From the attacking flair of Real Madrid of the 50s to the defensive brilliance of the Italians in the 60s and onto the total football of the Dutch in the 70s, the European leagues have been where the game has most evolved and taken its biggest steps forward. And over the last three decades, since the rebranding of the Champions League in 1992, that pattern has continued unabated, with each major European footballing nation playing its part in how the game’s tactics have developed.From the intelligent use of space displayed by the phenomenal Ajax team of the early 90s, to the dominance of the highly strategic Italian league in the late 90s and onto the technical wizardry of Barcelona’s tiki-taka, the European game continues to reinvent the tactical dimension of the game, creating blueprints which both club and national teams around the world strive to follow.In Zonal Marking, Michael Cox brilliantly investigates and analyses the major leagues around Europe over specific time periods and demonstrates the impact each has made on how the game is now played. Highly entertaining and packed full of wonderful anecdotes, this is the first book of its kind to take an overview of modern European football, and lays bare just how much the international language of football can be shaped by a nation’s unique identity.

    Football's data revolution has only just begun. The arrival of advanced metrics and detailed analysis is already reshaping the modern game. We can now fully assess player performance, analyse the role of luck and measure what really leads to victory. There is no turning back.Now the race is on between football's wealthiest clubs and a group of outsiders, nerds and rule-breakers, who are turning the game on its head with their staggering innovations. Winning is no longer just about what happens out on the pitch, it's now a battle taking place in boardrooms and on screens across international borders with the world's brightest minds driving for an edge over their fiercest rivals.Christoph Biermann has moved in the midst of these disruptive upheavals, talking to scientists, coaches, managers, scouts and psychologists in the world's major clubs, traveling across Europe and the US and revealing the hidden - and often jaw-dropping - truths behind the beautiful game. 'A book full of exciting ideas and inside views on modern football. The most exciting book in an exciting time for football.' Thomas Hitzlsperger

    Right for the city's beloved NFL wide receiver...——————————————————— She’s playing it safe. He’s playing for keeps. DARCYGrowing up in the foster system, I learned the hard way that lasting love doesn't always come easy. Dating in the modern era can be daunting; the bar scene and dating apps leave you wondering if there's any hope in sight.That's where I come in. Helping you break the “swipe-right” cycle, I’m dedicated to matching you with the love of your life.Finding Mrs. Right for Dax Kendrick should be a piece of cake. Except nothing about this man is simple.DAXThe NFL has given me more than I ever imagined—a roof over my head, food on the table, and a chance to provide for the family who sacrificed everything while I chased my dreams.Maintaining a squeaky-clean image for my sponsors when my paycheck and the fruits of my endorsements are all women want is a hefty challenge.I’d nearly given up when I hired Darcy Cole. Yet the more I’m around her, the less I care about finding my perfect match.Because it might be right in front of me.#SlowBurn #SportsRomance #Contemporary #FriendsToLovers

    Number one draft pick, engaged to an up-and-coming model, and voted best player of the decade his first year on the field. Things were golden. . . until an accident saw everything important torn from his grasp. He’s determined to get his life back, though, and with a strict regime, and no time for a life outside of the game, the last thing he wants is the attention of a curvy college student whose only motto in life is to not take it too seriously. Can an Australian expat show the struggling sports star there’s more to life than the next win? Or has Willow Underwood chewed off a chunk of man-meat too thick for her to swallow? Just Playin’ is a standalone sports romance RomCom that will give you all the feels. It has sexy scenes and several laugh-out-loud moments. This is not tied to any of my other books, and can be enjoyed by itself. AKA: No cliffhangers!

    But in just two years' time, Stoops achieved the seemingly impossible: winning a national championship and returning the struggling Sooners to their powerhouse status, churning out NFL talent, Heisman Trophy winners and conference championships, bowl wins and national title runs on a regular basis.During his 18 seasons at OU, his record was a remarkable 190-48. At only age 56, at the peak of his career, he stunned the college football world by walking away.For the first time, Bob opens up about his career alongside the evolution of the game itself. From his unlikely emergence as a star player at the University of Iowa, to his coaching apprenticeships under giants like Hayden Fry, Bill Snyder, and Steve Spurrier, Stoops recounts how the game he fell in love with as a boy has evolved into a billion-dollar business often compromised by recruiting wars, aggressive agents, overzealous boosters and alumni, and the emergence of the CEO head coach rather than mentor and teacher. Bob holds nothing back while explaining why it was time to step away from the game--and players--he still loves.Told with a rare combination of sincerity, vulnerability, and pure heart, No Excuses is both an engaging and eye-opening football memoir and an unprecedented portrait of a coach of one of the greatest legacy programs in the history of the college game.

