Search results for ""Pitch Publishing""

"You do well to love cricket," said Lord Harris, "for it is more free from anything sordid, anything dishonourable, than any game in the world." Harris, who captained the first England team to do battle with the Australians in this country, obviously never got his hands on a copy of The Worst of Cricket. If that volume failed to totally convince you that the sport is designed to disturb, dismay and disgruntle in equal measure, then maybe it was because it only scratched the surface. Subtitled 'More Malice and Misfortune in the World's Cruellest Game', The Worst of Cricket 2 completes the job, taking up where its predecessor, one of the best-selling titles in Pitch's popular 'Worst of Sport' series, left off. The book takes another humorous look at the whole catalogue of malevolence, misadventure and madness associated with the sport - corruption, violence, drunkenness, incompetence - on and off the pitch!

Read more less

Wolves On This Day revisits all the most magical and memorable moments from the club's rollercoaster past, mixing in a maelstrom of quirky anecdotes and legendary characters to produce an irresistibly dippable gold-and-black diary - with an entry for every day of the year. From founder members of the Football League through to the Premier League era, the Wolves faithful have witnessed title triumphs in every division from One to Four, promotions and relegations, breathtaking Cup runs and European nights - all featured here. Timeless greats such as John Richards, Mike Bailey and Steve Bull, Billy Wright, Andy Thompson and Ron Flowers all loom larger than life. Revisit 25th March 1893, when Wolves won the FA Cup before an overflowing crowd in Manchester. 17th May 1972: the UEFA Cup final decider against Spurs! Or 13th December 1954, when Wolves came back to beat Honved, helping to restore national pride into the bargain!

Read more less

Rangers FC Cult Heroes is devoted to 20 players who, over the years, have won a special place in the hearts of the Ibrox faithful - not necessarily the greatest footballers, but a unique brotherhood of mavericks and stalwarts, local lads and big signings. The cast list alone is enough to stir up the memories and tug at the heartstrings of any Gers fan - McMinn, Laudrup and Baxter, Johnston, McPhail and McCoist - recalling how these charismatic personalities used to ignite passion on the terraces. Find out which Light Blue icon Pele wished had hailed from Rio instead of Fife. Who warned young players against becoming 'the most underpaid of all public entertainers'. And which hero refused to play for Scotland on the day of Princess Diana's funeral. Discover and delight in the magical qualities of these 20 mere mortals elevated to cult status by the blue half of Glasgow.

Read more less

Edited by one of the Racing Post''s long-standing subeditors, the ever-popular Racing Post Guide to the Jumps 2024-25 is one of the key tools for every racing enthusiast and punter to look ahead to the upcoming National Hunt season.This 208-page book is illustrated in colour throughout with dozens of exciting action images from award-winning photographers. There are exclusive interviews with ten jumps trainers, in which they discuss their horses and hopes for the season, highlighting proven performers and those who are expected to shine this season.Renowned Racing Post experts including Paul Kealy, Robbie Wilders and Richard Birch discuss the horses they''ll be backing over the coming months, from those at the top level, through to handicappers and those who have yet to fulfil their potential, while ante-post aficionado Nick Watts finds the early value for the Cheltenham Festival championship contests.

Read more less

Over the course of nine memorable seasons Tiger Roll entered not just the record books with his achievements on the racecourse, but the hearts of the racing public too. He burst onto the scene in 2014 with victory in the Triumph Hurdle at the end of his first season and he built on that success with four further wins at the Cheltenham Festival. As great as his heroics at Cheltenham were, however, it was his two wins in the Grand National that set him apart. Success in the world s most famous steeplechase is a singular achievement in itself, but winning back-to-back runnings of the Aintree spectacular, emulating the legendary Red Rum, elevated Tiger Roll to a different level. He became a household name and his owners Gigginstown House Stud, trainer Gordon Elliott and principal jockeys Davy Russell and Keith Donoghue played leading roles in this story. We have mined the unparalleled back catalogue of the Racing Post with its award-winning writers and photographers to recount the complete story of this unique horse.

Read more less

The Definitive Guide to Betting on the All-Weather is a brand-new edition and the ultimate fans’ guide. Written by David Bellingham, an expert Racing Post journalist with over 25 years’ experience covering the All-Weather, it includes a wealth of his uniquely accumulated data and statistics to help find winners on these surfaces. It covers in detail the seven all-weather tracks in Britain and Ireland, with a chapter dedicated to each, a description of each track, together with statistics covering jockeys, trainers, sires and draw. It delves into the technical stuff, covering subjects such as form assessment, speed ratings, pace and track biases, sectional times and identifying whether the shape of the race will have a bearing on the likely outcome. It also includes a race diary covering a series of race meetings from the author’s point of view, as there is no better place to put all the theory into practice than at the racecourse where real money is changing hands. This is a must-have guide for bettors and fans of the sport.

