Manchester The City Years Kindle edition now available

[WEMBLEY76]

On sale now - Manchester The City Years

Any Blue who likes a good read would love this book,its a real treasure of City facts and history,great to dip into and research our history.For the cost
of a ticket to the City party,get this long lasting and no cheese reference to the Blues.You will not be disappointed.Its well written and easy to read.

 

[Gary James]

Re: On sale now - Manchester The City Years

Any Blue who likes a good read would love this book,its a real treasure of City facts and history,great to dip into and research our history.For the cost
of a ticket to the City party,get this long lasting and no cheese reference to the Blues.You will not be disappointed.Its well written and easy to read.

Thanks for the comments. Much appreciated.

 

[Walkbustaxi]

Re: On sale now - Manchester The City Years

Any Blue who likes a good read would love this book,its a real treasure of City facts and history,great to dip into and research our history.For the cost
of a ticket to the City party,get this long lasting and no cheese reference to the Blues.You will not be disappointed.Its well written and easy to read.

Well said.

I got it last year but knowing the happy ending I decided to put it away for a rainy day. Naturally I started reading it after the FA Cup final/Mancini's sacking week and had it finished by June.

For me reading this book put the events of May this year into perspective and made me realise that whatever manager and players we got in for 2013/14, the club is in great shape for the long term future when you compare it to the not too distant past.

Seriously, parts of this book are scary. The feeling of dread I felt as Mercer and Allison's relationship falls apart and Peter Swales appears from nowhere during the infighting was like reading a thriller. You know what's happening but you can't do anything about it.

It's the same through the 80's and 90's, the story becoming more a psychological horror. In my case the 90's were brought back with vivid memories of specific games, while whole other chunks of seasons still haven't come back to me due a combination of abuse/shellshock/denial. I trust Gary's documenting of it all, that it did actually happen after all no-one could make this stuff up.

The good news at this point is that you already know we're only a decade or so away from the good times starting. We're all going through hell and we'll all keep going.

The other thing I got from the book was facts I didn't know. My personal favourite being the story of George Smith. He's currently known as our oldest surviving player but has a great story that I won't spoil here.

To sum up there's too many things in The City Years to recommend in one post.

Whether you read the lot, pick and choose eras or just look at the pictures, every City household should have a copy of this book.

 

[Gary James]

Re: On sale now - Manchester The City Years

Any Blue who likes a good read would love this book,its a real treasure of City facts and history,great to dip into and research our history.For the cost
of a ticket to the City party,get this long lasting and no cheese reference to the Blues.You will not be disappointed.Its well written and easy to read.

Well said.

I got it last year but knowing the happy ending I decided to put it away for a rainy day. Naturally I started reading it after the FA Cup final/Mancini's sacking week and had it finished by June.

For me reading this book put the events of May this year into perspective and made me realise that whatever manager and players we got in for 2013/14, the club is in great shape for the long term future when you compare it to the not too distant past.

Seriously, parts of this book are scary. The feeling of dread I felt as Mercer and Allison's relationship falls apart and Peter Swales appears from nowhere during the infighting was like reading a thriller. You know what's happening but you can't do anything about it.

It's the same through the 80's and 90's, the story becoming more a psychological horror. In my case the 90's were brought back with vivid memories of specific games, while whole other chunks of seasons still haven't come back to me due a combination of abuse/shellshock/denial. I trust Gary's documenting of it all, that it did actually happen after all no-one could make this stuff up.

The good news at this point is that you already know we're only a decade or so away from the good times starting. We're all going through hell and we'll all keep going.

The other thing I got from the book was facts I didn't know. My personal favourite being the story of George Smith. He's currently known as our oldest surviving player but has a great story that I won't spoil here.

To sum up there's too many things in The City Years to recommend in one post.

Whether you read the lot, pick and choose eras or just look at the pictures, every City household should have a copy of this book.

Thanks. I really appreciate these comments. Writing a book of this size takes time and effort and it's difficult to gauge how people will feel about it when it comes out. Also, you never know how it's going to end because when I started to get this version prepared City still hadn't won the FA Cup never mind the League, so it's always a gamble. Comments like yours really do help and are appreciated. Thanks.

I would add that if anyone wants to sample the text to get a feel for the book then there are 2 sections available as Kindle books (each contains over 30,000 words) for less than £2 each. You can even view sections of these for free. My publishers have put the first section and the last of the book here: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Manchester-City-Years-1857-1892-ebook/dp/B00C1MDLA6/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373790947&sr=1-2&keywords=manchester+the+city+years" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.amazon.co.uk/Manchester-City ... city+years</a> and <a class="postlink" href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Manchester-City-Years-2009-2012-ebook/dp/B00C2Y2LZ4/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373790979&sr=1-3&keywords=manchester+the+city+years" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.amazon.co.uk/Manchester-City ... city+years</a>

Or borrow the book from the library - it's free and most libraries are happy to order the book in if it's not held locally.

 

[Walkbustaxi]

Re: On sale now - Manchester The City Years

Thanks. I really appreciate these comments. Writing a book of this size takes time and effort and it's difficult to gauge how people will feel about it when it comes out. Also, you never know how it's going to end because when I started to get this version prepared City still hadn't won the FA Cup never mind the League, so it's always a gamble. Comments like yours really do help and are appreciated. Thanks.

