Football Biomechanics explores the latest knowledge of this core discipline in sport science across all codes of the sport. Encompassing a variety of styles, including original scientific studies, syntheses of the latest research, and position statements, the text offers readers the most up-to-date and comprehensive reference of the underlying mechanics of high-level football performance. The book is divided into five parts, covering fundamental football actions, the biomechanics of direct free kicks, footwear, biomechanical considerations in skill acquisition and training, and artificial turf. It bridges the gap between theory and practice in a variety of key areas such as: ball kicking mechanics (in soccer and other football codes) ball impact dynamics aerodynamics of ball flight special techniques (such as the 'knuckle ball shot') by world-famous players the efficacy and development of footwear biomechanical and motor performance differences between female and male soccer players artificial turf from an injury and a performance perspective. Made up of contributions from leading experts from around the world, Football Biomechanics is a vital resource for researchers and practitioners working in all football codes, and useful applied reading for any sport science student with an interest in football.

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.

Almost half of professional footballers face the threat of bankruptcy within five years of their retirement. A third will be divorced less than a year after hanging up their boots. With little or no support from the game to which they gave their lives, many end up addicted, depressed, living with debilitating illnesses, behind bars or even worse. While an elite few may be financially secure, or others may land plum managerial jobs or punditry roles, it transpires that for the majority retirement is something they're not prepared for and lives can spiral into a rapid and depressing decline. Retired is the ultimate 'where are they now?' and asks what actually happens to most footballers once they hang up their boots? How do players cope with going from heroes to zeroes in such a short space of time? And what can be done to help with their transition to normal life?

All the fun of Portico's bestselling Strangest series, now in quiz form! Test your football knowledge with this handy book, packed with fun and challenging quiz questions based around the weirdest events from more than a century of football history. Quiz categories include: Outlandish scorelines Freaky weather Unfeasible goals Animals on pitches Cup madness Streakers Football's great eccentrics International antics Whether you're testing your friends, practising for pub quizzes or just reading it in an armchair, this book will take your football knowledge to a whole new level. Word count: 30,000 words.

From is genesis as Newton Heath LYR Football Club founded in 1878 all the way to the global sporting and commercial superpower that it is today, this is the history of Manchester United Football Club as you have never seen it before. Lifelong Red Devils' fan Neville Moir has distilled this extraordinary history into an amusing, fascinating and easy to read anthology. This entertaining volume is an instructive, if sometimes irreverent - but always affectionate - guide to some of the groundbreaking firsts, controversies, innovations, characters, achievements and disasters that have shaped one the greatest sporting institutions on the planet. Whether an expert or a novice, this compendium is perfect for all Man United fans, young and old, around the world.

This ambitious and fascinating history considers why, in the space of sixty years between 1850 and 1910, football grew from a marginal and unorganised activity to become the dominant winter entertainment for millions of people around the world. The book explores how the world's football codes - soccer, rugby league, rugby union, American, Australian, Canadian and Gaelic - developed as part of the commercialised leisure industry in the nineteenth century. Football, however and wherever it was played, was a product of the second industrial revolution, the rise of the mass media, and the spirit of the age of the masses. Important reading for students of sports studies, history, sociology, development and management, this book is also a valuable resource for scholars and academics involved in the study of football in all its forms, as well as an engrossing read for anyone interested in the early history of football.

'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.

Her Game Too is a call to arms for women to be given equal access to profile, opportunities and advancement in the beautiful game. Since the sport's early days, women have been excluded from football, with those brave enough to participate, either as fans or players, beset by misogynistic attitudes if not outright abuse. While we've seen great strides made in the battle for respect and inclusion, sadly there's still a long way to go. Matt Riley provides a platform for key voices in the movement, galvanised around HerGameToo, an organisation run by female fans to fight sexism in football. We hear from the HerGameToo founders who were name-dropped in the House of Commons, Helen Nkwocha, the first woman to coach a top-flight men's team in Europe, and HerGameToo director Natalie Atkinson among others. The book explores the roots of the movement with the story of pioneering female footballer Lily Parr, and sheds light on the future, which has looked increasingly bright since Premier League side Everton pledged its support to HerGameToo.

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.

How much do you really know about Arsenal? Put your Gunners knowledge to the test with this bumper book of brainteaser quizzes and fascinating facts, beautifully illustrated by one of the world's leading sports artists. It's packed with trivia on all the great Arsenal sides and players - from Chapman's champions to Mee's double winners and Wenger's 'invincibles', from Adams, Wright, Bergkamp and Henry to Pepe and Partey - providing hours of highly dippable fun and entertainment. Which player was nicknamed 'The Little Mozart'? Which England international appeared with Diana Dors and Thora Hird in a 1953 film? Who is the only World Cup Golden Shoe-winner to have played for Arsenal? Who was the only Arsenal player in the GB football squad at the 2012 Olympics? Which player fronted a worldwide ad campaign as a Calvin Klein underwear model? Trivquiz Arsenal holds the answers to all these questions and hundreds more.

