*** 'Footie book of the year.' - The Sun TROY DEENEY is best known as Watford FC's former captain and a thorn in Arsenal's side. But behind the successful and gritty football persona is a remarkable story of resilience. In this brutally honest and inspirational memoir, Troy shares what it was like to grow up on Europe's largest council estate, where his mum worked three jobs and his father, a notorious drug dealer, was frequently in and out of prison. He shares stories of self-sabotage, from simply not turning up to Aston Villa's football trials as a teenager, playing while drunk to being imprisoned for affray at the height of his career. But Troy never gave up, even when it meant playing professional football with an ankle tag. He went on to score 20+ goals in three successive seasons and became the Club Captain, an FA Cup finalist, promotion winner and Watford's record scorer. He also became an outspoken player advocate and - in an age of bland footballer interviews - is a sought after voice on football and footballers today. Engaging, endearing and insightful, this book is where Troy comes to terms with his turbulent past.

'I was never as proud to be part of a team as I was being part of that team.' PAT JENNINGS By the end of the 1970s, the Northern Ireland football team was in the doldrums. Against a background of civil unrest, the team had endured long periods of playing all their games away from home and had just finished bottom of the British Championship for the fourth successive year. Two years later they walked onto the pitch against France to play for a place in the 1982 World Cup semi-finals. In Fields of Wonder, Evan Marshall charts Northern Ireland's incredible World Cup journey in thrilling detail, from the appointment of Billy Bingham as manager and the winning of the British Home Championship in 1980 through the ups and downs of the qualifying stages, and that night of pulsating drama against Spain in Valencia. Based on interviews with manager Billy Bingham and with many of the players, including Pat Jennings, Martin O'Neill, Gerry Armstrong and Norman Whiteside, and told against the backdrop of the Troubles, this book vividly captures the struggles, spirit and magic of Northern Ireland's 1982 World Cup campaign.

The history of Major League doubleheaders is presented in this volume, beginning with their inception as a way to make up missed games, to their current decline as a result of changes in society. The role of the doubleheader as a celebration of holidays and as a Sunday event is explained, as well as its crucial role in enabling Major League Baseball to survive as an economic entity during the Great Depression and World War II.

Rangers 101 distils the history of the most successful football club in the world, Glasgow Rangers F.C. From their founding in 1872 and their first (drawn) League Championship, all the way through to the present day, Rangers' history is brought to life via people, matches and objects. This fascinating volume traces the nearly 150 years of this unsurpassed institution - sometimes irreverent but always faithful to the characters, controversies, disasters and achievements that have taken place to give the club such a rich tapestry of triumph. Whether an old fan or new this is a perfect partner for those who support the club, are interested in its history and who love to recall past and present glories.

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.

Ipswich Town On This Day revisits all the most magical and memorable moments from the Tractor Boys' illustrious past, mixing in a maelstrom of quirky anecdotes and legendary characters to produce an irresistibly dippable blue-and-white diary - with an entry for every day of the year. From Town's Victorian formation through to the Premier League era, the Portman Road faithful have witnessed promotions and relegations, League and Cup triumphs, hard-fought derbies and unforgettable European nights - all featured here. All-time greats including John Wark and Ray Crawford, Billy Baxter, Arnold Muhren and Mick Mills all loom larger than life. Revisit 18 January 1969: Bobby Robson's first game in charge, a 2-2 draw away at Everton. 30 October 1926: Barclays Bank beat Town 3-1 at Portman Road, the game being held up to clear an invasion of rats. Or 20 May 1981: The night that Town won the Uefa Cup in Amsterdam!

My Seventy Years of Spurs is veteran sportswriter Norman Giller's unique story of Tottenham Hotspur over the seven decades he has followed the Lilywhites. Norman saw the legendary 'push and run' side lift the league title in 1950/51, then as a press-box reporter he chronicled Tottenham's historic league and FA Cup double in 1960/61. He has been an eyewitness to all their triumphs and tribulations right up to the surreal 2020/21 season. Join him on a trip down White Hart memory lane in the company of each of the 21 managers who have been in charge during his 70 years as a supporter and reporter - from Arthur Rowe in the 1950s to the current master of the new Lane, Jose Mourinho. The book is introduced by Steve Perryman, captain of back-to-back FA Cup-winning Tottenham teams, who holds the club appearances record. My Seventy Years of Spurs provides an intimate and informative insight into the club from a renowned sportswriter who truly knows his Spurs.

