Apart form its current publications, John Blake Publishing has a sizeable back list of acclaimed sporting titles. These include biographies of stars such as Roger Federer, WG Grace, Fernando Torres and Frankie Dettori. For more information, visit www.blake.co.uk
Football Book Reviews
Check out our football book archive, sorted in date order.
Release date: 06th September, 2010 Publisher: Rizzoli International
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Carlo Ancelotti is one of only six people to have won the UEFA Champions League as both player and coach. After a successful career playing for several of Italy’s leading teams and for the Italian national team, Ancelotti went on to become one of the most acclaimed and outspoken coaches in European football, managing Italian giants Parma, Juventus, and Milan before moving to Chelsea in 2009.
(read review)
List Price:£17.99 Our Price: £9.88 You Save: £8.11 (45%)
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Robbie Savage could have been just another Manchester United reject. Instead, he used the Old Trafford scrapheap as a springboard to become one of the most instantly recognisable footballers in the Premier League, despite being told by Sir Alex Ferguson he was not good enough to stay in the class of '92 alongside David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Nicky Butt and Gary Neville (read review)
Release date: 01st April, 2010 Publisher: Faber & Faber
List Price:£12.99 Our Price: £7.79 You Save: £5.2 (40%)
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You will see plenty of World Cup books on offer over the coming months, most of which will be heavy on statistics and match facts, but nothing will match Brian Glanville’s marvellous Story of the World Cup. (read review)
List Price:£5.50 Our Price: £5.39 You Save: £0.11 (2%)
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Each of Fleming’s stories provides uplifting examples of how an involvement with football can help people, be they brought down by drugs, alcohol, or even involvement with gang crime. What makes Eleven so inspiring is the way in which Fleming succeeds in showing the remarkable dedication of the people involved with the charitable organisations that endeavour to make a difference to people’s lives. (read review)
Release date: 10th November, 2009 Publisher: Yellow Jersey Press
List Price:£12.99 Our Price: £8.39 You Save: £4.6 (35%)
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We enjoy beating the Germans at anything, but especially at football. Perhaps because there have been so many instances of the Germans getting one over on us, particularly in the 1970 World Cup and again at Italia ’90, that we revel in our successes, but as Raphael Honigstein tells us in Englischer Fussball, the feeling isn’t necessarily reciprocated. (read review)
Release date: 20th September, 2009 Publisher: John Blake Publishing
List Price:£17.99 Our Price: £9.49 You Save: £8.5 (47%)
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Mel Charles’s In the Shadow of a Giant contains some marvellous anecdotes, but is essentially a wonderful tale of football in the fifties and sixties when leather lace-up balls could inflict serious damage on a centre half’s head. (read review)
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Sport offers numerous opportunities for the spectator to be present while history is being made. The majority of us only get to watch World Cup finals and Olympic Games on television, so naturally, we appreciate having a companion whom we like and enjoy hearing when glued to the box. (read review)
List Price:£18.99 Our Price: £12.34 You Save: £6.65 (35%)
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Wigan chairman Dave Whelan, who has written an autobiography of the quality you would expect of a man who played in all four of England’s professional divisions before becoming a multi-millionaire, has attracted his fair share of anecdotes. (read review)
Release date: 06th August, 2009 Publisher: Harper Sport
List Price:£15.99 Our Price: £9.99 You Save: £6 (37%)
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“At last,” says this book’s pre-publication blurb, “football has its answer to [questions] such as ‘why do Newcastle United buy the wrong players’ [and] how could Nottingham Forest go from winning the European Cup to the depths of League One?” (read review)
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At several points throughout this thought-provoking text, the reader is invariably left wondering what would happen today if the fit and able men of the Premier League were called upon to serve Queen and Country… (read review)
Release date: 01st July, 2009 Publisher: A & C Black
List Price:£17.99 Our Price: £11.69 You Save: £6.3 (35%)
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Perhaps football’s greatest spin-off is not the overpriced, sponsor-emblazoned polyester replica shirt but the quiz question that gets fans thinking. (read review)
Release date: 06th June, 2009 Publisher: Harper Sport
List Price:£15.00 Our Price: £9.00 You Save: £6 (40%)
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In this very funny book, Stelling’s provides readers with a unique guide to life behind the scenes and pulls no punches when it comes to telling is which former players perform well on screen and those who are a tad wooden. He doesn’t do this in a nasty way (it is Jeff Stelling after all), but in a manner which suggests that the banter and bonhomie so evident on Soccer Saturday is absolutely genuine.
(read review)
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Richard Sanders has enjoyed enormous success as a film-maker; his documentaries include Escobar’s Own Goal about the murder of Andres Escobar, the Colombian footballer who met his untimely death after the 1994 World Cup, and Kicking the Habit, a rather critical look at Diego Maradona. Now he has turned his attention to the origins of British football and produced a thought-provoking read.
