Hi, whilst I'm still wrestling with my layout and trying to incorporate new features into this page, I will leave you with a selection of very good Football books:
Only a Game?: Diary of a Professional Footballer - Eamon Dunphy
Until recent years there was a scarcity of good writing on football. Anodyne biographies and glossy club histories were pretty much all one could find. However, there was one book that broke the mould of football writing and which has been extremely influential on many of the best books on football today: Eamonn Dunphy's Only A Game.
Dunphy was a much-travelled, hardworking and relatively skilful midfielder. Only A Game is his account, in diary form, of the 1973/4 season at Millwall, then in the old second division. The season began with great optimism as Dunphy, realizing that he had not too many years left in football, saw this as perhaps his final opportunity to achieve something significant in his career. His account of how the season quickly turned sour is compelling, and if the end to the ‘story’ is in some ways unsatisfying it is because this is not a fairytale but a slice of reality.
Throughout it is clear that Dunphy has literary aspirations, and he is indeed a good writer. Above all, however, the book has all the best qualities of a personal diary: honesty, frankness, occasional contradictions, and immediacy. Only A Game provides a particularly fascinating insight into a time when professional footballers earned similar salaries to the rest of us, when the game was not awash with money, glamour and foreign stars, and when the ‘hard men’ ruled and matches frequently descended into muddy pitched battles – in this respect the book has genuine historical value. Dunphy is very good when discussing the nature of his profession, and he brilliantly conveys the unglamorous side to the game. As an antidote to the numerous showbiz biographies of footballers, Only A Game is perfect.
Only A Game can be recommended both to football fans and to those who have only a passing interest in the game. By turns it is funny, sad, angry and bitter; but it is unfailingly human. As a work of football writing it is extremely important: Only A Game was one of the earliest books to demonstrate that football could have its own rich literary genre.
Football Against the Enemy - Simon Kuper
Throughout the world, football is a potent force in the lives of billions of people. Focusing national, political and cultural identities, football is the medium through which the world's hopes and fears, passions and hatreds are expressed. Simon Kuper travelled to 22 countries from South Africa to Italy, from Russia to the USA, to examine the way football has shaped them. At the same time he tried to find out what lies behind each nation's distinctive style of play, from the carefree self-expression of the Brazilians to the anxious calculation of the Italians. During his journeys he met an extraordinary range of players, politicians and - of course - the fans themselves, all of whom revealed in their different ways the unique place football has in the life of the planet.
All Played Out, the full story of Italia 90 - Pete Davies
This book highlights the quality of Pete Davies writing. The excellent narrative and analysis is maintained throughout, offering an 'insiders' guide to what really happened with England at the 1990 World Cup. Davies starts by recounting the deciding qualifier in Poland and the warm-up matches, which highlight the pressure felt by Bobby Robson and the constant media scrutiny of the England team and entourage. The book then takes up the story of what it was like to follow England round Italy for a month. Davies interviews all the key figures and mingles with fans of various nationalities to discuss their experiences.
The essential strength of the book is the honesty and trust Davies received from the England manager and players. They were aware that Davies was not seeking to grab sensationalist headlines for the 'brat-pack' gutter-press back home and also that the book would not be appearing until well after the end of the tournament. This gave the major protoganists in England's tournament the chance to speak openly with the author and the results are fascinating, particularly the interview with John Barnes.
Overall, the book is a terrific reminder of England's most successful overseas World Cup. A more literary and authoritative type of football book than something like Fever Pitch, this is a must for any football lovers bookshelf.
Soul Crew - Dave Jones and Tony Rivers
A raw account of the long and violent history of Cardiff City's notorious 'Soul Crew', recognised by police intelligence as the most dangerous group of football hooligans in Britain. Featuring detailed accounts of the gang's formation, its designer label culture and its regular dust-ups with rival football firms across the UK, it pulls no punches and thankfully steers clear of exaggeration and glamourisation. The two authors offer different persepectives in easy-to-read styles - a compellingOne football Hooligan gang has made the headlines more than any other over the past decade: the Cardiff Soul Crew. Formed in the early eighties, it took its name from its followers' love of soul music and brought together disparate mobs from the Welsh capital city and from the surrounding valleys and industrial towns. And it has left mayhem in its wake.