Tottenham, From the Lane: The Story of Spurs in N17 is the remarkable local history of the club's journey from humble beginnings in 1882 to opening its state-of-the-art new ground. Founded by schoolboys under a streetlamp, Tottenham Hotspur has become one of the world's biggest football institutions. Its GBP1bn stadium, a worthy successor to White Hart Lane, the world-famous home of the Spurs, sits among the tower blocks. The same Lane that played host to glory, glory nights, graced by legends from Danny Blanchflower to Harry Kane, had been transformed into a munitions factory in World War One. Those streets that welcomed parades at the height of the club's success in the 1960s would later witness rioting and carnage. A move to east London loomed large and Tottenham might have lost its Spurs altogether. Tottenham Hotspur's 130-year relationship with its home has been complex, changing, but always proud.

England's Calamity? challenges the standard view that England's famous 6-3 loss to Hungary in 1953 kick-started a revolution. The crushing defeat has long been seen as the watershed moment when England cast off its training methods and tactics of the past to embrace new continental practices. Author Chris Jones takes a different view: that the 6-3 trouncing was not a revolutionary moment but one key part of an evolutionary process. The England side of '53 had a fascinating mix of football archetypes - Alf Ramsey (The General), Billy Wright (The Golden Boy), Harry Johnston (The One-Club Man), Stanley Matthews (The Incomparable), Ernie Taylor (The One-Cap Wonder), Jackie Sewell (The Record-Transfer Holder) and Walter Winterbottom (The Boffin). England's Calamity? examines the different voices, arguments, biases, myths, agendas and responsibilities of that England XI, their coach, their observers and commentators to bring you a fresh perspective on an endlessly discussed moment in the history of the England team.

For many Americans, Opening Day was, and remains, the true marker of each year's beginning. Here we relive the Opening Days of baseball's most storied and glamorous team, the New York American League club that began as the Highlanders and achieved glory as the Yankees. As we watch the Yankees year by year, we watch them, as well as baseball and the social fabric of America, change gradually, and at times radically. We begin early in the century, when the team played at Hilltop Park and follow them as their opening day venue shifted to the Polo Grounds, the gigantic new Yankee Stadium, Shea Stadium, back to the renovated Yankee Stadium, and finally in the new Yankee Stadium. We also see them open in historic Fenway Park, fondly remembered Shibe Park and Griffith Stadium, and all around the expanded leagues after 1961. We see the first game in which Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio played against each other, the only game in which Williams shared the diamond with Lou Gehrig. We ponder the fact that, with that Opening Day of 1939, the Yankees entered the era of broadcast baseball with no expectation that the tail would eventually be wagging the dog. We see the teams of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, and Derek Jeter gradually give way, each to the next. We watch the annual opening-day celebration modified and affected by wars, by economic depression and expansion, by the shift of populations West and to the suburbs, and by political protest. We see presidents and mayors, actors and singers, and of course, managers and owners and players. We see protesters at Opening Day, 1945, demanding that black men, so vital to the war effort in Europe and the Pacific, be allowed to play in the major leagues. Eleven years later, we see President Eisenhower, eating peanuts and staying for the whole game as he watched the integrated New York and Washington teams open the 1956 season.

The first of its kind for any sport in South Africa. A cricket love story of epic dimensions with details which will blow readers away. Cricket and Conquest goes back to the beginnings 221 years ago and fundamentally revises long-established foundational narratives of early South African cricket. It reaches beyond old whites-only mainstream histories to integrate at every stage and in every region the experiences of black and women cricketers. A purely British military game at first, cricket accompanied the process of colonial conquest every step of the way in the nineteenth century. This book and its companion volumes explains how racism came to be built into the very fabric of cricket's `culture' and `traditions', and how it was uncannily tied to the broader historical processes that shaped South Africa. The unique experiences of our different cricket communities are described in ways that have not been done before. The exhaustive research and inter-connections highlighted here makes this a completely new general history of South African cricket.

This is an exciting story that takes you through more than 150 games of the regular season and the World Series of the 1957 Milwaukee Braves. A day-by-day - sometimes inning-by-inning - chronicle of one of the all-time best baseball teams, the book begins with a history of the Braves franchise, then an overview of the near-miss of 1956, followed by a detailed journey through the '57 season and the World Celebration after a seven-game conquest in the World Series with the New York Yankees. It ends with an analysis of how close the '57 team came to being a part of a dynasty. All the key players are profiled along with the winning streaks, tough stretches, key transactions and costly injuries. Game highlights, player statistics, and box scores are included.

