Only unearthed a few gems for you again…well some of the same gems as it goes!
It’s been rather a strange year for football. The recession has lightly brushed the mega-rich top flight of English football, yet the spending appears to surge on and by and large we keep turning up to watch.There were some significant changes, England’s national team put together a competent world cup qualifying campaign, Sven descended on Nottingham and while nasty little Dennis Wise disappeared from football the BBC’s long overdue decision to show The Wire revealed a new, rather dignified Dennis ‘Cutty’ Wise to reclaim the name. As they often say, ‘It’s all in the game’.
About this time last year I was confidently predicting that Danny Baker and Danny Kelly’s ‘Great Football Debates Settled Once and for All’ would be the pick of the Christmas publications. This year I’m even more confident in my assertion that Danny Baker and Danny Kelly’s ‘Great Football Debates Settled Once and for All’ will be the football book to hope for in that baggy old Christmas stocking. (Baker’s radio commitments saw the book held back last Christmas – Ed)
Baker has gone through something of a renaissance recently, the original and by a country mile the best football phone-in host is back in the 606 hot seat (albeit a midweek incarnation, the fatuous Green still whines away the Saturday night slot). He’s also showing Radio 5 that there’s no need for their Saturday morning slot to be the equivalent of ITV’s Saturday evening schedule, dumb, dumb, dumb!
In tandem with the equally quick-witted Kelly, they ask the questions and pose the conundrums that your average pub conversation can only dream of. One hopes that their banter can be fully translated to print, but if you do open this one on Christmas morn, then I think you can look forward to the bird.
The football biography, the fan’s favourite and the casual buyer’s exposed ledge. So rarely satisfying despite the occasional interesting life led. So what’s in the mix this year?
Well, Fernando Torres, the prettiest footballer ever, is fluttering those long eyelashes in the hope of hoodwinking those who believe that there might be a story here. Truth is, for all the promise I don’t think he’s got a club medal yet. Spain’s long overdue success last summer can only take up a chapter so one assumes that there’s quite a lot on why his arm is tattooed in Elvish?
Every other biography worth mentioning this year involves ex-players of varying fame and fortune. Many will only be bought by a select band of middle-aged football fans that still hold a connection to the time where their love of football was forged. Alan Curtis, Davie Hay and Joey Jones will sell bucket loads in the club shops of Swansea, Celtic and Wrexham and while there might be a broader interest in the stories of Martin Chivers, Lennie Lawrence and Bob Stokoe, in truth these won’t be bothering the bestseller chart.
Don’t be fooled into thinking that there are no worthy biographies out there...though it rather depends on your definition of worthy. Dwight Yorke’s story, pithily entitled ‘Born to Score’ will undoubtedly attract attention for his revelations of his romancing of Jordan (which makes me wonder whether our editor would allow a Katie Price select for his Celeb XI’s) but whether it counts as worthy is debatable. It would also be a struggle to consider any biography of Harry (the deal) Redknapp, but if it only reveals the number of times he’ll deny doing something the day before it’s revealed as fact, it’ll be worth a go.
Undeniably worthy is the story of Peter Knowles. ‘God’s Footballer’ tells the story of the man who turned his back on the game to become a Jehovah’s Witness. Even in those long forgotten days before Baby Bentleys and Rolex Watches, the idea that someone could walk away from the game was remarkable.
Equally compelling is ‘The Goalie’, the story of Andy Goram. His career for Rangers and Scotland and a spell as an international cricketer is interesting enough. In truth though, we all want to know about the brief psychotic episode that resulted in the classic football chant ‘two Andy Gorams’.
‘The Last Fancy Dan’ tells the tale of Duncan McKenzie, one of the golden generation of entertainers that flourished in the seventies and disappeared, as the game got monied and serious. Beloved in Everton, Leeds, Tulsa and Chicago and the only player to be as famed for his leaping over Mini Coopers as his deft flicks, Mckenzie and his ilk have no real modern day counterpart. The last to come close was Eric Cantona. ‘The Rebel who would be King’ has been knocking around since the summer, but it’s a decent attempt at capturing this singular individual.