    Bacon has received rare access to Jim Harbaugh’s University of Michigan football team: coaches, players, and staffers, in closed-door meetings, locker rooms, meals, and classes. Overtime captures this storied program at the crossroads, as the sport’s winningest team battles to reclaim its former glory. But what if the price of success today comes at the cost of your soul? Do you pay it, or compete without compromising?In the spirit of HBO’s Hardknocks, Overtime delivers a deeply reported human portrait that follows the Wolverine coaches, players, and staffers through the 2018 season, including Harbaugh, offensive stars Shea Patterson and Karan Higdon, NFL-ready defensive standouts Rashan Gary, Devin Bush Jr., and Chase Winovich, second-stringers striving to find their place on the team, and their parents’ reactions to it all. Bacon met with them every week during a season that saw the Wolverines ride a ten-game winning streak to #4 in the nation, then take a beating at the hands of arch-rival Ohio State, led by controversial coach Urban Meyer, Harbaugh’s foil. Overtime also previews the crucial 2019 campaign ahead.Above all, this is a human story. In Overtime we not only discover what these public figures are like behind the scenes, we learn what the experience means to them as they go through it – the trials, the triumphs, and the unexpected answers to a central question: Is it worth it?From the “poet laureate of Michigan football” (according to New York Times’s Joe Drape), and one of the keenest observers of college football, Overtime offers a window into a legendary program and the sport itself that only John U. Bacon could deliver.

    CHASING THE BEAR examines how they did it, revealing along the way their similarities in style, background, football philosophy, and recruiting methods, while providing readers a rare inside look at two of the greatest leaders in the history of sports.Bear Bryant and Nick Saban never met, but they have more in common than either of them realize. Both grew up in small towns -- Bryant in Moro Bottom, Arkansas, a dot on the map, and Saban from Monongah, West Virginia, population five hundred. As a child, Saban pumped gas at his father's service station, washing and waxing cars and doing anything he could to help the business. Bryant's father suffered from multiple physical ailments, which forced Bryant to work to keep the family farm going. Both men knew the value of hard work from the time they were young boys, and both understood that there were no shortcuts to success. But both dreamed of escaping their hometowns, and both used football as the means to do so.Separated by two generations, Bear Bryant and Nick Saban are mythic figures linked by a school, a town, and a barroom debate centering on one question: Which is the greatest college coach of all time?

    He takes them to Chapel Street, where the club’s business is determined, and to America, where it is owned. He takes them into Anfield, where many of the most important moments are defined, and he takes them on to the pitches of the Premier League and the Champions League, as we revisit how Liverpool stormed their way to the top of the Premier League this season.

    The defending champions, Liverpool, versus the plucky underdogs, Arsenal. With the Gunners leading 1-0 in the final minute but desperately needing another goal to take the title, it was, in the immortal words of commentator Brian Moore, ‘Up for grabs now…’Set against the backdrop of recent tragedies at Heysel and Bradford, the undertone of hooliganism, and Margaret Thatcher’s contempt for fans – long before the Premier League as we now know it -- ‘89 is the story of the iconic 1988-1989 Arsenal season, an emotive era in football, and a sporting moment so unusual it felt instantly historic.The game would never be the same again.

    Andy was 11 years old, and Bennell a youth coach with a big reputation for spotting and nurturing young footballing talent. The clubs Bennell worked for and the parents of the boys he coached, trusted and believed in him, inviting him into their lives and their homes. But behind the charismatic mask was a profoundly evil man willing to go to any lengths to satisfy his own dark appetites. Andy has been heralded a hero for speaking up about his horrific experiences at the hands of Bennell, but also at going further to expose the long hidden abuse buried within our nations' best loved sport. His story is only the tip of the iceberg.Andy's childhood was shattered by what happened to him and by the fear and silence that surrounded it. His youthful dreams of playing the game he loved were utterly broken, and years of living with the terrible secret and shame all but destroyed him. He hopes that by coming forward he might encourage others in similar situations to find the courage to speak out. A compelling and relevant story of the dark secret at the heart of football and another chapter in the ongoing expose of institutionalised corruption.

    From its humble beginnings in Canton, Ohio, to its emergence as a sport cherished by millions, all the key moments and famous athletes are honored within the pages of this handsomely produced book. In addition to the lively text, and action and portrait photography, the story of the game and the context in which it grew are animated by original lists, charts, creative statistics, and infographics, along with beautiful photos of the evolving equipment and artifacts essential to the story of the sport. A perfect gift, NFL: 100 Years will be cherished by every football fan, new or old.

    Flares and smoke bombs spread a red mist across Merseyside, explosions of sparkling confetti shot again and again from an air cannon into the blue skies, as the best part of a million Liverpool fans thronged the route, sitting astride traffic lights and hanging out of windows, risking life and limb to get a glimpse of the returning heroes. Jürgen Klopp, lager bottle in hand – one leg slung over the back of the open-top bus – looked at his clenched fists, then extended one finger, then two – until, one by one, he had counted to six. Another huge grin in the pyro glow, before, half-cut, he almost fell off the back of the bus. Liverpool Football Club, Champions of Europe. For a sixth time. This is the story of how Liverpool went from no-hopers in 2015 to the kings of Europe four years later. * * * Paul Tomkins is the author of over a dozen football books, an academic paper on the role football finances play in success, and the novel The Girl on the Pier. In addition, he was a columnist on the official Liverpool website between 2005 and 2012. In 2009 he set up the website The Tomkins Times. * * * Praise for Paul Tomkins and The Tomkins Times: "Phenomenal. Absolutely quintessential reading for Liverpool fans." Redmen TV. “The Tomkins Times is an indispensable website whose diagnosis of all things Liverpool is beyond compare.” LFCHistory.net "Perhaps the most intelligent guide to LFC available on the internet." The Independent on Sunday “Golddust analysis”, John Sinnott, BBC “[Football analysis] is best left to the professionals, like the admirable Mr Tomkins.” The Daily Telegraph