Between October 1961 and October 1962, the Yankees and the Mets shared the city for the first time, their front offices located on opposite sides of Fifth Avenue in midtown Manhattan, and their playing fields--Yankee Stadium and the Polo Grounds--situated on opposite sides of the Macombs Dam Bridge. This book tells the story of the first year of their life together as New York City rivals. The emerging rivalry between the New York Yankees and the New York Mets was about more than just games won or money earned. As personified by Mets manager Casey Stengel and Yankees right-fielder Roger Maris, it was also a struggle over the future of the game. Bill Morales holds a doctorate in history from Rutgers University and has lectured at the Baseball Hall of Fame Symposium in Cooperstown, New York. He has taught at Rutgers University, Nassau Community College, and is professor of history at Bergen Community College.

Rangers FC Cult Heroes is devoted to 20 players who, over the years, have won a special place in the hearts of the Ibrox faithful - not necessarily the greatest footballers, but a unique brotherhood of mavericks and stalwarts, local lads and big signings. The cast list alone is enough to stir up the memories and tug at the heartstrings of any Gers fan - McMinn, Laudrup and Baxter, Johnston, McPhail and McCoist - recalling how these charismatic personalities used to ignite passion on the terraces. Find out which Light Blue icon Pele wished had hailed from Rio instead of Fife. Who warned young players against becoming 'the most underpaid of all public entertainers'. And which hero refused to play for Scotland on the day of Princess Diana's funeral. Discover and delight in the magical qualities of these 20 mere mortals elevated to cult status by the blue half of Glasgow.

Norwich City Miscellany collects together all the vital information you never knew you needed to know about the Canaries. In these pages you will find irresistible anecdotes and the most mindblowing stats and facts. Heard the one about the first Brazilian-born player in English football? How about the stand built on the site of an ancient hunting camp, dating back to 11,500BC? Or the fashion designer who was worried about City getting his kit muddy? Do you know which 'England Manager' led City to the Mr Clutch Cup? Which winger was locked in the toilet by his team-mates for a four-hour away coach trip? Or how many days it took to build the new stadium on Carrow Road? All these stories and hundreds more appear in a brilliantly researched collection of trivia - essential for any Canaries fan who holds the riches of the club's history close to their heart.

The Albion Miscellany collects together all the vital information you never knew you needed to know about West Brom. In these pages you will find irresistible anecdotes and the most mindblowing stats and facts. Heard the one about the Albion star who thought there was a different, hotter sun on a pre-season trip to Portugal? How about the winger who bought a shed off a fan during a series of corners? Or the GBP2 million acquisition who turned out to be Cyrille Regis's nephew? Do you know who gave rise to the club's 'Baggies' nickname? Why Albion officials painted a match ball with gold and stuck a stuffed thrush on top? Or which club record Lateef Elford-Alliyu holds? All these stories and hundreds more appear in a brilliantly researched collection of trivia - essential for any Baggies fan who holds the riches of the club's history close to their heart.

Philosophy and Football: The PFFC Story is the extraordinary account of how a team of friends kicking a ball about in Regent's Park was transformed by European travel in the shadow of Brexit. Playing in shirts adorned with the words of Camus, Shankly and Cantona among others, Philosophy Football FC created its own philosophy in opposition to modern football. Its occasional players travelled from London to take part in tournaments in unique venues such as a national football stadium in Rome, a Spanish bullring in Bilbao and Taksim Square in Istanbul. Practising its 'slow foot' philosophy, it exported the idea of a revolutionary and more complex three-sided football. Inspired by European culture, PFFC was transformed from a team that regularly lost heavily to winning three consecutive London league championships. Over 25 years PFFC attracted players from 24 countries and six continents. Its story illustrates the power of football to reach people from all walks of life: to travel, play, eat, drink, win and lose together.

Got, Not Got: The Lost World of Liverpool is an Aladdin's cave of memories and memorabilia, guaranteed to whisk you back to Anfield's fondly remembered 'Golden Age' of mud and magic - as well as a Reds-mad childhood of miniature tabletop games and imaginary, comic-fuelled worlds. The book recalls a more innocent era of football, lingering longingly over relics from the good old days - Reds stickers and petrol freebies, league ladders, big-match programmes and much more - revisiting lost football culture, treasures and pleasures that are 100 per cent Liverpool. If you're a lifelong Liverpool fan, one of the army of obsessive soccer kids at any time from when Shanks won his first '60s silverware to the early days of the Premier League, then this is the book to recall the mavericks - Keegan, Dalglish and St John, Rush, Barnes and Souness - and the marvels of the Lost World of Football.

