Louis. Everything changed in 1994, when Robert Kraft acquired the franchise and soon brought on board head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady. Since then, the Patriots have become a juggernaut, making ten trips to the Super Bowl, winning six of them, and emerging as one of the most valuable sports franchises in the world. Today, the team’s twenty-year reign atop the NFL stands as the longest in league history. How was the Patriots dynasty built? And how did it last for two decades? In The Dynasty, acclaimed journalist Jeff Benedict provides richly reported answers in a sweeping account based on exclusive interviews with more than two hundred insiders—including team executives, coaches, players, players’ wives, team doctors, lawyers, and more—as well as never-before-seen recordings, documents, and electronic communications. Through his exhaustive research, Benedict uncovers surprising new details about the inner workings of a team notorious for its secrecy. He puts readers in the room as Robert Kraft outmaneuvers a legion of lawyers and investors to buy the team. We listen in on the phone call when the greatest trade ever made—Bill Belichick for a first-round draft choice—is negotiated. And we look over the shoulder of forty-year-old Tom Brady as a surgeon operates on his throwing hand on the eve of the AFC Championship Game in 2018. But the portrait that emerges in The Dynasty is more rewarding than new details alone. By tracing the team’s epic run through the perspectives of Kraft, Belichick, and Brady—each of whom was interviewed for the book—the author provides a wealth of new insight into the complex human beings most responsible for the Patriots’ success. We watch the NFL’s savviest owner treat Brady like a son, empower Belichick to cut and trade beloved players, and spend sleepless nights figuring out diplomatic ways to keep Brady and Belichick together for two decades. We come to understand how a genius head coach keeps his players at an emotional distance and blocks out anything that gets in the way of winning. And we experience the relentless drive, ferocious competitive nature, and emotional sensitivity that allows Brady to continue playing football into his forties. The result is an intimate portrait that captures the human drama of the dynasty’s three key characters while also revealing the secrets behind their success. This is perhaps the most compelling and illuminating book that will ever be written about the greatest professional sports team of our time.

    He had his critics, but his power was never seriously challenged until last year, when Mark Tighe and Paul Rowan published a sequence of stories in the Sunday Times containing damaging revelations about his personal compensation and the parlous financial situation of the FAI. Delaney's reputation as a great financial manager was left in tatters. He resigned under pressure, and the FAI was left hoping for a massive bail-out from the Irish taxpayer.In Champagne Football, Tighe and Rowan dig deep into the story of Delaney's career and of the FAI's slide into ruin. They show how he surrounded himself with people whose personal loyalty he could count on, and a board that failed to notice that the association's finances were shot. They detail Delaney's skilful cultivation of opinion-formers outside the FAI. And they document the culture of excess that Delaney presided over and benefited from, to the detriment of the organization he led.Champagne Football is a gripping, sometimes darkly hilarious and often enraging piece of reporting by the award-winning journalists who finally pulled back the curtain on the FAI's mismanagement.

    No way in hell am I falling for that line again.But Liberty is the complete opposite of my ex—she’s smart, compassionate, sexy as hell, and couldn’t care less about my money or status.In fact, she’s leaving as soon as she finishes her doctorate.And the baby she’s planning to raise alone? It’s mine—and I want them both.She certainly doesn’t need me, but she can’t deny our sizzling chemistry.I can’t deny that I’m losing my infamous control and falling for her.For the first time in my life, I’m not the only one calling the plays, and one snap decision could crush our happily ever after.

    But that ain’t happening. Which is just the cherry on top of the crap sundae that is his life.His football career is hanging by a thread.His mom isn’t speaking to him.His hometown is out for his blood.And Tiger Lyons, the girl he did wrong in high school, is supervising the renovation of his new home … and living in his pool house. How’s the league’s premier quarterback supposed to rehab his battered body and regain his starting position, when the woman who still owns a piece of his heart—and now hates his ever-loving guts—is in his face 24/7? Don’t miss Homecoming King—a hilarious enemies-to-lovers, arrogant football player with a heart of gold, sassy heroine rebuilding her life, small-town sports romcom.

    . .The final whistle blows at Anfield and we have beaten Wolves 2-0 but I know that we have been pipped to the Premier League title on the final day of the season by our rivals Manchester City – despite our record league points total. The hairs on the back of my neck stand up as the fans defiantly sing ‘We Shall Not Be Moved’.July 22, 2020 . . .I watch Hendo dance and thrust the Premier League trophy into the sky at a near-deserted Anfield after a fifteen-month spell in which we have become European Cup, Super Cup and, for the first time, World Club Cup winners.Robbo: Now You’re Gonna Believe Us is the inside story of an unrivalled period in the illustrious history of Liverpool Football Club – as seen through my eyes.Taking you behind the scenes at Anfield and Melwood, I’ll reveal how it all happened – how doubters turned to believers and brought the league title home after a thirty-year wait.From the dressing room to the pitch, this is my story of our year to remember.