     From the practical aspects on the training ground to the collective strength of the coaching community, some of the smartest minds in the game take you closer to understanding the human aspects required to nurture young professionals. Germany’s model is not perfect and constantly evolving so there’s also a look at what should be the next step for Germany’s coaching after a disastrous 2018 World Cup. As English players look to Germany to further their own careers, Mensch looks at what the wider football world can learn from a country and a coaching culture so clearly in love with the beautiful game.

    

    From NY Times & USA Today bestselling authors J. S. Scott and Ruth Cardello. Coming January 15,2019.

    Some of his most important achievements, however, took place off the playing field as he sought to bring about equity in the league’s hiring practices and peace in his ancestral homeland of Ireland. As a business leader, a philanthropist, a diplomat and the author of the famous Rooney Rule, Dan Rooney was known for his core values, his quiet strength, his effectiveness, and his willingness to talk to and hear from those who disagreed with him. In this poignant account of his father’s life, Jim Rooney takes readers behind the scenes to share stories from his hundreds of hours of interviews with business and political leaders; sports and celebrity influencers; and family members. Part memoir, part business biography, part history book, A Different Way to Win underscores the importance of focusing on the long game and the effectiveness in building consensus in a way that is meaningful and sustainable for decades to come.

     Throughout that journey, the Spanish journalists Lu Martín and Pol Ballús have been embedded with the club, reporting this inside account of how a phenomenal team was constructed: from the recruitment of Guardiola himself, to the backroom staff that provide the platform for his team and the superstar players that have set a new standard in British football. No other sportswriter has had this kind of access to Guardiola and his team during their three seasons in Manchester. The result is exclusive, in-depth interviews and profiles of every key figure at City, and the inside stories on the decisions that have shaped the team, including the defensive transformation that saw Guardiola change his goalkeeper and full-backs ahead of his record-breaking 100-point season of 2017-18; the dinner date with Sergio Agüero that changed the course of the City striker's career; and close-ups on every big game in the thrilling finale to the 2018-19 title race.

    In the history of the game, it has never been easier to gather scheme and strategy information. Top secret plays, game plans, and play call sheets that were once reserved for coaches at the highest-level can easily be found on the internet. Analytics and algorithms fed into super machines are challenging the thought process of traditional game plan and play calling theory. However, the surge of information that is meant to help human decision-making is harming it. Dub Maddox continues the journey from Headset to Helmet and Adapt or Die. In What is Open? he shows coaches and players simple game planning and play calling process that accelerates answers in finding "open." In this book you will learn how to: Identify key frames of reference that read the reality of space advantage. Structure mental models that develop an intuition of open space. Implement three core run and pass scheme strategies that every play should possess. Include different personnel and formations to increase structural strain on a defense. Implement progression platforms that sequence plays into a storyboard format. Advance the ability to game plan an opponent using the R4 grid. Apply concept grids into a workflow that becomes the R4 play call sheet. ...and much more.

    The Packers are, in other words, unlikely candidates to be pro football's preeminent team. And yet nobody in the NFL has won more championships. The story of Titletown, USA, is the greatest story in sports.    Through extensive archival research and unmatched insider access to players and team officials, past and present, Mark Beech tells the first complete rags-to-riches history of the Green Bay Packers, a full chronicle of the most illustrious team in NFL history. The People’s Team paints compelling pictures of a franchise, a town, and a fan base. No other team in pro sports is so bound to the place that gave birth to it. Here is the story of the Packers and of Green Bay — from the days of the French fur traders who settled on the shores of La Baie in the seventeenth century, to the team’s pursuit of its fourteenth NFL championship.     Featuring essays by Peter King, Chuck Mercein, Austin Murphy, and David S. Neft, The People’s Team is a must-have for fans, old and new, and the definitive illustrated history of the most important team in the NFL.

    He would end his adventure eleven months later in Montenegro, having conquered the continent and captured the imagination of its sporting media.His epic journey would pose its challenges. Yet no amount of airport confusion in Iceland, unusual betting activity in Latvia, spectator bans in Albania, disturbances in Kosovo or ropey breakfast buffets in Moldova would make Matt miss a matchday. And then there were the games themselves: showcasing the full spectrum of footballing theatre, from the truly sublime to the utterly ridiculous.Matt's trip would also bequeath him footballing wisdom beyond his imagination. Not only would he learn that Liechtenstein had its very own 'golden generation', but also why one football club in Gibraltar is benefitting from a television gameshow, who in La Liga's mascot is a giant anchovy, how Tony Adams fared in his managerial spell in Azerbaijan, and just what Bosko Balaban is up to these days.This is the story of one fan on a once-in-a-lifetime experience: travelling to Europe's unseen corners, talking with its unsung supporters, and tracing the beautiful game across the breadth of our brilliant, bizarre continent.