The final part of the trilogy of Bobby Charlton biographies is out this winter, after the United and England volumes, we get a more traditional look at the great man’s life. We are not short of Bobby Charlton books but that can’t be said of Bill Shankley. It’s been years since there was a decent book on the father of the Liverpool dynasty and this is a reprint of his biography from the seventies. Not the definitive book we’d like but enough to keep us going for now.
William Garbutt and John Cobbold are important figures in Football. I know there will be one or two of you struggling to remember their impact but trust me. Garbutt is the father of Italian football…no, really! He’s also the reason that Italian and Spanish clubs call their managers ‘Mister’. A fascinating read about a fascinating man. Cobbold is the archetypal genial football director. A role model sadly lacking in the global boardrooms of today’s top-flight. Mr Ipswich ran a gentle regime that allowed Bobby Robson to craft a remarkable story and a club that didn’t know its place. We will probably never see his like again.
So if it's a football biography you want there’s a lot out there, behind the mike Motty and Mark Lawrenson may attract. You’ll find lots on the late Sir Bobby Robson and plenty of ex-professionals from Ardiles to Le Tissier. If I had to recommend one, I’d go for a book that might attract those that claim not to like football, as well as the more balanced of terrace dwellers. Dave Jones’ ‘No Smoke, No Fire’ is more than a football biography. Still vilified despite being completely cleared of all charges, Jones tells his story as frankly and clearly as possible. To still do a job in the public eye, despite everything that has happened to him shows remarkable fortitude and if the book can capture even a hint of all he suffered then it will be worth the publisher’s price.
Personally I like my football books well written and with more than just a one club obsessive enthusiasm. I love my club but I can relate to other’s obsessions as long as there’s something to say. So would I read Brian Glanville’s ‘The Real Arsenal’? Honestly, no. As much as I respect Glanville and as much as Arsenal have a decent history, I think the uncommitted reader needs a little more.
Fortunately, plenty more is available. Take Stephen Foster’s ‘And She Laughed No More’, the follow up to his story of Stoke’s journey to the premier promised land, ‘She Stood There Laughing’. Now I’m no fan of dour Tony and his identikit seven-foot storm troopers, but Foster has a fan’s wit and is able to translate it to the page. If you like your underdogs presenting both fingers to the big boys then this is for you.
The fan’s (one) eyed view, done well, is a rare treat. In a similar vein to Foster, David Cregeen & Jonathan Mumford’s ‘Tales from Gladwys Street’ gives a possibly final fond farewell to an Everton who may soon transform to a corporate team in another faceless stadium. For those wanting to revel in Everton as it is, then this is the book.
Staying in the North for a moment, well heading a little further north if truth were told, let me point you in the direction of ‘Pioneers of the North’, a history of that so-called hotbed of football, the North East. I say so-called as frankly there are more clubs in Greater Manchester and if a city ever needed two clubs it’s Newcastle, but in fairness, it would appear that any football accent that isn’t Scouse is Geordie, so there is some truth. As a book it’s functional and I’d be tempted to recommend you dig out Harry Pearson’s personal Northeast football odyssey, The Far Corner, instead, but it will find an audience.
Going further afield provides some rich pickings. Ian Hawksey’s well-balanced look at African football on the eve of the continent’s first World Cup, ‘Feet of the Chameleon’ is of interest, though personally I might plump for a German eye view of our own game, ‘Englischer Fussball’ by Raphael Honigstein. The author is a regular of the Guardian and its football pod cast and often provides withering comment on his own nation’s quest for dominance. Here he reveals English football’s Dorian Gray-like painting in its attic, do you have the strength of character to take a look?
