Silver Linings examines an historic and unforgettable period in the history of England's national football team. In his eight years as England boss, Bobby Robson was celebrated, derided, Diego-ed, and everything in between. His team missed one European Championship, self-destructed at another, were cheated out of Mexico 86, and then, just before he left, came within two kicks of a World Cup final. On this journey he had managed the good, the bad and sometimes the ugly. But through it all he maintained his belief not only in himself and his team, but in the notion of England. Faced with an unprecedented level of media hostility, Robson's team were inconsistent and frustrating, but at their best few could match them. Alf Ramsey may have won football's greatest prize in 1966 but no other England manager could equal the sheer drama of Robson's eight years in charge. Set against the backdrop of a vicious newspaper circulation war and the rise of hooliganism, this is the story of how Robson managed to deliver the seemingly impossible: hope.

From 1958-75 Billy McNeill was at the heart of everything Celtic did. An uncompromising but fair centre half, he captained the club for twelve hugely successful years. Later in his life he returned for two more periods as Celtic manager, winning the undying support of the club's legion of fans for his complete commitment to the cause. In this remarkable autobiography, he recalls the glory days of the Lisbon Lions alongside Bobby Lennox and Jimmy Johnstone; playing for Scotland with Billy Bremner and Denis Law; coming to England as a manager; and reveals just how good a babysitter Kenny Dalglish was. Told with great humour and intelligence, this is a fascinating story from one of Scotland's greatest heroes.

Science and Football V presents the edited papers from the Fifth World Congress on Science and Football that took place in Portugal in April 2003. The collection represents the latest scientific research into the variety of sports known as football such as association football; rugby codes (Union and League); national codes (American, Australian and Gaelic). A recurring theme for this series of conferences has been a commitment to bridge the gaps between theory and practice in the service of the promotion of high quality applied football science. The book is clearly structured into nine parts and focuses on the following key issues: introductory keynote address biomechanics and mechanics fitness test profiling of footballers performance and match analysis football medicine football training paediatric exercise science physiology and nutrition behavioural and social sciences. This collection provides valuable information for coaches, players, trainers, managers, medical and support staff, and scientific workers concerned with the range of football codes.

Even people who don't know football know Pele. The best of a generation of Brazilian players universally acknowledged as the most accomplished and attractive group of footballers ever to play the game, he won the World Cup three times and is Brazil's all-time record goalscorer. But how did this man -- a sportsman, a mere footballer, like many others -- become a global icon? Was it just by being the best at what he did, or do people respond to some other quality? The world's greatest footballer now gives us the full story of his incredible life and career. Told with his characteristic grace and modesty, but covering all aspects of his playing days and his subsequent careers as politician, international sporting ambassador and cultural icon, PELE: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY is an essential volume for all sports fans, and anyone who admires true rarity of spirit.

'If you want to know and understand how football really works, this is the book for you.' Guillem Balagué

'A myth-busting and hugely entertaining look at the ever more complex machinations of the beautiful game. Essential.' Raphael Honigstein

'A must-read for football fans.' Freddie Ljungberg

Insightful, enlightening and thought-provoking, leading Premier League lawyer Daniel Geey lifts the lid on the inner workings of modern football.

What really happens inside a club on transfer deadline day? Are football agents overpaid? Which club put a clause forbidding space travel into a midfielder's contract? And which team's players can never wear red boots?

Whether it is a manager being sacked, a star player transfer, billion-pound television rights negotiations or a controversial club takeover, leading football lawyer Daniel Geey has all the insight. With an accessible and thoughtful perspective, and featuring expert contributions, Done Deal explores the issues that shape the modern game, providing football fans with a fresh and authoritative look at all off-field football matters.

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.

'He is skilful. He is outspoken. He is Zlatan' New York Times 'He is an amazing talent, one of the best around' Pep Guardiola Football's most prolific and controversial goalscorer has nothing left to prove on the pitch. There is only one Zlatan. In the decade since his megaselling memoir I am Zlatan Ibrahimovic, he has played at Paris Saint-Germain (2012-2016), Manchester United (2016-2018), LA Galaxy (2018-2019) and Milan (2020-). This outrageous and hilarious follow-up is bursting with personal confessions and revealing anecdotes about the world's best players and managers. Packed with revelations, in Adrenaline we hear for the first time what Zlatan really thinks about his time in the Premier League and what it was like to score that glorious bicycle kick against England. We hear about the club he very nearly signed for, and see his hilarious run-ins with the French media - and the French in general, really. Plus so much more. Zlatan transports you into the world of top-flight football like no one else. Filled with revelations - including Zlatan's life lessons on happiness, friendship and love - you'll be talking about this book a long time after finishing it.