    A collaborative book, written and edited in just 11 weeks, that examines college sports through the lens of an Old West that never existed, but feels very familiar.

    And I have the perfect opportunity when my boss asks me to dig into the rookie wide receiver, Gavin Keller. Coming from a family of football stars, he’s my chance to write a huge story about the newest Keller to go pro. I need to get to know the man under the pads. Is he an arrogant entitled player or is there a side to him no one knows about?The more I watch Gavin at practice and when he mentors young athletes, the more I realize he’s nothing like I thought. He’s a leader, someone the fans can rally behind. The more I see, the more I like him—not the player. And the looks he gives me say he feels the same.As we get closer, I'm tempted to break my no-player rule. But if anyone finds out, it’s my job on the line. Giving in would mean losing everything.GavinI've always had more to prove than any of my teammates. I know what everyone says about me. Since the first time I touched a ball, I've been living in the shadow of my family's football legacy. My life is focused on my game and giving back and nothing else. I'm not giving anyone another reason to talk. That's until the new reporter, Lexie Austin appears on the sidelines in her skin-tight tailored suits and sky-high heels. They say she’s only here because of her looks, just like they say I’m only here because of my name.So what if everyone is as wrong about her as me? She’s more than a pretty face and I’m playing better than ever with her watching. It's starting to feel like she’s my personal good luck charm. She doesn’t care about my last name, my signing bonus, or my star potential. She wants to know me.I want her in my bed, by my side, and in my life. Now I just have to convince her that if she falls, it'll be the luckiest catch I ever make.

    Jerry McGee, a man who wore stripes for decades as one of the most highly-decorated officials in college football history. In Sidelines and Bloodlines, Ryan McGee teams up with his father and brother to share lessons learned between the white lines, featuring a cast of characters that runs from no-name small college athletes and coaches to one-name legends such as Holtz, Paterno, Tebow, and Bo. The McGees provide a rare and often hilarious glimpse inside the lives of college officials, detailing how a love for the game convinces accomplished professionals from all walks of life to voluntarily endure ceaseless insults, public criticism, and the expressed goal of doing one’s job on a very public stage in a way that will hopefully NOT draw any attention to how that job is done. From hilarious stories of brawling high school referees and making awkward small talk with George Lucas and Darth Vader at the Rose Bowl to the heart-tugging story of young sons in the stands on a Saturday as a stream profanity-laden insults directed at their father drowns out the marching band, Sidelines and Bloodlines delivers laughs, tears, and a deeper understanding of a life in stripes.

    The Reds became the first team in British history to hold the European Cup, Super Cup, World Club Cup and domestic league title simultaneously in a masterclass of free-scoring, full throttle footballing prowess.Journalist Melissa Reddy reveals the inside story of Jürgen Klopp’s astonishing revival of Liverpool, culminating in the club’s first domestic league trophy in thirty years. Featuring incisive and insightful reporting, and the thoughts of players, management and club hierarchy, Believe Us paints a vivid picture of this titanic sporting success. Reddy’s unparalleled access to the club brings interviews with everyone from fans and key backroom staff to players including talismanic captain Jordan Henderson, and of course Klopp himself.The perfect gift for any fan of the club or its inimitable leader, this is heavy metal football writing at its best.

    

    I was Quinn Miller: record breaking running back, professional football’s favorite rags-to-riches story, all-around good guy. What’s not so easy? Repairing your reputation after mistakes both on and off the field leave you labeled as a disgrace to the league.With only one team willing to give me a chance, I had no time for a relationship. But, after one night with Georgia Reed, the hopeless romantic with fiery red hair and an attitude to match, I was hooked. With Georgia cheering me on, it didn’t feel like the world was against me anymore.That was, until her father stepped into the locker room as my new head coach. Finding the woman of my dreams was the easy part; it was keeping her that would be the hardest play of all.

    Fiercely loyal, organised, political and violent, they are a hugely visible and controversial part of the global game, their credo and aesthetic replicated in almost every league everywhere on earth. Their global movement of extreme fandom and politics is also one of the largest youth movements in the world, yet they remain enigmatic: an anti-establishment force that is transforming both football and politics. In this book, James Montague goes underground to uncover the true face of this dissident force for the first time.1312: Among the Ultras tells the story of how the movement began, emerging from the terraces of post-war Italy, the Balkans and Brazil, and how it has become a global phenomenon that now dominates the stadiums of Madrid, Munich, Moscow and Buenos Aires. With unique insider access, the book explains how ultras have grown into a fiercely political movement that embraces extremes on both the left and right; fighting against the commercialisation of football and society, the resettlement of refugees, the rise of fascism, opposition to dictators and the attempts to control them by the authorities who both covet and fear their power.It’s an unforgettable look at the volatile new forces in football, at a time when people power and anti-establishment voices are redefining politics – sometimes for better, sometimes for worse.

