| Football books 11:43 - Aug 23 with 12052 views | rrrspricey |
Just been given a kindle with £30 voucher for my birthday and am looking for some decent football books to stick on it, any recommendations gratefully received |  | | |  |
| Football books on 23:26 - Jan 4 with 3000 views | TacticalR |
Just read Michael Calvin's Living on the Volcano: The Secrets of Surviving as a Football Manager (2015)
I think everyone on this forum would enjoy it. There are quite a lot of QPR connections in the first third of the book. Below are the chapters (I have added in the manager names in brackets).
01. Intolerance of Uncertainty (Martin Ling)
02. From King to Clown (Aidy Boothroyd)
03. Alive and Kicking (Gareth Ainsworth)
04. Out (Gary Waddock/Joe Dunne)
05. Ollie’s Flying Circus (Ian Holloway)
06. The Helicopter View (Shaun Derry)
07. The Case for the Defence (Mark Hughes)
08. A Self-made Man (Alan Pardew)
09. Wear the Crown (Brendan Rodgers)
10. The Lollipop Man (Roberto MartÃnez)
11. The Making of a Manager (Gary Monk)
12. Walking the Job (Micky Adams/John Still)
13. The Fallacy of Failure (Alan Irvine/Ronald Koeman)
14. No Blacks, No Irish (Chris Hughton/Brian McDermott)
15. Daddy Day Care (Karl Robinson)
16. Seeing Through the Noise (Sean Dyche)
17. Back for Good (Eddie Howe)
18. Hungry Like a Wolf (Kenny Jackett/Mick McCarthy)
19. The Revolution Will Be Televised (Mark Warburton)
20. View from the Boundary (Paul Tisdale)
21. From Darkness into Light |  |
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| Football books on 00:07 - Jan 5 with 2964 views | PeterHucker |
| Football books on 23:26 - Jan 4 by TacticalR |
Just read Michael Calvin's Living on the Volcano: The Secrets of Surviving as a Football Manager (2015)
I think everyone on this forum would enjoy it. There are quite a lot of QPR connections in the first third of the book. Below are the chapters (I have added in the manager names in brackets).
01. Intolerance of Uncertainty (Martin Ling)
02. From King to Clown (Aidy Boothroyd)
03. Alive and Kicking (Gareth Ainsworth)
04. Out (Gary Waddock/Joe Dunne)
05. Ollie’s Flying Circus (Ian Holloway)
06. The Helicopter View (Shaun Derry)
07. The Case for the Defence (Mark Hughes)
08. A Self-made Man (Alan Pardew)
09. Wear the Crown (Brendan Rodgers)
10. The Lollipop Man (Roberto MartÃnez)
11. The Making of a Manager (Gary Monk)
12. Walking the Job (Micky Adams/John Still)
13. The Fallacy of Failure (Alan Irvine/Ronald Koeman)
14. No Blacks, No Irish (Chris Hughton/Brian McDermott)
15. Daddy Day Care (Karl Robinson)
16. Seeing Through the Noise (Sean Dyche)
17. Back for Good (Eddie Howe)
18. Hungry Like a Wolf (Kenny Jackett/Mick McCarthy)
19. The Revolution Will Be Televised (Mark Warburton)
20. View from the Boundary (Paul Tisdale)
21. From Darkness into Light |
came into the thread intending to recommend 2 books but I see they've both already been mentioned.
Inverting the Pyramid and Living on the Volcano both excellent. |  | | |
| Football books on 08:59 - Jan 5 with 2889 views | boobishabang |
| Football books on 11:33 - Aug 24 by londonscottish |
Can anyone remember the title of the book from 2011 about the German keeper who ended up committing suicide? It's supposed to be a great book - won a sports book award IIRC. |
"A life too Short", Robert Enke, was the first book i read on my Kindle when it came out |  | | |
| Football books on 09:21 - Jan 5 with 2867 views | CamberleyR |
Big Mal - The High Life & Hard Times of Malcolm Allison by David Tossell
The Anatomy Of England - A History In Ten Matches by Jonathan Wilson
Sir Alf by Leo McKinstry |  |
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| Football books on 09:47 - Jan 5 with 2848 views | WokingR |
Think these last few posts might be a couple of years too late.
He's probably spent his Amazon voucher by now |  | | |
| Football books on 09:49 - Jan 5 with 2844 views | BeauRanger |
Stan the Man-The Autobiography...not sure if it's available on Kindle but a very good book worth mentioning anyway. [Post edited 5 Jan 2017 9:50]
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| Football books on 10:14 - Jan 5 with 2810 views | robith |
| Football books on 12:48 - Aug 23 by TacticalR |
Jonathan Wilson's 'Inverting the Pyramid' is great for giving you a historical perspective on football, and the way certain ideas have passed between countries and between decades. For example Total Football was pioneered by Englishman Jack Reynolds who managed Ajax between 1915 and 1947.
It's basically a history of formations and tactics.
Wilson can be difficult to follow at times, and it can be hard to picture in your mind whatever formation he is talking about (especially if there doesn't happen to be a diagram on that particular page). |
Wilson also edits the Blizzard which is a periodical aimed at allowing football journalists to do long form pieces without financial editorial pressure. It's available digitally for £3 a quarter and you can download pdfs and upload them to your kindle. Highly recommended |  | | |
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| Football books on 10:23 - Jan 5 with 2804 views | PinnerPaul |
If you've ever been involved with kids football "You'll win Nothing with Kids" by Jim White is very well observed and funny.
