Book picks similar to
Rebels for the Cause: The Alternative History of Arsenal Football Club by Jon Spurling
non-fiction
football
sport
sports
Soccer Smarts for Kids: 60 Skills, Strategies, and Secrets
Andrew Latham - 2016
As a youth soccer coach for more than twenty years, Coach Andrew Latham sets kids up for success in Soccer Smarts for Kids with his no-fluff, easy-to-understand strategies and cover-to-cover tips—from goal setting and staying fit to pre-game prep and mental motivation. Coach Latham preps young players to be their best by sharing soccer secrets, exercises, and tricks for kids to develop their skills on the field, with: Basic to advanced techniques so kids can move at their own pace Player profiles highlighting six superstar soccer players (including Lionel Messi and Alex Morgan) Playbook essentials featuring color photos and custom diagrams Need-to-know terms to crack the code of fundamental soccer definitions Soccer fans will improve their game, play smarter, and have more fun with Soccer Smarts for Kids.
Juventus: A History in Black and White
Adam Digby - 2015
Known as La Vecchia Signora - "The Old Lady" - she is the perfect blend of flair, artistry and skill, combined with a ruthless determination and will to win that constantly flirts with the less savoury elements of the game.For every Michel Platini or Alessandro Del Piero to win the hearts of fans of the beautiful game, there has been a Claudio Gentile or Paolo Montero waiting their moment to launch a well-timed elbow into an opponent. For every Gianni Agnelli to woo the crowds with his sartorial elegance and well chosen words, a Luciano Moggi lurks, playing the villain and serving to heighten the levels of hate felt towards the club by rival supporters.It is all encapsulated by those starkly contrasting stripes which have become synonymous with the Turin giants.This is that story, a history in black and white.
Eli Manning The Making of a Quarterback
Ralph Vacchiano - 2008
But the drive, which also included a remarkable escape and pass completion to unheralded receiver David Tyree, was the culmination of years of promise and development. After all, champion quarterbacks aren't made overnight.With Manning, the Super Bowl MVP, as its focal point, New York Daily News Giants beat writer Ralph Vacchiano's 'Eli Manning The Making of a Quarterback' is a fascinating insider's look at the National Football League, how stars are made and crushed, and how fortunes are won and lost on the performance of one man: the quarterback. From the bold draft day trade that brought Manning to New York, through his dramatic ups and downs on and off the field, his first training camp to his last-minute heroics in Super Bowl XLII, Vacchiano takes a candid and revealing look at the people and events that made Manning's and his 2007 Giants' success one of the greatest stories in modern sports history. Complete with exclusive interviews with NFL stars, coaches, and executives and a foreword by former Giants general manager Ernie Accorsi, Vacchiano uses his unfettered access to the world champion Giants to present a true, behind-the scenes look at the quarterback and team that defied all of the experts and oddsmakers to pull off one of the most phenomenal upsets in pro football history.
Mister: The Men Who Gave The World The Game
Rory Smith - 2016
From its late-Victorian flowering in the mill towns of the northwest of England, football spread around the world with great speed. It was helped on its way by a series of missionaries who showed the rest of the planet the simple joys of the game. Even now, in many countries, the colloquial word for a football manager is not 'coach' or 'boss' but 'mister', as that is how the early teachers were known, because they had come from the home of the sport to help it develop in new territories. In Rory Smith's stunning new book Mister, he looks at the stories of these pioneers of the game, men who left this country to take football across the globe. Sometimes, they had been spurned in their own land, as coaching was often frowned upon in England in those days, when players were starved of the ball during the week to make them hungry for it on matchday. So it was that the inspirations behind the 'Mighty Magyars' of the 1950s, the Dutch of the 1970s or top clubs such as Barcelona came from these shores. England, without realising it, fired the very revolution that would remove its crown, changing football's history, thanks to a handful of men who sowed the seeds of the inversion of football's natural order. This is the story of the men who taught the world to play and shaped its destiny. This is the story of the Misters.
Rio: My Story
Rio Ferdinand - 2006
It's heartfelt, it's raw, it's one hell of story.England's outstanding player in the 2006 World Cup tells it as it is, from the heart, no holds barred.This is his explosive story of the good, the bad and the beautiful Game.
The Lazy Runner
Laura Fountain - 2012
At first unable to run 400 metres without stopping, Laura has now completed five marathons, the most recent in under four hours. Along the way, Laura learns countless lessons about running, most of them the hard way. But most importantly this self-confessed couch potato learns to love running. As well as offering inspiration and motivation to get out there and run, her book offers tips on how to make running easier and more enjoyable. Offering practical information on buying the right kit, choosing the best race and what to do on race day, it also tackles the important running questions you might be embarrassed to ask – like when will it get easier? And what happens if I need the toilet?
Touchdown Alexander: My Story of Faith, Football, and Pursuing the Dream
Shaun Alexander - 2006
The NFL's Most Valuable Player for the 2005 season, Seattle Seahawks running back Shaun Alexander has gained a reputation that's one for the record books.? And now in his inspiring autobiography, Shaun shares his amazing journey to success both on and off the field.Written with award-winning author Cecil Murphey, Shaun recounts how God first gave him the dream for the achievements that have made him a household name among football fans everywhere.? He also shares his passion for helping other young men through his Shaun Alexander Foundation, focusing on improving the lives of fatherless young men through education, athletics, character programs, and leadership training, inspiring them to reach their God-given potential.
