Few people have made such an impact on so many areas of football, in so many parts of the world, as Gordon Jago. Jago - a tall, thoughtful centre-half with Charlton Athletic - made his biggest impression as a manager. In England, he created the foundation for the greatest Queens Park Rangers side in history - leading to speculation linking him with the national job - before transforming the identity of one of the country's most notorious clubs, Millwall. Jago resigned from the Den out of principle after a controversial episode of BBC TV's Panorama and moved to the US. He spent time in Florida before settling in Texas. From there, he was engaged in the political side of the North American game and was involved in discussions for America's hosting of the 1994 World Cup and the creation of the MLS. After retiring from coaching, Jago remained heavily involved with the Dallas Cup - a key part of the cultural heritage of the North American game - and was rewarded for his services to youth football with an MBE in 2006.

This Collectors Edition Illustrated Book provides an insight into the most successful period for one of the most famous football clubs in the world. Liverpool Football Club is the team that dominated English and European Football throughout the 1980’s. The book charts the highlights of the ten year period from the excitement of winning 2 European Cups, 7 League Trophies, 2 FA Cups and 4 League Cups to the devastation of the Heysel and Hillsborough disasters. The significant matches, career player retrospectives, a special focus on Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan, Kenny Dalglish, Ian Rush and Graeme Souness, the managers and the greatest players who guided the club and in depth statistical information. This Collectors Edition looks at all the magic moments of this extraordinary period in this great clubs history.

The first of its kind for any sport in South Africa. A cricket love story of epic dimensions with details which will blow readers away. Cricket and Conquest goes back to the beginnings 221 years ago and fundamentally revises long-established foundational narratives of early South African cricket. It reaches beyond old whites-only mainstream histories to integrate at every stage and in every region the experiences of black and women cricketers. A purely British military game at first, cricket accompanied the process of colonial conquest every step of the way in the nineteenth century. This book and its companion volumes explains how racism came to be built into the very fabric of cricket's `culture' and `traditions', and how it was uncannily tied to the broader historical processes that shaped South Africa. The unique experiences of our different cricket communities are described in ways that have not been done before. The exhaustive research and inter-connections highlighted here makes this a completely new general history of South African cricket.

Goodison Park is one of British sport's most fabled venues: the home of Everton FC since 1892 and one of the last traditional football amphitheatres. It has witnessed highs and lows and been graced by the likes of Dixie Dean, Tommy Lawton, Alan Ball, Bob Latchford, Gary Lineker, Pele and Eusebio. As the Toffees prepare to move to the waterfront, Goodison Memories celebrates that legendary stadium with vivid recollections not from Evertonians, but from opposition players, managers, officials and sports journalists. The result is a collection of candid interviews that capture the essence of Goodison Park. Listen to their tales of the Everton players they remember with fondness, priceless anecdotes and memories of the atmosphere and features of the stadium. Have you ever wondered what it was like for the broadcasters to sit on the TV gantry, the press to work from the press box? What was it like for match officials to take charge of the game and handle the characters on the Goodison turf? Goodison Memories holds all the answers.

Fine Margins is the definitive story of how two mainstays of English football took their feuding on to the game's biggest stages. The Manchester City and Liverpool rivalry is synonymous with the Premier League, but its roots go back much further. For over half a century, these two clubs from opposite ends of the M62 have been perennial thorns in each other's side. Bill Shankly laid the groundwork in the late 1960s before a series of clashes a decade later further stoked the fires, culminating in an attack on City's team bus in 1981 after they beat Liverpool 3-1 at Anfield. The feud was reignited in the mid-1990s when Liverpool relegated City on the final day of the 1995/96 Premier League season. When they returned to the top flight, Manchester's blue half became the scourge of Merseyside's Redmen, snatching players and points away from them. Countless managers, players and directors have continued what started in the Bill Shankly era, with the rivalry ramped up a notch through the reigns of Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp.

'What makes a great player? He's the one who brings out the best in others. When I am saying that I'm talking about Billy McNeill.' JOCK STEIN A unique tribute to Celtic's greatest ever player to mark the 60th anniversary of his first appearance for the club. Billy McNeill is the greatest Celt of all time. He spent his entire playing career at the Glasgow giants and made 790 appearances between 1958 and 1975, winning the European Cup, nine Scottish League Championships, seven Scottish Cups and six League Cups in a glittering career. And it all started on 23rd August 1958 when Billy McNeill made his Celtic debut. Billy McNeill's breathtaking journey through the beautiful game is charted here from his debut against Clyde through the momentous years as player and manager, the highs, the lows, the triumphs, the tears. Sixty years on from his debut, this unique book celebrates the astonishing life and times of one of world football's best-loved personalities with tributes from many greats of the game. Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell pays his own special tribute to the Parkhead hero along with a Who's Who of the game's royalty. They share their unforgettable experiences and wonderful memories of playing with and against Billy McNeill, one of football's most respected and well-loved men, and talk about him both as a world-renowned footballer and as a genuinely much-admired figure. Packed full of anecdotes and tributes, In Praise of Caesar is a must-read for all Billy McNeill and Celtic fans, and football supporters everywhere. Contributions from: Brendan Rodgers, Sir Alex Ferguson, Sir Kenny Dalglish, Denis Law, Mike Jackson, Steve Archibald, Gordon Strachan, Danny McGrain, Roy Aitken, Paul McStay, Davie Hay, Charlie Nicholas, Frank McAvennie, Pat Bonner, Alex McLeish, Davie Provan, and not forgetting Lisbon Lions Bertie Auld, John Clark, Jim Craig, Bobby Lennox and Willie Wallace.

