"Featuring every player in Blues' squad, along with a review of the season, a spotlight on all-time Blues greats, celebrity Bluenoses, Blues Women, 'Blues News' and St. Andrew's Stadium, the Birmingham City 2023 annual is essential reading for all Blues fans. Find out about Blues' unique place in European history and why 'Keep Right On' is the club anthem. Looking ahead, we review the biggest games coming up in the second half of the season. All this plus quizzes and puzzles to test yourself on - and the BCFC annual must be your number one choice!"

"The Cherries are looking to have another top Championship season... And entertain the best fans in the country with some great games and goals along the way! As well as a number of features on the history of our great club and the players who have featured over the years, the 2023 annual also includes fun facts, quizzes, puzzles and exclusive club features. In our brand-new annual we've packed everything you'll need to know about AFC Bournemouth between two covers, so get reading now!"

The Official Hearts Annual 2023 offers a glimpse into another exciting season with Hearts - for players and supporters! As well as a number of features on the history of our great club and the players who have pulled on the famous maroon jersey, there are fun facts, quizzes, puzzles and exclusive club features. From iconic former managers to stylish kits of the past, the Heart of Midlothian 2023 Annual is full of great content for everyone of a maroon persuasion! The perfect present for fans of all ages!

'Extraordinary . . . great fun' Barry Egan, Irish Sunday Independent 'A wonderful story . . . vivid and comprehensive.' Stephen Jones, Sunday Times ''Throughout it all though there is a feeling of warmth for the sport and for others. Above all there is a sense of achievement . . . Best was never one of the glamour boys, but he deserves star billing.' Daily Telegraph Rory Best is widely-regarded as one of Ireland's greatest ever captains. Entrusted by Joe Schmidt to lead the side that looked on the wane following the 2015 World Cup, Best's inspirational leadership skills and abrasive qualities proved to be the foundation stones for the most successful period in Ireland's history. His first year in charge saw Ireland complete a hat-trick of victories against the southern hemisphere 'Big Three', including leading his side to a first ever victory over world champions New Zealand in Chicago, a feat that etched Best's place in Irish sporting folklore and ended the All Blacks' record-winning streak of 18 Test victories. Ireland's annus mirabilis under Best's captaincy would come in 2018 however, when he led the side to only their third Grand Slam title, culminating with a famous victory over England at Twickenham, and a record-breaking run of 12 successive Test victories. When he stepped down as Ireland captain at the age of 37 following the World Cup in Japan, his fourth tournament, history will no doubt also judge Best to be one of their greatest forwards. A hugely-popular figure across the game, Best finished his career as Ireland's most capped forward, behind only Brian O'Driscoll and Ronan O'Gara in the all-time records, and also made over 200 appearances for his province Ulster.

A lot happened in baseball in 1980. After being stabbed with a penknife in Mexico during spring training, the Indians' "Super Joe" Charboneau captured Cleveland's heart-and Rookie of the Year. Nolan Ryan became baseball's first Million Dollar Man, and Billy Ball revived Oakland's fading franchise. Bad guys Bill "Mad Dog" Madlock and Dave "Kong" Kingman terrorized fellow players, umpires and sportswriters. The Phillies and Expos battled up to the season's final weekend while the Dodgers and Astros needed a one-game playoff to decide their division. In the American League, Kansas City's George Brett posted the highest single-season batting average since 1941 and Reggie Jackson was twice confronted by gun-waving youths. In October, Brett led the Royals past the Yankees and into the Series, where he battled Mike Schmidt's Phillies in the Fall Classic. This book covers it all-the bean balls, bench-clearing brawls, the return of Darth Vader and the launch of CNN.

AFC Bournemouth: The Fall and Rise is the ultimate rags-to-riches football story, exploring how a small lower-league club on the south coast fought back against all the odds to reach the riches of the English Premier League. With fascinating insights from renowned manager Eddie Howe and all the key players, the book reflects on the club's day of destiny against Bolton Wanderers in April 2015, when Premier League promotion was secured just six years after the club almost went out of existence. Former captain Tommy Elphick candidly reveals how Howe plotted the Cherries' route out of the Championship, while club legend Steve Fletcher tells the emotionally charged story of his return - and the goal in 2009 that halted the club's slide into non-league. Howe, meanwhile, provides amazing detail into how he took a club on the brink to the top of the beautiful game.

***** THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER AND BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK "Felix White's beautifully, elegantly and passionately written book reminds me why I love cricket so much. And reading, come to that." - Stephen Fry "The love of cricket is both communal and individual. Felix has a wonderful knack of evoking both in a book full of life, joy and resilience." - Gideon Haigh "Life beyond sport, love after loss, a soulful portrait of how play stops the rain." - Cariad Lloyd "This is an extraordinary first book ... funny, tragic, candid and heartfelt; it would be remarkable if he ever wrote a better one." - Wisden Almanack 2022 Felix White, for reasons often beyond him, has always been deeply in love with cricket. His passion for the game is at the fore on the BBC 's number one cricket podcast and 5Live show, Tailenders, which he co-presents with Greg James and Jimmy Anderson. It's Always Summer Somewhere is his funny, heartbreaking and endlessly engaging love letter to the game. Felix takes us through his life growing up in South West London and describes how his story is forever punctuated and given meaning by cricket. Through his own exploits as a slow left arm spinner of 'lovely loopy stuff', to the tragic illness of his mother, life with The Maccabees and his cricket redemption, Felix touches on both the comedic and the tragic in equal measure. Throughout, there's the ever-present roller coaster of following the England cricket team. The exploits of Tufnell (another bowler of 'lovely loopy stuff'), Atherton, Hussain et al, are given extra import through the eyes of a cricket-obsessed youth. Felix meets them at each signposted moment to find out what was really behind those moments that gave cricket fans everywhere sporting memories that would last forever, sending the book into an exploration of grief, transgenerational displacement and how the people we've known and things we've loved culminate and take expression in our lives. It's Always Summer Somewhere is an incredibly honest detail of a life lived with cricket. It offers a sense of genuine empathy and understanding not just with cricket fans, but sports and music fans across the world, in articulating our reasons for pouring so much meaning into something that we simply cannot control. Culminating in the heart-stopping World Cup Final in 2019, the book finally answers that question fans have so often asked... what is it about this game?

The 2022 Official Heart of Midlothian Annual is a must-have for Jambo soccer fans of all ages! Look back at the most memorable games of the 2018/19 season, as well as a wide range of fun facts, stats, player profiles, features, posters and quizzes. The 2022 Annual offers the complete lowdown on another eventful year at Tynecastle!

The year 2022 marks the 50th anniversary of the greatest victory in the history of Rangers Football Club when, on 24 May 1972, Rangers won the European Cup Winners' Cup in dramatic style in Barcelona. That evening in Spain will forever live in the hearts of Rangers fans as their greatest day. Now, in conversation with a roll call of the great and good from that glorious day, Tom Miller looks back on the campaign that culminated in Rangers winning their only major European trophy. Willie Johnston recalls the revolutionary tactics that served them well on their travels, starting against Rennes in France. John Greig revisits the bizarre events of the match in Lisbon when Rangers thought they had been eliminated by Sporting. Alex MacDonald claims he still has the bruises from his exertions in the quarter-final against Torino, and Derek Parlane tells of his shock at being called into the starting line-up against Bayern Munich just before his 19th birthday. And for the final itself, Peter McCloy - who played every competitive game for Rangers in that historic season - evokes that special chemistry which delivered the winning formula against Russian giants FC Dynamo Moscow. For the first time these Rangers legends share their memories together, making Barcelona an essential read on a golden era for Rangers Football Club.

Liverpool FC Cult Heroes is devoted to 20 players who, over the years, have won a special place in the hearts of the Anfield 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 memories and tug at the heartstrings of any Reds fan - Elisha Scott, Billy Liddell and Joey Jones, Johnston, Carragher and Suarez - recalling how these charismatic personalities ignited passion on the terraces. Find out which Red icon was left at a motorway service-station as a prank. Which striker was involved in a punch-up with Italian waiters after a European Cup semi in Milan. And which skipper was carried through Lime Street station on the shoulders of fans. Discover and delight in the magical qualities of these 20 mere mortals elevated to cult status by the Red half of Liverpool.

