English football... Hamilton has a perceptively humane understanding of men for whom football was never just a game * Guardian *A fictional look at action, on and off the pitch, past and present, that will leave you smiling * Sun *Set in the last decades of the 20th Century and mingling real-life footballers with fictional characters, this is a thoughtful, entertaining debut novel by one of our finest sports writers, in which the beautiful game becomes a moving metaphor for the vicissitudes of human experience. * Mail on Sunday *With spare, sharp prose and knowing insights, Hamilton has written a heartwarming as well as heartbreaking winner. * Weekend Sport *An immersive character study of people damaged by sport and its temptations of glory, how some overcome, and how others are crushed by it. * Strong Words *

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisHe was one of the hardest, most controversial footballers of his generation: the £20million man who became the first professional player to go to jail for an offence committed on the field of play. He was the fans’ hero who disappeared. Duncan Ferguson was an old-fashioned Scottish centre-forward who went from a boarding house in Dundee to the marble staircase of Rangers in a record-breaking transfer. His £4m move from Dundee United to Ibrox made him British football’s most expensive native player. But he would also become one of the most notorious footballers in the land. Sent to prison after head-butting an opponent during a Scottish Premier Division match between Rangers and Raith Rovers, Ferguson made history all over again. He served half of a three-month sentence in Glasgow’s infamous Barlinnie Prison. A twelve-match ban from the Scottish Football Association was later overturned following a long appeal process. Bruised by the experience, he turned his back on Scotland’s national team and the media. Ferguson reaped the riches of the Sky era. He was a folk hero at Everton, where he spent ten years either side of an injury-hit spell at Newcastle United. Although the game made him a millionaire, he rejected its new culture of celebrity and remained a fiery figure, racking up a Premiership record of eight red cards. And then, after scoring in the final minute of the last game of his career, he turned his back on football completely – or so it seemed.Trade ReviewAn illuminating, well-sourced and forensic examination of the enigma of British football * Henry Winter *A truly exceptional football biography, a study of one of the game’s great enigmas… sensitive and beautifully written * Patrick Barclay *Duncan Ferguson’s life brought to book at last… gripping * Scotsman *One of football’s biggest enigmas…The author has painstakingly interviewed and researched every aspect of the player’s life * scotlandnow.dailyrecord *

Read more less

Book SynopsisDuring the 1980s, Liverpool Football Club dominated English football, winning six league titles, two European Cups, two FA Cups and four League Cups. In Red Machine, Simon Hughes interviews some of the most colourful characters to have played for the club during that period. The resulting interviews, set against the historical backdrop of both the club and the city, provide a vivid portrait of life at Liverpool during an era when the club’s unparalleled on-pitch success often went hand in hand with a boozy social scene fraught with rows, fights and wind-ups.The players featured here include John Barnes, Bruce Grobbelaar, Howard Gayle, Michael Robinson, John Wark, Kevin Sheedy, Nigel Spackman, Steve Staunton, David Hodgson and Craig Johnston, as well as first-team coach Ronnie Moran. Their candid, ribald and sometimes scathing recollections provide an antidote to the media-coached, on-message interviews given by today’s players and combine to offer a unique insight to this exciting time in the club’s history.Trade Reviewan excellent new book ... Eat your heart out, ProZone. * The Independent *His abilities are delivered with excellent understatement in Simon Hughes' Red Machine. * The Independent *

