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My Name'5 Doddie: The Autobiography
Doddie Weir - 2018
A giant of the game and a rugby icon, his unique story is charged with a passion for living life to the full.In a rugby career which had huge highs and shocking lows, Doddie faced some of the game’s greatest players, from Jonny Wilkinson to Jonah Lomu, Brian O’Driscoll to Scott Quinnell and Martin Johnson to Joost van der Westhuizen, and set stadiums alight when “on the charge like a mad giraffe”. Now, at the age of 48, Doddie faces an entirely different adversary: Motor Neurone Disease.But Doddie Weir has never been one to shy away from a challenge, on or off the pitch, and he has faced up to MND with undaunted positivity, using his boundless energy to raise funds for MND research and support.
Rush: The Autobiography: Liverpool's Greatest Striker, Liverpool's Greatest Era, The True Story
Ian Rush - 2008
The story of one of Liverpool’s greatest soccer goal scorers, from his beginnings as a rough-edged Welsh teenager thrust into the ranks of an already great team, to how he learned to grow as a player and a man.
Hillsborough Voices: The Real Story Told by the People Themselves
Kevin Sampson - 2014
96 people were crushed to death and another 766 injured in a tragedy that was later admitted to have been exacerbated by police failures.Hillsborough Voices does justice to the memory of all those who died and for all those left behind. From the tragic events of the day to what unfolded in the hours, days and eventually years that followed, the book will interweave the voices of those who were there with the families and friends of those who died, and all those who have played key roles in the long search for the truth.The author, Kevin Sampson, has a long history with Hillsborough. Not only was he there as a fan to witness the horror first-hand, he also helped organise the Hillsborough benefit concert at Anfield and has close connections with the justice campaign. He has conducted exhaustive and exclusive interviews both with people who have become familiar public figures and those who will be telling their heart-rending personal stories for the first time – to bring us the full story.The book will be fully endorsed and promoted by the Hillsborough Justice Campaign and will carry the official HJC logo.
Man and Ball: My Autobiography
Stephen Ferris - 2015
It was, however, preferable to his day job of paving driveways, and that day in 2005 saw the start of an incredible journey for Ferris, Ulster and Ireland rugby. A Celtic League title in his very first senior season with Ulster. A Grand Slam in 2009, followed by a sensational Lions breakthrough. A starring role in Ireland's greatest World Cup win, over Australia in 2011, when Ferris famously picked up Will Genia and carried him ten yards. And leading Ulster from nowhere to the Heineken Cup final.Stephen Ferris had an incredible rugby career, tragically ended by ankle injuries so severe they will never properly heal. He is an inspiration to the population of Ulster, an emblem of the sport that serves as such a positive expression of its culture and identity, and earned the respect and admiration of fans across Ireland for his strength, pace, skill and courage. Fearless, funny and full of an incredible array of stories from behind the scenes of Ulster, Ireland and the Lions, this is the must-have rugby book of the year.
Dalglish: My Autobiography
Kenny Dalglish - 1996
This edition has been updated to cover the 1996/1997 season and Dalglish's move to become Newcastle manager.
Klopp: My Liverpool Romance
Anthony Quinn - 2020
In early March 2020 Liverpool were two wins away from an extraordinary achievement, on course for their first league title win in 30 years - since the heads days of Kenny Dalglish - and likely to seal it in the Merseyside derby against their great rivals Everton. And all this an incredible two months before the season was due to end. Then, as we all know, the season was postponed.The architect of the club's great resurgence - including their 2019 UEFA Champions League win - has been J�rgen Klopp. In his personal love-letter to the man, Anthony Quinn, journalist, novelist and life-long Liverpool fan, has written an inspiring and affectionate portrait of the incredible German manager, who came to Liverpool in late 2015, with a growing reputation from his successes at Borussia Dortmund.Closely following the three month break, as well as the club's title-clinching return, Quinn offers a uniquely revealing and personal take on this long-awaited triumph.
