The rise and fall of Manchester City's Young Guvnors mirrored the government's attempts to get to grips with the escalating violence at football matches throughout the 1980s. Here Rodney Rhoden, one of the youngest members of this feared group of supporters, recalls the police tactics that ended The Young Guvnors reign of terror. "This is my story". The story of the Young Guvnors. "The Young Guvnors fought not only on the streets of Manchester against their fellow hooligans but with other firms up and down the country. We sought out rival fans to fight - to say it is not a pleasant story is an understatement. "From our formation in the mid 1980s when organized football hooliganism was at an all time high its a vicious account of how we operated our bloody battles with opposing mobs and ultimately about our demise."

Although the European Court of Justice ruled in Bosman (1995) that professional sportsmen and sportswomen are free at the end of their contracts, they are still at the mercy of the clubs that employ them. Such pretexts as the "special nature" of sport publicly urged by such European eminences as Tony Blair and Gerhard Schroder have institutionalized the human trafficking of players, depriving them of basic rights guaranteed under all the laws enjoyed by Europeans. They may be well-paid as long as they are in the limelight, but they have no surety. They can be, and are, bought and sold repeatedly, each time returning profits to those who trade in their athletic prowess. In this searing indictment, Professor Blanpain underscores the demonstrable illegality of the current transfer system imposed by the International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA). He describes in detail the complex ramifications of FIFA's rules in the lives of players, clearly revealing how the fundamental rights of players to free movement and freedom of labour are systematically denied. He calls for the courts, from the European Court of Justice on down, to recognize this illegality and act to enforce the Bosman judgement. Professor Blanpain examines all the crucial legal issues involved. These include the following: the classification of sportsmen and sportswomen as "workers"; the nature of the contract between player and club; the legal capacity of minors to enter into an employment contract; the trade in foreign (frequently African and South American) players with no legal rights in Europe; disciplinary rules; training compensation fees; placement and status of players' agents; dispute resolution; and conflicts with competition law. An extensive array of documents, including the FIFA Transfer Regulations and material leading to the March 2001 agreement between FIFA and the European Commission, is included in a series of annexes.

Deliberate Soccer Practice: 50 Rondo and Positional Play Practices is the fifth title in the bestselling practice series by coach and author Ray Power. Rondos are a football training methodology in constrained spaces, where one team has an overload over another and attempts to keep the ball away from the opposition. It is a practical training approach that has been championed by legendary coaches Johan Cruyff and Pep Guardiola, and clubs like Ajax and Barcelona, amongst others. To these coaches and clubs, rondos are not just fun warm-up exercises, they are fundamental to the development of players and teams. This book contains 50 well-planned, thought-out, and presented rondo-based football training practices for soccer coaches. They take the coach on a journey through the training methodology from basic to complex, with an eye on pitch shapes, the number of players available, and different scoring systems. Whether you employ the rondo methodology with your players already, or are looking to increase your practical knowledge and use of this world-leading training approach, Deliberate Soccer Practice: 50 Rondo and Positional Play Practices will help grow and develop your coaching and your football teams. About Ray Power. Ray Power is one of the bestselling football authors in the world. With over a decade of experience working in football and education, coaching players from non-league to Premier League levels, and internationally, he is the author of Making the Ball Roll, Coaching Youth Football: What Soccer Coaches Can Learn From The Professional Game, and five titles in the Deliberate Soccer Practice series. As a coach developer and educator, Ray has worked for, and consulted with, numerous national FAs, as well as governing bodies from other sports, including the NBA. He also works as a consultant - mentor - educator on a freelance basis, working with grassroots coaches all the way to professional teams.

Football is an incredibly powerful case study of globalization and an extremely useful lens through which to study and understand contemporary processes of international migration. This is the first book to focus on the increasingly complex series of migratory processes that contour the contemporary game, drawing on multi-disciplinary approaches from sociology, history, geography and anthropology to explore migration in football in established, emerging and transitional contexts. The book examines shifting migration patterns over time and across space, and analyses the sociological dynamics that drive and influence those patterns. It presents in-depth case studies of migration in elite men's football, exploring the role of established leagues in Europe and South America as well as important emerging leagues on football's frontier in North America and Asia. The final section of the book analyses the movement of groups who have rarely been the focus of migration research before, including female professional players, elite youth players, amateur players and players' families, drawing on important new research in Ghana, England, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Few other sports have such a global reach and therefore few other sports are such an important location for cross-cultural research and insight across the social sciences. This book is engaging reading for any student or scholar with an interest in sport, sociology, human geography, migration, international labour flows, globalization, development or post-colonial studies.

Football has emerged as an important symbolic field through which various social, cultural, political, economic, and historical dimensions and antagonisms are negotiated. This volume covers a variety of themes illuminating the multiple ways that football impacts on people's everyday lives. Using anthropological research methods and data collected from ethnographic fieldwork, the contributors scrutinize not only the social fields of football fans and the specific socio-cultural contexts in which they are embedded, but also other actors beyond the pitch, and the possibilities for both agency and subversion. Taking into account processes of Europeanization, globalization, commercialization and migration, the collection offers fresh insights into fan identity formations and practices and highlights the importance of anthropology's self-reflexive and actor-centred perspective.