Read more less

How much do you really know about the club you love? You can find out by exploring the 1,000 questions set out in 100 categories that make up this Liverpool quiz book. It s not often that books on football make reference to the Beatles, Napoleon, Roald Dahl, Moby Dick, 'The Big Bang Theory', Pete Townshend, Dylan Thomas and The Band, but this one does! Try these for size: add one letter to a Liverpool and England international from the 1960s and produce another Liverpool and England international from this century. Which Liverpool manager shares his name with a five-time Open golf champion? The first names of three 21st-century Liverpool players have won The Derby in 1972, the King George at Ascot in 2011 and the St. Leger in 2001, who are the three players? You will struggle to find anything as comprehensive as this eclectic collection. It s a must for Liverpool fans of all ages and you might not see anything quite like it again.

Read more less

How much do you really know about the club you love? You can find out by exploring the 1,000 questions set out in 100 categories that make up this West Ham quiz book. It s not often that books on football make reference to Inspector Morse, Dostoyevsky, Shredded Wheat, The Everly Brothers, Fawlty Towers, Catch-22 and EastEnders, but this one does! Try these for size: which West Ham United player in the 1980 FA Cup Final had already scored for another club in an earlier FA Cup Final? Which two players with West Ham United connections appeared in 43 games between them for Blackburn Rovers when they won the Premier League in 1994/95? And who is the only man to manage West Ham United in two different centuries? You will struggle to find anything as comprehensive as this eclectic collection. This quirky, challenging book is a must for West Ham fans of all ages, and you might not see anything quite like it again.

Read more less

Inside the Academy tells the stories of a talented set of footballers spanning a quarter-century, exploring childhood aspirations and what became of them. It lifts the lid on teenage training grounds and what it takes to even come close to being a Premier League player.From Bobby Moore to Declan Rice, West Ham United has a proud history of cultivating young talent. Yet their 2023 FA Youth Cup triumph came against a backdrop of complaints about congested pathways to first-team football and inflated pay packets quelling ambition. These concerns are not unique to West Ham; they are symptomatic of the modern game.This book offers an insight into what life as a young footballer is really like, via interviews with people who''ve lived and breathed the game over the past 25 years. It''s a must-read for anyone who wonders why child prodigies don''t always become professionals and what happens to those who don''t make it to the top.

Read more less

Joyrideis the empowering story of the inspirational, iconic former World Champion Trials Cyclist and pioneering paraplegic, Martyn Ashton. Beginning with his life-altering accident, it follows Martyn as he discovers the power in facing one of the worst things one can imagine and realising he can take it.Including conversations with legendary trials rider Danny MacAskill and others,Joyride explores Martyn''s ability to cope with previously unimaginable physical and mental health challenges.Martyn believes we all possess an inner strength that we can call upon when we need it most and shares his strategies for finding that strength. For a man who describes himself as ''unremarkable'', Martyn approaches each stage of rehabilitation with remarkable humility, humour and positivity.He blazes a trail as the first paraplegic to get back on two wheels, creates film content that attracts millions of views and is a motivation

Read more less

Football On This Day revisits the beautiful game’s most magical and memorable moments, mixing in a maelstrom of anecdotes and characters to produce an irresistibly dippable diary with an entry for every day of the year. Remember the time Eric Cantona went kung-fu fighting? Or when Kevin Keegan told us how much he would have loved it? From World Cup triumphs to narrow relegation escapes, we all have our favourite footballing memories. This book brings together the wonder goals, the heroes, the villains, the funny, the sad and the downright bizarre from every day of the year. Discover who invented the FA Cup, find out which non-league club claim to be the first world champions, or just look up what happened on your birthday. Written by long-suffering Southampton fan Rob Burnett and even longer-suffering Leeds fan Joe Mewis, the book covers those events that flesh out the beautiful game in handy day-by-day chunks that will give every footy fanatic their daily dose of football trivia.