(read review)
List Price:£8.99 Our Price: £6.29 You Save: £2.7 (30%)
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The old joke about the football manager who believed tactics were a brand of mints might be apocryphal, but most football followers appreciate the skill involved in developing a method of play to suit eleven individuals. (read review)
List Price:£18.99 Our Price: £13.29 You Save: £5.7 (30%)
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‘Fascinating’ is an over-used description of sporting tomes, but in Friedel’s case, it is entirely applicable – assuming you’re not on the look-out for muck-raking.
(read review)
List Price:£17.99 Our Price: £10.79 You Save: £7.2 (40%)
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Manchester City have long attracted opprobrium and sympathy in equal measure. For years, a considerable number of neutral fans, as well as their own supporters have desperately wanted to see them overhaul their celebrated near-neighbours, the self-styled ‘biggest club in the world’, yet sadly, one false dawn has simply given way to another. It’s Manchester City’s way: they rarely make things easy for themselves and every new beginning invariably ends in tears. (read review)
List Price:£8.99 Our Price: £6.99 You Save: £2 (22%)
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The tale of how this autobiography was conceived is perhaps indicative of Bowles’ football career. Sharing a drink in their local pub, The Rose & Crown in Isleworth, Ralph Allen and John Iona, two good friends, were presented with the idea by the man himself. Late into the night, Stan said, “Hey, do you know, no-one’s ever written about me.” The trio stood, beers in hand, elbows resting unsteadily on the bar and considered why the former QPR, Bury, Manchester City, Leyton Orient, Nottingham Forest, Crewe and Carlisle forward would make such great copy. Agreement was reached on the spot. (read review)
Release date: 10th January, 2009 Publisher: New Holland Publishers
List Price:£5.99 Our Price: £3.72 You Save: £2.27 (37%)
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Perhaps every fan should be given a copy of One Ginger Pele in order that they may see what’s possible when we take ourselves less seriously than normal... (read review)
Release date: 01st January, 2009 Publisher: Simon & Schuster
List Price:£7.99 Our Price: £5.59 You Save: £2.4 (30%)
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On one level, this work is academic in its coverage – providing cross references, details of source material and a comprehensive index. On another, Bower peppers the text with a series of one liners which are testament to his descriptive talent... (read review)
List Price:£18.99 Our Price: £13.29 You Save: £5.7 (30%)
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Readers who recognise what has happened to our national game, now awash with players who are unqualified to play for the national side, will appreciate Richard Havers’ “When Football Was Football” (read review)
Release date: 13th November, 2008 Publisher: Know the Score Books
List Price:£19.99 Our Price: £13.99 You Save: £6 (30%)
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A thoroughly entertaining read that can be dipped into time and again, especially as there are almost 70 contributions from writers of the calibre of Henry Winter and Martin Samuel... (read review)
Release date: 21st October, 2008 Publisher: Black & White Publishing
List Price:£17.99 Our Price: £12.59 You Save: £5.4 (30%)
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As both Ally McCoist and Mark Wright point out in their respective forewords to the Tin Man, based upon first appearances, no-one would have imagined that Ted McMinn was, or could be, a professional footballer... (read review)
List Price:£15.99 Our Price: £11.49 You Save: £4.5 (28%)
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In recent years, only a handful of ghosted autobiographies stand out – Sir Bobby Charlton and Jamie Carragher’s being two of the most memorable, but now this exalted pair are joined by a man who made his debut far back in 1954/55.
(read review)
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Fabio Capello has been at the England helm for less than ten months, yet already fans sense that at last, they have someone appropriately qualified to turn a talented bunch of under-achievers into world beaters.... (read review)
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Carragher’s performance a certain balmy night in Istanbul has become part of Anfield folklore and while Liverpool’s improbable success has been deemed ‘sport’s greatest-ever comeback’, Carra is not a belated attempt to re-live an outrageously famous victory in print... (read review)
List Price:£12.99 Our Price: £7.69 You Save: £5.3 (40%)
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Roberts is a genuine football fan and this marvellous memoir is a must read, not just for those who ignore the top flight siren calls to follow their local club, but also for fans who might just be getting a little tired of the Premier League’s achingly dull repepetitveness... (read review)
List Price:£9.99 Our Price: £6.59 You Save: £3.4 (34%)
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Anyone searching for football’s true heart should give its highest echelons the widest possible body swerve and lunge for McVay’s excellent book with the unfettered determination of an old fashioned defender executing a sliding tackle with intent...