    A year earlier, this Hungarian team had won Olympic gold. A year later, they lost agonisingly in the final of a World Cup that they dominated. This is the beginning, middle and end of Hungarian football in the popular imagination.Only, how come the ideas from this team spread around the world? Why do Hungarian managers spring up in Italy, Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, across Europe and the Americas, bringing their secrets with them? And what are the incredible stories they have to tell, of escaping the Nazis and the Soviet communists?How did the history of modern football come to be born in the Budapest coffeehouses of the early twentieth century?Fifteen years in the making, this new book from bestselling football historian Jonathan Wilson is the missing piece of the jigsaw; the forgotten story in football's history, lost in war, in revolution, in death and tragedy.

    He was the football star and I was just another invisible teenage girl. Now, he is a famous quarterback and the bane of my existence. And by bane, I mean his presence has brought back ten years of secrets. Ones I'd thought I'd dealt with. The minute he walks back into my life I become that bumbling teenage girl all over again. I’m not having it! Even if the quarterback only has eyes for me. He's irresistible, too handsome for his own good, cocky, and carrying baggage no one wants. Saxton Crawford has spent years trying to find his mystery girl. Turns out, I'm that girl. I guess I wasn't invisible after all. Bam! Happily ever after right? Nope, not for me. Not with his demons and mine. It’s going to take every ounce of my will power to resist him. So, what would it take to get him to leave me alone? Do I want that? Maybe I should be asking myself… What would it take to win his heart?

    

    

    

    An exhilarating blend of biography and history, Earl Campbell chronicles the challenges and sacrifices one supremely gifted athlete faced in his journey to the Hall of Fame. The story begins in Tyler, Texas, and features his indomitable mother, a crusading judge, and a newly integrated high school, then moves to Austin, home of the University of Texas (infamously, the last all-white national champion in college football), where legendary coach Darrell Royal stakes his legacy on recruiting Campbell. Later, in booming, Luv-Ya-Blue Houston, Campbell reaches his peak with beloved coach Bum Phillips, who celebrates his star runner’s bruising style even as it takes its toll on Campbell’s body.Drawing on new interviews and research, Asher Price reveals how a naturally reticent kid from the country who never sought the spotlight struggled with complex issues of race and health. In an age when concussion revelations and player protest against racial injustice rock the NFL, Campbell’s life is a timely story of hard-earned success—and heart-wrenching sacrifice.

    This is the 2018/19 season review as seen through the author's eyes, and occasionally, those around him. The author chronicled key events as they happened to help evoke memories of a stressful but fulfilling chapter of club history under the guidance of the genius that is Pep Guardiola. Relive every moment as he looks back at City's march towards an unprecedented domestic treble. There are match thoughts, reviews, spoof articles, opinion pieces galore, player ratings a Q & A and much more besides, as we journey together through a momentous 9 months. So sit back and enjoy a period in the club's history that will never be forgotten and perhaps never surpassed. The media adulation may have been scant, but the treble without applause will always be held dear by every single City fan in what was a truly special season.

    Drawing inspiration from the history of the game in our country and some older inspirational Australian football books, Surfing for England - Our Lost Socceroos looks at the players who might have or could have played for Australia but who didn't, for one reason or the other.It starts with Craig Johnston and continues right to the current day with 'righting the wrongs' of those who did want to play for Australia but who had to fight to do so in the landmark FIFA ruling known as the 'Cahill Rule'.The book includes eight pages of colour images highlighting some of our 'lost Socceros'.

    The track record of Jonny Owen and his producers promises a film of critical and commercial importance - loved by all fans of the beautiful game, as well as by fans of the three greatest clubs in the UK. Together these three clubs have a combined 170,000 season-ticket holders, and social-media followings worldwide of over 200,000,000 people.

    A blunt, opinionated leader, football's own 'Khrushchev' upset many with his views; but he was one of the first to run a club on businesslike lines, and oversaw a production line of top players then sold on to sustain his vision. From barrow boy to chairman of his beloved local club, the self-styled 'Lord of Burnley' built three fine teams during his tenure. He routinely banned reporters, and alienated fans and football's hierarchy alike. He was scornful of the latter, couldn't abide 'the Continentals' or football cheats, and constantly rebelled against entrenched, outdated views. Lord became a member of the Football League Management Committee and foresaw many aspects of the future of the game - though eventually only death spared him the humiliation of an FA inquiry into Burnley's finances. He remains as relevant, as provocative and divisive as ever - a legendary football figure to rank alongside Busby, Shankly or Clough.

    How did the Big 12 conference, with its smaller populations and flyover country, become the frontier for a trend that is defining modern football?

    Being a footballer is not just kicking a ball about with twenty-one other people on a big grass rectangle. Sometimes being a footballer is about accidentally becoming best mates with Mickey Rourke, or understanding why spitting is considered football’s most heinous crime.In How to be a Footballer, Peter Crouch took us into a world of bad tattoos and even worse haircuts, a world where you’re on the pitch one minute, spending too much money on a personalised number plate the next. In I, Robot, he lifts the lid even further on the beautiful game. We will learn about Gareth Bale’s magic beans, the Golden Rhombus of Saturday night entertainment, and why Crouchy’s dad walks his dog wearing an England tracksuit from 2005. Whether you’re an armchair expert, or out in the stands every Saturday, crazy for five-a-side or haven’t put on a pair of boots since school, this is the real inside story of how to be a footballer.

