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Books > Language & Literature > Biography & autobiography > Sport
Walter Smith was one of the most respected managers in British
football. This insightful biography casts a reflective and
analytical eye over his life and career, examining this shrewd
professional through the many highs and lows that he has
experienced as a player and manager. He enjoyed an illustrious
career in management at Rangers, joining the Souness revolution in
1987, winning nine successive league titles, a domestic treble in
the 1992-93 season and winning both the Scottish Cup and League Cup
three times. In 1998, Smith accepted a position in England with
Everton, where he was the manager until 2002, before being reunited
with Ferguson at Old Trafford in 2004. In December of that year,
Smith was appointed as Scotland manager and his effort subsequently
earned him the title of 'Scot of the Year' at the prestigious
Glenfiddich 'Spirit of Scotland' awards in 2006. Midway through the
qualifying rounds for Euro 2008, however, and with the Scots
leading their group, he controversially accepted an offer to return
to Ibrox in January 2007. Upon returning to Glasgow, Smith led
Rangers to the UEFA Cup Final and triumph in the Scottish Cup in
2008, a domestic League and Cup double in 2009 and another double -
this time in the domestic League and League Cup - in 2010. He
retired from management in 2011 and died in October 2021.
An intimate, original biography of tennis legend Rafael Nadal, and the first to cover his entire career.
After his award-winning look at Roger Federer, Christopher Clarey, one of the world's pre-eminent tennis writers, focuses his lens on Nadal, the Spanish force of nature. When he arrived on the scene in 2005, the record for men's singles titles at the French Open stood at six. Nadal more than doubled that total to a mind-blowing fourteen titles: one of the greatest sporting achievements in history.
Nadal won big and won often on all of tennis's surfaces: securing two Wimbledon titles on grass and six on the US Open and Australian Open hard courts. But clay, the grittiest of the game's playgrounds, is where it all came together best for his whipping forehand and warrior mindset.
Clarey, who has covered Nadal since he was seventeen, draws on interviews over twenty years with Nadal, his team and rivals like Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. Brimming with behind-the-scenes insight, The Warrior tells the story of a global sporting icon, interlacing man and place in a unique, must-read account of the evolution of excellence.
Jack Beresford was the first British Olympian to win medals of any
colour in five consecutive Olympic Games. His record of 3 Gold and
2 silver medals at the 5 Olympic Games held between 1920 and 1936
remained until Sir Steve Redgrave won gold at the 2000 Sydney
Games. Historically, men have had two great chances to prove their
mettle; in battle and in sport. While many are aware that Jack
Beresford was one of Britain's greatest oarsmen, this affectionate
but unsentimental tribute by his son, John, reveals what few know,
that Beresford served his country with distinction in war as well
as in peace, and both with a modesty that is usually indicative of
true merit. It is commonly said, show me the boy and I'll show you
the man, and this work reveals that Jack the schoolboy, the soldier
and the sportsman was driven by the same strict principals of duty
and hard work throughout his life. This is, says John, the story
that his Father never wrote. It is also a story with a delicious
(if vicious) irony; the German bullet that wounded 19-year-old 2nd
Lieutenant Beresford in 1918 led to him abandoning rugby and taking
up rowing. Eighteen years later, the German favourites to win the
Olympic Double Sculls paid the price of Jack's change of sport as,
in the final's last 100 metres, Dick Southwood and Jack Beresford
rowed them to a standstill to win Olympic Gold.
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Save R51 (8%)
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