(read review)
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Montague instinctively knows that, in much the same way as you might anywhere else in the world, once you engage the locals in conversation about football, their passion and commitment to the sport can supersede all else. He is enlightened enough to appreciate that football is not a panacea, but he should send a copy of this thought-provoking book to FIFA. Instead of focusing on in-fighting and empire-building, FIFA could do some good in the Middle East were they to absorb several of Montague’s ideas... (read review)
Release date: 17th July, 2008 Publisher: A & C Black
List Price:£19.99 Our Price: £13.75 You Save: £6.24 (31%)
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There is a mountain of unsubstantiated information available online and given that many of us increasingly use computers in our everyday work, employing them again during our leisure time can sometimes be a chore. Readers with more than a handful of grey hairs will understand what I mean. Thankfully, browsing through record books remains a perfectly acceptable pursuit... (read review)
List Price:£11.99 Our Price: £7.19 You Save: £4.8 (40%)
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During the recent Euro 2008 tournament, Russian footballers were described as ‘world beaters who don’t perform too well when they need to use their passports’, a line which perhaps sums up the country’s insular attitude towards the round ball game... (read review)
Release date: 15th May, 2008 Publisher: Know the Score Books
List Price:£18.99 Our Price: £13.29 You Save: £5.7 (30%)
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This is a tale of a life lived to the full and one suspects it could have run to more than double the 200 pages and still been entertaining... (read review)
Release date: 15th May, 2008 Publisher: Know the Score Books
List Price:£8.99 Our Price: £6.99 You Save: £2 (22%)
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This is not a book solely for Liverpool supporters; anyone who worries that football clubs have become highly-prized assets should read it and realise that that is not an inevitable state of affairs... (read review)
Release date: 04th May, 2008 Publisher: Gerald Duckworth & Co
List Price:£15.49 Our Price: £11.19 You Save: £4.3 (27%)
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Okwonga is a dedicated football fan (and a lawyer to boot) who can claim to have produced a rarity: an intelligent football book. His regular references to a multitude of great footballing moments proves he is also extremely well informed – a guy who would perform well on your pub quiz team, although he is clearly a well-rounded character who can appreciate football’s many absurdities. (read review)
Release date: 24th April, 2008 Publisher: John Blake Publishing
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It’s a sad tale, laced with a number of authentic side-swipes at footballing sycophants and other hangers-on as seen by someone who could justifiably be called the ‘original footballer’s wife’. But don’t let that put you off reading it... (read review)
Release date: 17th April, 2008 Publisher: Know The Score Books
List Price:£16.99 Our Price: £12.59 You Save: £4.4 (25%)
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The Rivals Game is packed with some great anecdotes and chants, not all of which are repeatable here, although they add to sense that this book has touched upon something embedded within the football fan’s DNA... (read review)
Release date: 20th March, 2008 Publisher: Know The Score Books
List Price:£16.99 Our Price: £11.89 You Save: £5.1 (30%)
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It might seem a tad morbid, assembling a book which deals solely with dead footballers, but... Ivan Ponting’s excellent collection is akin to celebrating footballer’s lives with a minute’s clapping rather than with a minute’s silence. And what great lives there are to recall and how well Ponting tells their tale... (read review)
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There are many stand-out favourites, but the “What a goal! One for the puritans”, belted out by a Capital Gold commentator surely takes the biscuit...
(read review)
Release date: 13th February, 2008 Publisher: Book Guild Publishing
List Price:£17.99 Our Price: £12.21 You Save: £5.78 (32%)
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Let’s face it: the Premiership isn’t any more exciting than the old First Division and while players might be fitter, but they’re no more skilful, yet the marketing myth, which prompts us to accept that what we’re watching is outstanding, persists... (read review)
List Price:£16.99 Our Price: £9.95 You Save: £7.04 (41%)
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Fifties Manchester was a great industrial city, proud of its two football teams. The arrival of Matt Busby as manager had transformed the better-supported of the two, United, into an irresistible attacking force and their European adventure was the next logical step for a side that swept to the league title in 1955/56 and 1956/57. Not until Sir Alex Ferguson had completed a decade at Old Trafford were United capable of playing the same brand of football as the Babes. (read review)
Release date: 03rd January, 2008 Publisher: Know The Score Books
List Price:£16.99 Our Price: £8.49 You Save: £8.5 (50%)
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Menary employs a light touch when writing which provides his narrative with an easy pace. Most of his engaging theory is built around an attack on football’s jobsworths, vote-seekers, politicos and hangers-on and as a method of exercising the sports fan’s mind, Outcasts is as good as it gets... (read review)
Release date: 21st November, 2007 Publisher: Great Northern Books
List Price:£16.99 Our Price: £11.89 You Save: £5.1 (30%)
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Before the end of the first chapter, we’ve learnt that Deano washes his face three times before taking the pitch. ‘Oh no,’ you think, ‘this is the bog-standard footballer’s tale’, but within a few pages, matters have improved markedly... (read review)
Release date: 15th October, 2007 Publisher: Know the Score Books