If the travelling is your thing, then Stuart Fuller’s ‘Passport to Football’ is spot on. One of the growing band of disaffected fans that have turned to the less glamorous corners of world football to get their kicks. It feels a bit like a bound blog, but one salutes his endeavour and fortitude in the face of faceless cut-price airlines.
For the purist this year there’s enough to satisfy even the most jaundiced of Sky viewers. The best gift is Tom Watt’s ‘The Beautiful Game’, the ex-‘stender has edited the thoughts of the game’s most recognisable figures and combined with a relatively inexpensive lavish production, it feels like a proper gift. If you want to get all historical then what about ‘A Develyshe Pastime’, a football history from it’s salty roots to its many spin-offs. A more sober reflection would be Andrew Ward’s ‘Football Nation’, a post-war look at the last 60 years and the game’s unceasing development.
All very worthy, though not as worthy as those perennial stocking fillers, Sky Sports Football Yearbook (aka Rothmans – nostalgic Ed.), Playfair, the European Football Yearbook and the many annuals to tempt the kids. As a rather nice alternative, consider David Goldblatt’s ‘The Football Book’. Goldblatt wrote the best history of football, ‘The Ball is Round’, and he’s the perfect editor for a well-illustrated guide to our favourite game. A very good present for football fans off all eras.
Finally, and often with a heavy heart I turn to the humorous books on this funny old game. How rare it is to find a gem here. This year is no different; it’s always a heck of job trying to sort out which are supposed to be funny from those that unintentionally tickle. I don’t honestly think that the authors and publishers of ‘Manage Like Mourihno’ were aiming at this category, but there it is. Worse still are the ones who want to be funny and fail. Graham Poll’s ‘Geoff Hurst, the Hand of God and the Biggest Rows in Football’ is a combination of some dreadful football themes, the ‘character ref’ and the re-hashing of ‘colourful incidents’, desperate from start to finish. Equally galling is Alan Hansen’s ‘Strangest Football Injuries’. This might have been redeemed by his revealing what had gone on when he suddenly appeared on MOTD sporting a black eye, a few days stubble and some kind of livid burn on his neck? But no, the same old ‘amusing’ injuries are trotted out.
You also get publishers trying to rope in already optioned celebs to poke fun at footy, rarely to any worthwhile end. Witness Ronnie Ancona and Alistair McGowan’s ‘A Matter of Life and Death or How to Wean a Man Off Football’…lame, pointless and crucially, very un-funny.
Outside Baker and Kelly, I’d recommend three, Colin Murray’s ‘Random History of Football’, the Fighting Talk host’s excitable Irish enthusiasm works pretty well on the page. Although it’s not strictly humour, ‘Football’s Comic Book Heroes’ by Adam Riches follows a recent rich vein of reviving our childhood heroes and I’d by happy enough if someone went to the trouble of buying me veteran journalist Michael Henderson’s ‘50 people who f****d up Football’, a footy version of Quentin Letts’ political diatribe of a year or two back. Its strength is that Henderson is a very good writer and has managed to aim his barbs at a fairly unarguable bunch of rogues. Unfortunately, with this kind of book I always think it’s better if the author could easily slip onto the list himself, think AA Gill or the aforementioned Letts. Henderson might be too respected an author to really carry this off.
Having nailed my colours to the mast of Kelly and Baker for a second year running I recognise that it’s worth having an alternative in mind. If the idea of two overweight Londoners laughing at each other’s jokes doesn’t appeal; then I’d happily recommend Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski’s ‘Why England Lose’. A genuinely intelligent look at England’s quarter-final hoodoo and other thought provoking chestnuts. How nice it is to read a book that acknowledges the importance of the money riddled power brokers of English football whilst providing a fresh and insightful global perspective.