David Jones and Tony Rivers are former members of the Soul Crew and give a riveting insiders account of clashes with the violent crews as far afield aread.s London, Middlesbrough, Plymouth and Glasgow. They desrcibe their intense rivalry with the Jacks of Swansea City, reveal how internal tensions have prevented the gang from having clear leadership, tell of their obsession with the casual Fashion scene and explain how they have forged friendships with fellow terrace obsessives from all over Britain .
Told with black humour and unflinching honesty, 'Soul Crew' is an explosive account of how the hooligan culture has prevailed despite the bestefforts of police, politicians and the football authorities to stamp it out.
El Macca: Four Years with Real Madrid - Steve MacManaman and Sarah Edworthy
El Macca, Four Years with Real Madrid, penned by former Liverpool FC starlet, superstar or 'Spice Boy' in the era that football became commercial success intertwined with sport and pop culture, Steve McManaman writes this maginificently ego-lacking and insightful yet entertaining book which reflects on his intellectual perspective to his time there.
It stands apart in the current World Football situation as perhaps almost as historical document as much as an autobiography complete with anecdotes about what it's like to go and play abroad in the biggest Football club - with the best footballers in the world in this generation. Co-writen by UK Daily Telgraph's Sarah Edworthy (albeit The Telegraph's biases and links with McManaman), and complete with interviews from his ex-colleagues and footballing (who's who list) the book probably will redefine the genre and scape of football autobiographies.
McManaman takes us into the most elusively illustrious of dressing rooms, the backrooms, the Real Madrid folklore, traditions and even gives his take on the political stratosphere that remained until he left and carries ramifications for Real Madrid till this day. The affable Macca, so loved by the Real Madrid Ultrasurs and players and club leadership alike, is as engaging describing part match reviews in his four years, part trophy stories, part anecdotes about lifetime friendships forged in wonderfully congenial anecdotes and humorous stories, and part background macrocosmic perspective about the World of Football celebrity, commercialism and its state of affairs- Presidential worship and dressing-room hierarchies, the impact of football clubs when they cash in on their viability in overseas markets like Asia, and the coining of terms like "Galactico" through the role of the media.
Crucially highlighted too is the hyperbole and corresponding corollary of the cult of celebrity at all cost in football this day- something he describes (Real Madrid being the trend setting microcosmic model for the game) as the 'Disneyfication' of the club, ergo producing a memoir which manages to be both list of games, successes and an intriguing critique of how a massive football club is run. It all may come across as a piece of ostensibly watered down facts until you realise what Steve McManaman's intellect (being one of the most intelligent footballers who started the trend of confining his words to posh broadsheet columns in the 1990s) is capable of conjuring (pun intended for fans of his exciting brand of playmaking in the game), and realise how much he tries to avoid the usual ego laying (he doesn't even make much mention of his popularity with the fans and players) and is willing to look at the objective side of what Real are about rather than carp about how he fell down the pecking order in his final season.
If his football is no mercurial enough, perhaps McManaman's ability to be an objective critic and analyst of the game unlike many in this generation of players still render him a cut above the rest. Others who only see the Beckhams and Owens and fail to see the true gem that whilst on top of the fact that he had gone the road less travelled as the first in his generation 5 years earlier, as the most high profile Bosman transferred and highly paid British export at the time, had also a track record that possibly makes him the most successful export ever. Doubters who dismiss him as a dilettante in Britain will be unable to contend with facts in terms of success- 2 European Cups including scoring in a final which he was Man of the Match, two La Liga titles, a Copa Del Rey and innumerable super cups and finals all across the global circuit before Real's commercial turn. It will also dispel the myth that Macca spent most of his time on the bench as in his first three seasons he appeared 122 times. The honesty with which Macca expresses himself shows part of the reason why he was such a popular figure at the Bernabeu with the supporters - something he himself was reticent to discuss in this book, which says alot about the elegant respect for certain boundaries it carries, unlike most cliched exposes. The commercialisation of Spain's and football's most regal institution is examined in great depth, insight and complete with the right amount of Steve McManaman- affability and the element of someone who is to football, very REAL.
atches Checks and Violence available @ Lulu.com featuring 35 terrace battles including all the major players, West Ham, Chelsea, Man Utd, Pompey, the Zulus, Millwall, England and more
Hey Interesting site here, only thing is that you should have attributed the writers of each review for writing the reviews of the books you have listed. For instance, I read the same review posted on this site of 'El Macca' on Amazon.co.uk and it was by Stephen Thanabalan. It should be attributed to prevent backlash.