List Price:£17.99 Our Price: £12.59 You Save: £5.4 (30%)
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Midwinter’s perfectly paced prelude attempts to unearth football’s modest beginnings and, like the search for the source of one of the world’s great rivers, there is some dispute about precisely where the game kicked off... (read review)
List Price:£18.99 Our Price: £11.39 You Save: £7.6 (40%)
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Peter Crouch remains an enigma. He couldn’t be described as brilliant, but still manages to find himself in the right place at the right time, the hallmark of football’s greatest goalscorers. He shuns celebrity, although he talks openly about his infamous robot dance, he’s an on-field worker, but one who couldn’t be mentioned in the same breath as Dirk Kuyt... (read review)
List Price:£20.00 Our Price: £12.00 You Save: £8 (40%)
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Those of us who recall how research was conducted before the internet’s arrival will almost certainly feel there is no substitute for browsing through a book. While an online search can develop into an often frustrating scamper through a thick maze of ether, dipping into a voluminous reference book can become a hugely enjoyable meander... (read review)
List Price:£20.00 Our Price: £10.00 You Save: £10 (50%)
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Like almost every boy his age, Charlton grew up besotted by football. Playing the game for as long as parents would allow was the norm in the Northumberland mining village of Ashington, as it was everywhere else across Britain up until the mid-seventies. Games involving almost every boy in the street were not unusual, but even among these unwieldy matches, it soon became apparent that young Bobby, together with his older brother Jack, were endowed with a rare talent... (read review)
Release date: 26th August, 2007 Publisher: Harper Sport
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Unlike Elleray and Winter, other referees who have gone into print, Graham Poll manages to inject an easy humour into his narrative, which ensures that by the time he describes what happened at last year’s World Cup when he completed his notorious three-card trick, the reader empathises with him. With hindsight, it is the one action for which Poll will remain famous, or infamous, depending upon your view... (read review)
List Price:£18.99 Our Price: £11.38 You Save: £7.61 (40%)
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Having approached this autobiography with some trepidation, sensing it came from the “former footballer cashes in on waning fame by publishing book” category, I have to admit to being pleasantly surprised... (read review)
List Price:£20.00 Our Price: £11.93 You Save: £8.07 (40%)
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There have been several yearbook impostors since Rollin’s first volume appeared in 1971, but the Sky Sports version remains the genuine article...
(read review)
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As a player, Vialli was a flamboyant, charismatic winger. As a writer, he comes across as both intelligent and inquisitive, and with the aid of Times columnist Marcotti, formulates a valid critique of the differing approaches found here and Italy... (read review)
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Brazil's delivery has been likened to listening to your best mate: he often makes you wonder whether you were actually there, but were so out of it that you can’t remember. It’s a skill which belies an enormous amount of hard work. (read review)
Release date: 04th May, 2007 Publisher: Fourth Estate
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It’s entirely fair to say that Hamilton was one of the few people Clough trusted; indeed, the reader might be left with the impression that this book’s content could have comfortably exceeded 250-odd pages... (read review)
Release date: 03rd May, 2007 Publisher: Dewi Lewis Media
List Price:£12.99 Our Price: £9.09 You Save: £3.9 (30%)
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Published in Spain last year and translated by Malcolm Marsh, the book’s layout makes it an easy read, ideal for a journey, and, not surprisingly, for readers interested in Spanish football.
In truth, however, Lloret reveals little of Benitez’s personality, but as a close friend, he manages to tell the reader much of what has shaped the man’s career... (read review)
Release date: 20th April, 2007 Publisher: John Blake Publishing
List Price:£17.99 Our Price: £11.87 You Save: £6.12 (34%)
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As Derbyshire muses, it would be foolish to underestimate such a single-minded character who has already been crowned European Footballer of the Year, was the youngest player to represent England in the twentieth century, the only England player ever to score in four major tournaments and the youngest recipient of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award... (read review)
Release date: 13th April, 2007 Publisher: John Blake Publishing
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Andrew Sleight scores by making this biography a chatty affair; he has clearly researched his subject in depth, but there are several incidents in Robbie Keane’s life that make for compelling reading... (read review)
Release date: 06th April, 2007 Publisher: Dewi Lewis Media
List Price:£12.99 Our Price: £12.99 You Save: £0 (0%)
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Pete Tomsett and Chris Brand have produced an account of Wembley which may be politely described as ‘history lite’. Readers may wonder whether there really is any need for 26 pages of photographs of cranes and JCB’s, first demolishing the old stadium and then rebuilding the new. Probably not in a book running to 160 pages. This is a pity because what precedes this liberal use of construction site photography is actually quite good... (read review)
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With the world, quite literally, at this young man’s feet, it rapidly became evident that, while he would make a handsome living from playing football (which he subsequently did), he didn’t quite have quite enough to make it at the highest level....