    Now, a generation later, Harry Pearson returns to the region to discover how much things have changed - and how much they have remained the same.  In the mid-1990s, Kevin Keegan brought sporting romance and expectation of trophies to Newcastle, Sunderland moved the the Stadium of Light backed by a wealthy consortium, Middlesbrough signed one of the best Brazilians of the era and won their first major trophy - even little Darlington had a former safe-cracker turned kitchen magnate in charge, promising the world. The region even provided England's two key players in Euro 96 in Alan Shearer and Paul Gascoigne - the far corner seemed destined to become the centre of England's footballing world. But it never happened. Using travels to and from matches in the 2018-19 season, The Farther Corner will explore the changes in north-east football and society over the past twenty-five years. Visiting new places and some familiar ones, catching the stories, the sentiment and the sound of the supporters, locating where football now sits in the life of a region that was once proud to be what John Arlott suggested was ‘The Hotbed of Soccer’, it will be about love and loss and the happiness to be found eating KitKats and joking about Bobby Mimms on cold February days in coal-scented northern air. The region may have been left behind in the Champions League stakes, but few would doubt the power of its beating heart.

    My grandfather, my father, Maria Eugenia, my sister, were all considered mad and I was as well. The reason was that we took a different path to everybody else.'Rafael Bielsa, Marcelo's brother, Foreign Secretary of Argentina, 2003-05. Marcelo Bielsa is one of football's greatest eccentrics and greatest enigmas. He is described by Pep Guardiola as: 'the greatest football manager in the world'. To the Tottenham manager, Mauricio Pochettino, he is 'my footballing father, the reason I became a player, the reason I became a manager.' This will be the first English biography of one of football's most contradictory characters. This is a definitive and comprehensive biography from growing up in Argentina under a military dictatorship to reviving the stricken power of Leeds United.

    Biding his time and crafting his philosophy as a defensive coordinator under Nick Saban, Smart waited for his opportunity to return to Georgia, turning down several coaching opportunities in the meantime. Still early in his tenure, Smart has gone on to dominate recruiting on a national scale, win the SEC, reach the national championship game, and will be attacking the college football landscape for years to come.

    Beers, bets, and bull runs. What can go wrong? The enduring power of friendship disguised as a booze-soaked, contemplative travelogue.In summer 2006, twenty-year-old Gerald Yeung and his childhood friends from Hong Kong travel to South America and Africa on their parents' dime. Confronted by challenges foreign to their privileged upbringing, the "Wannabe Backpackers" persevere in their Christian Dior clothes. They make plans to do it again when they turn thirty.The decade that follows doesn’t go exactly to plan. Gerald chases the American Dream in a town of twenty thousand and subzero winters. Others pursue a fast-and-furious life in Hong Kong. They all experience failed relationships, career setbacks, and a decreasing ability to impress girls at clubs. The summer of their thirtieth birthdays, they hit the road again to fulfill a lifelong dream — the 2016 UEFA European Championship. Set during European soccer’s most anticipated event, Kong Boys traces a friendship that transcends distance, culture, and time, dovetailing the different trajectories of seven boys in a decade of changes in Hong Kong. Kong Boys is a celebration of youth, brotherhood, and a sport of incomparable beauty.Winner, Wild Card, Hollywood Book FestivalFinalist, Foreword Indies AwardsFinalist, International Book AwardsFinalist, Top Shelf Book AwardsDistinguished Favorite, Independent Press AwardSilver, Readers' Favorite Book Awards

    He's part of two Richmond Premiership sides, he was an All-Australian in 2019, and with over 200 games to his names he remains a key part of a champion team.Picked at number 42 in the 2006 National Draft by Essendon, Houli played 26 games for the Bombers before moving in 2011 to Tigerland, where rookie coach Damien Hardwick was assenting the team that six years later would achieve the seemingly impossible and claim Richmond's 11th Premiership. Another flag followed two years later, with Houli close to best on ground in both deciders.Yet, it's as the AFL's most prominent Muslim player that Houli is best known - and his strong Muslim values are at the heart of the man he is. Writing for the first time, Houli explores the experiences and beliefs that sparked his trailblazing success as a Muslim footballer, and that established him as a teaching voice within the AFL community for inclusion, understanding, and tolerance.Co-authored with acclaimed broadcaster and writer Waleed Aly, 'Bachar Houli: Faith, Football, and Family' tells the unique story of one of football's most fascinating men.©2020 Bachar Houli, Waleed Aly (P)2020 Penguin Random House Australia