Craig Bellamy: GoodFella
Craig Bellamy - 2013
If he plays for your team, you love him. If he doesn’t . . .Everyone thinks they know Bellamy. Pace and passion. A handful for defenders. Scoring goals and winding up opponents. Winning friends – and making enemies.Blessed with a natural talent, he has enjoyed a colourful career at a host of top clubs. The proud Welshman is one of the top ten appearance makers for his country. But his rise to the top of the game wasn’t easy. It could have all been so different.He came from a loving family but temptations lay in his way. Follow the crowd or follow a dream? Join your mates in a gang on the streets or try to make it as a pro? It was a choice between the two.Bellamy chose football and became a rebel with a cause. He quickly climbed the ladder and shared dressing rooms with some of the biggest stars in football – from Ryan Giggs to Steven Gerrard. His burning desire to succeed made him a winner on the pitch, but that same passion also got him into trouble. There were famous bust-ups with John Arne Riise and Alan Shearer, not to mention rows with Graeme Souness, Rafa Benitez and Roberto Mancini.Away from the spotlight, there is a different side to Bellamy. His earnings from this book will be going to the Craig Bellamy Foundation, a charity which offers children in Sierra Leone the chance to fulfill their sporting potential. He is a devoted Dad and was heartbroken at the tragic and shocking death of his close friend Gary Speed.Craig Bellamy: GoodFella uncovers the real man behind the player and reveals the untold stories of a life inside football’s fast lane.Like Bellamy himself, it doesn’t hold back.
MUZZY: MY STORY
Muzzy Izzet - 2015
Two good feet. Stamina. Decent in the air. He could run, shoot, pass, dribble, read the game, track back, tackle and score goals, brilliant goals, and one – a bicycle kick at Grimsby Town in 2002 – still rated as Leicester City’s greatest-ever goal. A half-English/half-Turkish kid from London’s East End, Izzet learned his trade the hard way; in kids’ leagues, playing against youngsters two or three years older, then as a young pro at Chelsea, kicked all over the Southern Counties League. When it looked like he couldn’t get a break, he contemplated jacking in the only thing he could do – the only thing he wanted to do – to go roofing with his old man. Enter Martin O’Neill and Leicester City… Inspired by the Northern Irishman’s unique motivational methods, Muzzy flourished in a side littered with big characters who worked hard and played hard, established names like Steve Walsh and Garry Parker who helped new faces like Neil Lennon, Robbie Savage and Emile Heskey. This is more than just a football book. It’s about what happened in the changing room, in the bar, being banned from La Manga – not once, but twice – and what happened when O’Neill’s side was dismantled, the club was relegated and, later, fell into administration. Muzzy was there for it all – the good times, the bad, the bits in between. Then there was Turkey. The dressing room rite of passage that spared no blushes and the secret drama behind the World Cup semi-final… Funny, unflinching and occasionally heartbreaking, Muzzy: My Story lifts the lid on 1990s football and a Leicester City legend, remembered fondly by all those who saw him.
The Man in the Middle
Howard Webb - 2016
Webb's first game as a match official came when he was just 18 and his father's verdict was blunt: 'Useless - he doesn't know his arse from his elbow.' It wasn't the last time his performance would come under fire. But Webb progressed through the ranks, and his natural calm authority made a good impression on players and administrators alike, and soon he was being offered the top matches and the toughest fixtures. The policeman went on to take charge of some of the most important games, including the 2009 FA Cup final, the 2010 Champions League final and - the biggest of the lot - the 2010 World Cup final. Now, in this superb and frank memoir, Howard Webb reveals what it is like to be at the heart of the action in modern-day football where every decision can be unpicked by television cameras. He explains how he learned to handle some of the game's superstars. Refereeing is a hard business, but Webb shows just why he enjoyed it so much and provides fascinating insights into how he dealt with the most challenging situations. With his unique perspective, and the characteristic honesty and humour he has displayed as a pundit on BT Sport, Webb has written a book that reveals the game - and the man himself - in a new light. 'Genuinely fascinating insight into the difficulties of officiating in the modern game, and Webb's frankness and self-deprecation are to be commended' When Saturday Comes
The Farther Corner: A Sentimental Return to North-East Football
Harry Pearson - 2020
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.
