It was in the unforgiving world of post-war football where their identities and reputations were made - a world where, as Clough and Taylor's mentor Harry Storer once said, 'Nobody ever says thank you.'Nonetheless, Clough brought the gleam of silverware to the depressed East Midlands of the 1970s. Initial triumph at Derby was followed by a sudden departure and a traumatic 44 days at Leeds. By the end of a frazzled 1974, Clough was set up for life financially, but also hardened to the realities of football. By the time he was at Forest, Clough's mask was almost permanently donned: a persona based on brashness and conflict. Drink fuelled the controversies and the colourful character; it heightened the razor-sharp wit and was a salve for the highs of football that never lasted long enough, and for the lows that inevitably followed. Wilson's account is the definitive portrait of this complex and enduring man.

    Gilles Villeneuve became a legend in his own time, a driver whose skill and daring personified the ideals of Grand Prix racing, the pinnacle of motor sport.With his flamboyantly aggressive, press-on-regardless style in his scarlet Ferrari, he captured the imagination of a vast international audience as no other driver has in recent times.

    How was it that the most eligible bachelor in the world fell in love with this unknown American woman, who was not generally considered beautiful? What was the nature of their relationship? Was she responsible for the Abdication? Many questions remain unanswered. Why did her birth go unrecorded? What were the qualities which so infatuated the Prince of Wales? Why did she never have children? Michael Bloch, who spent ten years as Maitre Blum's assistant is the ideal person to provide this biographical reassessment. In it he dispels much of the mystery that has surrounded her, and paints a vivid portrait of a courageous, glamorous and unusual individual - perhaps in some ways not a woman at all.

    Football fans recognise instantly how he dribbles the ball, but there's a great deal about him that has never been made public before. Cristiano recognises that his youth does not yet give him the right to produce an autobiography, and Moments does not set out to be one. It is an invitation to the reader to share with him some of the most fantastic moments of his career so far, and get to know him a little better. As well as an array of sumptuous photographs Cristiano Ronaldo gives his thoughts about his life so far, both on and off the pitch.Moments relates the story of his love of football from early childhood in Madeira; the homesickness he suffered as a result of the move, aged 12, to a football academy in Lisbon; through to his time with Manchester United, the club which has really made him famous and turned him into a football idol at only 22 years of age. He speaks of his love of playing for his country and the love and support of his family, as well as the sad moments in his life such as the death of his father. The book also shows glimpses of him training and enjoying his leisure time, the charity work he involves himself in, as well as off-field activities in both his professional capacity and for pleasure. He hopes that through these stories, and beautiful photographs by Jorge Monteiro, you will get to know Cristiano Ronaldo a little better. As you finish reading the last line he also trusts you will have enjoyed the book with the same enthusiasm you would get from watching him play football.

    He also describes his enduring friendship with the ‘kid from across Dublin’s Tolka Park’, Eamon Dunphy, and his career on RTÉ2’s football panel, where Giles’ intelligent and insightful analysis have made him an even more well-loved and respected national figure.

    Love it!!!' Kevin Keegan, 1996 In My Life in Football Keegan tells the story of his remarkable rise through the sport, from the Peglers Brass Works reserve team in Doncaster to helping Liverpool become the kings of Europe, winning a Bundesliga title with Hamburg and captaining England. Keegan was recognised around the world as one of the sport's genuine superstars and remains the only Englishman to win the Ballon d'Or twice. As a manager, Keegan's five-year spell in charge at Newcastle is now legendary; he led the club from the depths of the old Second Division to the brink of the Premier League title with a breathtaking vision and flamboyant style that saw his team dubbed 'The Entertainers'. Fifty years since making his professional debut, Keegan tells the full story of the exhilarating highs and excruciating lows, from that epic battle with Sir Alex Ferguson and Manchester United in the 1995-6 season, as well as the pain of managing England and, finally, the shattering truth about his unhappy return to Newcastle in the controversial Mike Ashley era. Brilliant, funny, passionate, deeply moving and incredibly honest, My Life in Football is the story of the miner's son from Doncaster who became a superstar and was known to his adoring fans as 'King Kev'.