Stanley Park Story: Life, Love and the Merseyside Derby charts the recent history of the longest continuous running derby game in English football. Liverpool and Everton have now contested the fixture every season since 1962. Using a mixture of fact, fiction and personal experience, Jeff Goulding has crafted a compelling tale spanning three generations of two families, Red and Blue. Their lives become intricately woven together through 50 years of this unique sporting rivalry. The story explores the changing fortunes of each team and the relationship between the two sets of supporters, which evolves over the years. The life and times of Jimmy, a Blue, and Tommy, a Red, form the basis of the drama which unfolds against a backdrop of thrilling sporting encounters, social and political upheaval and catastrophe. Ultimately, the story is one of a love so strong it reaches across the park to forge a timeless bond between the two families.

This quiz book covers the fascinating journey of Hibernian Football Club throughout the past 142 years. Offcial club historian Tom Wright has used his comprehensive knowledge of the sport and the team to devise over 600 questions spanning from the early days of the club to the present. This is the perfect book for fans of all ages to learn more about the history of one of Scotland's greatest football teams.

'A heart-warming, joyous and assured debut novel about friendship that put me in mind of Kay Mellor at her funnies' RICHARD HERRING 'Takes you inside the minds of a brilliant group of characters at very different stages of life. A gripping, witty, very human read' MARK WATSON Sometimes life throws you a curveball . . . 58-year-old Jackie Douglas thinks she has everything she wants - kids, grandchildren, and a comfortable retirement with her husband, Steve. Until one afternoon she comes home to find Steve packing a bag and her comfortable life suddenly moves out of bounds. Her best friend Ros, a law firm boss with an appetite for life, laughter and (just the right amount of) wine, immediately leaps in to help Jackie back to her feet but soon finds herself feeling second best to Jackie's other priorities. Their barmaid/friend/wine protege Jay is back home with her mum at nearly 30. Brilliant. After losing her job in London she's returned, working in the pub job she thought she'd left behind at 18. In tipsy search of something - anything - new, they wind up the leaders of a ramshackle, barely functional netball team: The Skids. Facing confusing exes, divorce, betrayals, financial woes and more, Jackie, Ros and Jay are about to discover that finding your team might just be the key to turning things around... 'Refreshing, hilarious and really uplifting - I fell in love with Jackie, Ros and the rest of the squad - and everyone else will too' HELLY ACTON, author of The Shelf 'The book we need at the moment - a joyous celebration of female friendship and midlife. And as a netball player, I really did enjoy the attention to comic detail . . . Hilarious' CAROLINE CORCORAN, author of Five Days Missing 'Hugely uplifting, enjoyable fun, I fell in love with the Skids!' DAISY BUCHANAN, author of Careering

Award-winning cricket writer Mark Peel charts the development of the England captaincy - from the autocratic captains of the post-war years to the dual captaincy of the present, where power is shared between captain and coach. Peel examines the huge demands the England captaincy imposes on the occupant and why few leave office with their reputation enhanced. You'll learn about the long-lasting legacy of the Hutton captaincy of the mid-1950s, the downfall of mavericks such as Brian Close, Tony Greig and Mike Gatting, the success of the Illingworth and Brearley eras and the chaos of the 1980s, when captains came and went with regular abandon, and finally the glory years of Michael Vaughan and Andrew Strauss. The Hollow Crown contains individual portraits of the 43 England captains, exploring their background, philosophy, strengths, weaknesses and the legacy they left, with special attention given to the likes of Hutton, May, Illingworth, Brearley, Atherton, Hussain, Vaughan and Strauss.

Club photographer Shane Healey's detailed and colourful photographic account of the campaign which saw Forest Green Rovers claim their place in the Football League for the first time brings to life a stunning landmark season in the 128-year history of the Little Club on the Hill. With more than 200 images capturing match action and activity behind the scenes, We Are FGR is the perfect recount of an epic season at The New Lawn.