In spite of a great passion in the game and significant involvement at amateur level, British Asians are under-represented in professional football. This book asks how and why this situation has developed, using extensive interviews with British Asian football players to offer an insider's assessment of the difficulties and conflicting demands faced every day. In addition, the book also critically examines the work of the anti-racist football movement, questioning the strategies and policies designed to eradicate racism and asking whether other approaches might be more effective or reflective of the views of the players themselves.

Ideal for academics and students of the sociology of ethnicity, sport, youth studies or cultural studies, this innovative book will also be of interest to professionals in the field of equal opportunities.

No other national stereotype in the world is so closely tied with a sport, as Brazil is with football. The five-time world champions have constructed their national identity around this sport. Perhaps for this reason it's no wonder that there are many Brazilian social scientists doing research on this theme. The first part of this volume is dedicated to the history of Brazilian football. The main question is how did football become so popular in the country? It also looks at other interesting historical developments in Brazilian football history up to this day. The second part considers current phenomena, especially the place of Brazilian football in a globalized world: What are the consequences of an extremely commercialized and mediatized sport on a developing country? How does Brazil figure as the main supplying country of football talents? How does the population feel about seeing their players in Europe instead of their own country? Finally, the book will conclude with a critique of a documentary film about a Brazilian national team game in Haiti which was part of the Brazilian army's blue helmet mission. The game was used as a political instrument, revealing the importance of this sport in attaining a political position for Brazil in the world. This book was previously published as a special issue of Soccer and Society.

This collection explores the multifaceted connections between soccer and society in the Middle East. It examines the social significance of soccer and its importance to individuals and the collectivity. Shaped and influenced by such forces as religion, colonialism, nation-building and globalization, the game is a source of both conflict and peace. Soccer is a vital part of the Middle East's cultural and political fabric. The chapters in this volume include an essay on the leading role played by fans and players during the Arab Spring revolts; anthropological studies of women players in Iraqi Kurdistan, obstacles faced and overcome; reports centered on the politics of Turkish fans; a survey of the political affiliations of Lebanese clubs; studies of pre-1948 Palestinian sport; and portrayals of Arab athletes in the Israeli media during the second Intifada and how they reflect shifting political realities and attitudes. The themes of this book are addressed through individual accounts, sociological studies, philosophical speculations and selections culled from literature. This collection offers fresh insights into the hope that soccer can provide, demonstrated recently by the successes of the Iraqi national team, suggesting possibilities of unity and solidarity in a fractured land. In the complex, dynamic and politically fraught societies of the Middle East, soccer captures the imagination and embodies the values and dreams of its followers in multiple configurations. This book was originally published as a special issue of Soccer & Society.

The story of British football's journey from public school diversion to mass media entertainment is a remarkable one. The Association Game traces British football from the establishment of the earliest clubs in the nineteenth century to its place as one of the prominent and commercialised leisure industries at the beginning of the twenty first century. It covers supporters and fandom, status and culture, big business, the press and electronic media and development in playing styles, tactics and rules. This is the only up to date book on the history of British football, covering the twentieth century shift from amateur to professional and whole of the British Isles, not just England.

WINNER OF THE FOOTBALL BOOK OF THE YEAR 'This is a masterfully written history of the world's greatest football club. Mes que un book!' - GARY LINEKER From the bestselling co-author of Soccernomics comes the story of how FC Barcelona became the most successful football club in the world - and how that envied position now hangs in the balance. Barca is not just the world's most popular sports club, it is simply one of the most influential organisations on the planet. With almost 250 million followers on social media and 4 million visitors to its Camp Nou stadium each year, there's little wonder its motto is 'More than a club'. But it was not always so. In the past three decades, Barcelona has transformed from regional team to global powerhouse, becoming a model of sporting excellence and a consistent winner of silverware. Simon Kuper unravels exactly how these transformations took place. He outlines the organisational structure behind the club's business decisions, and details the work of its coaches, medics, data analysts and nutritionists who have revolutionised the sporting world. And, of course, he studies the towering influence of the club's two greatest legends, Johan Cruyff and Lionel Messi. Like many leading global businesses, FC Barcelona closely guards its secrets, granting few outsiders a view behind the scenes. But, after decades of writing about the sport and the club, Kuper was given unprecedented access to the inner sanctum and to the people who strive daily to keep Barcelona at the top. Erudite, personal, and capturing all the latest successes and upheavals, his portrait of this incredible institution goes beyond football to understand Barca as a unique social, cultural, and political phenomenon. "I began my research thinking I was going to be explaining Barca's rise to greatness, and I have, but I've also ended up charting the decline and fall."