Arsene Wenger: The Inside Story of Arsenal Under Wenger
John Cross - 2015
When Wenger arrived at Arsenal in 1996, he was little known to fans at the club and many doubted he could bring back the glory days of George Graham. But soon he was transforming the way the team played, melding the famous English defensive spine of Adams, Keown, Dixon, Winterburn and Seaman with a hugely creative foreign attacking spirit, epitomised by Dennis Bergkamp, Thierry Henry and Robert Pires. At the same time, he introduced new ideas on diet, fitness and professionalism, which many players believe extended their careers. Having won numerous trophies, and led the Invincibles to an unbeaten league season in 2003-04, Wenger then had to help the club through the next stage of their development when they moved from Highbury to the Emirates. Despite the financial constraints he faced, he still managed to keep the club playing in the Champions League year after year while remaining true to his philosophy of how the game should be played. Furthermore, he once again began to build a trophy-winning squad, winning back-to-back FA Cups in 2014 and 2015, that was admired by football fans everywhere.
From the Eye of the Hurricane
Alex Higgins - 2007
In 1972 he became the youngest winner of the World Championship, repeating his victory in emotional style in 1982.Higgins's story is so much more than just snooker. Head-butting tournament officials, threatening to shoot team-mates, getting involved with gangsters, abusing referees, affairs with glamorous women, frequent fines and lengthy bans, all contributed to Higgins slipping down the rankings as he succumbed to drink and lost his fortune. After suffering throat cancer, Alex Higgins now reflects on his turbulent life and career in his first full autobiography. The Hurricane is back - prepare to be caught up in the carnage.
Breaking The Chain: Drugs and Cycling - The True Story
Willy Voet - 2011
In his car were the drugs the team needed if they were to have any chance of playing a competitive part in the 1998 Tour de France. The car was searched, he was immediately arrested and so the story that has been undermining the sport of cycling since the death of Tommy Simpson in 1967, finally broke. Imprisoned for sixteen days, sacked from the Festina team and ostracised from the sport to which he had dedicated his life, Willy Voet at last was able to tell the truth. His sensational story will change cycling forever.Cocaine, amphetamines, EPO, heroin - all these are now considered not optional but necessary, not to win but just to compete in the Tour de France. Details of how these drugs are obtained, mixed together to make cocktails, administered and concealed are all included in this graphic and uninhibited account of how drugs brought cycling to its knees.
Stillness and Speed: My Story
Dennis Bergkamp - 2013
Along with the likes of Thierry Henry, Robert Pires and Patrick Vieira, he provided an inspirational cutting edge to the Gunners' play and set them on the way to becoming one of the most formidable sides in the world, winning trophy after trophy. In 2003-04, Arsenal were quite literally unbeatable in the league. Now, with unique insight and eloquent recall, Bergkamp reveals how it was done and explains his footballing philosophy - a way of playing that has been handed down from Cruyff and the era of Dutch 'Total Football' via Arsene Wenger and on today to Pep Guardiola. But, now at Ajax, he is part of a team that is working to create a way of playing football that could take the game on to a whole new level. Whether you want to relive the glories of his past, or share his vision of the future, once you have read this book you will never see Bergkamp or football in the same way again.
Broken Dreams: Vanity, Greed and the Souring of British Football
Tom Bower - 2003
From the author of devastating exposes of Mohamed Fayed, Richard Branson and, most recently, Geoffrey Robinson, this is an incisive account of how self-interested individuals, adopting questionable and predatory business methods, are exploiting the sport of football to earn billions of pounds and huge glory."
Scoring at Half Time
George Best - 2003
Inside stories, lurid tales, embarrassing incidents: soccer legend George Best has gathered together his favourite stories of his and his friends’ anecdotes and observations from their experiences in and out of the game over the last forty years.
The Boss: The Many Sides of Alex Ferguson
Michael Crick - 2002
Charismatic and charming, volcanic and ruthless, seemingly ambitious and astonishingly successful: Sir Alex Ferguson is all of these things and more, a complex character who has produced - first at Aberdeen and now at Manchester United - two of the most prolific trophy-grabbing machines in the modern game.But what drives him? What has fuelled the desire to transform himself from a poor Glasgow childhood into one of the titans of the modern game? The Boss will be essential reading not just for Manchester United fans and all football followers, but anyone interested in the skills of successful management in general.
The Game of Their Lives: The Untold Story of the World Cup's Biggest Upset
Geoffrey Douglas - 1996
The Americans were outsiders to the sport, the underdogs of the event, a 500-to-1 long shot. But they were also proud and loyal men -- to one another, to their communities, and certainly to their country. Facing almost no time to prepare, opponents with superior training, and skepticism from the rest of the world, this ragtag group of unknowns was inspired to a stunning victory over England and one of the most thrilling upsets in the history of sports.Written by critically acclaimed author Geoffrey Douglas, and now a film directed by David Anspaugh (Hoosiers), The Game of Their Lives takes us back to a time before million-dollar contracts and commercial endorsements, and introduces us to the athletes -- the Americans -- who showed the world just how far a long shot could really go.