    After his last breakup, he decides to give the dating game a rest and focus on himself, enjoying peace and quiet as well as the ability to drop his dirty laundry just outside of the basket without getting nagged for it. That was until his neighbor’s house was being broken into and he rushed to the rescue. Little did he know, his life was about to change forever, one accidentally painful moment at a time. Ashley Wilkes could never have known that her new job at Because I Said Sew, would take her to a whole new world of football.Shy and reserved, she’d sworn off men in any and all sports professions. That was until she fell onto Kip Sutherland. Literally. And then there was the little problem of being the one to fit him into his official team tuxedo, which went slightly wrong.Will Ashley and Kip find the love they both deserve? Can they deal with the curves that life throws at them or will they both succumb to the pressure?

    At age thirty-three. In his first three seasons at Oklahoma, Riley’s teams dominated the Big 12 to reach the national semifinals each year, and two of his quarterbacks—Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray—won the Heisman Trophy and were No. 1 overall picks by the Cleveland Browns and Arizona Cardinals in the NFL draft.In Sooner, Brandon Sneed charts Riley’s remarkable ascent from small-town star quarterback in West Texas, to walk-on turned assistant coach at Texas Tech, where he learned the revolutionary Air Raid system from Mike Leach, to offensive coordinator at East Carolina, to football titan Oklahoma. It takes more than sheer talent to go toe to toe with the brilliant strategists of the modern game—like The University of Alabama’s Nick Saban, University of Texas’s Tom Herman, and Ohio State’s Urban Meyer—and Sneed shows how this wunderkind’s commitment, grit, relationships, pain, brains, and passion have empowered him to compete. And win.More important than the zealous fans, the intense rivalries, and the multimillion-dollar contracts, are the human connections that lie at the heart of Lincoln Riley’s triumphs as a coach. Sooner is not only the story of a mastermind in the making, but also a reminder of the many people who make each of us who we are.

    For a short, skinny, poor girl, I’m scrappy, focused, and not in the habit of falling over myself for a guy.Until Solomon ‘The Boss’ Lee comes along.Not even throwing food on his crotch has stopped him from pursuing me. And while I’ve told him I’m not like the other women he’s dated, he doesn’t seem to care.~From the moment Jasmine threw food on my dick, I knew I was gone for her.I had to have her.Though making her mine may be the most difficult stance I’ve ever had to take.The thing is, I don’t want the points with anyone else.I want the touchdown with her.

    Paddy Kenny's career was certainly not straightforward... just like his life. In his autobiography, Kenny lifts the lid on his time on and off the football field - including dressing-room rucks, being beaten for the Premier League's most famous goal and having his eyebrow bitten off in a curry house, just days before he faced Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Manchester United. This is Kenny's story... and the gloves are well and truly off.

    Earth has been invaded by the L'zuhl, an aggressive, imperialistic alien race who have laid waste to the galaxy for centuries. The few human survivors have been evacuated to the farthest reaches of space to rebuild and fight back against the L'zuhl onslaught.There, on the distant planet of Palangonia, in a large, walled compound that houses the new human colony, lives the former Newcastle United and England boss Kevin Keegan, now manager of Palangonia FC.As the war rages, Keegan would love it if he could focus on the most important thing – picking up three points on Saturday against the neighbouring nebula – but with whispers of a L'zuhl spy on the loose in the compound, it falls to Keegan himself to find the culprit before it's too late...

    That’s what they say, right? You must be mad to stand between those posts and bat away shots and crosses all game long.Neville Southall should know. He was the goalkeeper for one of the best teams of the 1980s and became an icon of the game during his 20-year career between the sticks. But what did it take to prepare himself mentally for the difficulties of the position? How did he dig so deep on the biggest occasions and in the highest-pressured moments? What scars were left at the end of his long career – a tenure that saw the highs of winning trophies, but also the lows of losing games, making mistakes and feeling the full weight of club and country on your shoulders. And how has he used his post-playing career to campaign for a better future for the next generation?In this unique book, one of football’s greatest cult players reflects on the travails of the modern game, how some of society’s problems are reflected within it and draws upon his own experience to tackle one of its final remaining taboos: mental health. On fear of failure, confidence, sexuality and homophobia, suicide, social media and many other talking points – Neville doesn’t hold back on the biggest subjects and gets stuck in to some of the most important topics surrounding the beautiful game.

    This is the story of Liverpool’s title win in the longest season, as told by the writers of The Athletic. Never in the history of football writing has a league race been covered in such depth by such a talented pool of writers as the newly-assembled staff of The Athletic. The result is an alchemical blend of inside access and expert analysis; great ideas and beautiful writing. Liverpool’s title win is relived in real time, in 360 degrees.Articles include profiles of each of Liverpool’s title winners by their former youth team coaches; on-the-road features from the hometowns of some of their international superstars, including Oliver Kay watching Sadio Mane score against Manchester City in the company of the striker’s family, in Senegal; Daniel Taylor watches Liverpool-Man City in the company of Kevin Keegan and James Pearce spends 90 minutes analysing Virgil van Dijk; plus there’s exclusive interviews with Jurgen Klopp, and the club’s US owners.

