As of May 2009, Johnny Sexton was the little-known backup fly-half for Leinster, the chronically underachieving Irish province. But when Felipe Contepomi went down with an injury early in the Heineken Cup semi-final against a dominant Munster team, Sexton came on, nailed a penalty with his first touch of the game, and helped Leinster to a crushing victory. Four years, three Heineken Cups later and one British and Irish Lions tour victory later, Sexton is by some distance the leading fly-half in the northern hemisphere. When the 2013 Lions squad was selected, there was almost universal agreement that Sexton was the most important single player heading to Australia. And over the course of the Lions' first victorious Test series in sixteen years, Sexton was the man pulling the strings. His try in the third test was the decisive blow, and his joyous celebrations after scoring were echoed in homes across Britain and Ireland. Becoming a Lion is an intimate portrait of life at the highest levels of the professional game - at Leinster, with Ireland, and on tour with the Lions.

    The game has been his life, and his enduring passion.Souness has written a perceptive and opinionated autobiography. It chronicles one of the most successful and colourful careers in the history of British football. But it also provides an intriguing assessment of the game which has dominated his existence, drawing extensively on his incredibly rich and varied experiences as a player, manager and pundit.The result is a shrewd, incisive and hard-hitting memoir, at times tinged with hindsight and regret, which also grapples with many of the major talking points affecting the game today. It is shot through with Souness' trademark tenacity and wisdom, and with fantastic anecdotes from his glittering career.In many ways, Football: My Life, My Passion is the story of the last half-century of British football writ large.

    Aged 16, White was the youngest player to win the English Amateur Championship. At 18, he won the World Amateur title. By 1984, he's a professional success, married but not at all settled. He's the kind of man who goes out for a packet of cigarettes and comes home two weeks later. Gambling, women, marathon binges with showbiz friends like Ron Wood of the Rolling Stones, have threatened the stability of his marriage. But somehow White has survived, to tell in candid detail, a most unusual, often outrageous story of a very sporting life.

    This wonderful new book takes fans into the changing room, the training ground and the boardroom. Warnock draws heavily on a lifetime of experiences at all levels in football, but particularly on his tumultuous spells at Crystal Palace, Queens Park Rangers, and Leeds United. From transfer dealings to negotiations with agents, from half-time team-talks to training sessions, from scouting trips to team-bonding sprees, from administrators to chairman, from injuries to referees - The Gaffer spills the beans.You won't have read a football book like this before.

    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.

    A tall, lean striker with the world at his feet, Ferguson seemed destined to develop into one of Scotland's most successful exports, but anger, and a number of injuries, hampered his progress. Ferguson has scored the most goals of any Scot in the Premiership but also shares the record for Premiership red cards. In 1995, he became the first professional footballer to be jailed for an offence committed on the pitch. It earned him a three-month sentence in Glasgow's infamous Barlinnie Prison and a twelve-match ban from the SFA. Bruised by the experience, he walked away from the Scotland team and blanked the media from then on. Featuring contributions from numerous top players, this explosive biography uncovers the real Duncan Ferguson. The author delves into Ferguson's personal and professional life and reveals that there is more to him than the media portrayal of a Scottish hard man.

    In 12 years he achieved 12,472 runs, 161 Test matches, 33 hundreds, and 4 Ashes series wins.But such records only tell half the story. Why, at the relatively early age of 33, did he suddenly quit?Cricket, the sport of gleaming whites and gentility, is polite, friendly, and reserved. But beneath the surface anxiety looms, tensions run high and emotions can be explosive.Alastair began and ended his England cricketing career on soaring highs, yet at times he feared for his career. He embodies the resilience, endurance and mental determination required at the highest level of international sport, fighting against the constant pressure and the ever-present fear of failure. He recounts the fiery fall-out with Kevin Pietersen and the ruthless decisions a captain must make. He expands on the highs of leading England to their first series win in India in 28 years, the glory of four Ashes wins and what, finally, convinced him to leave international cricket. To know Alastair Cook is to know what it takes to be successful, in any field. In this candid autobiography he captures not only what it takes to be one of England's greatest sportsmen but also the price paid by a professional athlete at the top of his game.