    But as the nineties began, independents were looking for creative ways to survive. Several banded together to share cost and talent; they were known as Eastern Championship Wrestling. Based out of a warehouse in Philadelphia, this promotion seemed doomed to be just one more ninety-day wonder. They hired Paul Heyman, who told the company he would come in, shake things up, and leave. But Heyman stayed and redefined professional wrestling in the nineties. He crafted a promotion that dared to push the boundaries of sports entertainment. What he created became Extreme Championship Wrestling. Heyman dared to break with tradition. Rather than relying on local talent and down-and-out veterans, he created new characters and story lines that would appeal to hardcore wrestling fans. Paul knew you had to offer the fans more than the match. Heyman encouraged wrestlers to speak from their hearts. ECW became known for the interview, the shoot. As for the matches: tables, ladders, chairs, barbed wire, and even frying pans were used with abandon. Wrestlers not wanting to be topped put their bodies on the line, taking ever greater risks, daring to jump, leap, and fall from places never tried before. ECW matches became the stuff of legend. For nearly a decade, ECW redefined professional wrestling with a reckless, brutal, death-defying, and often bloody style that became synonymous with ³hardcore.² Through extensive interviews with Paul Heyman, Mick Foley, Tazz, Tommy Dreamer, Rob Van Dam, and many more, The Rise & Fall of ECW reveals what made this upstart company from Philadelphia great.

    For one thing, he was blessed with extraordinary talent. Those who played alongside and watched him in the Manchester United youth team in the early 1990s insist he was as good as Ryan Giggs - possibly even better. Giggs, who played on the opposite wing, says he is inclined to agree.Doherty was also an eccentric - by football standards, at least. When his colleagues went to Old Trafford to watch the first team on Saturday afternoons, he preferred to take the bus into Manchester to go busking. He wore second-hand clothes, worshipped Bob Dylan, read about theology and French existentialism and wrote songs and poems. One team-mate says "it was like having Bob Dylan in a No 7 shirt".On his 17th birthday, Doherty was offered a five-year contract - unprecedented for a United youngster at that time - and told by Alex Ferguson that he was destined for stardom. But what followed over the next decade is a tale so mysterious, so shocking, so unusual, so amusing but ultimately so tragic, that you are left wondering how on earth it has been untold for so long.The stories of Doherty's contemporaries, that group of Manchester United youngsters who became known as the "Class of '92", are well known. Giggs ended up as the most decorated player in United's history; David Beckham became the most recognisable footballer on the planet; Gary Neville, Paul Scholes and others are household names. The story you don't know is about the player who, having had the world at his feet, died the day before his 27th birthday following an accident in a canal in Holland.

    Widely acknowledged to be the dirtiest player in football, "Romo" has been fined hundreds of thousands of dollars for unsportsmanlike conduct. Yet off the field, this giant hulk instantaneously changes from hit man into family man, gently raising two kids with his beloved wife. Romo is an attempt to reconcile these Jekyll-and-Hyde shifts. Romanowski achieves this Herculean task not by claiming that his 34 concussions affected his behavior but by admitting his use of chemical performance enhancers. His revelations about NFL drug abuse will shock fans and make him more enemies -- if that's possible. Bone-crushing honesty.

    He was brutal yet brilliant, narcissistic yet magnanimous, relentless yet unyielding. Most of all, he was the greatest football player of all time. He was Jim Brown.Jim Brown was an astonishing physical specimen with tremendous skills and intelligence. An athlete who played a number of sports at Syracuse University, he ultimately discovered that it was the violence of football that appealed to him most. The idea of physically dominating other men, surviving ferocious battles on the field against opponents who would just as soon call him a nigger as try to gouge out his eyes fueled an astonishing, record-making NFL career that led to the Hall of Fame. He battled his defenses, sometimes his teammates, and often the Cleveland Browns' legendary head coach Paul Brown.But Jim Brown had ambitions greater than football. He used his athletic brilliance to launch a movie career, becoming Hollywood's first black action hero, culminating in a scandalous love scene with America's sweetheart Raquel Welch. He leveraged his popularity into helping the NFL's black players and becoming a civil rights activist. Never shy about expressing his opinions, Brown would become the subject of FBI investigations and surveillance throughout parts of his life.Then there were the women. The patient wife who was essentially a single mother and who endured public humiliation. The girlfriends he ran through and the scandalous accusations of violence made by some of them.A complex and fascinating story, Jim Brown is a towering biography of a living legend.