    This first-of-its-kind book introduces the reader to a diverse and often breathtaking range of Britain’s football venues. In addition to the oldest, biggest and highest our nation has to offer, it covers lesser-known grounds nestling next to castles, beaches, churches and mountain ranges, as well as modern Premier League stadiums in major cities. Featuring beautiful images taken by acclaimed sports photographers, along with written contributions from respected industry figures, British Football’s Greatest Grounds is part guide, part love letter to the history, people and places that showcase the best of our unique football landscape. It’s sure to leave you planning a future football trip.

    

    Celtic won the European Cup. Rangers reached the final of the European Cup Winners' Cup. Kilmarnock got to the semis of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. Scotland defeated world champions England at Wembley. It was the best of times. With one exception. Third Lanark Athletic Club, one of the country's oldest and most successful football teams, a founder member of the Scottish Football Association, and to date one of only four teams to defeat both Rangers and Celtic in the Scottish Cup Final, played its final game. And hardly anybody seemed to notice. Why?Michael McEwan brings rich archival research together with interviews with the key surviving players in the Third Lanark squad from that final season, as well as opposition players and other relevant figures from the era.Over 50 years on, the demise of Third Lanark remains one of Scottish football's darkest hours - and, by ludicrous coincidence, it occurred in the midst of one of its brightest.

    With a population of just 350,000, Iceland stunned the sporting world when it went toe-to-toe with the elite at Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup. So how was such a tiny nation, sited on the edge of the Arctic circle, able to take on the giants of world football? Matt McGinn draws on 50 exclusive interviews with the key protagonists to unpick how it happened. Does an Icelandic 'Viking' mentality exist? Can smallness be an advantage? Is there a template for other countries to follow? McGinn experienced Iceland's World Cup campaign in different parts of the country - from five days spent on a fishing trawler, to Iceland's bustling capital of Reykjavík, to the jagged volcanic island of Heimaey. Part travelogue, part thematic investigation, Against the Elements searches for the truth behind the Iceland football team's remarkable, unprecedented rise, bringing to life the people, places and values of the nation that produced this astonishing team.

    The gifted young forward wasn’t born when the French team became world champions for the first time. But it was Mbappé’s unique talent that helped France to reach the summit of world football once again in 2018, erasing years of failure, rancour and shame.These two crowning achievements made Les Bleus the envy of the world, but the road between these two highs was blighted by bitterly painful lows. Zidane’s headbutt; a players’ strike; infighting and recriminations; even sex scandals and blackmail. This was also a turbulent time for French society, as the promise of racial harmony in 1998 gave way to rising tensions and riots.Mbappé witnessed it all, honing his prodigious talent in the banlieues of Paris as the nation threatened to implode. His story embodies France’s journey from disaster to triumph; football’s hottest new property growing up in a troubled neighbourhood and inspiring a divided country on and off the pitch.In Sacré Bleu, Matthew Spiro traces the rise, fall and rise again of Les Bleus through the lens of Kylian Mbappé. Featuring a foreword by Arsène Wenger and interviews with leading figures in French football, including Marcel Desailly, Lilian Thuram, Emmanuel Petit, Robert Pirès and Olivier Giroud, Spiro asks what went wrong for France and what, ultimately, went right.

    Packed full of hilariously stories, exclusive anecdotes and refreshing appraisals, in The Greatest Games Jamie Carragher takes you into the heart of these matches, revealing new insights into the teams, players and coaches that have shaped football.

    

    And Owen's case could not have come to light without Dr. Ann McKee, the neuropathologist who bucked conventional wisdom, and the football establishment, as she examined Owen's brain and its larger significance, building an ever-stronger case that said, at the very least, football should not be played by children under the age of 14.With its focus on a single life and the community touched by it--Owen's family, his teammates and friends, his teachers and coaches, and, later, Dr. McKee--Growing Up on the Gridiron explores the place of football in our lives. It doesn't make a heavy-handed argument to abandon the sport. Rather, it explores why football matters so deeply to many young men, and why they continue to take risks despite the evidence of serious, long-term harm.

    

    They reached two cup finals and played breathtaking football, but the egos in the team caused their season to spiral out of control. It's one of the craziest stories in Premier League history.