Role of a Lifetime is the story of the crucial role Larry Farmer played on teams that won three NCAA titles for UCLA under Coach John Wooden. Farmer’s record at UCLA was 89–1, the greatest winning percentage in NCAA history. (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was 88–2.) Role of a Lifetime also details how Farmer, a self-taught player from the playgrounds of Denver, managed to secure a full scholarship, make the varsity team as a sophomore, and ultimately become the head basketball coach at UCLA at the age of 30—the first black head coach for any sport at UCLA. The book chronicles the reactions of black leaders to his role as the first black head coach, as well as the inside politics that led him to resign after three years as coach, just days after accepting a two-year extension. Farmer also shares new insights about UCLA athletic booster Sam Gilbert and his role in the team’s NCAA probation. Farmer’s insider perspective during UCLA basketball’s most fabled period, combined with his natural ability to relate entertaining and informative anecdotes about legendary figures such as John Wooden, Bill Walton, Jamaal Wilkes, Reggie Miller, and many other famous players and coaches from throughout the world of college basketball, makes Role of a Lifetime a must-have for all Bruin fans and fans of basketball everywhere!

"In this Annual, we take you closer to the team you love. There is a detailed look back at both Gareth Southgate's men's season and also the women's - including analysis of the UEFA Women's Euro 2022. We learn more about both team members through squad profiles and articles on captains Harry Kane and Steph Houghton. Elsewhere there are a variety of special features, insider looks and fun facts, as well as games and puzzles for everyone to enjoy. The Official England Annual 2023 is a must-read for England fans! COME ON ENGLAND!"

More than just an overview of highlights of a young Steve Yzerman or a remembrance of the team's epic battles with the Colorado Avalanche in the 1990s, this complete guide to the Detroit Red Wings is a collection of every essential piece of Red Wings knowledge and trivia, as well as must-do activities, and ranks them all, providing an entertaining and easy-to-follow checklist. From knowing why throwing an octopus onto the ice is a good thing, naming every player who has seen his number retired, or knowing the best place to grab a bite in Detroit before the game, "100 Things Red Wings Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die" is the ultimate resource for true fans of the Detroit Red Wings.

The 2018-2019 Texas Tech men's basketball team began the season unranked and ended it playing on Monday night for the National Championship. Raider Power gives every fan a fully immersive experience with the story of a group of stone-faced dreamers and their historic journey from unranked to Big 12 Champions to the Final Four. Raider Power offers a showcase of the Red Raiders' individual players, spotlighting and providing insider information on this unexpected group of winners, all while focusing on the bond that transformed a group of underdogs into a world-class team with the best defense in the country. Follow the team from the earliest parts of the season all the way to the Championship game on Monday night. Relive every highlight, locker room celebration, and trophy ceremony. Learn the ins and outs of head coach Chris Beard's vision for the team. The ultimate effect of the Red Raiders' amazing run was to establish a culture of excellence and community: this was a group of guys who cared for each other personally, in addition to complementing each other on the court. Raider Power is the official insider companion to an incredible season-it is a must-read for all Red Raiders.

From near-extinction to cup-final triumph, this is the story of the team which is remembered by Hibs fans as 'the team that would not die'. From Oblivion to Hampden is the tale of one of the most remarkable cup runs in Scottish football history, as Hibernian Football Club, having survived a hostile takeover by city rivals Hearts in 1990, a dreadful season in 1990/91 and summer spent in administration in 1991, bounced back from the brink of death to fight their way to Hampden glory a few months later. It was a courageous and memorable cup run that nobody, not even Hibs' most optimistic fan, could have envisaged a few months prior to the final. The story begins with the club's attempt to emulate the glory days of previous decades via an ill-fated experiment on the stock exchange in the late 1980s and culminates in the unexpected triumph which followed. With a foreword by Hibs statistician Bobby Sinnet and exclusive interviews with cup heroes Keith Wright, Tommy McIntyre and Mickey Weir, as well as an interview with Sir Tom Farmer and input from current board members, this book examines a crucial period in history at Easter Road.