Football fans love nothing more than to read about their favourite teams. Although this books is aimed at young teenagers they will delight all ages with their mixture of funny and enlightening stories and will give hours of pleasure discovering quirky facts about your favourite team. Each title is also augmented with a selection of sketches by the young sketch artist Becky Welton that depict some of the stories within.

The Fix: How the First Champions League Was Won and Why We All Lost is an engrossing examination of the 1992/93 UEFA Champions League season. In 1980s Europe, revolution was in the air and the corridors of footballing power were not immune from the forces sweeping the continent. The breakup of Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and the USSR gave UEFA a problem. There were more national teams and league champions than their post-war competitions were designed to handle. Rather than the collapse of communism, the bigger headache for administrators was the success of capitalism. Gordon Gekko-styled businessmen like Silvio Berlusconi (AC Milan) and Bernard Tapie (Marseille) were beginning to involve themselves in football with less than benign motives. Against the backdrop of constant threats from the continent's most powerful clubs to form a breakaway super league, the UEFA Champions League was born. The Fix looks at that infamous first season, from its humble beginning on a Faroese hillside to its ultimate conclusion in a French courtroom.

The tale of Tottenham Hotspur's extraordinary run to the 2019 Champions League Final in Madrid. Authors Alex Fynn and Martin Cloake examine how Spurs confounded all predictions to enjoy their most successful ever CL campaign - and what it means for the future. They explain why a certain style of football and competing in Europe are central to the club's identity, and look at how manager Mauricio Pochettino drew on these traditions to create a very modern success story. Using match reports from national newspapers to provide the narrative thread, Fynn and Cloake draw on their football backgrounds to explain why this campaign so fired the imagination - in a season with no signings, played mostly without a home stadium. With a rich cast of characters and locations ranging from Eindhoven to Madrid via Barcelona and Dortmund - and one emotional night in Amsterdam - One Step from Glory tells the story of a football odyssey.

Chelsea's manager has had an unprecedented career in football. At 16 he wrote to Bobby Robson criticising one of decisions. Robson challenged the teenager to back up his claim and he provided such statistical analysis that Robson offered him a place on the club's youth coaching staff. This is a biography of Andre Villas-Boas."

Considering the celebrity-like status of the professional football manager, surprisingly little is known about their role. This book provides an unprecedented insight into the chronically insecure and vulnerable world of the contemporary professional football manager. Drawing on original research, it explores the complex challenges and skills of the football manager in an increasingly cut-throat, ruthless and results-based industry. Written by a former professional footballer, the book examines how personal contact networks and the social mobility of different actors within the industry influence various elements of the manager's role. Beginning with an overview of literature on football management, its subsequent chapters each examine a key aspect of a manager's work, such as: managerial recruitment and appointment; the role of previous playing experience and formal education; the assessment and recruitment of players; maintaining discipline and control; maintaining successful working relationships with players, coaches, agents, club directors and owners. Shedding light on the inner workings of the football industry, this book is fascinating reading for any serious football fan and an essential resource for any student or scholar researching football, sport management or sport business.

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'Wrighty's characteristic honesty means his book is far more engrossing than most bland football memoirs' Sunday Times Ian Wright, Arsenal legend, England striker and TV pundit extraordinaire, is one of the most interesting and relevant figures in modern football. His journey from a South London council estate to national treasure is everybody's dream. From Sunday morning football directly to Crystal Palace; from 'boring, boring Arsenal' to inside the Wenger Revolution; from Saturday afternoons on the pitch to Saturday evenings on primetime television; from a week in prison to inspiring youth offenders, Ian will reveal all about his extraordinary life and career. Ian will also frankly discuss how retirement affects footballers, why George Graham deserves a statue, social media, why music matters, breaking Arsenal's goal-scoring record, racism, the unadulterated joy of playing alongside Dennis Bergkamp and, of course, what he thinks of Tottenham. Not a standard footballer's autobiography, Ian Wright's memoir is a thoughtful and gripping insight into a Highbury Hero and one of the greatest sports stars of recent years.

