For those obsessed with Premier League soccer, following your favorite team is a true collective experience, where it is easy to feel as one with thousands of others. It is also an individual one, in which the emotions you feel are your emotions, the experiences you feel are your experiences, and nobody else can perfectly understand. Over the course of the 2019-20 season, two longtime Liverpool FC followers wrote to each other about those emotions and experiences. American writer Michael MacCambridge, living in Austin, Texas, is a devoted Liverpool follower. Five thousand miles away, his friend Neil Atkinson, Liverpool resident and a longtime season ticket holder, is the host of the popular podcast The Anfield Wrap. Each week throughout the historic season, Atkinson and MacCambridge exchanged letters, contemplating Liverpool's progress, comparing and contrasting their different perspectives on the club and the sport, meditating on the manner in which their shared obsession for Liverpool works its way into nearly every corner of their personal lives, and discussing the differences between how the game is consumed in the United States and the United Kingdom and the role modern media plays in shaping our views of sport. Their collaboration was both timely and serendipitous, as Liverpool marched toward its first ever Premier League title and its first league title in thirty years, with a charismatic manager and the most entertaining team in the sport. In March, of course, the soccer story was overtaken by the larger story of the COVID-19 pandemic wreaking havoc throughout the world, including sports events. In the course of their correspondence, Red Letters provides a real-time account of the pandemic that threatened the very existence of the season that Liverpool followers had been waiting more than a generation to experience. Red Letters provides a different way to examine the culture of a worldwide sport and development of a soccer season-game by game, in real time, with hopes and expectations tested and altered as the season progresses to Liverpool's Premier League championship, with insight from two avid supporters.

Peterborough United have a proud and illustrious history in the FA Cup. In this book we cover every cup campaign that The Posh have played in, with match reports from the signi?cant games, plus all the facts and ?gures and many photographs of matches and players that have contributed towards Posh`s deserved title of a Giant Killersa

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 Ryan Giggs, 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.

When Thomas Tuchel arrived at Chelsea in January 2021, having been uncere - moniously sacked by PSG, few could imagine that a mere four months later he would be leading the Blues to victory in the UEFA Champions League final. Tuchel inherited a misfiring Chelsea side that he quickly galvanised with his exciting attacking style and brilliant tactical thinking. But who is Thomas Tuchel? Fans of his former clubs PSG, Borussia Dortmund and Mainz would describe him as one of the best football managers in the world. An innovator, tactician, rulebreaker and sometimes controversialist, Tuchel went from a youth manager with Mainz to the top of the Bundesliga with Dortmund in just five years. He has identified and nurtured rising talents, such as Andre Schurrle and Christian Pulisic, and has also managed dressing rooms full of superstars, including Neymar and Kylian Mbappe. This is the definitive story of Thomas Tuchel: from his early days as an academy player at Augsburg and as a young manager at Mainz, to his successful but conflict-laden stint at Dortmund, his bittersweet tenure at PSG and finally his arrival mid-season at Chelsea. Compelling and revealing, Thomas Tuchel: Rulebreaker provides a fascinating insight into the life and mind of one of the most exciting coaching talents in football today.

Get ready for another action packed season of football with Roy of the Rovers! After a dramatic season that saw Roy Race and teammates suffer a heart-breaking loss in the League Cup final, their beloved stadium burning to the ground, and an ownerless Rovers on the brink of being shut down, things were looking bleak despite securing promotion to the Championship... A fresh season brings fresh hope though in the form of dedicated new owners, intent on rebuilding Mel Park and restoring Melchester Rovers as one of the biggest clubs in Europe, in both the men's and the women's game! But a new start means new challenges for Roy, Rocky, their family, and their teammates, and with Roy's Dad's condition getting worse, things aren't about to get any easier both on and off the field... Get ready for another scintillating season of Roy of the Rovers! Perfect for fans of Dan Freedman's Jamie Johnson or Matt Oldfield's Johnny Ball books!