Read more less

An Unusual Celebrity: The Many Cricketing Lives of Bill Bowes is the inspiring story of one of English cricket''s most popular personalities, who dedicated his life to the game from the 1920s to the 1980s.An often devastating bowler for Yorkshire in the 1930s, Bowes was a crucial part of one of the greatest ever county teams. He bowled Bradman first ball during the famous ''Bodyline'' series but was tainted for some by his regular use of the ''bumper''.Tall, unathletic, modest and playing in glasses, Bowes did not fit the mould of the typical opening bowler. Captured in North Africa in 1942, he spent three years in prisoner-of-war camps, and helped others through the ordeal. On release, he played for two more seasons before serving as a respected and forthright journalist for 25 years.A man of many talents, as part of the Yorkshire coaching staff, he nurtured Fred Trueman and Brian Close, but he was also a broadcaster and popular public speaker, wh

Read more less

From Azeem to Ashes charts the last, miserable days of Joe Root''s captaincy in early 2022 through to the T20 World Cup victory before the breathless Bazball Ashes finale at the Oval. It''s a book written for cricket lovers by a cricket lover, with voices from clubs, the boardroom and the commentary box.September 2020: cricket is in the headlines for the first time since the 2005 Ashes. But the focus is racism, not runs or wickets. Azeem Rafiq''s treatment has ignited fierce debate about prejudice and class.The book never ducks uncomfortable questions posed by the Rafiq affair. Why do England''s cricket teams - men''s and women''s - look so unlike the nation they represent? How can grassroots participation be developed and preserved? In the franchise-driven, global circus of modern cricket, what place is there for Tests - or even 50-over games?From Azeem to Ashes takes a hard-nosed but affectionate and humorous look at cricket. It''s a book

Read more less

The Cricketers of 1945 is the compelling, poignant, and above all human, story of the reawakening of English cricket in the immediate aftermath of the world''s most destructive war.The book brings to life the summer''s Victory Tests, played on home soil between England and Australia, as well as the personal stories of the players and their families, plus those of some of the hundreds of thousands of spectators who flocked to the matches to celebrate the return of something approaching normal life after the ordeal and sacrifice of the war years.This vivid account is illuminated by fresh archival research, encompassing the diaries and personal letters of both cricketers and cricket lovers, giving the reader a strong sense of what it was like to be alive at this unique time as much of the world awoke, or was still awakening, from the nightmare ordeal of the long years of conflict.

Read more less

Aberdeen''s Golden Era: The Sir Alex Ferguson Years is an in-depth look at the most successful period in Aberdeen FC history - a footballing success story like no other.From 1978 to 1986, under the management of Ferguson, the club not only dominated Scottish football, but two European titles in 1983 made them a household name throughout the continent. Ten major trophies in seven seasons brought unprecedented success to a club that had previously amassed half of that total from 75 years in existence.The arrival of a young, driven manager honed in the tough streets of Glasgow, allied with an up-and-coming Aberdeen side, was a recipe for success. The city of Aberdeen was just beginning to enjoy the affluence that came from a bustling oil industry. The club reflected that success in a way that had never been seen before or since.Aberdeen as a club had huge untapped potential, but it needed the right manager to take things forward. Alex Ferguson was

Read more less

Tinpot is the story of football''s lost tournaments: the strange and forgotten competitions that sparked into life before shuffling off their mortal coil. The book tells their stories, giving them the spotlight they deserve.It''s time for something different. It''s time to go somewhere new. It''s time to wander off the highways of football history and see where long-discarded paths lead.England''s major football tournaments seem to have been with us forever. The FA Cup stretches back over 150 years, while the Football League is the oldest competition of its kind in the world. They are the survivors - the bright ideas that quickly caught on. Yet, behind these successes lie countless failed experiments. But they still have their stories to tell.

Read more less

Kit and Community digs beneath the surface of inspirational and meaningful designs to reveal the incredible causes that use football shirts to spread their message.Starting with Stanno''s Shirt, we meet Gig and Roger, the parents of Exeter City legend Adam Stansfield, who was cut down by cancer at the heartbreaking age of 31. Gig and Roger share how their son''s shirts meant, and still mean, so much to them.Then there''s York City photographers Kieran Archer, Chris Payne and Tom Poole, who designed the club''s stunning centenary shirt, celebrating the city''s heritage of chocolate making, illustrated by outstanding images. The trio describe every step of the design process. Plus, in a joyously inspirational interview, Tania and Jayme from Football Shirts FC (for charity) discuss their mission to use shirts to support cancer charities close to their hearts.As these and other accounts in this innovative book show us - every shirt has a unique stor