    It is a delightful reading for any football follower. The book describes the maestro’s uphill journey in life and is told with all candidness and brutal clarity. It’s an engrossing story of a dream journey for a little boy from pre-independent India who went on and was awarded the FIFA Order of Merit, the highest honor awarded by FIFA.

    Along with an intimate view of the team and their historic season, readers are given a clear perspective of a crucial point in Kansas City’s history, when the Heart of America stood on the verge of becoming a thoroughly modern American city.The year 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of this legendary season in Kansas City sports history—when the Kansas City Chiefs reached the pinnacle of pro football, defeating the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IV to become world champions. Experience the magic of this epic journey through the words of award-winning writer, Michael MacCambridge, and pictures, including a treasure trove of photographs from Rod Hanna, the Chiefs’ team photographer during that historic season (many never-before-seen). You’ll join the Chiefs on their extraordinary journey, from the heat of training camp at William Jewell College in Liberty, to the adversity of losing quarterback Len Dawson to an early-season injury, to the triumph of upset playoff wins over the defending world champion New York Jets and the arch-rival Oakland Raiders, to the final triumph in Super Bowl IV, after one of the most chaotic Super Bowl weeks ever.This lavish book documents how the Chiefs revolutionized pro football, transformed the way the rest of the nation saw Kansas City, and helped Kansas Citians see themselves more clearly. Whether you’re a longtime Chiefs fan who wants to relive that thrilling season, or a younger Chiefs diehard seeking to better understand why the Chiefs of that era were so beloved, this is the book for you.

    From Triumph to Tragedy is the glorious, uplifting but ultimately tragic story of Chapecoense, the small-town Brazilian football club that made worldwide news following their meteoric rise from non-league to continental sensation.Yet the headlines that will be remembered centre on the air disaster en route to what should have been their greatest ever match.Less than ten years after the local mayor had intervened to save the club from liquidation, Associacao Chapecoense de Futebol had become champions of the Santa Catarina State Championship.At the summit of the Brazilian national league structure, they also qualified sensationally for the final of the Copa Sul Americana.The team of rejects and journeymen became heroes not just in their own city, but also to the whole nation.But the final was never to take place, as tragedy struck to render all those triumphant nights insignificant.Could the club now stage one more incredible recovery to allow Era Chape to continue, rather than to accept their fate as the tragic team beloved in fans' memories?

    Manchester United away against Crystal Palace at a packed-out Selhurst Park. Eric Cantona, United's mercurial talisman, has been man-marked closely all game by Richard Shaw and become increasingly frustrated. In the 48th minute, Cantona’s temper boils over and he kicks out at Shaw. The ref shows him a red card. On his way off the pitch, a Palace fan rushes towards the hoardings to hurl abuse. The Frenchman loses it. He launches into the crowd, aiming a kung-fu kick at the fan’s chest. He is forcibly restrained and then taken off down the tunnel. The football world is stunned. Nothing like this has ever happened before.What followed has entered football folklore: the media furore, the seagulls following the trawler, and the longest domestic ban ever handed to a player; it would end up lasting 250 days. As Manchester United’s campaign stuttered towards a trophy-less conclusion, surrendering the league on the last day of the season and losing the FA Cup final, Cantona withdrew from the public eye. But, behind closed doors, Ferguson was planning the most remarkable of fresh starts for his star player and for a new-look United.250 Daystells the story in brilliant detail of one of the most turbulent times in United’s recent history. Showing Cantona in a new light, and the genius of Ferguson’s man management and vision in close relief, it is an incredibly entertaining and insightful look at the most controversial episode of the Premier League era.

    

    Split into two separate, but closely linked, sections, Tangled Up in Blue: The Rise and Fall of Rangers FC gives the full account of both of these stories. Stephen O'Donnell explores how Rangers first became associated with hard-line Protestantism, dominating Scottish football for decades without ever knowingly signing a Catholic footballer, until the feted arrival of Maurice Johnston at Ibrox in 1989. He then switches focus to the club's financial affairs, as Rangers' unsustainable spending brought the club to the brink of collapse and, despite the hidden benefits of an illegal tax avoidance scheme, resulted in its liquidation.

    Capturing more than a century of struggles, this stirring cultural history traces the evolution of women’s participation in sports in Latin America, from physical education to amateur clubs to the creation of national teams.