I enjoyed Howard Webb's autobiography recently as well - "The Man in The Middle" |  | | |
| Football books on 10:43 - Jan 5 with 2776 views | kingsburyR |
Read plenty of the suggestions from above but "A life too short" was very different.
A compelling but hard read.
Worth a look.
Going off piste, (i've mentioned it before) its not a footie book but golf related.the book "four iron in the soul" is an excellent read of a journalist becoming a golf caddy for a pro golfer. Has everything and made me laugh out loud many times!. I highly recommend! |  |
| Dont know why we bother. .... but we do! |
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| Football books on 10:45 - Jan 5 with 2775 views | danehoop |
Very much enjoyed "Left Foot Forward" by Gary Nelson. A year in the life of a lower league footballer journeyman. Probably a bit dated now, but interesting in providing a very different perspective from lower down the league from a players viewpoint. |  |
| Never knowingly understood |
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| Football books on 10:47 - Jan 5 with 2772 views | WrightUp5hit___ |
The Michael Colvin books are definitely required (and entertaining) reading. Showed me that after 50+ years of watching football, I know bugger all about how things really work.
I was given this book https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Books/Garrincha-Triumph-Tragedy-Brazils-Forgotten-Foo on Garrincha a few years ago. One of footballs almost forgotten superstars, no saturation TV coverage back then, and one of the saddest books I have ever read. |  | | |
| Football books on 10:50 - Jan 5 with 2768 views | Watford_Ranger |
| Football books on 11:46 - Aug 23 by NW5Hoop |
If it's available on Kindle, The Glory Game by Hunter Davies is brilliant, as is Only a Game? by Eamon Dunphy. The Miracle of Castel di Sangro, by Joe McGinniss is fantastic. I've enjoyed recently two by Duncan Hamilton: Only if You Kiss Me and The Footballer Who Could Fly. |
The Castel Di Sangro book is brilliant in spite of the author being a bit of a knob at times. Brought me close to tears.
Simon Jordan's autobiography is a good one. I'm currently reading Living on The Volcano by Michael Calvin which is a great insight into football managers. | | | |
| Football books on 10:54 - Jan 5 with 2761 views | essextaxiboy |
Bootsy Egan Letters ...before "social media " took over |  | | |
| Football books on 11:30 - Jan 5 with 2579 views | TacticalR |
From Calvin's 'Living on the Volcano':
'Ollie’s Flying Circus includes references to mating badgers, copulating mermaids, preening burglars, computer literate chimpanzees and central defenders with broken noses who can smell around corners.' 
No wonder they are having trouble translating this stuff into Polish and French. | |
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| Football books on 13:07 - Jan 5 with 2486 views | TGRRRSSS |
56 - The STory of the Bradford Fire by Martin Fletcher.
Just reading it now shocking but brilliant thus far |  | | |
| Football books on 13:17 - Jan 5 with 2469 views | R_from_afar |
"Pointless," a book about a journalist following East Stirlingshire for a season, with access to the dressing room, is a cracker, at times poignant and at others, hilarious.
"A season with Verona" takes a similar approach and is a real eye opener, for example, due to the vast distances Italian fans have to travel and the hostile, squalid conditions in the grounds.
RFA |  |
| "Things had started becoming increasingly desperate at Loftus Road but QPR have been handed a massive lifeline and the place has absolutely erupted. it's carnage. It's bedlam. It's 1-1." |
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| Football books on 13:50 - Jan 5 with 2443 views | FDC |
| Football books on 10:50 - Jan 5 by Watford_Ranger |
The Castel Di Sangro book is brilliant in spite of the author being a bit of a knob at times. Brought me close to tears.
Simon Jordan's autobiography is a good one. I'm currently reading Living on The Volcano by Michael Calvin which is a great insight into football managers. |
This thread's been done a few times, and I always recommend The Miracle of Castel di Sangro, superb story |  | | |
| Football books on 11:36 - Jan 6 with 2337 views | smegma |
All books mentioned so far are half decent but 'old'. The book I'm reading at the moment covers non league and Sunday football up until the end of last season. Covers everything from weirdo ground hoppers, coaches, club owners and scouts. It tells the story of how Charli Austin was discovered by a scout for Swindon. Best book I've read in years : The Bottom Corner.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bottom-Corner-Dreamers-Non-League-Football/dp/022410059 [Post edited 6 Jan 2017 12:10]
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| Football books on 17:01 - Jan 8 with 2251 views | BrianMcCarthy |
Just finished 'My Father And Other Working-Class Football Heroes' by Gary Imlach. The author, a journalist who never really knew enough about his father's footy career in Scotland and England, goes on a journey to reconstruct it.
Lovely book, eloquent, evocative and emotional. |  |
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| Football books on 08:44 - Jan 9 with 2175 views | MrSheen |
Rugby League not football, but "Longy, Booze, Brawls, Sex and Scandal", by Sean Long, is fantastically entertaining, a much better read than the title suggests. His personal history is genuinely shocking and lifestyle was much closer to the 1970s footballer than today's players would get away with. £4.07 on Amazon, even if you know or care nothing about League, you won't regret it. |  | | |
| Football books on 09:42 - Jan 9 with 2148 views | dodge_stoke_r |
Got to be there. Written by a crazy Burnley fan about his following of Burnley, and only missing one game in over about 40 years. Even though he can't drive and lives about 65 mile's away from Burnley. He bikes it sometimes! If you do look it up, yes his name is Dave Burnley. He changed his name by deepoll! Like I say, crazy |  | | |
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