Read more less

The faces on a wall' in this book are Northamptonshire's captains since 1878, whose portraits appear together in the pavilion at Wantage Road. An astonishingly diverse bunch, they represent the changing face of the county game over the past century and a half.As cricketers, they range from cheerfully hopeless to solidly competent, to world-beating. As characters they are an astoundingly varied group, encompassing a peer who went bankrupt, the husband of a famous artist's favourite model, an England football international, an outstanding bowler (but with woods and jack), a gallant leader who died on active service, the man who revitalised both Northamptonshire and England teams after the Second World War and the shrewd skipper described by Mike Selvey as the best county leader of his time.This book reflects the unique flavour of county cricket and the remarkable assortment of individuals who have led Northamptonshire over nearly a century and a half.

Read more less

Rise of the Underdogs: Football's New World Order is the ultimate guide to the changing landscape of modern football.As FIFA president Gianni Infantino declared, There are no more small teams and no more big teams.' This book goes in search of how and why these changes have come about from Croatia, a nation of just four million people, reaching the World Cup Final to Morocco writing African football history.Each chapter explores how football clubs and associations are breaking down barriers, with stories of icons such as Erling Haaland, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Mohamed Salah. There are first-hand accounts from those who helped them conquer the odds and reach unprecedented heights, as well as behind-the-scenes insights into why clubs and countries worldwide are breaking new ground.With exclusive views from coaches, players and other professionals worldwide, this is a far-reaching guide to football''s exciting new landscape.

Read more less

Anything Is Possible is the inside story of Bournemouth''s remarkable Championship winning season and tells how the smallest club in the division defied bookmakers, pundits and the Football League to emerge triumphant from a fiercely fought promotion contest and gate-crashed the richest league in the world.But that is just the end of the story! Only six years earlier, the club was on the brink of liquidation following a series of financial crises and points deductions. The club took a last-ditch gamble on former player Eddie Howe, a 31-year-old former player with zero management experience. It paid dividends and some, as Howe sowed the seeds for an astonishing rise up the leagues.The club rose from League Two to the Championship in four seasons, successes made all the more remarkable as Howe spent 20 months of that period managing Burnley.In 2014/15, Howe eclipsed his previous successes as he led a squad described as ''misfits'' by capta

Read more less

O Jogo Bonito! is the magical story of Brazil at the 1970 World Cup, and a team that featured the incomparable skills of Pelé, Rivellino, Gérson, Jairzinho and Tostão.The 1970 World Cup was the first tournament televised live and in colour. It was also the occasion when the Brazilian Seleção Canarinho declared themselves to be the best team ever to lift the Jules Rimet trophy - bringing their own life and colour to the tournament. Yellow shirts as bright as the Mexican sun, blue shorts as vivid as the bright sky, and dancing feet, beating out a hypnotising rhythm that rendered opponents flat-footed by comparison.Their third success in four tournaments meant that the 12-inch-high trophy would for evermore be the property of Brazil. It was a more than fitting accolade. All teams crowned as world champions before and since, are measured against, and fall short of, the bewitching beauty of that team. It was Brazil's football in that World Cup that truly defined the phrase the beautiful game ('o jogo bonito').

Read more less

A Plague on All Our Sports is the story of what happened when Covid-19 and sport collided, examining the impact of the pandemic through a unique lens. The book's two authors have each spent many years in sport: Mark Saggers as a radio and TV sports journalist, Bill Ribbans as a doctor and orthopaedic surgeon. Like most people, their professional lives were turned upside down by the pandemic, and both were intimately involved with the endeavours needed to help the sporting phoenix rise from the ashes. The book analyses the way Covid-19 brought global sport to its knees. It charts sports' response to lockdowns, recovery planning, the obstacles faced and the modifications required to re-emerge. What was the psychological effect of periods of padlocked gyms, domestic detention and banishment from football terraces? What were the long-term effects on mental health for professional athletes confined to 'bubbles'? Were the early promises of changing sport for the better followed through on?

Read more less

Burnley, Champions Again! tells the story of the incredible promotion season that Vincent Kompany inspired and organised at Burnley FC. At the end of season 2021/22 the club found themselves relegated and managerless. With players wanting to leave, the club needing to sell them and fans worried the owners might decide to desert a sinking ship, the future looked bleak.But the worries were unfounded. Vincent Kompany was brought in as manager. He spoke of promotion being a three- or four-year project. As existing players left in droves, their replacements were drafted in from the continent – some bought, others joining on loan. But doubts lingered. The newcomers were unknowns, and some of the departing players were big names.The change in playing style was immediate – a transformation – and Burnley fans were wide-eyed with awe at the stunning possession-based football. The start was slow, but as the wins and points stacked up Burnley clinched an inconceivable top-flight return at the end of a magical season.