    That brief moment in time not only irrevocably alters who he is, but also his relationships with everyone and everything around him. Yet one look can jump-start another.Tamryn Miller worked hard to get where she is: one of the youngest and most successful female injury management doctors in the league. She knows what goes into ensuring the players’ welfare, and what happens when those needs aren’t met—her past guaranteed that. With one look at the incredibly handsome quarterback as he lay writhing on the turf, Tamryn knows exactly what she needs to do…even if she has to ignore the burning attraction between them to do it.Forced together by fate and pain, Holden must learn that he’s not an island, and sometimes, all you need is a little help from your friends—especially when those friends are ones you want in your life forever.

    This is the story of Liverpool's title win in the longest season, as told by the writers of The Athletic, with their blend of inside access and expert analysis; great ideas and beautiful writing.Articles include profiles of each of Liverpool's title winners by their former youth team coaches; Oliver Kay watches Sadio Mane score against Manchester City in the company of the striker's family, in his hometown in Senegal; James Pearce spends 90 minutes analysing Virgil van Dijk; plus there are exclusive interviews with Jurgen Klopp, and the club's US owners.Read the stories behind a unique and historical season from a team of writers every bit as good as the footballers they were following.

    The mantra for the season became: 15 for 15. Each pushup is represented as a chapter in this book and a different piece of the puzzle that explains the football town of Massillon, Ohio. In this dramatic and entertaining book, Author and Tiger running back coach, David Lee Morgan, Jr. shares stories that offer a unique and unequaled perspective into the 2019 season and the Tigers’ quest for that elusive state championship. The Massillon Tiger football program isn’t a typical high school football program. It’s a ministry of football with the first season dating back to 1894. The Massillon Tigers: 15 for 15  is the powerful tale of one of the most storied high school football programs anywhere in the country and their magical 2019 season, as told by an award-winning author and journalist who enjoyed unlimited access to the players, coaches, and families through his role as the running backs coach.

    Described by Paul Hawksby (TalkSPORT) as "an incredibly timely release...now more than ever this is an important book."Other reactions include:• “The human stories are pretty unbelievable. Really, really fascinating to read.” (Nick Hatton, BBC Radio Leeds)• “There are always stories that crop up that make you scratch your headand think, really? Is that what was going on back in the day?” (Jules Bellerby, BBC Radio York)• “Learn about the unsung black trailblazers of the game. 'Football’s Black Pioneers' profiles the first black player at each of the 92 league clubs.” (Kick it Out)• “Looks as though 'Football’s Black Pioneers' is going to have a huge impact in bringing to the surface the story of black footballers in the UK.” (Stanchion Books)• “Highly recommend this… features a chapter on Jack and other great stories, and the authors have been incredibly helpful to the campaign.” (the Jack Leslie Campaign)• “Your book comes in a timely fashion given everything that’s being discussed. Empire has played a huge role in shaping quite literally the world that we live in but also the country that we live in. I for one think it’s a travesty that it isn’t taught, warts and all, in the school curriculum to help young children understand why the world looks the way that it does and why England and the UK looks the way that it does.” (Gul Nawaz Hussain, BBC Radio Leeds)• "'Football’s Black Pioneers' book is amazing. Four years of research went into finding the history of every first black player to play for each football league club. This book should be in every school and family home.” (FootballShorts.org)• "Just got my copy of the book, it’s a great read …. Congratulations, it’s quite an achievement. Great timing too, with the current interest in Black Lives Matter." (Jon Martin, grandson of pioneering footballer, Willie Clarke)"Writing a book about the first black player at each of the 92 English Football League clubs seemed an ideal way to reflect our shared interests," said David Gleave "What surprised us when we started researching in 2016 was the wide variety of stories we uncovered. There have been black players in the EFL every decade since organised football started, the book therefore covers over 130 years of the black contribution to British society. At a time when racism is on the rise again and there is an ongoing debate about Black Lives Matter, the book seems especially timely, more so than we could have realised when we started our work four years ago."David has also written a series of books for children and is a member of the Clerkenwell Writers Asylum, contributing short stories to two of their anthologies.

    Its championship game, the Super Bowl, is watched by millions of people every year. But it wasn’t always like this. In the last one hundred years, football has changed from a poorly organized, often overlooked sport to America’s favorite pastime. Here are the stories of that remarkable transformation. The stories of the greatest players, the most successful coaches, the most memorable games—and the amazing plays that made us gasp as we watched them in stadiums and on televisions all over America. Discover the league’s scrappy beginnings in an automobile showroom, and early players like Red Grange, the Galloping Ghost. Relive the very first championship game, played indoors after a circus had visited, and famous games like the Ice Bowl. See the NFL at war, and meet some of the remarkable athletes who helped desegregate the league. Learn how the draft came into existence, and about the teams that strove for that almost impossible goal—a perfect season. Veteran sportswriter Fred Bowen brings his in-depth knowledge and lively prose to these fascinating stories, and award-winning artist James E. Ransome has created stunning full-page illustrations that bring the sport of football to life like never before.

