Medievalism, the later reception of the Middle Ages, has been used by many writers, not just during the Victorian period but from the Renaissance to the present, as a means of commenting on their own societies and systems of values. Until recently, this self-interest was used to distinguish between Medievalism, a selective, often romanticised, view of the past, and medieval studies, with its quest for an authentic Middle Ages. The essays in this collection suggest that the search for knowledge of a "real" Middle Ages has always been a problematic one, and that the vitality of the vision of Medievalism is demonstrated by its constant adaption to current concerns.

An unforgettable British underdog story from one of our greatest narrative nonfiction writers, John Preston, and the international musical icon and bestselling author, Sir Elton John.

Britain in the 1970s was beset by unrest and unemployment, as inflation soared, fuel was scarce, and hooliganism was on the rise. And for Watford FC, the outlook was even gloomier. Rundown and rat-infested, Watford were an ailing side with holes in their kit and barely enough fans to fill a stand. Of the 92 clubs in the Football League, spread across four divisions, Watford were in 92nd place.

Meanwhile, Elton John was the most successful rockstar in the world. With six-inch platforms, spangled jumpsuits, and peroxide hair, he was glamorous, gay, and seemingly a world away from the semi-detached house in Pinner where he had supported Watford FC as a child. Many assumed he would move to America. Instead, he bought the football club.

Watford Forever is the remarkable story of Elton John's ownership of Watford FC and its transformational journey to the top of the First Division under iconic manager Graham Taylor. Perhaps most remarkably, four of the same players who had been written off as has-beens went with them all the way from the bottom to the top. Inspiring and infectiously funny, this is a tribute to football's unlikeliest friendship as Elton John and Taylor, a straight-talking former fullback with a love of Vera Lynn, beat the odds and their personal demons to save a club and a community.

Immersed in the grime and glamour of '70s Britain, Watford Forever is one of sport's great underdog stories and a love letter to the beautiful game.

Football is the most popular sport in the world. Globalisation and commercialisation of the game, however, have created new conflicts and challenges. This book explores the role of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) within the rising significance of football in Asia, drawing on three key theoretical perspectives: globalisation, neo-institutionalism and governance, as well as comprehensive data from interviews and archive material. It explores the organisational structure of AFC, its decision-making processes, relations with other actors, and policies put forward. To understand the specificities AFC has faced in its 60-year history, the broader historical, political, economic, socio-cultural and geographic contexts of football in Asia are taken into account.

Football clubs across the world continue to embody many of the collective symbols, identifications and processes of connectivity which have long been associated with the notion of 'community'. In recent years, however, the very term 'community' has become the focus of renewed interest within popular discourse and amongst academics, politicians and policy makers. It has become something of a 'buzz' word, wheeled out as both a lament to more certain times and as an appeal to a better future: a term imbued with all the richness associated with human interaction. 'Community' has also been employed increasingly within football, for instrumental reasons concerned with policy and stadium redevelopment, and in broader rhetoric about clubs, their localities and fans. This book brings together a range of key debates around contemporary understandings of 'community' in world football. Split into four sections, it considers political and theoretical debates around football and its connection with community; different national and ethnic football communities; instrumental uses of football to bridge gaps within and between groups; future directions in the football and community debate. This book was published as a special issue of Soccer & Society.

Put your Manchester United knowledge to the test with the ultimate quiz book for Red Devils' fans. Do you think you know it all about Manchester United? Could you name the colours the team originally played in? The most decorated player in the club's history? Do you know which sides United have beaten most, and vice versa? Or which foreign countries have supplied the most United players? Whatever your area of interest or depth of knowledge, this expertly assembled quiz will have some testing questions for you. From the club's earliest days right through to the Busby Babes, the glory years under Sir Alex Ferguson and beyond, Think You Know It All? Manchester United will challenge your knowledge of players, managers, records and more. Featuring an entertaining mix of questions and puzzles, this is the perfect test for new and veteran United fans alike. Proving you know it all about your club has never been such fun - or so tricky.