Not necessarily a bumper year, but it’ll save you having to pick up that Dan Brown novel! Happy Christmas and may my team (and yours) be still interested in April
9780007323791 Torres: El Nino. Torres, Fernando. Harper Collins £18.99
9780752898513 Stokoe, Sunderland and 73. Hardy, Lance. Orion £18.99
9781845964924 Curt: The Alan Curtis Story. Curtis, Alan. Mainstream £17.99
9781845022662 Quiet Assassin: Davie Hay. Hay, Davie. Black & White £17.99
9781905326747 Big Chiv: My Goal in Life. Chivers, Martin, Hewitt, Paolo. Vision £18.99
9781844548354 Oh Joey Joey. Jones, Joey. John Blake £7.99
9781906635909 Lennie, Lawrence, Lennie. Green Umbrella £14.99
9781845965600 The Goalie: Andy Goram. Mainstream £16.99
9780230742031 Born to Score, Yorke, Dwight. Macmillan £17.99
9781844548064 Harry Redknapp. Rooperine, Les. John Blake £17.99
9781859837207 Gods footballer: Peter Knowles. Gordos, Steve. Breedon £16.99
9780230706347 Cantona: The Rebel who would be King. Auclair, Phillipe, Macmillan £17.99
9781845965600 The Goalie. Goram, Andy. Mainstream £16.99
9781906802066 Bill Shankley:My Story. Shankley, Bill. Trinity Mirror £17.99
9781848185142 Mr John: John Cobbold, Henderson, Mel. Know the Score £12.99
9780755316236 My Life In Football. Charlton, Bobby. Headline £25.00
9781906779405 The Real Arsenal. Brian Glanville. JR Books, £18.99
9781899807826 Wiliam Garbutt: Father of Italian Football. Edgerton, Paul. Sportsbooks £7.99
9781905264681 Motty40 years in the commentary box. John Motson. Virgin £18.99
9780718154806 Lawrenson the autobiography. Mark Lawrenson. Michael Joseph £18.99
9780593062395 Ossie’s Dream. Osvaldo Ardiles. Bantam £18.99
9780007310913 Taking Le Tiss. Matthew Le Tissier. Harper Collins. £18.99
9780297859277 Sir Bobby Robson: A life in football
9781906779405 The Real Arsenal. Brian Glanville. JR Books, £18.99
9781906021627 And She Laughed No More. Stephen Foster. Short Books £8.99
9781899807895 Tales from Gladwys Street. Cregeen and Mumford. Sportsbooks £12.99
9781859837276 Pioneers of the North. Paul Joannou, Breedon. £18.99
9780224080132 Englischer Fussball. Raphael Honigstein. Yellow Jersey £11.99
9781906032715 Feet of the Chameleon. Ian Hawkey. Portico £18.99
9781899807833 Passport to Football, Stuart Fuller. Sportsbooks £14.99
9781747596080 Football Nation. Andrew Ward. Bloomsbury £20.00
9781899807796 A Develyshe Pastime. Graham Hughes. Sportsbooks £17.99
9780810982901 A Beautiful Game. Tom Watt. Abrams £19.95
9781405337380 The Football Book. David Goldblatt. Dorling Kindersley £20.00
9781847323606 European Football Yearbook. Mike Hammond £25.00
9780755319480 Sky Sports Yearbook 2009-10. £20.00
9780755319633 Playfair Football Annual 2009-10 £6.99
9781409112907 A Random History of Football. Colin Murray. Orion £12.99
9781848185104 Manage Like Mourinho. Jose Mourinho. Know the Score £12.99
9781906802387 Alan Hansen’s Strangest Football Injuries. Alan Hansen. Trinity Mirror £9.99
9780007313747 Geoff Hurst, the Hand of God and the Biggest Rows in Football. Graham Poll. Harper Collins £10.99
9781849011525 50 people who F****d up Football. Michael Henderson. Constable £12.99
9780571250547 A Matter of Life and Death. Ancona and McGowan. Faber £12.99
9781845964085 Football’s Comic Book Heroes. Adam Riches. Mainstream £19.99
Why England Lose. Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski
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