In what sense can organized football fans be understood as political actors or participants in social movements? How do fan struggles link to wider social and political transformations? And what methodological dilemmas arise when researching fan activism? Fan Activism, Protest and Politics seeks ethnographic answers to these questions in a context - Zagreb, Croatia - shaped by the recent Yugoslav wars, nation-state building, post-socialist 'transition' and EU accession. Through in-depth ethnography following the everyday subcultural practices of a left-wing fan group, NK Zagreb's White Angels, alongside terrace observations and interviews conducted with members of GNK Dinamo's Bad Blue Boys, this book details fans' interactions with the police, club management, state authorities and other fan groups. Themes ranging from politics, socialization, masculinity, sexuality and violence to fan authenticity are examined. In moving between two groups, the book explores methodological issues of wider relevance to researchers using ethnographic methods. This is important reading for students and researchers alike in the fields of football studies, regional studies of the former Yugoslavia and post-socialism, political sociology and social movements, and studies of masculinity, gender and sexuality. A useful resource for scholars writing about social movements and protest, or post-socialist subcultural scenes in south-east Europe, the book is also a fascinating read for policymakers interested in better understanding the contemporary (geo)political situation in the region.

Taking up where 'Red Army General' left off, O'Neill begins with Operation Mars, the massive undercover operation to trap United's 'top boys', and reveals the truth behind their headline-making Crown Court trial and their eventual acquittal.

For three months every year football clubs buy and sell people. They spend more than £4 billion a year on footballers, and for good reason; the right deal can help you win the game's top prizes while the wrong deal can cost you your job and bankrupt your club. It is a fast-paced, at times murky and cutthroat world worth billions, which largely operated behind closed doors - until Jim White and Kaveh Solhekol stepped in, that is. In Deadline Day, Jim and Kaveh, two of the world's leading transfer experts, take us behind the scenes of this uniquely tense, make-or-break element to the game. They talk of the world's most famous players, managers and agents - Jose Mourinho, Sir Alex Ferguson and Pep Guardiola amongst others - to get to the heart of the most significant deals in history, as well as the ones that got away. But has the time come for football to slam shut the transfer window for good? Is it, after all, more scandal than strategy? Perceptive, entertaining and dynamically told, Jim and Kaveh reckon with questions integral to the future of the game in this definitive, never-before-told inside story of football's transfer window.

Nutrition and Football is a FIFA endorsed book which provides the first formal scientific consensus on players' energy use fluid, and optimal nutritional requirements. Including: nutrition for pre-season, training, match play and in different climates analysis of the energy and metabolic demands of players in different positions water and electrolyte requirements strategies to balance effects of stress, over training and over playing ideal body composition in professional football analysis and interventions to counter late game fatigue supplements and nutrition for optimum training adaptation the effects of alcohol on metabolism, performance and general health. Each contributor to this accessible guide is an internationally recognized expert in their field and the chapters embrace all key aspects of nutrition for football. Presenting cutting-edge research, the book has a practical and applied focus and has been developed with input from practicing sports nutrition club professionals.

Physical training is a key part of preparing to play soccer (football) at any level, but organising a genuinely effective training programme requires both an understanding the physiological principles involved and a practical knowledge of the demands of the game. In response to the lack of in-depth and up-to-date material focussing on this area, the book provides clear guidelines, an evidence base and a theoretical framework for proven effective soccer training. It includes: planning seasonal training to peak at the right time; training for strength, speed, aerobic and anaerobic fitness; designing appropriate sessions for training and rehabilitation; best methods for recovery from exercise and reducing injury risk; preparation for play in different environmental conditions; evaluating the effectiveness of training programmes; and diet, sleep, lifestyle, young players and long-term development. Clear explanations of the physiological concepts and sport science research evidence are given throughout, and the book contains many examples to illustrate the training principles in practice. for coaches, physical trainers and sport scientists working in soccer (football). Thomas Reilly is Professor of Sports Science and Director of the Research Institute for Sport and Exercise Sciences at Liverpool John Moores University. He is President of the World Commission of Science and Sports, and chairs the International Steering Group on Science and Football.