Read more less

Book Synopsis'Striking . . . extraordinarily ambitious' JONATHAN WILSON, NEW STATESMAN'A compelling account of how football became a force in Latin America with an impact far beyond the pitch, helping forge national identity and fuelling regional rivalries' INDEPENDENT¡Golazo! recounts the story of Latin American football: the extravagantly talented players; pistol-toting referees; bloody coup d'états; breathtaking goals; invidious conspiracies; strikers with matinee idol looks and a taste for tango dancers; alcoholism; suicide and some of the most exhilarating teams ever to take the field.And yet it is gripping social history. Andreas Campomar shows how the sport that started as the eccentric pastime of a few expat cricket players has become a defining force, the architect of national identity and a reflection of the region's soul.Including not only the well-known heroes of 'the beautiful game', but also the numerous forgotten gems of Latin American football, ¡Golazo! is the extraordinary tale of how football came to define a continent.Trade ReviewPerfection, pride, politics and punch-ups. The South American way of football has never been more readable. -- John Crace * Guardian *Extra­ordinarily ambitious. -- Jonathan Wilson * New Statesman *A compelling account of how football became a force in Latin America with an impact far beyond the pitch, helping forge national identity and fuelling regional rivalries. -- Chris Maume * Independent *Campomar effectively brings out the colour and passion for the game, its evocative language, its artistic power and its sometimes-martial ugliness . . . Fine, scintillating history. * Kirkus *This year's World Cup has inspired a number of notable books, among them ¡Golazo! by Andreas Campomar. -- Richard Williams * Guardian *Absorbing and entertaining. * Literary Review *Lively history . . . Perfectly timed. * Sport *Gripping social history. * Daily Telegraph *¡Golazo! is a timely, intelligent and entertaining account of the development of football in Latin America . . . this is a readable and incisive history, a "serious" football book . . . the main strength of ¡Golazo! lies in the way its perspective extends to the politics - real and mythologised - that lie beyond the sport. -- Jimmy Burns * Tablet *A fascinating read. * Sunday Mirror *A celebration of this beautiful play and more a chronicle of how sport, politics and culture have intersected and influenced each other across the region. * Economist *The best two books I've come across recently on the craze around the World Cup in Brazil from a Latin American viewpoint are in English: Andreas Campomar's Golazo, on how soccer built Latin America in general, and Goldblatt's Futebol Nation, about how Brazilians can't think about anything else, even when they try. -- Ilan Stavans * New Republic *Comprehensive. -- Simon Kuper * Financial Times *[A] sweeping exploration of soccer intersecting with politics, history, economics and culture in forging a continent's passion. -- Steven Goff * Washington Post *[Campomar] makes this case throughout, always keeping an eye on the global context of the sport. The scale of this book is essentially high level . . . Golazo! is an enlightening, lively work, one that never shortchanges the sport or the nations at its heart. * Barnes & Noble Review *A splendid history of Latin American football on both the continent and the international stage . . . This is football writing at its very best, epic on the pitch, socially aware off it. * Huffington Post *Brilliant . . . [an] excellent study of football. -- Mihir Bose * Inside World Football *Recounting the history of the South American game, with all its social and political backdrops, is some task - but Campomar achieves it in style . . . Government coups, gun-touting refs . . . it's all here. -- ***** [five stars] * FourFourTwo *

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisBoxing Day 1920, and 53,000 men, women and children pack inside Goodison Park. The extraordinary crowds have come to watch two local rivals play a match for charity. But this is no ordinary charity fixture. Eleven of the players are international celebrities and their team is the biggest draw in British - and world - football. Yet they are all full-time factory workers - and they are women. They are the ladies of Dick Kerr electrical works. And the male football establishment is terrified by them. With the men away fighting from 1914-1918, most of the workers in the factories of northern England were women. And many factories had a ladies' football team. In December 1917, the team from the Dick Kerr factory challenged the ladies of the nearby Arundel Coulthard Foundry to a charity match. It was the first of 828 games for Dick Kerr Ladies as over the decades they scored more than 3,500 goals and raised the equivalent of GBP1 million for an array of charities. By 1920, ladies football was a major spectator sport. But away from the cheering terraces are bastions of professional men's football viewed the mass popularity of women's soccer with increasing alarm.On 5 December 1921 the Football Association met in London. After a brief debate behind closed doors it unanimously passed an urgent resolution: women's football was banned from all professional football grounds. Dick Kerr Ladies did not give in, playing their matches on parkland with thousands of spectators turning up to watch. But constant pressure from the FA meant that one by one, teams began to fold,. It would take until 1971 for the FA to life its ban. Today, women's football has once again claimed a place in the global games. But it came too late for the pioneers of the sport: Preston Ladies - nee Dick Kerr Ladies - played their last match in 1969.

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn Soccer Goalkeeper Training the authors explain and show through detailed photos and coaching points the physical and technical skills required for novice goalkeepers to improve their current level with easy to follow progressions. Another topic is how to make decisions in tactical situations on the soccer field, for example using communication as a tool for organizing the field player of one's team. The authors also delve into the more advanced and scientific areas of periodization and mental preparation used by the most accomplished goalkeepers in Major League Soccer and the US National Team to achieve ultimate success at the highest levels of the game. Hereby, some psychological aspects covered by the book are the relationship between goalkeepers and their coaches and giving feedback. Also, readers will find a training guide which is divided into exercises by various themes. Whether you are an aspiring young goalkeeper or a more advanced collegiate player, regardless of the level of goalkeeper you currently coach, Soccer Goalkeeper Training will have something to help bring out the best in you and your most important player.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe outspoken anonymous author is back with the ultimate book to challenge conventional footballing wisdom. With his trademark wit, intelligence and candour, the Secret Footballer will guide you through formations, tactics, mind games and everything else you need to know about what it takes to be a pro.Includes: in-depth analysis of modern tactics; insight into the psychology of players on and off the pitch; tips on nutrition and fitness; how to deal with fans (including what it's like to play in each Premier League ground in England); a guide to modern footballing language; and a remarkable exposé of the finances involved in the commercial game. If you want to know how to stop a player like Cristiano Ronaldo, or why exactly Rooney is worth £300,000 a week, or who the greatest player of all time is, you will find it all here.Fully illustrated with line drawings showing the technical aspects of the game, this will be the perfect Christmas gift for aspiring football stars and armchair pundits alike.