    Bright played top-level football for most of his career, after starting in non-league while working as an apprentice engineer. He appeared in FA and League Cup finals, played abroad and experienced the change which swept through the game with the introduction of the Premier League.But this book is not just about Bright's time in the game. This is the story of someone who battled against the odds to achieve his dream. It is the story of a boy coping with the bewildering and frightening circumstances of being taken into care with his brother when both were very young. It is the story of his fractured family with a father who arrived in England from the Gambia, met a girl from Stoke-on-Trent, and then very quickly disappeared from his children's lives.It is the story of a mother who was unable to take responsibility for the boys she had given birth to, and it is the story of how a young Mark and his brother Philip found comfort and security after being fostered by a caring, loving white family whilst having to endure racism throughout their childhood, which included being referred to as 'darkies' by officials from the local authority that presided over their foster care. Above all, it is the story of a boy who had an unshakeable belief in his own ability to succeed in one of the most ruthless and high-profile professions in the world of sport.My Story explores Mark's life both on and off the football pitch, containing material he has never spoken of or addressed in the past. It delves into the highs and lows he experienced as a player and as a human being. He writes candidly about the racism he encountered, about the game itself, about those who work in it, about the way in which football has changed, the money it now generates, and about the characters he met along the way.

    The first part is the Expansive Game Model which has been revised from the first book. The second part of this book is a collection of Session Plans which go hand in hand and, indeed, compliment the Game Model and provide a coach with the resources to be able to implement their Game Model into their training sessions and games.

    Where to start? In First-Time Coach: Youth Football, a veteran youth football coach takes you through the ins and outs of guiding a team. In these pages you will find guidance on preseason planning, preparing and running efficient practices, designing an offense and defense, managing your team on game day, and more. You will also find sample depth charts, call sheets, scouting forms, and practice planning templates. And if you need help coming up with an offense, we have included six runs and six passes to get you started. First-Time Coach: Youth Football will help you navigate this challenging, rewarding journey. Designed for coaches of players 8 to 12, First-Time Coach: Youth Football is intended for new coaches who enjoy football and may have helped out with intramural sports – soccer, tee ball, flag football, etc. – and whose organized football playing experience ended in high school if not earlier; and coaches who have served as an assistant football coach at a higher level like college or high school, but are unfamiliar with the idiosyncrasies of coaching little kids.

    With Rich it was “what you see is what you get.” He backed up what he taught on film and did it well. I left the clinic and my visit with Rich with a great appreciation of his insights and education on the ever-growing game of football.This book, Throwing It Forward: The Evolution of the Air Raid 3.0, is a work that takes the reader into the modern world of spread passing but also so much more. The reader is exposed to the elements of the run game, the quick game, the drop back passing game, and the screen game. It explores the red zone and provides extensive conversation on the rationale and game planning for the modern spread offense. Chip Kelly Head Coach UCLA Football While The Surface to Air System will always have its roots in the Air Raid, we continuously allow our branches to reach further and further from our trunk in order to find newer and better ways to move the football. This evolutionary and inquisitive nature is what puts myself and S2A firmly in the Air Raid 3.0 world and ready to embrace new possibilities well into the future.The Air Raid is a great offense and a game changer in the world of spread offensive football. It is an ongoing journey and someday there will likely be an Air Raid 4.0 as coaches continue to grow and evolve and test the boundaries of football. I have always tipped my hat to Hal Mumme and those great Air Raid coaches that started the system as it provided the basis for what I have always done. I am now close to embarking on my 21st year coaching high school football and I still run many of the same concepts that Air Raid 1.0 coaches would call. However, I have created my own ID system for the defense, a unique signaling and communication system, and a revolutionary way to read RPOs and to teach quarterbacks. This offense continues to evolve everyday. Upgrade your operating system to 3.0. Rich Hargitt Co-Founder of The Surface to Air System and Head Football Coach Emmett High School, Emmett, ID

    Where does a coach looking to build a youth football playbook start? 114 Youth Football Plays includes a wide variety of running and passing plays encompassing multiple concepts and formations. These complementary plays have proven to be effective for tackle football players age 8 through 12. In these pages you will find plays that will fit any coach’s philosophy and any team’s personnel. Each play is diagrammed, each player’s assignment detailed. In addition, this book includes eight defensive formations, suggested special teams alignments, and more!

    Enchanted with effortlessly stylish bars and colourful buildings, this is a charismatic metropolis doused in the endless sun of southern Spain. The city is also home to two historic institutions of Spanish football - Real Betis and Sevilla - and when they go head-to-head to contest El Gran Derbi, the rest of Spain can only watch in awe. This is a pulsating and arresting experience which encapsulates the beautiful game in all its raw, spellbinding brilliance. Spanish football is more than Barcelona and Real Madrid. Much more. The city contrasts uptown Sevilla with downtown Betis. Los Rojiblancos pitted against Los Verdiblancos. Sevillistas and Beticos. Nothing can compare to this beautiful city and the crazy passion for football that it produces, either in Spain or Europe. Colin Millar - who made the city his home - charts the illustrious histories of football in the city and explores how both clubs represent a way of life for Sevillanos.

    This thoughtful footballer gives his views on the experiences and personalities that have helped to shape his career.

    They play under the auspices of CONIFA—the Confederation of Independent Football Associations—created to help express the cultural identities of soccer's "stateless peoples," fighting for recognition on the biggest stage of all. Here are incredible human and sporting stories from diverse regions: from Matabeleland in Zimbabwe, still recovering from massacres 30 years ago, to Tuvalu in the south Pacific, threatened with inundation. Aided by wonderful behind-the-scenes access at London's 2018 CONIFA World Football Cup, and the irresistible willpower of sportsmen and women trying to make their stories heard, Forgotten Nations explains why 11,000 people crammed into a tiny stadium on the Black Sea coast in 2016 to watch two teams that most of the world has never heard of.