Got, Not Got: The Lost World of Southampton is an Aladdin's cave of memories and memorabilia, guaranteed to whisk you back to The Dell's fondly remembered 'Golden Age' of mud and magic - as well as a Saints-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 - Saints stickers and petrol freebies, league ladders, big-match programmes and much more - revisiting lost football culture, treasures and pleasures that are 100 per cent Southampton. If you were a Junior Saint, one of the army of obsessive soccer kids at any time from the Ted Bates era to the early days of the Premier League, then this is the book to recall the mavericks - Channon, Keegan and Stokes; Paine, Armstrong and Le Tissier - and the marvels of the lost world of football.

AFC Bournemouth Miscellany collects together all the vital information you never knew you needed to know about the Cherries. In these pages you will find irresistible anecdotes and the most mindblowing stats and facts. Heard the one about the 42-year-old former manager who was coaxed out of retirement to play on the left wing? How about James Hayter's fastest ever hat-trick in Football League history? Or the time 60,000 supporters lined the seafront to congratulate the champions on their Premier League promotion? Do you know which Cherries goalie stood 6ft 9in tall? Why 60s inside-forward Alan Hope suddenly became Alan O'Neill? Or which Cherries star was the first to top the scoring charts in three different divisions? All these stories and hundreds more appear in a brilliantly researched collection of trivia - essential for any Bournemouth fan who holds the riches of the club's history close to their heart.

In the past 100 years Old Trafford has hosted World Cup and European Championship matches, FA Cup Finals and a Champions League Final and has witnessed countless United wins, draws and defeats. Yet it endures, above all, as a monument to the vision of the club's founder and first patron John Henry Davies. Recognising football's exponential growth in the 1900s and the need to safely house vast numbers of supporters, Davies recognised that the champions of England and 1909 FA Cup winners needed a more spacious home than tatty old Bank Street, in Clayton, a ground with few facilities and a capacity of less than 25,000. A brewer by trade, the chairman found a spare plot of land in Old Trafford and, bolstered by the club's success, appointed famed football stand architect Archibald Leitch to construct a 100,000 capacity stadium on the site. Built in 1909 and officially opened in February 1910 for the league visit of Liverpool, Old Trafford was instantly acclaimed by one reporter as "the most handsomest [sic], the most spacious and the most remarkable arena I have ever seen. As a football ground it is unrivalled in the world, it is an honour to Manchester and the home of a team who can do wonders when they are so disposed." Unfortunately the stadium arrived at just the wrong time for the club as United were about to begin a 37 year trophy-free run, the longest in the club's history. Consequently, United's average attendance before the war rarely topped the 30,000 mark, in a ground with a capacity of over 70,000. The luckless stadium suffered further blows on the nights of the 8th and 11th March 1941 when it was bombed during The Blitz. And so for four seasons after the war United were forced to play their 'home' fixtures at Maine Road. Now in its second 'life' Old Trafford was no longer alone as a large capacity stadium, yet United's resurgence under Matt Busby filled it more often than not. The arrival of floodlights and European football heralded a new chapter: the stadium is widely regarded as at its best on such occasions and from the first game against the immortals of Real Madrid in 1957 the ground hosted continental opposition and became renowned across Europe. In the sixties the ground had a new cantilever stand added to the west in preparation for the 1966 World Cup Finals and, later, more seats were added at the Scoreboard End and behind the Stretford End. However these improvements were as nothing compared to the dramatic changes brought about in the wake of the Taylor Report. The birth of the Premier League and United's domestic dominance helped transform the ground - first into an all-seater stadium, then steady season-by-season growth saw it swell to hold over 75,000. For a period during the protracted construction of Wembley, the ground even became the national stadium hosting twelve England matches. In 'Old Trafford' Iain McCartney updates his original 1996 book. Featuring the original site plans, never-seen-before pictures of the ground's construction, development and, of course, the great matches hosted there. Almost alone now among the grounds built during the first football boom in the early 20th century, Old Trafford has become an essential part of the English football landscape to the extent that it is inconceivable that any future World Cup bid would not feature it prominently. A century on, it is still 'an honour to Manchester', and the north's prime football arena.