What's the best football book of all time?

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mscenterh750 said:
Is the David Conn book “Richer than God” worth a read or is it a constant slag off of our owners and club?
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A bit tedious for me.

His whole argument surrounds the notion that rather than apply for the 2002 Commonwealth Games, the Greater Manchester Council should have spent all their money on the regeneration of East Manchester.
Obviously this would have meant no Sheikh Mansoor and no City takeover so immediately he alienates himself from the traditional City fanbase.

Ironically since RICHER THAN GOD was published East Manchester has enjoyed a huge regeneration boom, thanks mainly to the relationship between City and the GMC.
 
Bilston Blue said:
A Season With Verona by Tim Parks. An Italian based British writer who decides to follow one of the Verona teams (can't remember if it's Hellas or Chievo) for the season. A great insight into the culture of Italian football fans and the sport in Italy in general. Some funny moments spent on 18 hour bus rides with a group of ultras singing about shagging the drivers daughter... but seriously a good read.

Failing that Paddy Agnew's Forza Italia: A Journey in Search of Italy and it's Football.

Or if you're a Motson wannabe get Chris Freddi's Complete Book of the World Cup, updated before each world cup so there should be
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Bilston Blue said:
A Season With Verona by Tim Parks. An Italian based British writer who decides to follow one of the Verona teams (can't remember if it's Hellas or Chievo) for the season. A great insight into the culture of Italian football fans and the sport in Italy in general. Some funny moments spent on 18 hour bus rides with a group of ultras singing about shagging the drivers daughter... but seriously a good read.

Failing that Paddy Agnew's Forza Italia: A Journey in Search of Italy and it's Football.

Or if you're a Motson wannabe get Chris Freddi's Complete Book of the World Cup, updated before each world cup so there should be one out early next yAll of Tim Parks books are brilliant
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Bilston Blue said:
A Season With Verona by Tim Parks. An Italian based British writer who decides to follow one of the Verona teams (can't remember if it's Hellas or Chievo) for the season. A great insight into the culture of Italian football fans and the sport in Italy in general. Some funny moments spent on 18 hour bus rides with a group of ultras singing about shagging the drivers daughter... but seriously a good read.

Failing that Paddy Agnew's Forza Italia: A Journey in Search of Italy and it's Football.

Or if you're a Motson wannabe get Chris Freddi's Complete Book of the World Cup, updated before each world cup so there should be one out early next year.
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All of Tim Parks books are cracking reads
 
Craig Johnstons Walk Alone a brilliant read, outlines his dedication realising he had to work twice as hard as the others to get in the team. Also the Tim Parks one about Verona and Manc United Ruined my life was a good read
 
cityontheup said:
Fancy reading about Brian Clough, anyone recommend a good book
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Try "The Damned Utd" by David Peace. It's a biographical novel rather than a biography but a good read nonetheless.

Wikipedia states "Depicting events in the life of English football personality Brian Clough, it is set during Clough's brief and unsuccessful 44-day spell as manager of Leeds United during 1974, with frequent flashbacks to his earlier period as manager of Derby County. Despite critical acclaim, the novel was also the subject of controversy for its perceived negative portrayal of Clough and some historical inaccuracies."
 
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Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby is still for me the best. Better than anything else he has written.

Also, now this is fiction not non fiction, I can’t recommend enough “Panenka” by Ronan Hession. Its a short novel and its fucking brilliant.
 
stoneblue said:
Try "The Damned Utd" by David Peace. It's a biographical novel rather than a biography but a good read nonetheless.

Wikipedia states "Depicting events in the life of English football personality Brian Clough, it is set during Clough's brief and unsuccessful 44-day spell as manager of Leeds United during 1974, with frequent flashbacks to his earlier period as manager of Derby County. Despite critical acclaim, the novel was also the subject of controversy for its perceived negative portrayal of Clough and some historical inaccuracies."
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I enjoyed watching the film again, it was on the other night
 
stoneblue said:
Try "The Damned Utd" by David Peace. It's a biographical novel rather than a biography but a good read nonetheless.

Wikipedia states "Depicting events in the life of English football personality Brian Clough, it is set during Clough's brief and unsuccessful 44-day spell as manager of Leeds United during 1974, with frequent flashbacks to his earlier period as manager of Derby County. Despite critical acclaim, the novel was also the subject of controversy for its perceived negative portrayal of Clough and some historical inaccuracies."
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I quite enjoyed it, knowing that it was a novel and giving it that licence. I think Martin Sheen's portrayal of Clough redresses the balance, and the film needs to be seen. He gets just the right mixture of arrogance and vulnerability in the man.

That author, though! I can get through some fairly arduous, reader-unfriendly stuff if I'm determined to (i.e. if I'm getting something out of the book). But I've picked up that book Red or Dead two or three times in bookshops, and I cannot even finish one page of it. It's like having your teeth drilled — all of them, at the same time. It is difficult for me to believe that anyone actually finishes that book.
 
Peps City. Or Treble Triumph by Howie Hock. For obvious reasons!!

I actually enjoyed Joey Bartons autobiography too, for someone so intelligent - which amazingly for a Micky he is, he can at times imo be incredibly stupid.

Roy Keanes book was also interesting for all the wrong reasons.

Fave recent is history of City from 1965 -72 The Mercer Allison years. By gum I remember some of those games like they were last season!!
 
Protein Junkie said:
City related I thoroughly enjoyed “Blue Blood -The Mike Doyle Story” which encapsulates that great era through one of my Heroes.
Non City is the Stanley Matthews autobiography which provides a great insight into how different the game was back then.
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I recall that Doyle seemed very bitter in this book - a shame as he is a bona fide City legend.

For me, The Soccer Tribe was a gem of a book. Unusually Desmond Morris took an anthropological look at the rituals of the game. https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-soccer-tribe/desmond-morris/9780789336736
 
The Miracle of Castel di Sangro. By an American who spent a season living in Italy following a small village's lower-division team who somehow made it to the dizzy heights of the division below Serie A.
Eduardo Galeano Football in Sun and Shadow.
Nick Hornby (ed.) My Favourite Year. A collection of supporters' memories of their team's best season. The one on Raith Rovers, of all clubs in the world, stands out.

Also still fond of the various Big Book of Football Champions annuals I got every year at Christmas as a kid.
 
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Lovebitesandeveryfing said:
By the way, as something more reliable on Clough, with his warts and his strengths — Provided You Don't Kiss Me by a journalist who knew him well through thick and thin, Duncan Hamilton.
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Duncan Hamilton is a good all round sports writer not just a football one, highly recommend his work in it's entirety.
 
philiph20 said:
Duncan Hamilton is a good all round sports writer not just a football one, highly recommend his work in it's entirety.
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Interesting. Didn't know that. Has he written anything worthwhile on cricket? Genuinely good cricket writers are rare, I find. C.L.R. James wrote one of the best books ever written on cricket, and a lot of other things in passing: Beyond A Boundary.
 
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