    The son of legendary Irish and World Champion Stephen Roche, Nicolas had to fight to make it as a professional and even harder to make his mark as his own man on this toughest of competitive sports. His rise up the ranks has been meteoric, with top 15 finishes in both the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España in 2010, but his attitude to his chosen profession has remained undimmed. Honest, eloquent and passionate about how the cycling world should be, Nicolas has gained acclaim and a devoted fan following for his Tour diaries serialised in the Irish Independent. Now a major contender for a podium finish in a grand tour, Nicolas is ready to expand on those diaries and to tell in full the story of life in the peloton and of the remarkable events that have brought him this far. From furious spats with teammates and exhilarating races against the world's best, this is a gripping cycling adventure and sportsman's tale.

    In a life spanning over four decades as a poker professional, Mike has excelled both on the felt and on the business side of poker. He is a World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner, helped create PartyPoker in 2001 and was a key player in an event that changed the poker world forever the launch of the World Poker Tour (WPT) in 2002. He has been a commentator on the WPT, along with Vince Van Patten, since its inception. In addition, Mike was recognized as poker's Top Ambassador at the Card Player Magazine Player of the Year Awards gala in 2006. That same year, he won WSOP Tournament of Champions, winning $1 million in prize money half of which he donated to charity. He was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2009. In this book Mike recounts his personal experiences and gives his take on some of poker's legendary characters over the past 40 years. If you enjoy poker, are fascinated by the development of the game and enjoy compelling poker, golf and gambling adventures, then you'll love Life's A Gamble."

    In it he shares his most treasured memories and never-before-seen photographs as he looks back on an extraordinary life on and off the court.Hailed by many as the greatest coach in the history of American sports, John Wooden is as famous for his personal philosophy as he is for his career achievements. He inspired, guided, and motivated generations of fans with his bestselling books on leadership, values, family, and the true meaning of success.Coach Wooden wrote his final book, "The Wisdom of Wooden: My Century On and Off the Court," in the last months before his death. Filled with his most treasured memories and more than 100 photographs, many never-before seen, it captures a life spent teaching, guiding, and serving others. Starting with his father's now-famous 7 Point Creed--including "Make Each Day Your Masterpiece," "Help Others," and "Be True to Yourself,"--Coach Wooden affirms the principles to true success that helped him become an All American at Purdue University, a winning coach at Indiana State University, and an iconic sports figure at UCLA.Yet anyone who knows John Wooden knows his record on the court was only part of the story. In "The Wisdom of Wooden" the legendary coach offers readers a rare glimpse not just behind the scenes but inside the man; not just on the court but in the huddles; not just his maxims but his poems, those he wrote and those he loved; not just the people he inspired, but the family, friends, and fans who inspired him; not just the lessons he taught but the lessons he learned; not just what was on his mind but what was in his heart.Ultimately it was the life he lived that served as a model for his greatest lesson of all: a deep commitment to family, friends, and faith--the bedrock values of the man we all called, "Coach."Praise for John Wooden""The Wisdom of Wooden" has given me the life that I have . . . Thanks, Coach, for your faith and patience."--Bill Walton""The Wisdom of Wooden" is a lifetime of Coach Wooden's ideas on how to live life without sacrificing your moral principles. His life is a prime example of how this can be done--one that we can all learn from."--Kareem Abdul-Jabbar"John Wooden sets an example for all of us by constantly striving to be the best in every aspect of his life. Throughout my life, I have found inspiration and direction in the Bible. Today, I also find inspiration and direction in the words of John Wooden."--Tom Coughlin, Head Coach, New York Giants"One hundred years--what an amazing life. But here's what's even more amazing about John Wooden and the timeless verities his life has embodied. One hundred years from now they will still be talking about his accomplishments and his approach."--Bob Costas"There has never been a finer man in American sports than John Wooden, or a finer coach."--"Sports Illustrated"

    1973, Indian badminton player.

    Here was Arnold Palmer, the workingman's hero, "sweating, chain-smoking, shirt-tail flying"; Ben Hogan, the greatest player of the fifties, a perfectionist battling twin demons of age and nerves; and, making his big-time debut, a crew-cut college kid who seemed to have the makings of a champion: twenty-year-old Jack Nicklaus.        And of course, the rest: Ken Venturi, Chi Chi Rodriguez, Doug Sanders, Gary Player, and the many other colorful characters who chased around a little white ball--and a dream.        Would Palmer win the mythical Grand Slam of golf? Could Hogan win one more major tournament? Was Nicklaus the real thing? Even more than an intimate portrait of these men and their exciting times, The Eternal Summer is also an entertaining, perceptive, and hypnotically readable exploration of professional golf in America.