Not sure if this has been mooted before but a an avid reader (100% non fiction, cant get into fiction at all) I thought it would be a good idea to have a football book review soit stops people spending loads of money unnecessarily. I am/was quite a fan of 'the secret football's articles in the guardian, I bought his highly anticipated book last week and was hugely disappointed. 85% of the book is word for word from his free articles, these can be found archived on his website. Such a rip off, its hard to sheen mark as this has prejudiced my views bit will try. I'd give it a 5 out of ten as being anonymous I expected alot more meat than is present, for example Robbie fowlers autobiography was more telling as was gazzas, which is a great read by the way. So save your pennies nd visit his website, you won't miss much info. For the record, the last great football book I read was 'inverting the pyramid: the history of football tactics' Insightful, great stories and something I always find myself going back to, I'd give that 9/10. Any great football books anyone wants to review or recommend ?
Ironically the spelling of my post is woeful, but I am on an android phone and editing what you have written is next to impossible so apologies for that.
good idea mate only thing is from my point of view i would only ever read Biographies of Liverpool players whether past or present or anything else about the club, so might be lossed on me if say Keanes book is a good read for example. be interesting to see the dif views on things people have read and recommend.
All books are welcome btw, so dont worry Jenners, can appreciate what your saying but your missing out, for example I found Steven Gerrards auto pretty damn boring, where as Gary Nevilles was more Informative. I love cricket aswell matty hoggards auto is a good read, flintoffs was surprisingly tame.
i have heard a lot of times Nevilles book is a good read. he does seem like a knowledge fair minded chap now days, just a shame most will remember him for his nobish antics against us when a player (although how much of that was him, or was he influenced?) i found Hansens book a good eye opener of how dif things were back then to todays supposed stars ie living in digs etc or bedsits etc when younger, now days they have brought their own ruddy house as half of them are over payed numpties. Barnes autobiography is a good read if you haven't.
Kenny's most recent book is good. The chapter on Hillsborough now massively relevant....not that it ever wasn't. Can't we do any books though? It would be more interesting.
Roy Keanes book is very good. Sir Alex book in ok although not as good as Keanes. Tony Adams book gives you some insight into him drinking problems etc but I can't actually remember if it's good or not. Fiction books I've recently read which are good are : The Hunger Games Trilogy ( all three are very good ), Andy McNab - I pretty much enjoy anything he writes ( fiction and non fiction )
Thought they were children's books? Not being insulting or anything, hard to make it sound otherwise. If you have to read just three works of fiction I would say go for The Great Gatsby - F.S. Fitzgerald - One of the best stories you could read, full of rich context - a tale of modern star crossed lovers, purity, money and of course, the American dream. The Lord of The Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien - The best work of fantasy ever written; period. The best place to start with Tolkien, also. So much in this that doesn't make the films - and the films are brilliant. The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck - Will make you hate other people - heart-rending story of 1930s Americans searching for work amid death, corporate greed and modernisation. And one ancient classic for bonus points - Homer's Iliad, Virgil's Aeneid or Ovid's Metamorphosis - all brilliant, timeless stories, hugely influential in both our current language and prose.
Simarilion think i got that right been a while since i read it sorry. its the history of what went on before the Hobbitt, Lord of the rings etc. loved Lord of the rings books/films, but personally i did prefer the dark crystal if that rings a bell to any one, slightly off topic, sorry, as i don't think there was a book of it, but not sure.
Fowler- my story Macca- El Macca about his time in Madrid and some behind the scenes look into the galacticos Carra- wish he and Stevie G would have waited until the end of the careers as I would have liked to know what happened with H&G and Rafa from a player perspective. Brian Reade- An Epic Swindle, just how close we came to being no more. The ball is round - massive book about the beginnings up until about 2006 of football ( can get really boring early on though!) Soccernomics- for those who slate the moneyball type of style, have a read of that and see how much money some of these clubs are just wasting ( we were one).
Na not kids books. They are actually really good reads. 1984 is a MUST for anyone who enjoys reading, although I haven't read it for years.
"Left Foot in the Grave" by Garry Nelson is very good. Non Fiction diary about the former Charlton player. It starts with his final game at Anfield and he then retires and becomes the manager of Torquay (who survived relegation from Division 3 the season before due to a technicality - Conference Champions Stevenage were denied promotion due to the state of their ground). It's a great read and it gives you a fantastic insight to life at the other end of the English league.
i have heard a similar type of thing to that boz from a lot of clubs the other end of the league. half of them just cant afford to get promoted, as i don't know for sure, but don't they have to meet certain safety requirements further up you go in the leagues and half cant afford to upgrade their stadiums or facilties say, or players are entitled to better contracts and just cant do it which is sad. football should be about how good you are with a football, not about finances which it does seem to be more and more lately.
Really want to read Rafa's book about Champions league and all that jazz. Some insight into the damn H&G saga as well. Soccer Men is pretty good as it gives to you a " If I met this famous footballer, what would he be like? personality? his background? etc" Learn things like how Seedorf thinks he is above most people ( including coaches), RVN is a country bumpkin, for example.
Silmarillion and it is indeed very good, as usual. Fair enough, can't say I know! And completely agree - 1984 is a must read. So stark. Orwell was a one off. And about him signing Jovetic it looks very interesting.
You do to go from Conference to League 2 and also when you go from League 1 to Championship. When Colchester United got promoted they were ordered and given 2 years to either upgrade their stadium (needed to be an all seater for obvious reasons along with other upgrades) or build a new one. I don't know if anyone ever went to Layer Road but it was a dump (it was our dump though) so Colchester built a stadium using council funds and naming rights from Western Homes. Colchester's ground without the naming rights is probably the best named stadium in the country "Cuckoo Farm" lol
