Yesterday was World Book Day. I love a good football book. Not autobiographies usually though, I'm not that interested in some has-been recounting their career for a few quid. There are some great ones out there. Anyone read any good ones? These are a few of my favourites: Brilliant Orange by David Winner. Looks at the social and cultural reasons for the way that Dutch football developed in the way it did. Lost in France: The remarkable life and death of Leigh Roose, Football's First Superstar by Spencer Vignes. An interesting look at the game in the early 20th century and at Roose's life and the odd circumstances around his death. The Greatest Comeback. From Genocide to Football Glory by David Bolchover. The story of Legendary Coach and Manager, Bela Guttman's life. Mister. The Men who Taught The World How to Beat England at their Own Game by Rory Smith. How English coaches influenced world football but were totally ignored by insular, complacent football establishment at home. Inverting the Pyramid. The History of Football Tactics by Jonathan Wilson. Really, every football fan should read this book to understand the game properly. 32 Programs by Dave Roberts. The story of one football fan's life told in relation to his program collection.
Even though it’s full of big fibs I have read and reread The Moon’s a Balloon by David Niven many times over.
I've read Brilliant Orange and Inverting the Pyramid and enjoyed them both. Calcio by John Foot is a fantastic read on the history of Italian football through players, politics, scandal, rivals etc. Soccernomics by Simon Kuper is a very interesting read as well. It pics up on the fascination with Moneyball and digs into analytics in football talking through the economics of football. It's pretty sporadic on the whole but I found some chapters to be very interesting and thought provoking about how to get a competitive advantage in the game. Not a book as such, but The Blizzard is one of the best things I've read football related. Definitely worth digging through the back catalogue if you haven't read them. A season with Verona by Matt Parks is next on my list.
Sorry didn’t read the the thread properly. It makes a reference to American Football. The worst one I read football wise was the one by Kevin Phillips. Clearly ghost written and not very well either.
I like the Blizzard! I've read a few of Kuper's books (Football Against the Enemy; Ajax, the Dutch, the War) but I've seen him interviewed and thought he was quite arrogant which put me off. The business side of it isn't really my bag either so I've avoided Soccernomics but if you say it's good, I might give it a try. I love John Foot's Calcio. A Season with Verona is another one of my favourites. I would definitely recommend it! Have you read The Miracle of Castel di Sangro?
It's so long ago that I read it that I can't remember if it was good or bad or what. Most autobiographies are pretty awful, if you ask me though. Apart from Lee Howey's, that's quite good. It falls in to the usual autobiography mush towards the end though.
If you find Kuper arrogant then I wouldn't read it, because that is one of the things I wasn't keen on in that book. I liked it (without thinking it was anything special) because Moneyball and analytics interest me. I've heard of the Miracle of Castel do Sangro but not read it. I'll add it to my list.
Ah, right. Might give it a miss then. The Miracle of Castel di Sangro is fantastic. It's a really interesting (true) story with some larger than life characters. It's written by an American bloke who is (at the time of writing) newly converted to football, so some of his assumptions and attitudes are little bit annoying but don't prevent it being a really good book.