    

    After making history as the last-ever goalscorer at Filbert Street in 2002, Matt was forced into a GBP3.5m move to Wearside amid the Foxes' financial misery. But that high was short-lived and soon his ambitions - and life - crumbled. After 16 operations, failed comebacks and anxiety attacks, he retired with money in his pocket but no clue where to turn next. Soon, Matt's daily existence became dependent on alcohol and Valium, waking up in hospital with no idea why, with doctors suggesting he be sectioned. Out of the Darkness reveals another side of football - what happens next when things don't go right and how to overcome life's worst demons. Matt's frank and often troubling revelations are complemented by hilarious tales of dysfunction amid life at two of English football's biggest clubs.

    Home to some of the biggest names in sport, it has won title after title, trophy after trophy. However, parallel to the success and myth, there's a murkier reality. For one hundred years the club and its billionaire owners, the Agnelli family, have been synonymous with match-fixing, doping, political chicanery and more. While La Vecchia Signora remains Italy's best-supported team, it's also its most despised.Juve! charts the story of Italy's great sporting dynasty, chronicling the triumphs and tragedies of the Agnellis, and of the icons - Boniperti, Del Piero, Ronaldo - who have been their sporting emissaries for almost a century. The pride of Italy or its dark heart? Footballing colossus or vanity project? With this unique institution, as with so much about life in Italy, things are seldom black and white...**A FINANCIAL TIMES BEST BOOK OF 2020**

    In When Lions Were Kings: The Detroit Lions and the Fabulous Fifties, journalist and sports historian Richard Bak blends a deeply researched and richly written narrative with many rare color images from the decade, re-creating a time when the Motor City and its gridiron heroes were riding high in the saddle.Representing a city at its postwar peak of population and influence, coach Raymond Buddy Parker and such players as Les Bingaman, Bob Hunchy Hoernschemeyer, Yale Lary, Joe Schmidt, Jack Christiansen, Jim Doran, Lou Creekmur, and Leon Hart helped sell the game to a country discovering the joys of watching televised football on Sunday afternoons and Thanksgiving Day. Quarterback Bobby Layne and halfback Doak Walker were celebrity athletes during this golden age of pro football-a decade when the game first started to replace its slower-paced cousin, baseball, as the national pastime. While the quietly modest Walker was a darling of Madison Avenue advertisers, the swaggering Layne became the first NFL player ever to grace the cover of Time magazine. Along with detailed profiles of the players, coaches, and games that defined the Lions' only dynastic era, Bak explores such varied topics as the team's languid approach to desegregation, the wild popularity of bubble gum trading cards, and the staggering physical cost players of the period have suffered in retirement.When Lions Were Kings is a lively portrait of the golden age of professional football in Detroit that will delight younger fans and inform die-hard followers of one of the NFL's oldest franchises.

    Among them was Steve Bloomer, the prolific England striker widely regarded as the best player of his generation. Surrounded by barbed wire and armed guards, living in squalor and on meagre rations, and with their families and freedom far out of reach, Bloomer and the others found salvation in what they knew best - football.They bartered for balls, marked out pitches, and formed the Ruhleben Football Association, organising league and cup competitions involving hundreds of players and watched by thousands of spectators.The conditions at Ruhleben - a former horse racing track - were appalling, with around 4,500 men packed into 11 filthy stables. Food was scarce, the guards were cruel, and the commandant was incompetent. Gradually, though, as the Great War for Civilisation raged around them, Bloomer and his fellow prisoners established some order within the confines of the prison camp.This is the true story of how the prisoners used the game of football to survive, and how some of them used it to escape.Prominent footballers in Ruhleben prison camp: Steve Bloomer: England, Derby County, Middlesbrough Fred Pentland: England, Blackburn Rovers, Middlesbrough, QPR, Brentford, Stoke, Blackpool, Halifax Town, Small Heath (Birmingham City) John "Jack" Cameron: Scotland, Queen's Park, Everton, Tottenham Hotspur Sam Wolstenholme: England, Everton, Blackburn, Norwich City John "Jack" Brearley: Tottenham, Everton, Crystal Palace, Millwall, Notts County Edwin Dutton: Germany, Newcastle United Percy Hartley: Preston North End, Huddersfield Town, Exeter City Walter "Wattie" Campbell: EvertonThe book contains more than 30 photographs and illustrations."The Real Escape to Victory".

    The first to be selected were Basra-based duo Saeed Easho and Percy Lynsdale. The third player Aram Karam came from the British RAF base in Habbaniya. With the inclusion of the trio, the Baghdad Select XI became the Iraqi national side. These were the sons of a former British Army officer, an Eastern Orthodox priest and an Assyrian Levy soldier who formed Iraq's first-ever national team.

