madras Posted February 21, 2007 Share Posted February 21, 2007 for any old fogies wanting to bring back the 70's,norman burtenshaw's "whose side are you on ref?" is quality....may be interesting for those who thinkmoaning at refs is a "sky sports" phenomenon. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disco Posted February 22, 2007 Share Posted February 22, 2007 Tony Adams - Addicted is a good read. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gemmill Posted February 22, 2007 Share Posted February 22, 2007 The Miracle of Castel Di Sangro is a good read. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gemmill Posted February 22, 2007 Share Posted February 22, 2007 How Football Explains The World by Franklin Foer is a decent read too. I would be shying away from player biographies which tend to be shit and looking more at stuff like this. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gazza ladra Posted February 22, 2007 Share Posted February 22, 2007 How Football Explains The World by Franklin Foer is a decent read too. I found that book pretty disappointing. Basically, it is a rehashing of Simon Kuper's superior "Football Against the Enemy". Though the chapter on football in Iran is pretty good and the one one football/politics in the former Yugoslavia is interesting, the rest--- Rangers/Celtic, Barcelona/Real Madrid, etc.-- has been been covered ad nauseam. He doesn't really add anything. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cronky Posted February 22, 2007 Share Posted February 22, 2007 Only A Game, by Eamon Dunphy. It's the Diary of a Season, written by a Millwall player in the 1970's. It's a bit of a classic and has been re-issued several times. Even older than that is 'This One's On Me', by Jimmy Greaves. Not a laugh a minute read, but the most harrowing and moving account of a man's descent into alcoholism that I know. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gemmill Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 How Football Explains The World by Franklin Foer is a decent read too. I found that book pretty disappointing. Basically, it is a rehashing of Simon Kuper's superior "Football Against the Enemy". Though the chapter on football in Iran is pretty good and the one one football/politics in the former Yugoslavia is interesting, the rest--- Rangers/Celtic, Barcelona/Real Madrid, etc.-- has been been covered ad nauseam. He doesn't really add anything. Haven't read Kuper's book mate, but I saw in the Amazon review this one referred to as Kuper-lite, so it sounds like you're probably spot on re him not adding anything. Is the Kuper one worth a read then? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AyeDubbleYoo Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 The Meaning of Cantona, a very surreal but brilliant book. Quite hard to get hold of I think, I got mine in a charity shop. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gazza ladra Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 How Football Explains The World by Franklin Foer is a decent read too. I found that book pretty disappointing. Basically, it is a rehashing of Simon Kuper's superior "Football Against the Enemy". Though the chapter on football in Iran is pretty good and the one one football/politics in the former Yugoslavia is interesting, the rest--- Rangers/Celtic, Barcelona/Real Madrid, etc.-- has been been covered ad nauseam. He doesn't really add anything. Haven't read Kuper's book mate, but I saw in the Amazon review this one referred to as Kuper-lite, so it sounds like you're probably spot on re him not adding anything. Is the Kuper one worth a read then? I think I found Foer's book disappointing because I read Kuper's book first. Had I read Foer then Kuper perhaps I'd have a different attitude. Still, I think that Kuper's book is superior. Kuper-lite is a fair assessment, I think. I haven't read Football Against the Enemy in a couple of years-- it came out over a decade ago-- but I remember him being particularly strong on South Africa and the United States (he's lived in both) and eastern Europe-- East Germany and the Soviet Union. As a child growing up in the late 70s soccer-madness that came in wake of Pele playing for the Cosmos, I can attest to everything he writes about the state of the game in California at the time. One of the best parts (for me) is where he writes about attending San Jose Earthquake game where the crowd was more preoccupied with doing the wave around the stadium than watching the game-- 100% true. Also, he has this humorous bit about soccer "coaches" --dads who only knew American football-- calling out "plays" from the sidelines--100% true. (Incidentally, he mentions "Crazy George". Crazy George is the man responsible for the wave --known in Europe as the "Mexican wave". He started it at college games in the Pacific northwest (I think) before bringing it to San Jose. He started working baseball games in Oakland in 80-81 or so, and from there it spread to baseball stadiums around the US. From there it was picked up by Mexican-Americans. Mexico 1986 and all that followed shortly