Forza Italia: The Fall and Rise of Italian Football
Paddy Agnew - 2007
In that first week in Italy, Michel Platini and Juventus won the Intercontinental Cup, whilst just days later the PLO killed 13 people in a random shooting at Rome's Fiumicino airport. Paddy covered both stories. The coming years saw the rise of TV tycoon Silvio Berlusconi, as he became owner of AC Milan and then Prime Minister of Italy, naming his political party 'Forza Italia' after a football chant. In that same period, Argentine Diego Maradona became the uncrowned King of Naples, leading Napoli to a first ever Scudetto title in 1987, notwithstanding a hectic, Hollywood-esque lifestyle that mixed footballing genius with off-the-field excess.Forza Italia is a fascinating tale of inspired players, skilled coaches, rich tycoons, glitzy media coverage, Mafia corruption, allegations of drug taking and fan power - culminating in the 2006 World Cup victory that delighted a nation and a match-fixing scandal that shocked the world. It is also a personalised reflection on the consistent and continuing excellence of Italian football throughout a period of huge social, political and economic upheaval, offering a unique insight into a society where football has always been much more than just a game.
Stand Up Pinocchio: Thommo from the Kop to the Top: My Life Inside Anfield
Phil Thompson - 2006
Few others can offer such a remarkable insight into life at Anfield from Shankly to Houllier and beyond. Born in Liverpool in 1954, Phil later moved to his spiritual home of Kirkby where his footballing abilities were soon noticed and he quickly acquired a range of schoolboy honours before signing professional forms for his beloved Reds in 1971.As he staked a claim for a first-team place, Kop messiah Bill Shankly would memorably declare: “Aye, Phil Thompson. The boy tossed up with a sparrow for his legs and lost!”Shanks, however, was in no doubt about the young Thommo’s qualities and Phil would go on to claim a host of Anfield honours including seven League Championships, three European Cups, two League Cups and an FA Cup.The proudest moment of his footballing life came in 1981 when he led the Reds to a third European Cup with a 1-0 defeat of Real Madrid in Paris, later parading the trophy at his local pub, The Falcon.He left the Reds after winning 42 England caps before returning to Anfield in a coaching capacity under Liverpool player manager Kenny Dalglish.Despite being controversially sacked by Reds boss and former teammate Graeme Souness in 1992, he sensationally returned to Anfield as Gerard Houllier’s right-hand man in 1998, going on to revive the glory days by claiming a famous treble of trophies in 2001.Coming full circle and happy to be a fan again, he shared in the joy of the Reds’ 2005 Champions League triumph in Istanbul – as highlighted during remarkable scenes on SKY TV.
Together: the story of Arsenal's unbeaten season
Andrew Mangan - 2014
When Arsene Wenger said he wanted his team to go through a season undefeated, he was roundly mocked, yet just over 12 months later the Arsenal manager guided his team to footballing immortality.The Gunners’ 2003-2004 campaign was extraordinary, and not just because of their remarkable league achievement.From the highs and lows of Europe, to disciplinary charges, pitched battles, the frantic scramble to finance a new stadium, a club record transfer in January, and winning the title at the ground of the old enemy, this special collector’s edition book looks back on everything that happened during an unforgettable campaign.Match reports, behind the scenes stories, exclusive interviews and illustrations, stats, tactics, pictures; all the things you know, and lots of stuff you’ve forgotten: Together tells the story of Arsenal’s ‘unbeaten’ season.
CLOUGH GOLD
Dave Armitage - 2014
Ex-players, close friends, journalists, managers and former colleagues reveal their astonishing brushes with the greatest football manager England never had. The stories are cherry-picked from two acclaimed books - 150BC: Cloughie the Inside Stories and Clough: Confidential. An additional 242 stories can be found in these two volumes. So, enter the whirlwind world of Old Big 'Ead and prepare to be entertained.
Bobby Moore: By the Person Who Knew Him Best
Tina Moore - 2014
As the only English football captain ever to raise the World Cup, he was not just a football icon but a national one.Yet Bobby was an intensely reserved, almost mysterious personality. Only one person was his true friend and confidante – his boyhood sweetheart, Tina, whom he met at 17 and married soon after.Tina Moore’s story of her life with Bobby, the triumphs and crises of his football career, the break-up of their marriage and what happened afterwards, is a moving tribute to a national icon by the person who knew him better than anyone.