Read more less

Leeds United fanatic and gifted storyteller Rocco Dean brings us the next chapter in the Whites’ recent history with a match-by-match account of two wildly contrasting and unforgettable seasons. Leeds’ first two seasons back in the top flight after a 16-year absence were anything but dull. Bielsa’s electrifying brand of breathless football took the Premier League by storm, but while their team stole the hearts of the neutrals, the Covid-19 pandemic robbed Leeds supporters of the chance to see the triumphant return in the flesh. In Season Two the fans returned but the team lost their zest, culminating in the sacking of Bielsa and a dramatic scrap for survival that was only settled with the last kick of the season. Looking beyond the intoxicating action on the pitch, this book captures the wisdom and unique nature of ‘El Loco’, the anguish of lockdowns and football behind closed doors, the joy of returning to stadiums, the despair of a relegation battle and the grief of becoming a ‘Widow of Bielsa’. Fans of Rocco Dean’s previous Bielsa book, Marcelo Bielsa vs The Damned United, will love this enthralling sequel.

Read more less

1953 offers a unique snapshot of life in and around football during Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation year – exploring the matches, personalities and events that lit up the game. Wembley saw its most exciting FA Cup Final ever with Stanley Matthews finally lifting the trophy. The top flight witnessed its closest-ever finish, and internationally the Mighty Magyars gave England a footballing lesson, as did Uruguay and Argentina. Sheffield Wednesday’s star striker Derek Dooley tragically lost a leg, and exasperated players went on strike over the unfairness of the contract system and the maximum wage. Others travelled to Colombia in a bid to make mega-money in a FIFA-banned rebel league. Many negotiated the first-ever image rights deals and endorsed everything from football boots and Lucozade to cigarettes and paint. In a fitting tribute to the new queen, eight of England and Scotland's best teams would clash in a one-off tournament to mark the start of Elizabeth II's reign, the Coronation Cup.

Read more less

Jimmy Armfield was one of the great figures of English football - captain of the national team before Bobby Moore, member of the 1966 World Cup-winning squad, one-club man with Blackpool. Gentleman Jim went on to enjoy a wonderfully rich life and career as a manager with Leeds United, before becoming a broadcaster of warmth and insight, then consultant with the Football Association and the Professional Footballers' Association. In Pantomime Hero, award-winning football writer and author Ian Ridley tells the remarkable tale of when Armfield took over at Leeds after Brian Clough's ill-fated 44 days and came up with a novel and unique idea to restore the morale of a club in turmoil. Around that amazing tale, Ridley also describes a friendship forged through the bonds of cancer with a giant of a man who was already long established as a national footballing treasure at the time of his death in January 2018. This is the first book in the innovative Football Shorts series.

Read more less

Firsts, Lasts & Onlys: A Truly Wonderful Collection of Horseracing Trivia is filled with improbable facts and mind-boggling trivia that will test and tease every horseracing enthusiast.Try these questions for size: How did the word ‘thoroughbred’ come into existence, and what is a dam sire? Which Grand National-winning horse opened supermarkets after he retired and was sent requests for autographs? Which BBC sports commentator often had bad luck around the time of the National? Which classic race almost came to be known as the Bunbury?The perfect gift for every horseracing fan, this is a book you can pick up while waiting for the stewards’ inquiry for the 3.15 at Newmarket and learn something new, weird or fascinating. Often all three.

Read more less

League One Leeds is the story of Leeds United's three seasons spent in the third tier of English football. An illustrious club who had never fallen so low, their journey through League One would become the most chaotic period in Leeds's history and the drama started before a ball was kicked. An unprecedented 15-point deduction that plunged the Whites from promotion favourites to relegation fodder set the tone, as the club's fortunes undulated wildly over the course of three bizarre seasons. Record-breaking winning runs, long barren spells, FA Cup defeats at Histon and Hereford, victory at Old Trafford - this is a football story that twists and turns all the way through to a hair-raising finale. The book is written through the eyes of the author and features exclusive insight from Simon Grayson, Jermaine Beckford, Jonny Howson, Bradley Johnson, David Prutton, Casper Ankergren and Luciano Becchio, whose first-hand experiences are interwoven with his own. The result: a riveting account of a fascinating period in Leeds United's history.