Read more less

Book SynopsisAn illustrated history of football trade cards, an epic saga of 1,000 brands and myriad collections. The A-Z traces the earliest cards and stickers - British inventions, both - through a century of sports cards from tobacco cards to Panini stickers, via everything that came in between: footballers issued with chewing gum and sweet cigarettes, lucky bag mementoes, football teams cut from packets of tea, and many more. It chronicles the epoch of our forefathers and the very first football cards, dating back to the 1880s, followed by the era of their children and the earliest stickers - and so the rise of cigarette cards and paper soccer star adhesives. These days, along with our Panini stickers and trading cards, we appreciate these vintage treasures not only for their beauty but also for their value. Fond recollections of childhood passions past and present will warm hearts, while enchanting galleries of rarely seen cards will captivate football fans and collectors alike. Incorporating a guide to values, the A-Z is priceless.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe brutal 2010 murders of promising footballer Eddie Moussa and his brother were a harbinger of the gang violence now laying siege to Sweden. Written by crime reporter Ann Tornkvist, Follow Fucking Orders captures the freefall of a quaint town, known for its sports-crazed community and top-league football team, into a bloody turf war. After the biggest police investigation into organised crime in Swedish history, the local mob boss was sentenced to life for ordering the hit on Eddie. Author Ann Tornkvist followed the gripping story for five years, securing unique access to families who had fled into the witness protection programme. In 2016, the mob boss tried to derail this book's publication by threatening to have her killed. Undeterred, Tornkvist published Follow Fucking Orders in Sweden in 2018. The first edition sold out within a week and soon became the most popular book in the country's maximum-security prisons. Ultimately, the book offers a chilling reminder that true crime has no last chapter.

Read more less

Book SynopsisLiverpool Matches of My Life provides a unique perspective on 50 iconic Liverpool games spanning the author's lifetime, from 1960 to date. It takes the reader on a journey through 60 years of this famous club, from its Second Division days to the recent victory in the FIFA Club World Cup and many trophy-winning successes in between. Beginning with a brief history of the club up to 1959, the author relives 50 crucial games that brought Liverpool to the pinnacle of club football by 2019. All the chosen matches meant a great deal to the club, its fans and the author. Along the way there are many firsts, record victories, trophies and games that have gone down in Anfield folklore. As well as covering iconic matches, the book provides brief profiles of key players and tells the story of the intervening years, with all the highs and lows that Liverpool experienced in search of that elusive Premier League title. Are Liverpool the greatest English team of the last 60 years? Judge for yourself as you read the story of this wonderful club.

Read more less

Book SynopsisChampions Under Lockdown is the third book in the Red Odyssey series. It tells the story of an extraordinary season from the perspective of the terraces. After their epic 2018/19 season, in 2019/20 Jurgen Klopp would target Liverpool's first league title in 30 years. During this unforgettable season his side would smash all records. They claimed the UEFA Super Cup and then the Club World Cup before sailing to a 25-point lead at the top of the Premier League. Fans who thought they had seen it all witnessed arguably the greatest Reds side in history sweep all before them. They were declared champions-elect, but the fates decreed there would be a final barrier to Liverpool claiming their prize. In the midst of a global virus pandemic and with the country on lockdown, voices called for the season to be declared null and void, threatening to wipe the achievements of this incredible team from history. But Jurgen and his men rose again to claim their holy grail. This is the unique story of the champions under lockdown.

Read more less

Book SynopsisEnglish football changed in the 1990s. For better, for worse - but mainly for better. The shirts and shorts got baggier and brighter. Exotic-named players were enticed from overseas. New stadiums were built in the wake of the Taylor Report. The Premier League emerged and England hosted its first international tournament since 1966. The era of 'New Labour' and 'Cool Britannia', it was also the decade English football went mainstream. When the Seagulls Follow the Trawler author Tom Whitworth travelled to English football's hotbeds - the cities of London, Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle - to meet the people who lived through an era of change: the players and the managers, the owners and the fans. He looks back at key moments, the teams, the title races, the twists and turns, the characters and the rivalries. All from a decade when English football began to shrug off its bad-lad image - at least off the pitch - and move out of the darkness and into the light.

Read more less