A true story of intrigue, mystery, blackmail and skulduggery, which tells how one man was able to bring down an English Football League club. In 1919, Leeds City player Charlie Copeland returned from active service and made a request for a pay rise, which the club steadfastly refused. During the war, guest players for League clubs were supposed to have gone unpaid for their services, though in general this FA law was overlooked as a nod to the war effort. Copeland, however, issued the club with an ultimatum: either meet his wage demand or answer to the FA for making illegal payments. When Copeland carried out his threat and City proved reluctant to produce their books for FA inspection, a complex web of deceit and hypocrisy ensued. Subsequently, Leeds City were disbanded and expelled from the Football League, the only club before or since to receive such harsh punishment. However, out of the ashes of this fallen institution emerged another, brand new club - Leeds United.

What is it like to support a small team in a city where a footballing giant lurks? Leandro Vignoli spent 50 days on the road, getting up close and personal with the fans of 13 football clubs from ten of Europe's big cities to bring you the inside story. This book isn't about glitz and glamour - it's a celebration of each club's identity peppered with a sprinkling of history. From St Pauli's social activism to Millwall's struggle with hooliganism, from Rayo Vallecano's working-class roots to Torino's glory and tragedy, from the Catalan identity to East Germany's socialist past, no stone is left unturned as Vignoli visits teams in Barcelona, Madrid, Munich, Berlin, Hamburg, Lisbon, Paris, Turin, Glasgow and London. Each chapter has a game as a backdrop alongside interviews with fans. A football fanatic himself, Vignoli weaves a narrative filled with passion and understanding that gets to the root of what it's really like to support an underdog side dwarfed by a footballing giant.

Julian Joachim burst onto the scene in 1992 and quickly became one of the most exciting and sought-after young talents in English football. Few players make the immediate impact that Joachim did. In his debut season, he scored in a Wembley final, finished as runner up in Match of the Day's Goal of the Season, won an international trophy and saw off competition from Patrick Kluivert, Robbie Fowler and Clarence Seedorf to win Player of the Tournament award at the under 18 European Championships. Joachim's blistering pace and down to earth attitude made him a fans' favourite wherever he played. One of only a handful of players to score in England's top four divisions, the FA Cup, League Cup and the UEFA Cup, Joachim's journey took him from Leicester City to Darlington, via Aston Villa, Coventry City, Leeds United, Walsall and Boston United. You Must Be Joachim provides an honest account of Julian's life as a footballer; from the goals, the glamour and the glory, to a darker side of the game rarely discussed - dealing with bullying, handling the media and what it's really like for a footballer when they retire.

Back in the Big Time! Sheffield Wednesday's Return to Division One, 1984-86 tells the story of the Owls' return to the top flight after 14 years in the wilderness. In the 1970s, the club had been a footballing byword for underachievement. After flirting with relegation to Division Four in 1976, it began its slow climb back to the top table under Jack Charlton and then Howard Wilkinson. It was Wilkinson's team that gained promotion to the highest league in 1984. They attacked Division One with gusto - within two years finishing fifth in the league and embarking on cup campaigns that took them heartbreakingly close to Wembley. Drawing on detailed research, John Dyson shines new light on the period, combining exclusive interviews with key players, management and club officials with the perspective of supporters and others to piece together a new history. Here is the unfiltered story of a team that did not give up. This is the Owls back in the big time!

This book reviews the general acute effects and adaptations of small-sided and conditioned games (SSCGs) in terms of physiological responses, technical performance and methodology/periodization in the game of soccer. It also reviews the many studies conducted in the past decade to investigate the influence of SSCGs on physiological responses and technical performance in soccer training. SSCGs, which are smaller and adapted versions of formal team sports, are very popular training drills for players at all ability levels and competitive levels and offer an alternative to traditional fitness training. Exploring their role in depth, this book offers a valuable resource for academics, researchers and coaches with an interest in developing improved training techniques for soccer.

Feeling Leeds gazes into the curious world of the dislocated supporter, the football fan not born and bred in the shadow of their club's ground. Raiford Guins is one such fan. His book recounts the highs and lows of supporting a team from afar - from paying $20 to watch Leeds United matches in Florida via dodgy satellite feeds in the early 1990s, to ringing Elland Road when it was the only way to get midweek results before the internet, to working out league tables with out-of-date copies of Shoot!, to celebrating madly while fuelling his car and watching Leeds clinch a late winner against Villa in December 2018 on his iPhone. Trivial to the supporter who can easily walk to their ground, such moments form the backbone of belonging for those with an ocean between themselves and the turnstiles. Feeling Leeds is the story of one supporter's commitment to cultivating an emotional connection to Leeds United for nearly 40 years. It is written by and for supporters worldwide for whom every day is an away day.