It does help the reader though knowing that it finishes on a high, even if like you said you weren't to know that when you started. It could've been worse mind, if you started a year later it would have had a more downbeat finale!

If I remember correctly The Greatest City came out when Keegan was manager? I wasn't a great reader back then and by the time I'd got to the modern era we were halfway through Pearce's tenure so I gave up and didn't finish the book.

Any autobiographical or historical book you read is a snapshot of a window of time and unless it's a book about someone or something that's a long time been and gone then the chances are the story is still happening long after the book has been written. In this case it was a happy ending to a great book of our clubs ups and downs. In a future update it will be the end of a chapter with hopefully more chapters of success to follow.

Gary, I've seen the sections on Amazon but can you get the whole book for Kindle? It's my sisters birthday soon and I want to get it her as a present.

 

[Gary James]

Re: On sale now - Manchester The City Years

It does help the reader though knowing that it finishes on a high, even if like you said you weren't to know that when you started. It could've been worse mind, if you started a year later it would have had a more downbeat finale!

If I remember correctly The Greatest City came out when Keegan was manager? I wasn't a great reader back then and by the time I'd got to the modern era we were halfway through Pearce's tenure so I gave up and didn't finish the book.

Any autobiographical or historical book you read is a snapshot of a window of time and unless it's a book about someone or something that's a long time been and gone then the chances are the story is still happening long after the book has been written. In this case it was a happy ending to a great book of our clubs ups and downs. In a future update it will be the end of a chapter with hopefully more chapters of success to follow.

Gary, I've seen the sections on Amazon but can you get the whole book for Kindle? It's my sisters birthday soon and I want to get it her as a present.

The 1st edition of Manchester The Greatest City came out midway through the 1997-98 relegation season and yet sold out (almost 6,000 copies) within 6 months. The 2nd edition came out following promotion in 2002 and, again, sold out 6,000 copies within a year. In comparison with Manchester The City Years, the Greatest City has had over 4 times as many copies produced and sold at a faster rate (although we are down to the last 200 books). Maybe less people read today; maybe more are interested in City's history when we don't really have a present to be proud of; maybe there are a lot more City books now and people are less prepared to spend £25 on one book (the original Greatest City cost £24.95 in 1997; The City Years is 5p dearer 16 years later but can often be found for less on internet sites which never really happened in the late 90s)?

In terms of ebooks... I'd love to see a full ebook of the entire content with images and so on but the copyrigh, image rights and agreements that would have to be reached to distribute an ebook of that size and image content mean the retail price would be too high for most to buy. I'm pretty certain few would buy an ebook at more than £10 never mind the near £20 that ebook retailers would have to charge to ensure their mark-up.

A text only version is possible but it still contains 500,000 words. It's an area my publishers are looking in to and something I do want to see happen, but no timescales yet. It would help with those outside of the UK interested as well as local fans.

In the meantime, anyone outside the UK can usually find copies, post free, available for worldwide delivery at <a class="postlink" href="http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Manchester-City-Years-Gary-James/9780955812774" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Manches ... 0955812774</a>

EDIT: If I ever do update The City Years I'd probably end a chapter with the dismissal of Mancini - it's a better point than after winning the title for a history to end because it would allow some analysis of his reign but would also mark the next stage in City's development (whether positive or negative).

 

[Gary James]

Re: On sale now - Manchester The City Years

I heard last night that there are now only 170 "Manchester The City Years" left in the warehouse, although there will be another 100 or so out in bookshops and so on, so it seems to be going quicker than I expected only the other week.

I know some people won't buy hardback books (and only this week I've had a journalist from one of the 'quality' papers ask for a free copy even though his newspaper have had a couple and still not given the book any kind of plug in their paper!), but unfortunately a paperback edition won't be produced and an ebook incorporating all the photos would prove to be exhorbitantly priced for an ebook. There may be a text only kndle version at some point though.

 

[Bilboblue]

Re: On sale now - Manchester The City Years

I heard last night that there are now only 170 "Manchester The City Years" left in the warehouse, although there will be another 100 or so out in bookshops and so on, so it seems to be going quicker than I expected only the other week.

I know some people won't buy hardback books (and only this week I've had a journalist from one of the 'quality' papers ask for a free copy even though his newspaper have had a couple and still not given the book any kind of plug in their paper!), but unfortunately a paperback edition won't be produced and an ebook incorporating all the photos would prove to be exhorbitantly priced for an ebook. There may be a text only kndle version at some point though.

Gary, I bought a copy of this, and to be honest fella, I think it's the sort of book that should never be brought out in paperback form.

It's a book that should sit proudly on any Blues bookshelf.

I loved it, and highly recommend it to anybody still dithering..... get your other half to buy it early for you for Christmas!

 

[Anonymous]

Re: On sale now - Manchester The City Years

bought this for my dads bday present.

i thought i'd have a look whilst i was sat on the loo, ended up with a numb arse as i couldn't put it down.

i'm going to ask to lend it when he's finished.

 

[largyschool]

Re: On sale now - Manchester The City Years

Not a DVD. But I camer across this youtube video - recalls the 2012 Premiership last day (4mins):

<a class="postlink" href="http://youtu.be/wMAR8jzQDU0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://youtu.be/wMAR8jzQDU0</a>

Thanks for info on Manchester The City Years.