Search results for ""Author Andy Bollen""

What makes the number-ten jersey so special? It's merely material and thread - the number only used for administrative purposes. Yet the number ten represents much more than football. Those wearing it carry the weight of expectation for club and country. Andy Bollen forensically examines the world's greatest players - from Puskás to Pelé, Maradona and Messi - and asks, what makes them tick? How did they reach legendary status? He explores how their will to win at all costs comes from their desire to overcome adversity - escape poverty, rejection or horrendous injury. Bollen scrutinises the illustrious players who wore the number-ten shirt, discussing the lives, careers and mindsets of the classic playmakers. Theirs is a unique mentality, a twisted logic and drive. Part brilliance, part elegant brutality, they are required to deliver an artistry, genius and creativity. Their play is elevated to a work of art, then, with great devilment, they are capable of wilfully slashing and destroying it.

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an instant classic and a required part of the library of anyone fascinated with the record business.' Danny Goldberg, bestselling author of Serving the Servant: Remembering Kurt CobainChess Records tested their acquisitions out on people waiting at a nearby bus stop: if the crowd were bopping, they had a hit.Sub Pop rejection letters start with the harsh, yet funny, Dear Loser'.Atlantic Records signed Led Zeppelin on Dusty Springfield's recommendation.Labelled with Love is an odyssey through your record collection and the world beyond it, from the Jazz Age to punk, the civil rights movement to Thatcherism, the Beatles to Britpop, and Ella Fitzgerald to The Ramones. Long-time music obsessive Andy Bollen tracks popular music through the influential labels that have shaped the last eighty years, chronicling each company with the passion of a fan but the eye of a satirist.

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Andy Bollen explores the history, tradition and violent nature of football''s biggest clashes.In unravelling the history of these infamous feuds, Bollen gets to the crux of each conflict, exploring why the fans dislike each other so vehemently.Football is often a search for political identity, as in Spain''s El Clásico between Barcelona and Real Madrid, while in Buenos Aires'' Superclásico, it''s poverty and privilege at the heart of the rivalry between working-class Boca Juniors and bourgeois River Plate.Whether it''s the Cairo derby with Al Ahly and Zamalek, the Croatian chaos of Dinamo Zagreb and Hajduk Split or Turkey''s Intercontinental derby with Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe, these clashes are a potent mix of fanatical zealot, political rally and crazed ultras preparing for war.Showcasing and detailing football''s great games, names and most memorable moments, Bollen has penned an important work on classic derbies and epic rivalries.

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In 1983, aged 36, Johan Cruyff, one of the world's most iconic football superstars, guided Ajax to a league and cup double. Out of contract, most people, including the player, expected a valedictory final season and a one-year extension. Inexplicably, Ajax let him go. They grossly underestimated the fierce genius of Johan Cruyff. He signed for bitter rivals Feyenoord, leading them to a league and cup double, silencing his critics and thrilling football fans everywhere. Fierce Genius analyses this incredible season, as he evolves from player to coach. It is a fascinating insight into his professional and private life. Imperious on the park, off it, he dealt with kidnappings and bankruptcy after being defrauded by a conman. Bollen gets inside Cruyff's mind, helping the reader understand the mentality which made him a top player and successful coach. Fierce Genius: Cruyff's Year at Feyenoord is compelling, insightful and poignant. Written with a journalistic tone, by an accomplished comedy writer, this is a warm, affectionate and informative portrait of one of world football's greats.

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Andy Bollen is a cultural commentator, drummer, gag writer and now football historian. The author of the critically-acclaimed Nirvana: A Tour Diary, the political spoofSandy Trout: The Memoir, and Labelled With Love. He has written forChewin' The Fat, Pulp Video, Naked Radio, Watson's Wind Up and Des Clarke's Breaking the News, as well as being a former columnist withThe Sunday Mailand The Glasgow Herald. He has contributed to various publications includingThe Mail on Sunday, Scotland on Sunday and The New York Times andwrites material on a freelance basis for comedians and performers. He lives in Coatbridge.

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A History of European Football in 100 Objects: The Alternative Football Museum reveals the shocking hidden history of European football. In this fantasy football museum, Bollen delves into the archives to uncover idiocy and chaos from across the continent. The exhibits highlight the very worst of the human condition: greed, cheating, match-fixing, bribery, extortion and murder. Learn about the French captain who joined the Gestapo, the notorious football-mad Stasi boss, Erich Mielke and Gaddafi's son playing in Italy, the 1970s Lazio side that put Wimbledon's Crazy Gang to shame and the Romanian club owner who tried to stop hooliganism with a moat full of crocodiles. Along the way you'll meet Dundalk's one-armed super striker, Austrian legend Matthias Sindelar and the Italian George Best. Bollen again proves the ideal curator: passionate, meticulously informed and funny. His insightful take on the game is compelling and at times poignant. It is an exhibition for every curious football fan.

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From Socrates to Arthur Montford, via Bovril, Buckfast and, of course, pies, this is a unique journey through the extraordinary world of Scottish football. Packed with anecdotes and observations, Andy Bollen wallows in a nostalgic haze, a time of hatchet-men with moustaches, a magic sponge that should have been granted miracle status and big-money strikers who couldn't hit a cow's posterior with a banjo. Opinionated, forthright and funny, Bollen reluctantly concedes that tattoos, hair weaves and VAR are now part of the game. This idiosyncratic ride through the wonderful absurdity of Scottish football will chime with every fan.

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