(read review)
List Price:£16.99 Our Price: £11.21 You Save: £5.78 (34%)
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Phil Whalley, a long-term fan of the club, has produced what can only be described as the definitive history of football in Accrington, aptly sub-titled, “The club that wouldn’t die”. For this is a story of a small group of individuals who refused to let the name of Accrington Stanley disappear, re-building a club, a ground and a tradition from scratch until on Saturday, April 15th, 2006 they achieved their dream when they won promotion back to the Football League... (read review)
Release date: 07th March, 2007 Publisher: Know the Score Books
List Price:£16.99 Our Price: £11.20 You Save: £5.79 (34%)
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It’s not the most novel format in the world, but sometimes simple is beautiful and there can be no simpler idea than bringing together a dozen or so of the greatest players in a club’s history and asking them to nominate and discuss in detail their favourite games... (read review)
List Price:£7.99 Our Price: £5.19 You Save: £2.8 (35%)
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Thankfully, there is more laughter than despair in Neil Redfearn’s tale, but if anyone needed a reminder of how far football has progressed in the last two decades, they need only read the account of his move from Joe Royle’s Oldham... (read review)
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In many ways, Believe in the Sign is a personal account which reads more like a novel than Hodkinson's previous work. It’s a homage as much to his home town as the football club and to a pre-Thatcher Britain of decaying industry and a sport on the cusp of being over-run by hooligans. It is a lost world, largely unloved and forgotten, but laced with poignant and humorous childhood memories... (read review)
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As a nurse in the freezing winter of 1947 Margaret Hollinrake was offered a lift on the Burnley football team coach whilst waiting for a bus in Manchester. She caught the eye of the star player of that Burnley team, Harry Potts, and within a year they were married. Margaret Hollinrake had become a footballer’s wife... (read review)
List Price:£18.99 Our Price: £12.53 You Save: £6.46 (34%)
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Nobody could accuse Docherty of having a life that lacked colour. He had an austere but loving upbringing, a period in the army of real tragedy that shaped him as a leader and then, as a player and manager, “more clubs than Jack Nicklaus” as he often repeats in his successful post-football role as an after dinner speaker. Docherty has cut a swathe through life that few others can match... (read review)
List Price:£16.99 Our Price: £11.54 You Save: £5.45 (32%)
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“It is better to be a champion sport than a sports’ champion.” This wonderful aphorism was uttered by a man who starred for two of the world’s greatest football clubs and who accomplished the unique achievement of gaining cup winners’ medals in three different countries over three different decades... (read review)
Release date: 19th October, 2006 Publisher: John Blake Publishing
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Arsenal fans have apparently begun a campaign to make sure this wonderfully funny book sells more than Ashley Cole’s humourless and self-justifying autobiography ‘My Defence’. If there is any justice in the world, it would be no contest... (read review)
Release date: 18th October, 2006 Publisher: Dewi Lewis Media
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A book which forsakes an academic approach in favour of a more humorous style. Although the attempts at humour, which tend to involve creating stereotypes and caricatures, grate at times, French’s style is breezy and his conclusions, based on his extensive interviews, are both pertinent and interesting... (read review)
Release date: 29th September, 2006 Publisher: John Blake Publishing
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Undoubtedly, Cole appreciates what is expected of him on the football pitch; this is what makes him such an outstanding player at club and international level. What Ian Macleay’s book constantly reveals, however, is the pressure under which he and others like him live when they are away from sport...