Dr Scumbrum is an anonymous poet whose work is inspired by 'The Beautiful Game' and in particular by Bristol Rovers FC. His work appears regularly in the matchday programme, but this is his first collection. Proceeds are being donated to Children's Hospice South West.

Lancashire has had a major role to play in English football from its earliest days to the present. The county's leading clubs were largely responsible for the introduction of professionalism in the 1880s, after Preston North End admitted paying their players, and the world's first Football League was divided between teams from the North West and the Midlands. Preston's 'Invincibles' triumphed in that first competition before adding the FA Cup that two different Blackburn clubs had already won - and soon the great clubs of Merseyside and Manchester were winning their first trophies. As the turf wars developed, Blackpool, Bolton Wanderers, Burnley, Bury and Oldham all made their mark in the top division; clubs such as Rochdale and Wigan fought the good fight in rugby hotbeds; and more recently Fleetwood and Morecambe have carried the name of their towns further afield. This is the story of these great rivals, their triumphs, scandals and tragedies, and the great players who have kept the red rose to the fore at home and abroad.

John Harris's arrival at Bramall Lane laid the foundations for the appearance of some of the greatest players in Sheffield United's history. In his second full season in charge, the Blades were promoted back to the first division. Ain't Got a Barrel of Money is the story of Harris and those who came after him, building a team that would challenge for a place in Europe, the decline that followed and the inevitable sale of many of the club's finest players. In 1975, they finished sixth in Division One, playing some of the most exciting football in the country. Currie, Woodward, Colquhoun, Speight, Hemsley and Badger were all household names. But within six years Sheffield United had gone from the brink of greatness to the ultimate humiliation - relegation to the fourth division, for the first and only time in the club's wonderful history. Filled with anecdotes and memories from many of those who were there, both on the field and on the terraces, this book captures the highs and lows of being a Sheffield United fan.

Chelsea FC, as someone once observed, has always done what other clubs have done, but not necessary in the same order. A stone's throw from the King's Road, draped with showbiz connections, and not even based in the borough from which it takes its name, Chelsea is an enigma. Run by the entrepreneurial Mears dynasty, Ken 'electric fence' Bates and now the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, the club has enough entertaining quirks and anecdotes to keep you entertained for ages. It is also a club whose history is filled with glorious games, unique facts, bizarre statistics, larger-than-life players and a special brand of supporter. And, as this book proves, far from being the imposters Kipling suggested, triumph and disaster make for a fantastically entertaining read.

"The Work of Professional Football: A Labour of Love?" presents unique long-term studies and provides rare insights into to the precarious careers and ordinary working culture of professional soccer footballers. Away from the celebrity-obsessed media gaze, the work of a professional footballer is infrequently glamorous and for most players a career in football is insecure and short-lived.
As a former professional soccer player turned academic, Martin Roderick's familiarity with the world of football is foundational to this privileged research into a world that is typically both 'closed' to the public gaze and ignored by media reportage and academic research which prefers to focus on a small, unrepresentative group of elite players. Key themes explored within the text include:
- The culture of work in professional soccer football
- The changing identity, orientation and expectations of players during their career
- The fragile and uncertain nature of careers in professional sport
- The performance and drama of a career under public scrutiny
- The role of relationships with managers, owners, support staff and partners
- The insecurities inherent in a football career such as injury, aging, performance and transfer
The text deals with a wide range of issues for sports students and academics, particularly those with a focus on the sociology of sport but also including sport development, sport management and coaching studies. The text will be of interest to researchers in sport studies, careers, industrial relations and the sociology of work.

Burnley's league title victory of 1960 remains one of the most remarkable feats in the history of English football, the club the smallest ever to win its premier title. Despite spending far less than other champions and drawing more modest crowds, Burnley beat the likes of Manchester United, Spurs and Wolves by playing exciting, fluid, continental-style football that won many admirers. 'I wanted to applaud their artistry,' Jimmy Greaves commented. 'In an era when quite a few teams believed in the big boot, they were a league of gentlemen.' Former player Brian Miller described how grounded the team were at the time: 'Several of us worked at Bank Hall pit all day and then played First Division football. Spurs' players didn't do that.' Never Had It So Good reveals how Burnley's amazing title triumph was achieved - and how very different life was for a footballer in those bygone days.