    The Fourmidables were the first club to win back-to-back Premier League titles in ten years and won an historic clean sweep of all four domestic trophies. Records tumbled and goals were scored by the bucketload by this incredible team and the Club has produced a fantastic keepsake to mark this moment in history.This official perfect bound magazine celebrates City's 2018/19 season with exclusive Club content and amazing images from Manchester City's official photographers. Fans are taken through each game, into the dressing room and given all the best reaction from the squad and manager and a final goodbye to skipper Vincent Kompany not to mention a feature on our double cup-winning Manchester City Women's team. The ultimate souvenir for any Manchester City fan, on sale just days after the season came to a triumphant conclusion

    The best sports coaches get their success because of their ability to connect and relate to their athletes. The experiences athletes have generally come from the environment created by the coach. As a coach, you can help optimise this environment by the way you connect with your athletes, and how you communicate to them.‘Gold Dust: How To Become A More Effective Coach, Quickly’ delves deeper into the importance of building connections in sporting environments, and how you can do it. The foundations, skills, techniques and behaviours within the book will enable you to create an environment that makes for a better experience for you and your athletes.This book has got stories and experiences from coaches at the top of their game across different sports, including First Team Managers, Head Coaches, Academy Managers and Elite Youth Coaches.You will learn techniques around:•How you can optimise your athletes learning•How you can optimise your athletes performance•How you can optimise the environment you coach in•How you can make your athletes feel better about what it is they doJust imagine if you could become a more highly effective coach through the use of connection and communication.This book is dedicated to Dick Bate. The footballing circle lost a pioneer, a maverick and one of the finest coach educators the World has seen when Dick passed away in April 2018. The thousands of coaches that had the pleasure to observe his captivating sessions were in the presence of greatness. His sessions were constantly filled with unparalleled technical detail that always ignited the imagination of those present. In dedication to Dick, 10% of profits from this book will be donated to The Giles’ Trust, the brain tumour fund within the University Hospital Birmingham Charity.

    In 'From Partition to Solidarity: The first 100 years of Polish Football', Ryan Hubbard attempts to show that, however separate the subjects may seem, an inextricable and often fascinating link between the two has always existed.The book is split into six acts, each covering a different era of the country's recent history:• "A Partitioned Poland" details the early years of Polish football, in a 'country' battling for independence from its three partitioning rulers.• "A Reunified Poland" recounts the creation of league and cup competitions, and the early years of the national team, against the backdrop of a country struggling to both establish and identify itself in a vastly changed Europe.• "An Occupied Poland" tells of how Poles, decimated and displaced due to the bloodiest conflict in human history, used football to keep spirits high - often despite the risks in doing so.• "An Oppressed Poland" focuses on Poland being dragged under the wing of the Soviet Union, and the country's successes on an international stage at a time when oppression was rife back at home.• "A Rebellious Poland concentrates particularly on the 1980s, and the role that football played in the fight to bring down communism.• "A Free Poland" touches on Poland's transformation into a western-style democracy, and dealing with the problems which for years had been hidden by communist cover-ups.Starting from its humble beginnings in Austrian-partitioned Poland, and ending a century later in a post-communist world, it is difficult to ignore the impact that 123 years of partition, two world wars and over 40 years of Soviet puppetry has had on a rapidly developing Polish game.Through the stories of Ernest Wilimowski, Kazimierz Deyna, Zbigniew Boniek and many more, 'From Partition...' tells the astonishing history of Polish football like no other book has done before.

    Plus my highs - and a few too many lows - playing for England. There isn't a current player who's been playing Premier League football as long as I have, and that gives me a pretty rare perspective into how the top-flight game has changed over the past seventeen years.In this book, I explain how a footballer's working week unfolds - what we eat and how we prepare for matches technically, tactically, mentally and physically - and talk you through the ups and downs of a matchday. I reveal my penalty-taking techniques, half-time team talks and the differences between playing against Lionel Messi, Wilfried Zaha and Jimmy Bullard. I've played for managers ranging from Terry Venables, Peter Reid and Sir Bobby Robson to Martin O'Neill, Fabio Capello and Jurgen Klopp. I tell you what it's like sharing a training ground and a dressing-room with team-mates such as Lee Bowyer, Mario Balotelli and Mo Salah. I also reveal the behind-the-scenes work that went into Liverpool's Champions League success - and the celebrations that followed.So this isn't an autobiography. The whole point of Ask A Footballer is that you, the fans, asked me questions and I have used my own experiences to answer them. I hope you like it, and don't find it too boring.