(read review)
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Given footballers' poor public image, it is encouraging to read such a heart-warming story. Goater has received an MBE for his services to football in Bermuda and the island has a day named in his honour. Hugely likeable, witty and erudite, Goater is an example of a true gentleman footballer from whom some of our more exalted stars could learn some valuable lessons. They should ‘Read the Goat’... (read review)
List Price:£8.99 Our Price: £5.39 You Save: £3.6 (40%)
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No-one had heard of the Cosmos, which had been acquired by Warner Brothers in 1971. Within four years, however, the club had signed a three-year deal with Pele, the greatest player the game had ever known. More big name signings followed: German superstar Franz Beckenbauer, Italian striker Giorgio Chinaglia and Brazil’s World Cup winning captain, Carlos Alberto. Overnight, the Cosmos became New York’s hottest ticket... (read review)
Release date: 16th August, 2006 Publisher: Various
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Although the World Cup ended less than six weeks ago, the rumbling, often predictable, energy-infused, over-hyped juggernaut that is England’s Premiership returns this weekend, accompanied by a raft of football-related books... (read review)
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Nowhere have vast quantities of money had such a corrupting influence than in the world of football. It’s for this reason that Peter Morfoot’s Burksey is a book that works on two levels. First, it is very, very funny, but it also parodies the game so effectively, that it makes the reader appreciate just how arrogant and bumptious some of its participants really are... (read review)
Release date: 21st June, 2006 Publisher: John Blake Publishing
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This book offers not a traditional biographical picture of Wayne Rooney, but a snapshot of his life through the eyes of an well-known and experienced journalist. Parry writes with zest, enthusiasm and obvious delight about the 20-year-old... (read review)
Release date: 16th May, 2006 Publisher: Simon & Schuster
List Price:£18.99 Our Price: £9.48 You Save: £9.51 (50%)
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The Pele story has been told many times by different authors of varying literary ability, but this autobiography is almost certainly the definitive tale of a man who, apart from being the world’s greatest footballer, has also been a politician and sporting ambassador. For that reason alone, it is worth reading.. (read review)
Release date: 04th May, 2006 Publisher: Faber & Faber
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Williams concerns himself not with his favourite team or even a hybrid collection of his favoured XI, but with the “dreamers, schemers, playmakers and playboys” who have worn the number 10 shirt with such distinction... (read review)
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Given football’s incredible global popularity, publishers are understandably keen to ensure their World Cup titles are on the shelves as near to the end of the domestic season as possible, thus providing supporters with enough background, history, facts and figures to satisfy the most avid ‘statto’. Fans who can absorb it all will make John Motson sound under-prepared... (read review)
Release date: 30th March, 2006 Publisher: John Blake Publishing
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Famously 3-0 down to AC Milan at half time [in the Champions League final], it was Steven Gerrard who headed home Liverpool’s first goal in the 54th minute. As he raced back to the halfway line, he spread his arms wide, geeing the crowd and his team-mates with a gesture which demanded a response. “Come on, we can do this!” Gerrard’s gesture declared... (read review)
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To call this a comprehensive biography is an understatement. Mosley has left no stone unturned in charting the career of one of the world’s greatest footballing talents... (read review)
Release date: 06th February, 2006 Publisher: Harper Sport
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Of course, this story has been told before, but the principal argument behind Jeff Connor’s thought-provoking book is that while the club re-ignited its understandable quest for glory soon after those sombre days of 1958, the families of Munich’s victims were forgotten...
(read review)
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Winter has written an occasionally compelling book – the tale of his rise through the ranks is one of determination, after having happened upon the very idea of refereeing almost by mistake. Here was the archetypal terrace hard knock, a Middlesbrough boot boy intent on causing trouble who became instead a figure of authority... (read review)
Release date: 25th January, 2006 Publisher: John Blake Publishing
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Stant not only appreciates how lucky he has been, but he is honest enough to recount the thrill of meeting Kenny Dalglish in the corridor at Anfield, of playing up front with Kerry Dixon and of scoring his debut goal for Reading. But Stant’s life before his conversion to professional football provides an absolutely compelling foundation to this book... (read review)
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Searching for something a tad different can be an arduous task, but there are several titles that would make a welcome Christmas gift for any football fan.... (read review)
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It was important that readers knew Chelsea have only become a ‘big club’ in the last few years and while Glanvill frequently refers to the so-called ‘glamour’ side of the 1970s, in fairness, he doesn’t shy away from the facts... (read review)
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Doug Ellis, who has been at the helm at Aston Villa since 1968, has witnessed a period of colossal change first-hand, although it came as a surprise to learn that he had previously been a director at Birmingham City for three years...