MARADONA is the definitive new biography of a true global icon, from world-renowned football writer and journalist Guillem Balague. Diego Armando Maradona was widely acclaimed as a genius. One of the greatest footballers of all time, he was also one of the most controversial. In an international career with Argentina he earned 91 caps and scored 34 goals and played in four FIFA World Cups. With his unforgettable 'hand of God' goal and unsurpassed second one in the 1986 quarter-final against England, he captained his nation and led them to victory over West Germany in the final in Mexico. His vision, passing, ball control and dribbling skills, and his presence and leadership on the field, often electrified his own team's overall performance. Maradona's club career included dazzling spells in his own country at Argentinos Juniors, Boca Juniors and Newell's Old Boys, and in Europe with Barcelona, Napoli and Sevilla. Yet his life was one of relentless media attention, including tales of drug abuse and constant health issues. Based on in-depth interviews and first-hand stories, Guillem Balague's masterly biography represents a psychological and sociological approach to the legend. This journey of exploration takes Guillem to Argentina, Spain, Italy and Dubai. Along the way, he asks what fosters such adulation, and how this adoration engendered a self-destructive personality. Even after his untimely death in 2020, Maradona continues to fascinate: his divine status seemingly preserved for ever.

The Masterful, Definitive History of Argentinian Soccer Lionel Messi, Diego Maradona, Alfredo Di Stefano: in every generation Argentina has uncovered a uniquely brilliant soccer talent. Perhaps it's because the country lives and breathes the game, its theories, and its myths. Argentina's rich, volatile history-by turns sublime and ruthlessly pragmatic-is mirrored in the style and swagger of its national and club sides. In Angels with Dirty Faces, Jonathan Wilson chronicles the operatic drama of Argentinian soccer: the appropriation of the British game, the golden age of la nuestra, the exuberant style of playing that developed as Juan Peron led the country, a hardening into the brutal methods of anti-futbol, the fusion of beauty and efficacy under Cesar Luis Menotti, and the emergence of all-time greats. Praise for Inverting the Pyramid "Here, for the first time in decades, is a top-notch soccer book on how soccer is actually played on the field." -Simon Kuper "An outstanding work...The soccer book of the decade." -Sunday Business Post

The complete, official history of the England football team as you've never seen it before! England: The Official History is a fascinating account of the world's oldest and most iconic national football team. * Includes England's fantastic performance at EURO 2020. * A great gift for any England fan. * Features more than 250 exceptional photographs of England icons past and present including Alf Ramsey, Bobby Charlton, Gary Lineker, Hope Powell, David Beckham, Steph Houghton and Harry Kane. * The complete story of the England men's and women's teams - from 1872 right up to the present day. * Written by award-winning journalist and author Daniel Storey in association with the FA and filled with incredible stories spanning 150 years of England football. The book charts the highs (and lows) of the England national teams and the men and women who've worn the Three Lions with pride. Each chapter delves into a specific era, covering key figures, famous and infamous matches, and the evolution of football over the course of more than a century and a half. This is the definitive visual history of English Football.

In this illustrated view of the history of Raith Rovers the author builds up the story of the club by recounting events that happened on every day of the year, even during the summer months. Triumphs, disasters, shipwrecks, crazy Board Room decisions, managers (good and bad), players (brilliant and mediocre) all feature. As do Davie Morris, who captained Scotland when they beat all three Home Nations in 1925; the wizardry of Alec James; the command of the famous half back line of Young, McNaught and Leigh; and the dash and enthusiasm of the team which won the Scottish League Cup. But it is not just about the good days. There are bad days, and loads of mediocre and mundane times too, as well as some accounts of Raith Rovers in war time. The year as a whole reveals the undeniable charm of the institution which means so much to so many - Raith Rovers Football Club - or, as they are referred to in Kirkcaldy, "the" Rovers.