after. So, anyway, Crazy George is to blame) Foer is a decent writer and he fully acknowledges that his book is inspired by Kuper's book-- he says as much in the acknowledgments. And the success of his book has lead to the recent publication of Kuper's book (for the first time I think) in the United States as "Soccer Against the Enemy". Foer has a lot of fans and he's been pretty successful-- he's taken on the role of editor at the New Republic, one of the nation's oldest and most prestigious magazines. They've been losing readers in droves during his tenure. Don't know if this has anything to do with Foer. The magazine has recently lurched to the right-- being one of the few (the only) traditionally liberal magazines to support Bush's war in Iraq. They've pretty much alienated their readership. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
La Parka Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 (edited) Two new picks. Anyone got any good ones? I really enjoy stuff about non league! Edited January 5 by La Parka Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pancrate1892 Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 'absolute shite' by Amdy Faye. A very honest look back at his career in football Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordJake Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 ABC of Cruyff, an excellent co-read alongside the already mentioned Brilliant Orange Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NEEJ Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 2 hours ago, La Parka said: Two new picks. Anyone got any good ones? I really enjoy stuff about non league! Assuming you'll have read The Farther Corner? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kilcline Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 Calcio by John Foot is a great read. Michael Cox is a bit of a knobhead but his books are pretty good. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Duper Branko Strupar Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 On 10/02/2007 at 01:00, Mike said: Just finished this one the other week. A very enjoyable read, and insightful for someone not as well versed in the history of the club like myself. If I could ask my own question, does anyone have any other Newcastle related books to suggest? Surely something has been written about the 95/96 season. wtf is this? Oh why hello Michael, how do you dooo. Spiffing weather this morn. This is a good read. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 36 minutes ago, Super Duper Branko Strupar said: wtf is this? Oh why hello Michael, how do you dooo. Spiffing weather this morn. This is a good read. Shut your noise you manky gobshite. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
La Parka Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 (edited) 49 minutes ago, Kilcline said: Calcio by John Foot is a great read. Michael Cox is a bit of a knobhead but his books are pretty good. I read Calcio and loved it. Boom and bust looks good and the perfect contrast to something in the water. (Incidentally it tracks the decline of northern hotbeds and why south London is the place to be: population density , club density, access to facilities, multiculturalism, role models and hardship) Edited January 5 by La Parka Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ponsaelius Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 In terms of Italian football both Ultra by Tobias Jones and Juve! by Herbie Sykes are really good. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrRaspberryJam Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 Just now, ponsaelius said: In terms of Italian football both Ultra by Tobias Jones and Juve! by Herbie Sykes are really good. Read Ultra on holiday. Was canny. 1312: Among the Ultras by James Montague is of similar ilk, but he tours with ultras all around the world. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
madras Posted January 5 Share Posted January 5 "Home and away" Fredrik Ekelund (living in Brazil and all about the exuberance of South American football) and Karl Ove Knausgaard (Norwegian loves and sees the beauty in dour 0-0 draws) have a conversation by letter based around football and by extension, life. I read it on holiday on Menorca so my Northern European mindset could clash with heat and passion of the closest I could get to South America.....Iberia. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonas Posted January 6 Share Posted January 6 Gary Nelson's books are in a league of their own for me autobiography wise. Used to think All Played Out by Pete Davies was good pre internet but the dispatches aren't a unique source anymore with the net. Football is War was canny but as with above, many of it has been recounted to death and many of the stories will be known. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coffee_Johnny Posted January 6 Share Posted January 6 I really enjoyed Pat Nevin’s book The Accidental Footballer, great into the era (football and music wise). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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