Ellis is the archetypal self-made man, a travel agent who built an enormously successful business while retaining a passion for football – he alternated between visiting Villa Park and St Andrews each Saturday afternoon when he finished work, but eventually ended up as chairman at what was a run-down Aston Villa. (read review)
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Its 1042 pages are split into three sections, the first of which deals with every FIFA tournament, from the forthcoming World Cup to the 2005 World Youth Championship. The latter was won by Argentina in Utrecht last July with two goals from Lionel Messi, the young footballing prodigy Barcelona signed as a 13-year-old. As you can see, the book’s information soon sticks... (read review)
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When Willie Irvine was persuaded to write his autobiography by Dave Thomas, a Burnley fanatic who has gained a reputation for his witty and erudite chronicling of the club and the town, I suspect he did not realise what a cathartic and exhilarating exercise it would be. The two have produced an astonishing and outstanding tale of a footballer who not only reached the highest of highs, but also plummeted to the lowest of lows... (read review)
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Sunday morning football has always known its place at the very bottom of the footballing apex, although it does provide a final run-out for blokes who are more than a little overweight and who cannot recover from niggling injuries as rapidly as they used to. Still, it’s cheaper than buying a ridiculously flash car or, the absolute nadir when it comes to efforts to recapture lost youth, an ill-fitting wig... (read review)
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Jones was one of the first high-profile footballers to display his club affinity by means of a tattoo, having the initials LFC inscribed onto his forearm; thousands copied him. There are dozens of players who have since professed to show their unstinting love of a football club in similar fashion, but what separated Jones from the current batch of lavishly-patterned foreign mercenaries is that he could have taken his place on the Kop and no-one would have batted an eyelid... (read review)
Release date: 20th September, 2005 Publisher: John Blake Publishing
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Douglas Thompson’s biography, the first, no doubt of many we can expect over the next few years, is at pains to stress that life has not been a bed of roses for young Frank ever since he joined West Ham as a trainee in 1992. He had to contend, initially at least, with the inevitable cries of nepotism and favouritism, but these envious taunts were ultimately to become important factors which drove him on to play 132 times for the Hammers... (read review)
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Oh no! Not another book about Diego Maradona, this time about the seven incident-packed years he spent at Naples, during which he led them to the Serie A title? Ho, hum, you might think, as I did before embarking on the first chapter, but I was soon engrossed... (read review)
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So often, an ex-footballer’s tale follows the same tired path, laced with stories of excesses, boyish pranks and dolly birds. Yet George Cohen has faced much greater challenges away from the football pitch than he ever encountered on it; this alone makes his inspirational autobiography... (read review)
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The list of characters Connor has to work with, from Alex Forsyth, the club’s oldest director and line-dance lover (“he likes his partners about six feet tall so he can stick his nose in their tits”), to manager Dennis Newall, whose rantings can occasionally make Sir Alex Ferguson sound like Mary Poppins, are as far removed from the pampered world of top-flight football as it is possible to be... (read review)
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Jack Rollin, the yearbook’s sole editor for decades, drafted his daughter Glenda in several years ago and the duo have once more produced the definitive guide to everything that has happened on or off the football pitch during the past twelve months. Not one of the 1056 pages is wasted, with every conceivable piece of statistical information, from the Champions League to details of the Eagle Bitter United Counties Division One included in a clear, readable format... (read review)
Release date: 24th May, 2005 Publisher: John Blake Publishing
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In the book’s acknowledgements, Harry Harris thanks his publisher, John Blake, for having faith in the author’s prediction that Chelsea would be crowned champions. This ensures that Harris covered every kick and every goal of the 2004/05 campaign, from the opening game of the season against Manchester United, to Chelsea’s only league defeat (1-0) against Manchester City and onto the away match against Bolton which confirmed their championship status... (read review)
Release date: 03rd March, 2005 Publisher: John Blake Publishing
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Not since Ryan Giggs was at his peak in an all-conquering Manchester United side six years ago has a footballer managed to be mentioned in the same sentence as such exalted company. Yet today, there is one Premiership star (and for once the description is accurate) who combines skill, athleticism and perhaps most important of all, that indescribable ability to excite the spectator... (read review)
Release date: 01st February, 2005 Publisher: DL Media
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The period covered by this book is quite condensed, focusing on Mourinho’s career as a coach; it actually ends at the point where he becomes Chelsea manager, but it gives a fascinating insight into his coaching beliefs which help explain why he has been so successful... (read review)
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After reading this book, one is left with two distinct impressions: first that writing it was a true labour of love and second, that the author probably would have written it for nothing. That it is currently zooming up the sporting best seller charts tells its own tale, testimony to the clear affinity Taylor has with his chosen subject; nor do you have to be a Nottingham Forest fan to enjoy it... (read review)
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If anyone has ever accused you of still (if you’re over 25) or currently (if you’re at school or university) getting a kick from schoolboy humour, you will love this book. It’s one into which you will regularly dip and, following another ten minute bout of laughter, put it aside and walk around for the rest of the day with a recurring tune playing inside your head... (read review)
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When it comes to iconic images, it’s difficult to surpass the one of Billy McNeill holding the European Cup aloft on a magical night in Portugal nearly forty years ago. There is no smile playing on the Celtic captain’s lips, no obvious euphoria; instead, the muscular McNeill simply lifts the trophy skywards in a manner which shouts, ‘There! We’ve done it.’... (read review)
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Roman Abramovich’s story is one of political intrigue, ruthlessness and opportunism; as such, it falls into the ‘truth is stranger than fiction’ category, comfortably surpassing (in terms of both plot and writing) anything that could be served up in a fictional thriller... (read review)
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Collymore has not simply sat back as his autobiography was being written hoping it would sell on the strength of his name or reputation – he has clearly been involved. His voice is apparent throughout this well-crafted book which is a good thing because he has plenty to reveal about himself... (read review)
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If a life can have just one defining moment, a clearly identifiable point at which absolutely everything changes, that night in St Etienne was it for young Michael when he scored one of the most amazing goals this writer has ever seen. As he progressed at pace, ball at feet, from the half way line, viewers instinctively drew closer to the television screen: “He’s not going to score, is he? He is. He’s gone round the last defender. Get out of the way, Scholes! Bang! My God, he’s done it! The young boy has scored!”... (read review)
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Ball’s description of Beckham’s impact in La Liga and upon Spanish football is first class, starting with his opening game when the Englishman found the net after just 126 seconds, one of only three league goals he scored all season...