Which Scunthorpe defender was tapped up in the dressing rooms by Brian Clough? Who helped get him changed on top of Princess Diana's car? What did the club's record goalscorer really think about the manager sacked in a promotion season? How does it feel to miss a penalty at Wembley? Win the European Cup? And how on earth did a future England captain manage to break the club's tractor? Throughout their 120 year-plus history, Scunthorpe United have been many things... But boring? Never! Following extensive archive research and exclusive interviews with ex-managers and players spanning seven decades, 20 Legends: Scunthorpe United is packed with stories aplenty. From breath-taking cup upsets, to the raw ecstasy of promotion, the agonies of failure, lifelong friendships, boardroom coups, and good old-fashioned fallings-out; the people in the heat of the action spill the beans like never before. Each chapter tells a different story; focusing on a legend apiece from the club's history and sharing their adventures throughout the beautiful game. Brian Laws also provides the foreword. If you really want to get under the skin of a brilliant, bonkers football club at the very heart of its community; then look no further than 20 Legends: Scunthorpe United.

There is only one Arsene 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 and recalling vivid tales of guiding Arsenal to unprecedented success. One of the most influential figures in world football, Wenger won multiple Premier League titles, a record number of FA Cups, and masterminded Arsenal's historic 'Invincibles' season of 2003-2004 and 49-match unbeaten run. He changed the game in England forever, popularising an attacking approach and changing attitudes towards nutrition, fitness and coaching methods - and towards foreign managers. In My Life in Red and White, Wenger charts his extraordinary career, including 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 in north London at the helm of one of the world's biggest clubs. He reflects on Arsenal's astonishing domestic triumphs and bittersweet European campaigns; signing - and selling - some of the world's most talented players; moving the Gunners to their new home, the Emirates Stadium; and the unrest that led to his departure in 2018 and subsequent role as Chief of Global Football Development for FIFA. This book is a must-read for not only Arsenal supporters but football fans everywhere, as well as business leaders and anyone seeking the tools for success in work and life. It will illuminate the mystique surrounding one of the most revered and respected managers, revealing the wisdom and vision that made him an icon in the world's most popular sport.

'an enjoyable and interesting journey through football' Donald McRae, The Guardian 'This is really good. Raw, funny and revealing on football, on Ferguson, Clough, Dalglish & worth getting for the Roy Keane selfie story alone. Emotional on his ITV exit. Talent like Tyldesley's appeals to all ages.' Henry Winter 'Started reading this and couldn't stop ... wise and entertaining on the big names and games. Clever work.' Paul Hayward 'Clive Tyldesley's brilliant, emotive commentaries became the soundtrack to matches that will stay with the fans for the rest of their lives.' Oliver Holt Football changes everything. It changes how we feel, how we think, how we behave. It turns us into someone else. You love your team first. It's tribal. Except I did love something else. I loved the idea of commentating on my team, on every team. I loved it even more than my team. I ditched the girl next door for the diva on the silver screen. Like all true romances, it was irrational and intoxicating, it was tangled and foolish, it became addictive and occasionally heart-breaking and it kept on changing. Two United goals inside two minutes changed it in 1999. A teenage Evertonian called Rooney twisted the plot in 2002. Three Liverpool goals in less than six minutes changed everything again in 2005. Hello, hello. Moments. Mere blinks of wide eyes. Football happens in heartbeats. Meeting those moments is my job. Seeing them, saying them, spelling out the difference they have just made. It's all I've ever wanted to do. Probably all I can do. Spending time in the company of the 'greats' of football like Sir Alex Ferguson, Bill Shankly, Brian Clough and Sir Kenny Dalglish has changed everything for me, and probably for you too.

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.

Since 1980 a collection of Panini stickers has accompanied each edition of the popular UEFA Euro Cup held every four years. Each album is not just a practical guide to the various rounds of the tournament, but it also provides a valuable visual archive of all the teams and their memorable matches. The book is certainly one of the best ways to relive the European football experience, retracing the entire history of the Panini albums devoted to the Europeans. And, as always, it will be a reading experience that is delicately poised between enthusiasm and nostalgia, moods that merge seamlessly when in the background, we also recall the best years of our lives. EUROCUP is a precious visual archive of the football teams and the football players who made memorable actions. With numbers, statistics and all curiosities a Football lover would like to find out. Text in English, Spanish, French, German, Dutch, Italian.