Football. Bloody hell.'

The longest serving and most successful manager in British football history shocked the world by finally retiring in May 2013 and instantly created more column inches and twitter mentions that the death of Margaret Thatcher. And he wasn’t just the greatest, but also one of the most outspoken, engaging and witty voices from the game, as this book proves. Here is the history of his supreme verbal sparring during his years at Manchester United - the man in his own words (with a few additional thoughts from those who knew him best and crossed swords with him most).

'There's nothing wrong with losing your temper once in a while if it's for the right reasons'

'If he was an inch taller he’d be the best centre-half in Britain. His father is 6ft 2in – I’d check the milkman' On Gary Neville

'He could start a row in an empty house' On Denis Wise

'The list of gentle, naturally retiring men who have been successful in their attempts at running clubs isn't a long one, is it?

This book presents a synthesis of the work on early football undertaken by the authors over the past two decades. It explores aspects of a figurational approach to sociology to examine the early development of football rules in the middle part of the nineteenth century. The book tests Dunning's status rivalry hypothesis to contest Harvey's view of football's development which stresses an influential sub-culture outside the public schools. Status Rivalry re-states the primacy of these latter institutions in the growth of football and without it the sport's story would remain skewed and unbalanced for future generations.

Put your Liverpool knowledge to the test with the ultimate quiz book for Reds fans. Do you think you know it all about Liverpool? Could you name the starting line-up in 2005 Champions League final? The most decorated player in the club's history? Do you know which sides Liverpool have beaten most, and vice versa? Or which game drew the Reds' biggest-ever crowd? Whatever your area of interest or depth of knowledge, this expertly assembled quiz will have some testing questions for you. From the club's earliest days to the glory years of Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley, the renaissance under Jurgen Klopp and beyond, Think You Know It All? Liverpool will challenge your knowledge of the iconic team's players, managers, records and more. Featuring an entertaining mix of questions and puzzles, this is the perfect test for new and veteran LFC fans alike. Proving you know it all about your club has never been such fun - or so tricky.

Modern football is an industry and capitalism is its engine. However, this book argues for a more nuanced understanding of contemporary football culture and the (self-)identity of football fans. Drawing on original ethnographic research conducted with fans at all levels, from international to lower league, the book explores the tensions between fans as consumers and 'traditional' football cultures, arguing that modern football fans are able to negotiate the discourses of capitalism and tradition operating upon them to enact their own power and identity within football culture. Featuring case studies of Norwich City, MK Dons and Chelsea fans, this is fascinating reading for anybody with an interest in sport and society or cultural studies.

The American Dream is founded upon the ideological belief that 'you can be anything you want to be', regardless of your current class position, and is one of the most emotive, pervasive and ideologically embedded concepts championed by American citizens. Providing contemporary insight into the American Dream via the critical lens of soccer - the world's pre-eminent sport but still a minority interest in the US - this book challenges the notion that America is different, exceptional or unique in the global order, either in real socio-economic-political terms or in perceived cultural terms. Soccer and the American Dream offers an overview of soccer in the US and uses case studies to explore the motives of American university students in undertaking a soccer scholarship, considering the impact of family, social class and career development upon social mobility and upon the game itself. Providing a fascinating new insight into the nexus of sport, education, culture and society, this is a topical resource for students, scholars and practitioners across the fields of soccer, higher education, youth sport, sports development, sports coaching and sport management.