Furthermore, Ball introduces the reader to the notion of ‘fast food football’, a phrase he acknowledges was first used by Santiago Segurola, Spain’s most influential football writer. It defines the process whereby stars such as Beckham, Figo, Zidane and Ronaldo have been signed to satisfy the heightened expectations of fans or, to put it more accurately, to “cater for impatient consumerism of the younger football cliente.” The phrase is equally appropriate when used to describe Real’s most recent acquisitions... (read review)
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Across the land at ten to six each Saturday as traffic lights turn red and the car lurches to a halt, people can be heard asking, “Who scored Bristol City’s first league goal of last season?” (Lee Peacock in the 12th minute of the opening game against Notts County) or “Which Premiership referee showed more yellow cards than any other last term?” (Alan Wiley – 82). Football fans are expected to know these sort of things which is where the ubiquitous football yearbooks come into their own... (read review)
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Towards the end of this book, Paul Gascoigne is asked, “Of today’s younger players, who do you admire?” to which he replies, “Beckham, of course, not just for his football but how he has handled the media and his commercial work. I buggered up all that.” It’s a comment which ultimately the reader may feel is better suited to an appearance nearer the beginning as it effectively sets the tone for the whole 370 pages... (read review)
Release date: 04th May, 2004 Publisher: Fourth Estate
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Jimmy Stirling is the (only slightly) fictional sports journo in The Man Who Hated Football, an immensely funny book which has already been compared with Evelyn Waugh’s journalistic satire, Scoop. The obvious difference between the two is whereas Waugh used the subtlest rapier-like blade to extract humour, Buckley brandishes a machete... (read review)
Release date: 01st May, 2004 Publisher: Parrs Wood Press
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Throughout the book, two particular aspects of the narrative combine to make the experience of the travelling fan appropriately realistic. First, the language, even in the author’s asides, could, at all times, be considered industrial and second, when Blatt celebrates a goal, even on the page of the book, he sounds like one of those crazy Brazilian commentators who prolong their pronunciation of the word ‘goal’ as if to extend the joy of the ball hitting the back of the net: Ggggoooooooaaaaaaaallllll!!!! (read review)
Release date: 19th April, 2004 Publisher: Headline
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A book about the youth teams of Manchester United and Manchester City who clashed in a two-legged FA Youth Cup semi-final in 1964. That might not sound like the basis of a solid, book-worthy idea until the reader considers what happened next. Of the 22 players on show, including one George Best, playing his fourth game in a week (in the second leg) and about to make his international debut for Northern Ireland, 17 of them went on to play for their respective first teams. (read review)
Release date: 11th April, 2004 Publisher: Virgin Books
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Mick Quinn was as far removed from the modern day, calorie-controlled footballer you could imagine. He probably thought pasta was what you did when you walked by a girl, not as though big Mick walked past many, nor could he be relied upon to give a body swerve to a bar... (read review)
Release date: 04th December, 2003 Publisher: Time Warner Books
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Greavsie has recovered from his alcoholism and adapted well to the role of the football fan’s favourite uncle. Like all good uncles, he tells a good tale... (read review)
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Unusually for a footballer’s autobiography, Law pulls no punches when it comes to opinions relating to managers and players and for this, it is a superior read to many of a similar genre... (read review)
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The appropriateness of the comments made on the inside dust cover of this book are uncanny. John Charles’ remarkable story, it says, “should be required reading for every millionaire footballer”, an observation with which it is difficult to disagree... (read review)
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Scoring, the title of McAvennie’s autobiography, is the ultimate double entendre and Frank, as the book suggests, is something of an expert on the topic and we’re not always talking about the ball hitting the back of the net. This is a pity because the most compelling parts of the book are when McAvennie concentrates on football rather than girls... (read review)
Release date: 18th August, 2003 Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton General
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Nobby Stiles is one of those famous ex-footballers whose image has the distinction of being timeless. If he were playing today, no doubt his management advisers could market the Stiles ‘brand’, but it would be difficult to see him in a sarong. (read review)
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It is little wonder that Foul Play is a contender for sports book of the year. The style and pace of the narrative allow it to read like a gripping novel as Thomas leads us through what is a tale of greed on an unbelievable scale... (read review)