    

    Claimed off waivers by the Chicago Bears in 1975, Thomas helped to take the franchise from their darkest days to their brightest. Yet, on the cusp of the team's greatest moment, he was struck with a shocking blow that challenged his fortitude.In this dramatic retelling of Bob Thomas's fascinating life, renowned sports writer Doug Feldmann shows how neither football nor the law was part of Thomas's dreams while growing up the son of Italian immigrants in Rochester, New York, in the 1960s. Chasing excellence on both the gridiron and in the courtroom, however, would require resilience in ways he could not have imagined.As A View from Two Benches shows us, Bob Thomas reached the top of two separate and distinct professions, guided by a bedrock of faith that has impacted his decisions and actions as both a football player and a judge, helping him navigate the peaks and valleys of life. As Doug Feldmann reveals, Bob Thomas has always stayed true to the values he learned in his earliest days.Doug Feldmann's rich biography of an accomplished kicker and a proud justice of the law shows us that determination and resilience go a long way to a successful and impactful life.

    The author's own memories and experiences are augmented by a wealth of research to bring you the definitive account of the clubs, players, managers, referees, grounds, crowds and competitions that defined '80s football. The book examines the Hillsborough, Heysel and Bradford fire tragedies, along with the increasingly commercialised aspects of the game and the evolution of televised football. The scourge of hooliganism - which reached its height in the 1980s - is also given due consideration. What Was Football Like in the 1980s? is an enthralling and illuminating account of a truly remarkable decade for the beautiful game, penned by a respected football author and journalist. How different was the sport 30 to 40 years ago? Richard Crooks gives you the answer, leaving no stone unturned.

    

    

    The Road to Bama is a wild ride into the competitive world of college football recruiting, revealing how many Crimson Tide players found their way to Tuscaloosa.

    This is the players' side, one that has largely been ignored by the media.On September 1, 2016, Colin Kaepernick took a knee before a preseason game. Little did he, nor anyone else, know the ramifications from that decision. Since being exiled from the National Football League, Kaepernick has stood strong against all those who have attacked him. He and others who took a knee against racial inequality and police brutality have been ridiculed, mocked, threatened, and some have even lost their jobs. They have feared for their safety and that of their loved ones. But what made Kaepernick kneel, and the entire country turn a silent protest into a national pandemic? One person: President Donald Trump. For the first time, veteran journalist Mike Freeman sits down with those directly involved in the protests—the players—to find out how things really went down. Readers will learn why they decided to protest, how racism and the murdering of innocent men of color directly affected them, how the politics of protest affected their professional and personal lives, and if anything has even changed for the better. Including interviews with Colin Kaepernick, Eric Reid, Kenny Stills, Michael Bennett, Richard Sherman, and numerous others, see first-hand how the media, President Trump, and the National Football League took a peaceful message for change and turned it on its head. They changed the narrative, accusing these men of being “anti-America,” “anti-military,” and “disrespecting the flag.” In Football’s Fearless Activists, Freeman offers an opportunity to understand what these protests meant to the players, and how the hatred from the media, President, NFL owners, and some Americans was not only unwarranted, but anti-American.

    David Goldblatt—author of the acclaimed, best- selling The Ball Is Round—charts the sport’s global cultural ascent, economic transformation, and deep politicization.With breathtaking scope and unparalleled knowledge of the game, The Age of Football explores soccer’s vital role in our social, political, and economic lives: its connections to social discord in the Middle East and political division in Europe; the reasons behind its surprising surge in popularity in China, India, and the United States; and its use (and misuse) in the global advance of equality and human rights. Goldblatt proves that whether you call it football or soccer, you can’t make sense of the modern world without understanding its most popular sport.

    Things that change a person’s life for good and bad. Jordan Brooks and Trey Bright are all too familiar with change. Neither of them is thrilled about the upcoming twenty-year class reunion.Trey had escaped the tiny town of Avery, Wyoming with a scholarship to a Big Ten school. With his God-given talent and great coaches, he’d parlayed that into every little boy's dream, a career in the professional football league. His movie-star good looks and charismatic personality scored endorsements that made him richer than he had ever imagined. But, money and fame couldn't assuage the longing for the one dream that remained unattainable.Fate had not been as kind to Jordan. His plans for college and a career with NASA ended on an isolated country road miles from home and far from the love of his life. Pain and heartbreak stranded him in Avery, lonely and too ashamed to breach the distance and explain. Every day, he walked the halls of the high school endlessly forced to remember the boy he'd loved.When fate brings them together at the reunion, will Jordan come clean about his past? Can Trey forgive broken promises and find the courage to come out to his team and the football league? Does true love really stand the test of time? Jordan and Trey are on a collision course to find out.