The game of football has undergone massive changes in the past few decades. The creation of the F.A. Premier League, the influx of television revenue, the commercialization of the game, and the growth in the numbers of foreign players have all left their mark. One area that has attracted increasing interest in the media and amongst the pages of football magazines is the issue of race and racism in football. But until now, the complexities of the situation have often been neglected in the midst of moral activism. Why has football become such an important arena for the expression of racist and xenophobic attitudes? How are racial and ethnic identities constructed and re-constructed in everyday social interactions and ritual gatherings? This highly readable and accessible book provides the first systematic and empirically grounded account of the role of race, nation and identity within contemporary football cultures. Focused around the four clubs on which the authors did their research, the book shows how different clubs understand and experience race in different ways. Looking at football at a national level, the authors trace the history of racism and its impact on the contemporary game. The emphasis throughout is on the changing role of racial and ethnic identity in football over the years. This book draws on research conducted at the height of campaigning activity within the game, as well as on contemporary scholarship about racism and sport. It will be essential reading for anyone interested in football, sport, race and ethnic studies.

LONGLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR PRIZE 'Excellent and compellingly honest' Alyson Rudd, The Times In I Love This Game, the long-awaited autobiography of Patrice Evra, the former Manchester United and France star looks back on a remarkable life and career. Having played alongside some of the club's greatest legends, such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Paul Scholes, in one of United's most successful eras, Evra has now found a new role as an in-demand pundit and social media star. But, as he reveals in this frank, often shocking, but always compelling memoir, beneath the surface things were not so simple, and he had to fight all the way to get to the top. Initially, it was football that saved him from being sucked into the gang culture of his tough neighbourhood of Les Ulis in the suburbs of Paris. Then, once he achieved his dream of becoming a professional, he had to deal with racism and a notorious dispute with Luis Suarez; he also became a central figure in the infamous 'strike' by the France national team in the 2010 World Cup; and there was the moment he launched an attack against a Marseille fan while warming up. 'I Love This Game' has become Evra's catchphrase. Throughout this wonderful book, his passion for his sport shines through and there are revealing and entertaining behind-the-scenes insights about the players and managers he's worked with, from Sir Alex Ferguson to Paul Pogba, who knows him as Uncle Pat. With infectious enthusiasm and sharp observation, Evra takes the reader where few football autobiographies dare to tread.

In the past few decades, Spanish football has undergone a significant transformation, both on and off the pitch. Llopis-Goig analyses these trends, questioning the role of football in contemporary Spanish society and examining the historical reasons for its social hegemony.

There is only one Arsène Wenger - and for the very first time, in his own words, this is his story.

In this definitive autobiography, the world-renowned, revolutionary football manager discusses his life and career, sharing his leadership principles for success on and off the field. At Arsenal, Wenger won multiple Premier League titles, a record number of FA Cups, and masterminded the historic 'Invincibles' season of 2003-2004. He changed the game in England forever, popularising an attacking approach and changing attitudes towards nutrition, fitness and coaching methods - and towards foreign managers. The book charts his extraordinary career, from his rise in France and Japan where he managed Nancy, Monaco and Nagoya Grampus Eight - clubs that also play in red-and-white - to his twenty-two years at the helm in north London.

A must-read not only for Arsenal supporters but football fans everywhere, MY LIFE IN RED AND WHITE illuminates the mystique surrounding one of the most respected managers in the world's most popular sport.

The first history of Italian football to be written in English, 'Calcio' is a mix of serious analysis and comic storytelling, with vivid descriptions of games, goals, dives, missed penalties, riots and scandals in the richest and toughest league in the world. 'Calcio' tells the story of Italian football from its origins in the 1890's to the present day. It takes us through a history of great players and teams, of style, passion and success, but also of violence, cynicism, catenaccio tactics and corruption. We meet the personalities that have shaped this history - from the Italian heroes to the foreigners that failed, the model professionals to the mavericks. 'Calcio' evokes the triumphs (the 1982 World Cup victory) and the tragedies (Meroni, the 'Italian George Best', killed by his number one fan), set against a backdrop of paranoia and intrigue, in a country where the referee is seen as corrupt until proven otherwise. Calcio is no longer a game. It is sometimes difficult to define it as a sport. It is certainly big business and a fanatical civic religion. There is no moral code here. Winners are always right, losers always wrong. This history of Italian football reveals all about the richest and toughest league in the world.