Read more less

Final Third: The Last Word on our Football Heroes serves up another batch of funny, absurd and jaw-dropping tales discovered within more than 300 footballer autobiographies. Author John Smith has pored over the memoirs of the great and the good - as well as the not so good - so you don't have to. You're welcome. Final Third paints an intimate picture of our favourite football figures, using their own stories to show what makes them tick, what unites and divides them and exactly what they are prepared to share with us. They've seen things you wouldn't believe! The eye-opening stories include a defender deliberately driving a golf ball into Jimmy Hill's house, a goalkeeper confronted by a witch doctor in his penalty area, one football legend asking another to scale a church tower to stop the bells ringing, a manager who was like catnip to the wives of his directors and the England captain who drifted down the Thames. It all adds up to a fun third volume of the definitive digest of the autobiographies of our football heroes.

Read more less

Barcelona-Real Madrid. Celtic-Rangers. Boca Juniors-River Plate. Stoke City-Port Vale? Few neutrals recognise the Potteries derby between the two Stoke-on-Trent teams as a fierce rivalry. The reason? The teams rarely meet in league clashes. The rivalry is strikingly divisive, even within the ST postcode area. But this derby is so much more meaningful than it is given credit for. In fact, it could be England's most underrated derby. Good rivalries require history, territorial conflict, exciting incidents and passionate fans in fierce defiance of those that profess local supremacy. The Potteries derby has all that and then some. Matches date back to the late 1800s, but the clubs have mostly been kept apart in the English football pyramid. When they have met - in the cup, promotion battles, relegation dogfights or just to claim bragging rights - this derby has delivered unforgettable moments. El Ceramico explores the history of the Potteries derby, with first-hand accounts telling the story of a rivalry like no other.

Read more less

Bob Phillips takes us on an exhilarating journey across the formative years of marathon running - from 1896 through to the Olympic marathons of the 1950s that revolutionised the event. Through a compelling blend of personal memoirs, anecdotes, runner biographies, torrid tales and extraordinary facts and figures, the book shines a light on Britain's role in the development of marathon running and how its courageous competitors have invariably captured the public imagination. Learn about the brilliant generational talents who have cemented the event at the pinnacle of popular athletics, from the days when naive amateurs ran for tin medals towards the era of highly trained professionals. 26 Miles 385 Yards is a must-have book for every marathon enthusiast.

Read more less

Spice Up Your Life: Liverpool, the Nineties and Roy Evans is the fascinating story of arguably the most significant decade in the long history of Liverpool FC. After the Reds' most dominant and successful decade in the 1980s, the early 90s saw a rapid decline in the club's fortunes under the stewardship of Liverpool icon Graeme Souness, who was sacked in January 1994. Spice Up Your Life charts the gradual renaissance at Anfield under Souness's replacement and long-term boot-room member Roy Evans, the much-adored 3-5-2 formation, the infamous 'Spice Boys' moniker and the revitalisation of a football club that looked to be in freefall. The book explores the emergence of many of Anfield's youngest and brightest stars - from Steve McManaman to Jamie Redknapp, Robbie Fowler to Michael Owen - and credits Evans, as the last Liverpool manager from the legendary boot room, for bringing the Merseyside club back to prominence and ready to retake its perch at the top of English football.

Read more less

All My Own Words is the remarkable story of a kid with a paper round who dreamed of a career in Fleet Street, the historic fulcrum of the British press. In just a few short years, he achieved that ambition and held two of the most prestigious posts in sports writing, only to be sacked for plagiarism when collating material for a tennis annual. Neil Harman didn't have the proper qualifications when he got his first job on a local paper in Southend, but he passed his O-level retakes and set off on a journey packed with incident and controversy. Harman rose to become the leading football voice on the Daily Mail and later the man they called 'Mr Tennis' on The Times. All My Own Words charts the extraordinary twists and turns of a special sports-writing voyage, as Harman recounts colourful tales and brings us exclusive insight into characters such as Sir Alex Ferguson, Brian Clough, Graham Taylor, David Beckham, Laurie Cunningham, Sir Andy Murray, Tim Henman, John McEnroe, Pete Sampras, Rafael Nadal, Steffi Graf and Martina Navratilova.