In spite of a great passion in the game and significant involvement at amateur level, British Asians are under-represented in professional football. This book asks how and why this situation has developed, using extensive interviews with British Asian football players to offer an insider's assessment of the difficulties and conflicting demands faced every day. In addition, the book also critically examines the work of the anti-racist football movement, questioning the strategies and policies designed to eradicate racism and asking whether other approaches might be more effective or reflective of the views of the players themselves.

Ideal for academics and students of the sociology of ethnicity, sport, youth studies or cultural studies, this innovative book will also be of interest to professionals in the field of equal opportunities.

The Beautiful Badge tells the fascinating story behind the UK's football club badges, from 1860s hand-embroidered symbols on home-knitted jerseys to today's multi-million pound brands. The book not only covers hammers, cannon and Liver birds but also reveals the link between Peterhead FC and Viz comic; which TV celebrity designed Aldershot Town FC's badge; and whose GBP10 doodle became the opposition's badge. Some clubs have sported ten or more different badges over the decades, ranging from their town's coat of arms to cartoon insects and initials. Promotion, moving to a new stadium or an owner with controversial views often results in a new badge. The book plots the influence of fashion, technology and fans, and investigates the tensions between clubs and supporters over changes to their beloved badge. Do you know why your club's badge looks the way it does? The Beautiful Badge is essential reading for football enthusiasts, historians, designers and anyone who enjoys putting their feet up in the boot room.

Few things convey the identity of Britain's towns and cities more vocally than football and food, yet put them together and they become incompatible foes. Balti pies served out of tin trays and rubbery burgers that cost north of a tenner are typical of the over-the-counter fare that welcomes fans through the turnstile. But it doesn't have to be that way. As Britain embraces a craft revolution of locally made produce we, the travelled football fans, have the unique opportunity to experience the country in a way few others can. We can feast on cockles and mussels on the south-east coast, tuck into smack barm and pey wet in Lancashire and drink our way through an explosion of craft distillers and breweries all in the name of the club we love. The Great Pie Revolt is the definitive guide to the cafes, market stalls, takeaways, microbrewers, pubs and bars that pride themselves on their locality. It is proof that when paired properly football and food are a match made in heaven, but both are in dire need of a spectator-driven revolt.

'The most important (thing) is to play,' Srna said, 'to show the world that we are still alive, that we are fighting, that we are living, that we will have a good future.' In 2014, the conflict in the Donbas region of Ukraine began - and top football club Shakhtar Donetsk has since been in exile. This book tells their story; inevitably a story of the conflict and the recent Russian invasion but also a testament to the power of the game and the will of the players. It is ultimately a footballing story, exploring the experience and meaning of being a Shakhtar player through the lens of a country in the shadow of a huge aggressive neighbour. There are moments of direct impact (such as when a youth coach was killed by Russian shelling earlier in 2022) but also what it means to just go out on the field and play, freely. Andy Brassell is a European football expert and has followed this story for years; he regards Shakhtar as the 'Barcelona of Eastern Europe'. This book celebrates the team and its achievements, while paying tribute to an occupied nation.

Turncoat is the light-hearted story of one disillusioned Arsenal fan’s quest to find a new team while rediscovering the simple joys of watching football. From sneaking out of bed to see Michael Thomas’s winner against Liverpool, to holding a season ticket for 16 years, Matt Coughlan was a dedicated Arsenal fan. Then came the move to a new ground, kick-off times always being shunted around and the goalposts being moved when billionaires injected vast sums into rival teams, so the height of ambition became finishing fourth. He became disillusioned with the modern game and drifted away from it, but he missed being part of the conversation in the pub and correcting friends on points of trivia. He started to watch non-league football and searched for a new team to follow. On his journey, Matt rediscovers a love for the sport, gets into club boardrooms, talks with officials, finds out about community-owned clubs, learns about some historic old clubs and watches a mixed bag of football. But does he find a new team to support?

Football managers are at the center of today's commercially-driven football world, scrutinized, celebrated and under pressure as never before. This book is the first in-depth history of the role of the manager in British football, tracing a path from Victorian-era amateurism to the highly paid motivational specialists and media personalities of the twenty-first century.
Using original source materials, the book traces the changing character and function of the football manager, covering:
- the origins of football management - club secretaries and early pioneers
- the impact of post-war social change - the advent of the football business
- television and the new commercialism
- contemporary football - specialization and the influence of foreign managers and management practices
- the future of football management

"The Football Manager" examines the influence of Britain's traditionally pragmatic and hierarchical business management culture on British football, and in doing so provides a new and broader perspective on a unique management role and a unique way of life.
For those interested in the history of football and for those interested in management more generally, this book is a valuable new resource.