Spanish soccer is on top of the world, at international and club level, with the best teams and a seemingly endless supply of exciting and stylish players. While the Spanish economy struggles, its soccer flourishes, deeply embedded throughout Spanish social and cultural life. But the relationship between soccer, culture and national identity in Spain is complex. This fascinating, in-depth study shines new light on Spanish soccer by examining the role this sport plays in Basque identity, consolidated in Athletic Club of Bilbao, the century-old soccer club located in the birthplace of Basque nationalism. Athletic Bilbao has a unique player recruitment policy, allowing only Basque-born players or those developed at the youth academies of Basque clubs to play for the team, a policy that rejects the internationalism of contemporary globalised soccer. Despite this, the club has never been relegated from the top division of Spanish football. A particularly tight bond exists between fans, their club and the players, with Athletic representing a beacon of Basque national identity. This book is an ethnography of a soccer culture where origins, nationalism, gender relations, power and passion, lifecycle events and death rituals gain new meanings as they become, below and beyond the playing field, a matter of creative contention and communal affirmation. Based on unique, in-depth ethnographic research, this book investigates how a soccer club and soccer fandom affect the life of a community, interweaving empirical research material with key contemporary themes in the social sciences, and placing the study in the wider context of Spanish political and sporting cultures. Filling a key gap in the literature on contemporary Spain, and on wider soccer cultures, this book is fascinating reading for anybody with an interest in sport, anthropology, sociology, political science, or cultural and gender studies.

The greatest moments in sporting history in inglorious technicolour, from the 'artists' known as NO SCORE DRAWS 'Genuinely upsetting.' David Squires 'Repulsively ugly.' Seamas O'Reilly An Unofficial World Cup Hall of Infamy, featuring the worst fouls, best goals, most questionable refereeing decisions, dodgiest barnets, mintest kits and a host of 'Where were you when?' moments. This is the first (and, let's face it, probably only) book from the multi-untalented team behind moderately successful Twitter account @CheapPanini, bringing mild bemusement to the world through the medium of wonky hand-drawn stickers. You can't fault them for effort, even if they still can't do hands, so dive into these pages like Roy Keane into a tackle.

The identification and development of talented young players has become a central concern of football clubs at all levels of the professional game, as well as for national and international governing bodies. This is the first book to offer a comprehensive survey and assessment of youth development programmes in football around the world, to highlight best practice, and to offer clear recommendations for improvement. The book draws on original, in-depth research at eight elite professional football clubs, including Barcelona, Ajax and Bayern Munich, as well as the French national football academy at Clairefontaine. It adopts a multi-disciplinary approach, including psychology, coaching and management studies, and covers every key topic from organisational structures, talent recruitment and performance analysis to player education and welfare. Written by two authors with extensive experience in English professional football, including five Premiership clubs, this book is important reading for any student, researcher, coach, administrator or academy director with an interest in football, youth sport, sports development, sports coaching or sport management.

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. "

The Third World Congress of Science and Football was held in Cardiff, Wales in April 1995. The aim of the conference was to continue to bridge the gap between the theory and practice of the various branches of football and increase the awareness of the value of a scientific approach to these games. These aims and the outcomes of the conference are reflected in this third volume of Science and Football. The volume is divided into eight parts, each part containing a group of papers that are related by theme or disciplinary approach. Metabolism and nutrition, football training, match analysis, medical aspects of football and psychology and football behaviour are just a few of the areas covered in this comprehensive, in-depth volume that has been fully edited and revised. The conclusions drawn during the congress represent an invaluable practical reference for coaches, scientists, players, managers, and all those involved in the many football codes.

This title offers all royalties to the Brian Clough Memorial Fund. The Clough name is known throughout the football world and this book will appeal nationally, but especially in the North East and East Midlands. Colin Shields was a close friend of the charismatic football manager Brian Clough for more than twenty years, becoming one of the few people - besides the players - who Brian would allow to travel on the team bus. From behind the scenes at TV appearances to carrying bags of laundry together on holiday in Majorca, even the mundane became memorable in the company of Brian Clough. Looking back, from the moment they met to Colin's last conversation with his famous friend, 'Champagne Memories' adds more stories to the Clough legend including his unbounded generosity and his intriguing unpredictability. In this fascinating account of life with the Master Manager, Colin describes many poignant memories of their friendship.