Read more less

Brazil 1970 is the fascinating and dramatic inside story of the greatest football team of all time. Predicted to be drab and dull, the 1970 World Cup became the greatest show on Earth, with the mesmerising Brazilians at the heart of a dramatic and delirious three weeks. After their demise at the 1966 World Cup, the South Americans were no longer the masters of the game. The defenestration rattled Brazil, and left them in purgatory before they swept through the qualifiers with coach João Saldanha. Even so, the team left their home country discredited against the backdrop of a military dictatorship and the proliferation of science in the game. At the World Cup finals, Mario Zagallo and his cast of balletic players - including lodestar Pelé, the cerebral Gerson and the ingenious Tostão - ensured Brazil would forever be synonymous with the global game and a byword for style and craft. Their triumph was also the end of Brazil's golden era. The technocrats had invaded the terrain and Brazil would never again reach those heights.

Read more less

Success in elite football demands both mental and physical excellence. Players must make decisions at lightning speed, and execute those decisions with perfect technique, combined with an ultra-clear understanding of where others - their team-mates and their opponents - are at all times. In The Futsal Way, world-renowned futsal coach Sergio Gargelli and veteran writer Paul Challen make the case that today's elite football clubs require futsal coaches on their staff to take their teams to the next level - as many have already done. With photos, diagrams and clear explanations, they demonstrate how top-level coaches can use futsal to produce exceptional players in the 11-a-side game - as seen in the amazing technical ability of many Brazilian and Spanish players who grew up playing futsal. With a foreword by Euro 2020-winning manager Roberto Mancini, this book is a must for any team or coach looking to keep pace with modern training techniques and tactical developments. It combines in-depth instruction with real-life examples.

Read more less

Wimbledon Football Club was founded in 1889, and from then until now it has had a history like no other in football. From being the only team to have won both the FA Cup and FA Amateur Cup, to having the club controversially snatched away from its fans, only for them to reform the club, and for AFC Wimbledon to rise again through the leagues and re-establish itself as a Football League side. Vinny Jones, John Fashanu and Dennis Wise ... the Crazy Gang of the 1980s was an intimidating team that used its physicality to overcome opponents, but it could play as well, under the leadership of Dave 'Harry' Bassett. When you dig deeper you realise there was more to this side than the sensationalist headlines. In AFC Wimbledon On This Day, you'll find facts and figures, famous games, managers and players who have made an indelible mark on the club's legacy. Even under the current guise of AFC Wimbledon, the team continues to write new chapters in its illustrious history.

Read more less

'It's difficult to change what's in your blood, in your body, all the history of playing that way, and you change it for what? It's analysis the English people have to do,' says Pep Guardiola, and he's right. Let's do that analysis ... English football is booming. The world's richest league has stars from around the globe. Lavishly funded academies produce technically gifted players and professional football in England is unrivalled in depth. But what have we lost? You know what 'English-style football' means: fast, physical, no pointless possession, but in the Premier League you see a different game. Has the new technical, tactical game subdued what made people love English football in the first place? Premier League clubs have amazing squads, but does the amassing of wealth at the top threaten the traditions and grassroots on which the English game was built? Through interviews with people inside and outside the game, Jon Driscoll examines how English football professionalised and the challenges it now faces.

Read more less

It's a tally that beggars belief - 340 goals in a single season. Even more surprising is the fact few people can name the player behind that record-breaking feat. Paul Moulden was a schoolboy phenomenon. As star striker of the renowned Bolton Lads' Club, a 14-year-old Moulden smashed every goalscoring record as he netted 340 times in one incredible season - including 289 league goals in 39 matches. In doing so, he secured a place in The Guinness Book of Records. Coveted by Sir Alex Ferguson, Brian Clough and other top bosses and chased by every leading club in the land, Moulden chose his boyhood heroes, Manchester City, and looked to have the world at his feet. What happened next is hard to believe, as the grounded and hugely talented goalscorer suffered almost every major injury possible over the next decade. This is a story of extraordinary talent and broken dreams, told bluntly but without bitterness. Paul Moulden should have been a household name. This book might still make that happen.

Read more less

What Was Football Like in the 1990s? captures the spirit of a decade that witnessed so many changes in the game, especially off the field. This engaging and absorbing account of the era interweaves the author's memories and experiences with a wealth of research. The Taylor Report, the Bosman ruling, the advent of the Premier League, the increasing focus on the business of football, Sky television, the rising price of entry to top-flight football, hooliganism and racism are all covered along with the managers who defined the era - Ferguson, Dalglish, Wenger, Atkinson - and of course the players who lit up the decade, including Eric Cantona and other foreign stars who helped mould the Premier League. What Was Football Like in the 1990s? is an enthralling and illuminating account of a truly remarkable decade for the beautiful game, penned by a respected football author and journalist. It's a 'must' for any nostalgic fan.