Widely regarded as the greatest footballer of all time, seven-time Ballon d'Or and six-time Golden Shoe winner, Lionel Messi, enjoyed a record-breaking 17-year career at FC Barcelona during which time he scored more goals, played more games, won more titles and provided more assists than any other player in the Catalan club's history. Adored by Barca fans, Messi reigned supreme until August 2021, when he made a tearful farewell to a stunned global audience. Messi: The King of Camp Nou is the definitive story of Lionel Messi's entire Barca career, written by Jason Pettigrove, a football journalist who worked for FC Barcelona during Messi's final years in Catalonia. Charting Messi's rise as a hopeful 13-year-old Argentinian boy from Rosario to becoming the best footballer in the world, Pettigrove's comprehensively researched book features exclusive interviews with key individuals in Messi's story - team-mates, opponents, managers, agents and fellow journalists - including: Joan Laporta, Lionel Scaloni, Victor Font, Sir Kenny Dalglish, Jamie Carragher, Mike Phelan, Josep Maria Minguella, Horacio Gaggioli, Tony Watt, Santi Padro and Jorge Barraza. From being signed by Barca on a napkin to Champions League glory and becoming FC Barcelona captain, Messi: The King of Camp Nou reveals the inside story of Leo's remarkable reign at Barca including breaking Pele's incredible record for most goals scored at one club, how the longed for Copa America title was won and how he, season-on-season, mesmerised the football world.

In recent decades, the NFL has simultaneously become an athletic, financial, and cultural powerhouse-and a League that can't seem to go more than a few weeks without a scandal. Whether it's about domestic violence, performance-enhancing drugs, racism, or head trauma, the NFL always seems to be in some kind of trouble. Yet no matter the drama, the TV networks keep showing games, the revenue keeps rising, and the viewers keep tuning in. How can a sports league-or any organization-operate this way? Why do the negative stories keep happening, and why don't they ever seem to affect the bottom line? In this wide-ranging book, Mike Florio takes readers from the boardroom to the locker room, from draft day to the Super Bowl, answering these questions and more, and showing what really goes on in the sport that America can't seem to quit. Known for his constant stream of new information and incisive commentary, Florio delivers again in this book. With new insights and reporting on scandals past and present, this book will be the talk of the League-whether the League likes it or not.

While the NFL Super Bowl has become a worldwide cultural event, the annual league championship games had a long history even before the first Super Bowl in January, 1967. From the first American Football League's attempt to settle the league title on the gridiron in 1926 to the separate NFL and AFL championships of the 1965 season, this history offers a narrative of each game, including line-ups, box scores, and team statistics.

Half-and-half scarves? VARs? England winning penalty shoot-outs?

Modern football can be baffling. But if you're contemplating throwing it all in for the simpler pleasures of quantum mechanics, don't despair just yet: help is at hand.

In Goalless Draws, David Squires unpicks the modern game with an unmissable selection of his Guardian football cartoons from 2014 to the 2018 World Cup. From the ever-dizzying managerial roundabout to the absurdities of the transfer window, and from the annual tradition of poppygate to the 'stable genius' of José Mourinho, the result is a riotous reminder of all the pitfalls of the modern game, as well as everything that keeps us coming back for more.

In May 1990 the unthinkable happened and Sheffield Wednesday were relegated to the second division of English football for the first time in six seasons. Ron Atkinson's talented squad - blessed with the likes of David Hirst, Carlton Palmer, Roland Nilsson and John Sheridan - could go one of two ways; stick together or fall apart. A year later they were back in the big time and holders of the League Cup having beaten Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United at Wembley. The collection of huge characters formed one of the most iconic sides in the club's rich history. For the very first time, '91 tells the inside story of that incredible season from those that were there; from training ground crisis talks to terrific goals, laughs, tears and beers on the open-top bus.

How much do you really know about Manchester City? Put your Blues 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 Man City greats - from Meredith and Trautmann to Summerbee and Bell, from Mercer to Mancini and on to the Guardiola glory years - providing hours of highly dippable fun and entertainment. Mike Summerbee once owned a fashion boutique with which Manchester United star? Can you name City's first Ukrainian-born player? Which former City striker voiced an ugly sister in Spanish versions of the Shrek movies? Whose '23' City squad number was retired following his death on international duty? Which goalkeeper broke a finger in a game against Bury, played on at centre-forward and scored? Trivquiz Manchester City holds the answers to all these questions and hundreds more.