'It's difficult to change what's in your blood, in your body, all the history of playing that way, and you change it for what? It's analysis the English people have to do,' says Pep Guardiola, and he's right. Let's do that analysis ... English football is booming. The world's richest league has stars from around the globe. Lavishly funded academies produce technically gifted players and professional football in England is unrivalled in depth. But what have we lost? You know what 'English-style football' means: fast, physical, no pointless possession, but in the Premier League you see a different game. Has the new technical, tactical game subdued what made people love English football in the first place? Premier League clubs have amazing squads, but does the amassing of wealth at the top threaten the traditions and grassroots on which the English game was built? Through interviews with people inside and outside the game, Jon Driscoll examines how English football professionalised and the challenges it now faces.

This book tells the fascinating story of West Ham United Football Club during the First World War, charting the relationship between war and football by following the pursuits of West Ham from 1913/14 to 1918/19. In many ways, it was their success in wartime competitions that led to them being accepted into the Football League in 1919, paving the way for subsequent FA Cup and League success. As well as a football story, this book is about the impact of the war on Britain. It documents the social implications of war on Londoners and the social and political influence of football, the armed forces and civilians alike. Looking closely at the 13th Service Battalion, also known as the 'West Ham Pals', the book includes such players as George Kay, Ted Hufton, and their manager and coach, Syd King and Charlie Paynter respectively.

Whether it was a swashbuckling footballer whose style earned him the nickname Crazy Horse, or as a television quiz show captain who rubbed shoulders with royalty, Emlyn Hughes never did things by half. This book looks at the life of the legend who carved out a career for himself in the media.

'EIGHT YEARS WITH RANGERS, MORE THAN 300 GAMES, INCREDIBLE HIGHS, PAINFUL LOWS - AND IT ALL CAME DOWN TO ONE NIGHT IN THE NOU CAMP' 24 May 1972. The biggest night in the history of Rangers. Having overcome the might of Italian giants Torino and Beckenbauer's Bayern Munich en route to the final of the European Cup Winners' Cup, Dynamo Moscow stood between the Light Blues and the trophy. The stage was set in Barcelona for an unsung hero: Dave Smith. Creator of two of the goals on the night and arguably man of the match. In a rollercoaster career, Smith joined the Ibrox club from Aberdeen in 1966 for a record fee. He tasted defeat in the 1967 European Cup Winners' Cup final and had his career blighted by two horrific leg breaks during a period in which he also experienced the tragedy of the Ibrox disaster. But by 1972 Smith was a lynchpin of Willie Waddell's team. Playing as sweeper, he dicated the tempo of games with his vision and pinpoint passing. The star of the Nou Camp victory was voted Player of the Year in Scotland to cap the most memorable of seasons. He departed Rangers in 1974, making a shock switch to Arbroath after a fallout with new Ibrox manager Jock Wallace, before going on to star overseas in South Africa and then alongside George Best for the LA Aztecs in America. Rejecting the chance to join Paris Saint-Germain, Smith chose to end his career in Scotland's lower leagues as player-manager at Berwick Rangers where he would find success and happiness playing the game the way it was meant to be played.

From the thousands of matches ever played by Manchester City, stretching from the early days of the 20th century to the new millennium and Premier League triumph, here are 50 of City's most glorious, epochal and thrilling games of all! Expertly presented in evocative historical context, and described incident-by-incident in atmospheric detail, Manchester City Greatest Games offers a terrace ticket back in time, taking in everything from the first game ever played at Maine Road in 1923 to the last in 2003, plus belters at the Etihad Stadium and Wembley classics. An irresistible cast list of club legends - Francis Lee and Billy Meredith, Bert Trautmann, Georgi Kinkladze and Ernie Brook - springs to life in a thrilling selection of last-day dramas, unforgettable derbies, relegation deciders, European nights and Cup crackers. In all, a journey through the highlights of City's history which is guaranteed to make any fan's heart swell with pride.