Read more less

Cocker Hoop is the authorised biography of football coaching great Les Cocker. A tenacious and resilient forward, Cocker played for two clubs: Stockport County (196 games, 48 goals) and Accrington Stanley (130 games, 50 goals) before retiring in 1958 to move into coaching. As one of the first recipients of full coaching badges at England's Lilleshall, he established himself as a supreme trainer and coach for Leeds United, and helped build a famous footballing dynasty alongside Don Revie. His rising reputation attracted the FA's attention, and Cocker helped the England team achieve their pinnacle success in 1966. Filled with interviews, anecdotes and revelations from throughout Cocker's career, Cocker Hoop brings us a personal portrait of the great man, and is co-written by his son Dave Cocker and sportswriter and novelist Robert Endeacott.

Read more less

The US boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics left German lawyer Thomas Bach unable to defend his fencing title. Instead, he devoted the next 20 years to climbing the sports administrative ladder. His mission was to protect athletes' independent rights, and his ambition to become IOC president. Bach was elected IOC president in 2013, and immediately set about transforming the organisation's century-old constitution. His 40-point agenda launched a radical host city election procedure, while enforcing the International Federations' internal disciplines and introducing new Olympic sports such as skateboarding. New age Olympics had arrived - but it wasn't all smooth sailing. With Russia's institutional cheating marring three consecutive Games, the near financial collapse of Rio '16 and the threatened cancellation of Tokyo 2020, Bach sustained IOC equilibrium through repeated crises. Igniting the Games reveals how Bach transformed the Olympics and saved a ponderous ancient institution from itself.

Read more less

Unsung offers an illuminating insight behind the scenes of professional sport, looking beyond the headlines and behind the athletes to introduce and celebrate sport's unheralded heroes. A sporting anthology of the unheard, the unsaid and the unusual, Unsung shines a rare spotlight on the integral men and women in the shadows, interwoven into the fabric of sport. Find out how F1 mechanics fine-tune the finest margin in sport. Meet the trigger-happy athletics starters who can break as many dreams as they make. Hear from the cycling moto pilots whose job it is to keep up, but keep out of the way. And learn how snowmaking scientists go to war with Mother Nature at every Winter Olympics. While its biggest stars and household names enjoy the glory, tucked away amidst sport's small print and voiceless under its fanfare is a band of unsung heroes rarely acknowledged, let alone championed. These are their stories, told over 12 standalone chapters. Unsung introduces the sports stars you don't know, telling the stories you can't miss.

Read more less

From using football to promote peace on the gangland streets of Medellin, to building a global network of 'Football for Good' organisations, Jurgen Griesbeck is now, through Common Goal, leading transformational change across the football industry. Set up in partnership with World Cup-winner Juan Mata - and with the likes of Megan Rapinoe, Mats Hummels, Pernille Harder, Paulo Dybala. Jurgen Klopp, Casey Stoney, Julian Nagelsmann and even entire competitions and clubs already taking the one per cent pledge of earnings - Common Goal aims to reconstruct football's role in society and put purpose, people and the planet at the heart of the game. This incredible story of one of the world's leading social entrepreneurs captures Jurgen's passion, drive and leadership, and presents a hopeful vision for the future of football, with contributions from some of the most disruptive, innovative and progressive thinkers in the game - the Radical XI. This remarkable book shows how the power of football can - and must - be unleashed for social change.

Read more less

Scotland's Swedish Adventure is the definitive story of Scotland's journey into their first ever European Championship finals, in Sweden. Having qualified for five consecutive World Cup finals between 1974 and 1990, it was surprising the Scots hadn't yet reached the Euro finals given the array of talent at their disposal. Andy Roxburgh would soon change that, and after being drawn into the ultimate 'group of death' that included the reigning European and world champions, his side repeatedly put on brave performances against superior opposition to make the nation proud. Scotland's Swedish Adventure explores the story behind their road to qualification, with exclusive insight from some of the men who made this adventure happen, including Roxburgh himself, players, journalists and fans. That Scotland qualified for an eight-team tournament, and finished fifth in the overall standings, is an achievement that doesn't get the recognition and respect it deserves. This 30th anniversary tribute remedies that.

Read more less