Search results for ""Author Jon Spurling""

"Sheer joy" - Patrick Barclay "Exhilarating" - When Saturday Comes "Perfect" - Josh Widdicombe Four years after the crowning glory of 1966, and a decade after the abolition of the maximum wage, a brash new era dawned in English football. As the 1970s took hold, a new generation of larger-than-life players and managers emerged, appearing on television sets in vivid technicolour for the first time. Set against a backdrop of strikes, political unrest, freezing winters and glam rock, Get It On tells the inside story of how commercialism, innovation, racism and hooliganism rocked the national game in the 1970s. Packed with interviews with the legends of the day, this footballing fiesta charts the emergence of Brian Clough, Bob Paisley and Kevin Keegan and the fall of George Best, Alf Ramsey and Don Revie, presenting a vibrant portrait of the most groundbreaking decade in English football history.

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'SPORTING HISTORY AT ITS BEST' Daily Telegraph'A TERRIFIC READ AND A WORTHY TRIBUTE' FourFourTwo'VERY WELL WRITTEN AND RESEARCHED' Nostalgic GoonerFrom Herbert Chapman to Arsène Wenger, this is the definitive history of Arsenal's time at the famous Highbury stadium.After several years of sitting in Highbury's local pubs and cafés with a dictaphone, Jon Spurling has pooled hours of exclusive interviews with fans, programme sellers, local publicans and even those who dug the foundations of the Laundry End (and later cleared rubbish from its terraces) to meticulously construct the biography of the ground and chart the ups and downs of one of England's greatest league clubs. Spurling has also spoken to numerous players, the late greats of yesteryear including Ted Drake, George Male and Reg Lewis, legends of a more recent vintage from Bob Wilson, Charlie George and Malcolm MacDonald to Anders Limpar, as well as heroes of the Wenger era such as Patrick Vieira. Written in the year that Arsenal moved to the Emirates, Jon Spurling has produced the definitive account of the club's 93 years at Highbury.

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Arsenal's on-field success has been well documented. But what has never been written before is the equally remarkable history of Arsenal's rebels, both on and off the pitch. Spanning almost 120 years, and set against a backdrop of turbulent social and political change, Rebels for the Cause assesses the legacy and impact of Arsenal's most controversial players, officials and matches. From hard men like '30s player Wilf Copping to the reformed wild ones of recent years such as Tony Adams, Jon Spurling highlights the infamous figures whose refusal to conform has made them terrace legends. Mavericks such as '80s star Charlie Nicholas and the 'King of Highbury' Charlie George are here, as are '70s lads Alan Hudson and Malcolm Macdonald. The book also focuses on the club's revolutionary founding fathers, David Danskin and Jack Humble, the terrifying '20s 'soccer Tsar' Sir Henry Norris and David Dein's controversial introduction of free-market economics to Highbury in the regressive '80s. Also investigated are the stories behind Arsenal's most infamous tabloid exposés. Featuring extensive interviews with 15 former players, Rebels for the Cause is an indispensable guide to the alternative history of Arsenal Football Club, shedding new light on the origins of the rivalry with Tottenham, on many of Highbury's cult heroes and on the struggle of several players to adapt to life outside the game.

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