Can anyone recommend a decent football book?

[imposs1904]

He has some weird notion that racist chanting in the stadium is 'theatre' and that it makes it less likely that racist attacks will take place in the town. He has some sharp words for the racists, but in general he's mealy-mouthed about it, and proud that he's been accepted by the nutters. It's a midlife crisis book.

The last paragraph/afterword made me sick: basically asking us to applaud the fans for 'warmly receiving' (i.e. not monkey-chanting) their first black signing in 2001. Parks is a tool.

FFS, Parks sounds like a character that you would read in the pages of Viz.

Anybody read Buford's 'Among The Thugs'? I've always avoided the book because, for some reason, I always got the impression it would be nothing more than a literary version of hooligan porn.

 

[imposs1904]

Yes, it's definitely worth your time. It makes similar confessionals like Tony Adams and Paul Merson's books seem like kids stuff (although that's not to say that their experiences weren't painful or that their books aren't valid either).

If you like Spanish football - or if you want to know more about it - then check out Phil Ball's excellent Morbo: The Story of Spanish Football
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Morbo-Spani...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1212762125&sr=1-1

Cheers for the tip on Phil Ball's book. I was looking at that on the When Saturday Comes website this morning.

 

[Onket]

Anybody read Buford's 'Among The Thugs'?

I read it a long time ago and enjoyed it. I was about 12 at the time though.

 

[g force]

Morbo is a mighty, mighty fine book, as is White Storm, the history of Real Madrid.

REally enjoyed this:http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tor-German-...5X/ref=pd_sim_b?ie=UTF8&qid=1212762125&sr=1-1

 

[DRINK?]

I was always told about a great book about brazilian football and how it came about as being beautiful, attacking etc due to 3 hungarian coaches who went over there back in the day

can't remember the name or anything so loads of use

 

[mattie]

FFS, Parks sounds like a character that you would read in the pages of Viz.

Anybody read Buford's 'Among The Thugs'? I've always avoided the book because, for some reason, I always got the impression it would be nothing more than a literary version of hooligan porn.

I've got it sat on my desk, and it's not very good at all.

 

[gilroy]

The Beautiful Game - David Conn

Top notch, detailing how fans have been bent over by clubs as far back as Woolwich Arsenal fucking off to islington in, well, before black and white telly anyway.

Well worth a read.

 

[Geri]

I recommend Barca - a people's passion, by Jimmy Burns.

Well, I enjoyed the chapters I read, anyway.

 

[jcsd]

My personal favourite is this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Daily-Teleg...=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1212777812&sr=8-2

Just like the way that all the articles are of their time (I'm not sure how much editing is done on the original articles), so you get a pretty good perspective of what football was like in each season.

 

[marty21]

just read tony cascarino's book, quite enjoyed it, pretty warts and all, and i'm reading neil redfearn's at the moment, pretty good so far

 

[chainsaw cat]

I just realised the other day that I haven't read a football book in ages - living in the States doesn't help - and I was wondering if anybody out there could make some suggestions.

I'm not really referring to autobiographies, unless it's something juicy like Cascarino's or Dunphy's and I've read enough Shoot annuals to last me a lifetime, thanks.

I guess I mean football books along the same lines as those books I've enjoyed in the past. Books such as John Moynihan's 'Soccer Syndrome', Simon Kuper's 'Football Against The Enemy'; Harry Pearson's 'The Far Corner' and, inevitably, Nick Hornby's 'Fever Pitch'. There's others that I've read but they escape me at the moment.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

It's a tiny market because most football supporters can't read properly, so there's no point in writing a book which would appeal to them.

You will have to put up with being a strange mutant - a football fan who can read - and go elsewhere for your literary kicks. Perhaps to natural history ('A Brief History of Crustacea' by Prof. Snayles, or 'Nettles - The Coffee Table Companion' by D I Bergerac)

 

[big eejit]

My father and other working class football heroes by Gary Imlach.

Fantastic book about when professional footballers got the bus to work and had to take summer jobs down t'pit.

 

[Onket]

I was always told about a great book about brazilian football and how it came about as being beautiful, attacking etc due to 3 hungarian coaches who went over there back in the day

can't remember the name or anything so loads of use

I've got that, I think. Will check the name when I get home.

 

[marty21]

My father and other working class football heroes by Gary Imlach.

Fantastic book about when professional footballers got the bus to work and had to take summer jobs down t'pit.

that's very good, i read that a while ago

 

[STFC]

No doubt I'll get a slagging for this, but Paolo Di Canio's autobiography is very good. Whatever you think of him, he's certainly an interesting character.

The Boys From The Mersey by Nicky Allt, which can usually be found in the 'hooligan' section but is actually more about the scouse knack for travelling across Europe for free and jibbing into grounds, rather than endless tales of fighting.

Perry Boys by Ian Hough, about the casual gangs of Manchester and Salford. Again, less fighting and more emphasis on clothes, music, and travel tales. Very different to the usual fare.

 

[Paulie Tandoori]

The Miracle of Castel Di Sangro
by Joe McGinniss

Lower league Italian football, kidnappings, mental chairmen, scandal and deception. It's hilarious and gripping.

That's a surprisingly good book i thought.

 

[Onket]

No doubt I'll get a slagging for this, but Paolo Di Canio's autobiography is very good. Whatever you think of him, he's certainly an interesting character.

The Boys From The Mersey by Nicky Allt, which can usually be found in the 'hooligan' section but is actually more about the scouse knack for travelling across Europe for free and jibbing into grounds, rather than endless tales of fighting.

Perry Boys by Ian Hough, about the casual gangs of Manchester and Salford. Again, less fighting and more emphasis on clothes, music, and travel tales. Very different to the usual fare.

If you own these then I'd be up for a borrow. I doubt I've got anything you've not seen though.

 

[STFC]

If you own these then I'd be up for a borrow. I doubt I've got anything you've not seen though.

Of course. Most of them are still in boxes, but you can come over and have a rummage if you like.

 

[Fedayn]

Calcio by John Foot is well worth a read.

Calcio

 

[Placid Casual27]

Castel di Sangro is fucking great. As are Morbo and Behind the Curtain

Among the Thugs makes me want to go out and commit mass murder

 

[Donna Ferentes]

I've not read Morbo - a friend of mine bought it for me about two years ago but has failed to pass it on. Doesn't it have the slightly annoying habit of ending chapters by saying things like "but now it was time to move on to ...."?