When most people think about the Netherlands, images of tulips and peaceful pot smoking residents spring to mind. Bring up soccer, and most will think of Johan Cruyuff, the Dutch player thought to rival Pele in preternatural skill, and Ajax, one of the most influential soccer clubs in the world whose academy system for young athletes has been replicated around the globe (and most notably by Barcelona and the 2010 world champions, Spain).
But as international bestselling author Simon Kuper writes in "Ajax, The Dutch, The War: Soccer in Europe During the Second World War," the story of soccer in Holland cannot be understood without investigating what really occurred in this country during WWII. For decades, the Dutch have enjoyed the reputation of having a "good war." The myth is even resonant in Israel where Ajax is celebrated. The fact is, the Jews suffered shocking persecution at the hands of Dutch collaborators. Holland had the second largest Nazi movement in Europe outside Germany, and in no other country except Poland was so high a percentage of Jews deported.
Kuper challenges Holland's historical amnesia and uses soccer--particularly the experience of Ajax, a club long supported by Amsterdam's Jews--as a window on wartime Holland and Europe. Through interviews with Resistance fighters, survivors, wartime soccer players and more, Kuper uncovers this history that has been ignored, and also finds out why the Holocaust had a profound effect on soccer in the country.
Ajax produced Cruyuff but was also built by members of the Dutch resistance and Holocaust survivors. It became a surrogate family for many who survived the war and its method for producing unparalleled talent became the envy of clubs around the world. In this passionate, haunting and moving work of forensic reporting, Kuper tells the breathtaking story of how Dutch Jews survived the unspeakable and came to play a strong role in the rise of the most exciting and revolutionary style of soccer -- "Total Football" -- the world had ever seen.

Two Posts and a Field is a unique look at Liverpool FC through the eyes of Neville Gabie (artist and lifelong fan) and Stephen Done (writer and curator at the LFC Museum). Richly illustrated, it is part travelogue, part exploration of the LFC Museum's hidden treasures and part personal story, as Neville takes us from his childhood listening to games on the radio in South Africa to watching his first match at Anfield in 1973. The book tells the story of Neville and Stephen's roadtrip to find the home and birthplace of Mo Salah in Egypt's Nile Delta and of Avi Cohen, a player who broke the cultural mould when he signed from Maccabi Tel Aviv in the 1980s. It shines a spotlight on the struggles of Liverpool's home-grown talent for racial equality, contrasting Trent Alexander Arnold with Howard Gayle, the first black player to be signed by Liverpool, with the backdrop of the Toxteth riots. The stories are brought to life by Gabie's beautiful goalpost photos, which stretch back 20 years.

Rocky takes over! A struggling student and brilliant footballer, Rocky Race is many things, but to most people she's just Roy Race's little sister. It's not much fun - especially as Melchester Rovers head to the League Cup Final. Rocky's sick of everyone knowing her through Roy, she's had enough of school, and she's even started having panic attacks. Now it's up to Rocky to find her own way - as a person and a player - and she's going to need all her grit and determination to do it...

FUN AND EFFECTIVE SOCCER DRILLS-FROM AN EXPERIENCED COACH IN THE SPORT
Soccer is an exciting sport, but it is even better when your team is playing at its best. "The Baffled Parent's Guide to Fix-It Drills for Youth Soccer" addresses specific team concerns with energetic drills that will improve your players' skills and help them to properly execute the correct tactics and techniques on the field.

Written by an expert, this extensive collection focuses on problem areas and provides practice activities to ensure you get the best from your young players. Robert Koger looks at each of the problems most commonly faced by youth team coaches and prescribes proper drills to get players and teams to be their best and have fun doing it.

With more than 100 drills, you're guaranteed to find practice solutions for situations such as: My players can't get the ball past the other team's defense. I can't get my players to shoot when they are open. My players move all over the field. My team can't stop opposing goals from corner kicks. My team needs help with general skills areas including dribbling, passing, offense, defense, and goal-keeping.

Written in an easy-to-follow, clearly outlined format, "The Baffled Parent's Guide to Fix-It Drills for Youth Soccer" is an invaluable teaching tool to have on the field. Don't start coaching without it.