Football effects the lives of many in substantial ways. This book first addresses the notion that this is "merely entertainment." The significance of why football emerged atypically in Texas is discussed as well as what this portends for American society. Unsurprisingly, Texan disparities in income and racial segregation dissolved in the mirage that all people are equal at game time as spectators. Major institutions such as the military additionally mesh with the ethos of pro football in various ways. The marked regional rivalries of the Dallas Cowboys are emblematic in a society of other polarizations, including political, racial, and gender conflicts. What is needed are substantive and constructive approaches to societal problems instead of ongoing destructive palliatives.

A Social History of Indian Football covers the period 1850-2004. It considers soccer as a derivative sport, creatively and imaginatively adapted to suit modern Indian socio-cultural needs - designed to fulfil political imperatives and satisfy economic aspirations. The book is concerned with the appropriation, assimilation and subversion of sporting ideals in colonial and post-colonial India for nationalist needs.
The book assesses the role of soccer in colonial Indian life, to delineate the inter-relationship between those who patronised, promoted, played and viewed the game, to analyse the impact of the colonial context on the games evolution and development and shed light on the diverse nature of trysts with the sport across the country. Throughout this book, soccer is the lens that illuminates India's colonial and post-colonial encounter.
This volume was previously published as a special issue of the journal Soccer and Society.

Rise Together: Coventry City Under Mark Robins examines the rebirth of Coventry City FC from 2017 to 2020. Having sunk to the depths of English football's lowest professional division, the Sky Blues were a million miles from the FA Cup-winning heyday of 1987 and the glitz and glamour of Premier League football. After a decade of decline, a constant churn of managers, coaches and players, the arrival of Mark Robins for a second spell in charge would end all that. Backed by a fanbase desperate for success, winning the 2017 Football League Trophy was just the beginning. Robins would mould Coventry City into a side capable of something few at the club had achieved before - success. That first trophy at Wembley would be followed by two more - victory in the 2018 League Two play-off final, then the League One title in 2020. With off-the-field issues continuing to dog the club, including a second move out of Coventry, the story of Rise Together is one that every football fan will appreciate.

In this unique book, one of football's greatest cult players reflects on the travails of the sport and draws upon his own experience to offer an honest assessment on one of its final remaining taboos: mental health. The most difficult position in football? Being a goalkeeper. That's what they say, right? You must be mad to stand between those posts and bat away shots and crosses all game long. Neville Southall should know. He was the goalkeeper for one of the best teams of the 1980s and became an icon of the game during his 20-year career between the sticks. But what did it take to prepare himself mentally for the difficulties of the position? How did he dig so deep on the biggest occasions and in the highest-pressured moments? What scars were left at the end of his long career - a tenure that saw the highs of winning trophies, but also the lows of losing games, making mistakes and feeling the full weight of club and country on your shoulders. And how has he used his post-playing career to campaign for a better future for the next generation? In this unique book, one of football's greatest cult players reflects on the travails of the modern game, how some of society's problems are reflected within it and draws upon his own experience to tackle one of its final remaining taboos: mental health. On fear of failure, confidence, sexuality and homophobia, suicide, social media and many other talking points - Neville doesn't hold back on the biggest subjects and gets stuck in to some of the most important topics surrounding the beautiful game.

'Powerful and poignant' Henry Winter 'Empathetic and poignant ... the game's answer to A Journal of the Plague Year' Harry Pearson 'The Durham City midfielder wore the resigned look of a man trying to find a jar of harissa in Farmfoods. Up front for Jarrow, a centre-forward darted around frenetically, as if chasing a kite during a hurricane...' When football disappeared in March 2020, writer and broadcaster Daniel Gray used its absence to reflect on everything the game meant to him. That bred a pledge: whenever and wherever fans were allowed to return, he would be there. The Silence of the Stands is the result of that pledge: a joyous travelogue documenting a precarious season, in which behind-closed-doors matches and travel restrictions combined to make trips to Kendal and Workington seem impossibly exotic. Offering a poignant peek at a surreal age and a slab of social history from the two-metre-distanced tea bar queue, this is the moving, heartfelt and surprisingly uplifting story of a unique season that no one wishes to repeat.

Success, failure, heroism, stupidity, talent, skulduggery - Upton Park has seen it all. If supporting his club for fifty years has taught Brian Williams one thing it's that football fans defi nitely need a sense of humour - how else would they cope with the trials and tribulations that are part and parcel of cheering on their team? In this frank and funny take on the travails of a die-hard football supporter, Williams takes a nostalgic look back at some of the great players, great triumphs and great calamities that have marked West Ham's time at Upton Park, exploring the club's influence on its fans, the East End and football as a whole over the course of a lifetime. A Fever Pitch for the Premier League generation, Nearly Reach the Sky is an anecdotal journey through the seminal goals, games, fouls and finals, told with all the comedy, tragedy and irrationality fans of any team will recognise. This is a witty, fond, passionate and poignant tribute to the end of an era at Upton Park, as well as a universal meditation on the perks and perils of football fandom.