    This book describes the 1994-5 season at Charlton Athletic but it could be any in which he reveals the ups and downs of what it is like to be an ordinary professional player.There are the injuries, the battles for selection, and the worries that age is catching up on him, which would mean the end of his career. But there are also the occasional triumphs, such as when he was appointed captain and scored the winning goal in a televised match.Written with wit, intelligence and insight, Left Foot Forward reveals far more about what it is really like to be a footballer than any number of ghosted autobiographies by the big stars. It is destined to become a classic of football writing.

    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.

    He was a valued teammate whose very presence on the ice affected the way the game was played. As an enforcer and as a teammate, Nilan ranks among the greatest of all time; when the cheering stopped, however, Chris Nilan did not do well. The same qualities—his aggressiveness and high-emotion style—that proved so valuable on the ice did not serve him well when his career ended. Nilan turned to drugs and alcohol to dull his pain and nearly died from an overdose. His story is a fascinating and troubling exposé of the booze, bills, and drugs that destroy so many athletes after their careers are over. But it’s also a story of triumph, as Nilan has been the victor in his fight against his demons.

    

    Scally kid from Kirkby turned multiple European Cup winner. Adopted Geordie. Liverpool legend and scorer of arguably Anfield’s most famous goal. Kevin Keegan’s trusted right-hand man at Newcastle United. And partial to a pint or five and a punt on the horses. Now, for the first time, the 1980 PFA Player of the Year and Football Writers’ Footballer of the Year lifts the lid on his successes at Liverpool, the near misses at Newcastle, controversies he found himself caught up in and the famous players he shared a dressing room with. It’s a roller-coaster tale spanning more than half a century that takes McDermott from the high-rise flats of his home town to the pinnacle of European football; from the booze and banter of a Merseyside social club to the madness of a matchday dugout. A read every bit as thrilling as his FA Cup wonder goal against Tottenham, McDermott’s long-awaited autobiography will appeal to Kopites and Toon fans alike, plus football followers intrigued about one of the most colourful characters in the game. Like the man himself, Terry Mac: Living For The Moment is cheerful, entertaining and straight to the point.

    This book contains the fascinating, insightful and at times hilarious memoirs of one of the most gifted and enigmatic British footballers of the last 25 years, Matt Le Tissier.

    Before retiring in 1997, he took his team to a bowl game every year, won three national championships in the last four years he coached, and ended his career boasting an 84 percent winning record. But while these numbers testify to an undeniable accomplishment, it has been another, more powerful force that has shaped Osborne's life: his faith.In Faith in the Game, this legendary coach shares the philosophy he used to create not only a champion football team, but also a meaningful life. Both a memoir of Osborne's career with the Cornhuskers and an inspirational guide to making the most out of life, Faith in the Game presents the traits Osborne helped to instill in his team, including core values like honesty, loyalty, and courage. Illustrated with compelling behind-the-scenes stories of the Nebraska football team and conveyed in his own captivating tone, Osborne's message reveals the value of hard work, the need to balance our professional and personal obligations, and, above all, the importance of bringing faith into our lives.For those seeking a spiritually centered approach to living and working, this candid account of Tom Osborne's faith and strength is a warm and authentic book from which all of us can learn.

    But this is the story I’ve been waiting to tell. It’s my time to set the record straight.’ One of the most naturally talented footballers of the modern era, Michael Owen’s career has always divided opinion among fans. From the age of only seven, his life was mapped out as a professional footballer. At 17, he made his Premier League debut. At 18, he was a Golden Boot winner and England’s youngest goalscorer at a World Cup. As he turned 22, he became the second youngest player to lift the Ballon d’Or. Owen would go on to lift every domestic trophy and play in three World Cups. But his career path took him in directions he could never have foreseen. Lines were crossed. Headlines were written. Injuries took their toll. Fans made up their minds… Owen penned a previous autobiography in 2004 but feels that only now, six years on from hanging up his boots, can he really open up on what really happened behind the scenes. It makes for a revealing, explosive read.