The history of soccer in the United States is far richer and more complex than many people realize. Leagues competed in the U.S. as far back as the late 1800s, and in 1919 Bethlehem Steel became the first American professional soccer team to play in Europe when they toured Sweden. Multiple leagues existed during the early 1900s, but after the American Soccer Association folded in 1933, the country did not see a rebirth of professional soccer until 1967. It was a painful, hostile revival that saw dueling groups of American sports entrepreneurs fracture into two separate professional leagues, The United Soccer Association (USA) and the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL). The Rebirth of Professional Soccer in America: The Strange Days of the United Soccer Association tells the story of this largely forgotten chapter in the sport's history. The USA and NPSL were ragged, misshapen pieces of a puzzle that refused to fit together, two leagues competing directly for fans and revenue. While the USA was a league sanctioned by FIFA but absent from the nation's airwaves, the NPSL was considered an "outlaw" league by FIFA but it held an exclusive television contract with CBS. This would have been strange enough, but the USA league imported entire teams from Great Britain, Italy, and South America, including Stoke City, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Cagliari Calcio, and Bangu. This book recounts soccer riots in Yankee Stadium, teams with dual identities, World Cup winners on the pitch, and a cast of characters featuring the likes of Phil Woosnam, Lamar Hunt, Derek Dougan, and Gordon Banks. Drawing on meticulous research and interviews, this book reveals the little-known story that unfolded on the field, in the boardroom, and across the country during this single strange season of professional soccer. Featuring an impressive group of global soccer legends, this book delivers a fascinating piece of soccer history for the growing legions of American soccer supporters, as well as for soccer fans around the world.

This narrative U.S. soccer's history and present-day status addresses the issues of socioeconomics. Emphasizing the differences between social classes in U.S. soccer past and present, as well as those between American soccer and international football, this work analyzes the role of class in American soccer's failure to carve out a more prominent place in the sports landscape. Contemporary soccer is explored from its beginnings in informal Parks and Recreation leagues to the development of formal club programs, and university, professional, and U.S. national teams. In recent decades, Hispanic leagues formed primarily by Mexican and Central American immigrants have reinforced the theme of a class-based, exclusionary space in U.S. soccer. A personal perspective based on the authors' experience coaching soccer at the informal level broadens the book's appeal.

Focusing on a number of contemporary research themes and placing them within the context of palpable changes that have occurred within football in recent years, this timely collection brings together essays about football, crime and fan behaviour from leading experts in the fields of criminology, law, sociology, psychology and cultural studies.

This book explores how recent football fiction has negotiated the decisive political developments in English football after the 1989/90 publication of the 'Taylor Report'. A direct response to the 1989 Hillsborough Disaster and growing concerns of hooliganism, the 'Taylor Report' suggested a number of measures for stricter regulation of fan crowds. In consequence, stadiums in the top divisions were turned into all-seated venues and were put under CCTV surveillance. The implementation of these measures reduced violent incidents drastically, but it also led to an unparalleled increase in ticket prices, which in turn significantly altered the demographics of the crowd. This development, which also enabled football's entry into other mainstream cultural forms, changed the game decisively. Piskurek traces patterns across prose and film to detect how these fictions have responded to the changed circumstances of post-Taylor football. Lending a cultural lens to these political changes, this book is pioneering in its analysis of football fiction as a whole, offering a fresh perspective to a range of scholars and students interested in cultural studies, sociology, leisure and politics.

The magnificent story of a writer's lifelong obsession with his city and its football club. When 5-year-old Michael Chaplin landed in a strange city of ships in the late 1950s, he looked in vain for something that would anchor him to it, make him feel at home. Then, one Saturday afternoon, it came: the roar of a crowd, and a football team to support. Young Michael became an avid Newcastle United fan, and has remained one-if sometimes disenchanted-for over sixty years. In this football memoir with a difference, the celebrated playwright and screenwriter tells the story of his six-decade love affair with the club, each chapter recreating an iconic Newcastle match: the players who graced the game, the managers in the dug-out, and the backdrop outside the stadium-both the changing face of Newcastle, and the ups and downs of Michael's own life and career. This vivid, thoughtful and entertaining book is an absolute must-read for all Newcastle United supporters, and indeed-given that the club is often described as everyone's second favourite-for football fans everywhere...

This book demonstrates that the European Union (EU) can curtail the autonomy of FIFA and UEFA by building upon insights from the principal-agent model. The author argues that EU institutional features complicate control, but do not render the EU powerless, and that FIFA and UEFA can deploy a variety of strategies to mitigate control.

No one likes us, we don't care' is the anthem of the most notorious fans in British football. But little is known about the actual people who generated and continue to maintain this most infamous of working-class subcultures. In addition to the voices of the fans themselves, this book provides a rich and original account of the historical background, social sources, expressive culture and ritual practices of Millwallism, a far more complex, meaningful and anthropologically compelling phenomenon than the media stereotypes suggest. The author argues that Millwall functions in the popular consciousness as a powerful symbol: specific understandings of 'football hooliganism', working-class masculinity, and violent 'neo-fascism' are triggered by its use in the media and in everyday social interaction. There are, it follows, few social groups as heavily mythologized as Millwall fans. Further, the generation and maintenance of this myth has significance far beyond the club itself, and is rooted in the meanings attached to working-class identities and modernity, masculinity and the body. This book will be essential reading for anyone interested in Millwall, the issues of 'football hooliganism' or working-class masculinity, sociology, anthropology, or sports studies.Shortlisted for the Philip Abrams Memorial Book Prize 2001