    As its popularity has grown so has its monetary value. Kieran Maguire looks at the different ways in which professional football operates as a business – how clubs make their money, or more commonly, lose it. In particular he analyses how success is measured by the different and often competing stakeholders in football clubs – owners, managers, fans, players, commercial partners and the media. Throughout, he draws on a range of case studies using the finances of professional clubs in the UK and overseas to show how the traditional profit based approach of limited companies applies to football.The book begins by interrogating the balance sheet, income statement and cash flow statement of the football club and explains how assets are financed and how clubs account for players in different ways. The supply and demand of players and managers is examined, including the reasons for the rise in wage levels at the elite end and how clubs account for player acquisitions, disposals, contract extensions and loans. How clubs are traded, why they are bought and sold, and how they are valued is contrasted with other businesses. The rich variety of ownership models is explored, from the overseas government wealth fund (Manchester City), the wealthy individual's vanity project (Chelsea, Newcastle) to the brand extension of private companies (Bayer Leverkuesen) and the cooperative ownership model championed by Barcelona. How ticket prices, the benefits and costs of television rights and the success or otherwise of brand monetization impact on the finances of clubs are all explained as well as the main causes of financial distress and why some clubs may be too big to fail.At a time when many commentators are bemoaning the effects of “too much money” in the game, this clear-headed and rigorous analysis and presentation of the financial imperatives and challenges facing football will be welcomed not only by students of the industry, but by the wider consituency of fans and supporters.

    It seems unlikely that you will be able to move the ball with a simple ground and pound approach to offense. What to do? In Read Option Offense for Youth Football, a veteran youth football coach takes you through an offensive approach that emphasizes spacing, speed, and reads over brute force. You will learn the philosophy behind this offense, formations, and plays, in addition to practice drill setups. By the time you are finished you will be ready to install an offense that chews up yardage and lights up the scoreboard.

    

    I am the shop window and he is the goods in the back.’ Often outrageous and always compelling, Peter Taylor and Brian Clough’s partnership shook the very foundations of the footballing world. They took two peripheral clubs – Derby County and Nottingham Forest – from the sleepy backwaters of East Midlands football to international renown. The first to pay £1 million for a player and the first to win two European Cups and two League Cups in successive seasons, their journey was a whirlwind of trophies, record-breaking transfers, bust-ups and sackings.In a first-hand account told with immense candour, Taylor reveals the highs and lows of their relationship, and details the events that led to their unprecedented success.Originally published in 1980 and available now for the first time in forty years, With Clough, By Taylor is the definitive account of the partnership that revolutionised English football and the trade of the football manager.

    With co-author Dr. Erkut Sögüt the agent of elite footballing talent, including Mesut Özil, the book encapsulates all the necessary guidance for those wanting to get into the industry, or simply interested in hearing about how the world of football agency works in general. 'How much do football agents get paid?’, ‘How do the transfer and contracts of elite football players work?’, ‘How can players and agents still earn money once they retire?’ – all these and more are well-document in this edition, with the simple format and structure enabling you to pick up all the necessary information. Building on Football Agent Education’s first book, the latest from the team has more chapters, more practical guidance, and more views of top agents around the world. This includes the opinions of four members (including Dr. Erkut Sögüt himself) present on FIFA’s select football agent commission, as well as example contracts and case studies. In addition, Arsenal Invincible and World Cup winner Robert Pires gives an amazing foreword, adding his views and experiences with agents during his career, and since retirement too. This book can give you the opportunity and the skillset for a successful career in the exhilarating game of football or indeed any client-based business. No matter your age, nationality or background, being a football agent is only a few realistic steps away.

    Ted Koy, halfback, Texas Longhorns, 1969 National ChampionsSports Historian Matthew DiBiase expands the boundaries of college football history with Lords of the Gridiron: College Football's Greatest Coaches. This groundbreaking book boldly goes where no other college football book has ever gone before: revealing and ranking the 50 greatest college football coaches of all time using an analytical rating system.This book profiles past college football coaching immortals Bear Bryant, Bud Wilkinson, Joe Paterno, Knute Rockne, and Darrell Royal alongside present day coaching greats Nick Saban, Urban Meyer, and Dabo Swinney.Celebrating 150 years of college football Lords of the Gridiron: College Football's Greatest Coaches contains memories and insights from college coaching legends Urban Meyer, Tom Osborne, Bobby Bowden, Lou Holtz, Mack Brown, Bob Stoops, Steve Spurrier, Phillip Fulmer, Vince Dooley, and Jim Tressel who discuss their influences, their offensive and defensive tactics, their motivational approaches to coaching and the highlights of their glorious coaching careers.Lords of the Gridiron: College Football's Greatest Coaches also reveals the tactical innovations created by the coaches featured in this book. The great games in college football history are discussed in detail: the 1957 Oklahoma vs. Notre Dame Game; Nebraska vs. Miami in the 1984 Orange Bowl; and Texas vs. USC in the 2006 Rose Bowl for example. The great players are featured here as well like Jim Thorpe, George Gipp, Herschel Walker, and Peyton Manning for instance.Lords of the Gridiron: College Football's Greatest Coaches is a must read for all college football fans throughout America because all the great college football programs are celebrated in this book: Alabama, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, USC, Penn State, Nebraska, Texas, Michigan, Florida State, and Ohio State to name a few.This book resolves (or renews) the argument about who were the greatest college football coaches of all time.

    "Provides an overview of the history of the Oakland Raiders football team, highlighting popular players, influential coaches, and more, and discusses the team's move to Las Vegas for the 2020 season"--Provided by publisher.