For Leeds United fans of a certain age, the 80s are the Dark Ages, the Wilderness Years between the collapse of the team that Don Revie built and the Rebirth brought to Elland Road by Howard Wilkinson in the 90s when Leeds United were for a time once again the best team in the country. That was before Wilkinson sold Eric Cantona to the hated Manchester United and then lost his way and his job. Success came too early and quickly for Wilkinson’s own good and when the Caspian Group bought out the club in 1996 they had eyes only for George Graham and gave him the chance to redeem himself from his ‘bung’ controversy. When George Graham high-tailed it off back to London, David O’Leary succeeded him and built a brand new and very exciting new team around his ‘Babies’. The 80s were grim and grey days when Margaret Thatcher held sway and Leeds imploded before Wilkinson came over the hill like a dour knight in shining armour to lead the club back to the Promised Land and a completely unexpected league championship triumph in 1992. And oh how we partied when Wilko delivered the holy grail. This is the tale of how Don Revie’s Paradise was lost, how Leeds collapsed into the Second Division, almost made it the FA Cup final and promotion in 1987 before Billy Bremner was sacked and chairman Leslie Silver recruited Howard Wilkinson from Sheffield Wednesday to develop a new legacy. These are the years when the First Division gave way to the Premiership, when money and television changed everything and football became a business rather than the People’s Game. This book covers the period from 1980 to 2000 when Leeds crashed and burned and rose from the ashes to become the last English First Division champions.

Hull City have been in existence 110 years, and while the last ten have seen the club rise from the bottom of League Two to reach the Premier League, there is a rich and varied history to look back on. Highlights such as an FA Cup semi-final, the magnificent Raich Carter era and the Wagstaff and Chilton years have been punctuated by lows such as the club missing out on promotion to the old First Division on goal difference, being the first club to go into administration and having to suffer the ignominy of twice being locked out of their own ground. Extensively researched, including interviews with ex-players and supporters, David Goodman has attempted to gain the inside story on the extraordinary journey from the club's humble beginnings through to their move to the KC Stadium. This book is essential reading for all supporters of the Tigers.

In November 1914, Hearts led the Scottish First Division. In the middle of a debate about the morality of continuing professional football during the First World War and a campaign to shame footballers into joining up, eleven Hearts players enlisted in Sir George McCrae's battalion on 25 November. Hearts supporters and players and supporters from myriad other clubs flocked to join as well. Officially known as 16th Royal Scots, this unit was the first to be described as a footballers' battalion. On 1 July 1916, 15th and 16th Royal Scots attacked near the village of Contalmaison in the Somme Valley. Three Hearts players would die that day; seven would be killed in total during the war, and many more would be wounded. In this book, Tom Purdie tells the story of the Hearts players and supporters who served their country during the Great War and those who were left behind in Edinburgh who, with unstinting effort and sacrifice, helped to bring the club through that extremely trying time in its proud history.

Olympic rowers Gary and Paul O'Donovan may be the face of Irish rowing and Skibbereen Rowing Club, and have enormously increased the popularity of rowing in Ireland, but they're just one piece of a much larger jigsaw. Without their club and the people behind the scenes, they wouldn't be Olympic silver medalists, 2018 world champions, former European champions and, in Paul's case, a three-time world champion. Almost one hundred Skibbereen Rowing Club athletes have represented Ireland at various regattas over the years; a staggering figure when viewed in light of the size of the club. Founded in 1970, it is now the undisputed most successful rowing club in the country, producing five Olympic rowers since 2000 and four world champions between 2016 and 2018. It is the characters involved in the club, the coaches, members and the athletes themselves, who come together to make Skibbereen Rowing Club what it is. Something in the Water reveals what goes on behind the scenes to create an environment that allows locals to excel on the national and international stages. The story is told through the people and families involved, showing how relatable they are to people around the country.

As one of the oldest league clubs in the Football League, Sheffield Wednesday can boast a rich and fascinating history, from their formation back in 1867 to present day. The Owls have now played over 4,600 games in league soccer and hundreds more in cup competitions. Known the world over, thanks in part to their unique name, the club continues to attract a loyal and sizeable following to their Hillsborough ground, with hopes of regaining their long-since-lost Premier League place still alive. The City of Sheffield is the birthplace of association football, and The Wednesday helped progress the game in the North of England in those early days, becoming the top club in Sheffield and a respected opponent countrywide. After being elected into the Football League in 1892 they have lifted the league title on four occasions, the FA Cup three times, the League Cup once and have represented England in European football on three separate occasions. A plethora of international players have also appeared for the club - the likes of John SherIdan, Ron Springett & Des Walker - while the club remains a vital member of its local community. In Sheffield Wednesday: A Pictorial History, Jason Dickinson, the club's official club historian, takes readers on an illustrated tour of The Wednesday's history.

This is the ultimate quiz book on Sheffield Wednesday Football Club. An ideal gift for Owls fans of all ages, this is your chance to interact with the club's long and eventful history, from its formation and early successes to more recent glory and cult heroes. Informative and fun, it is the perfect companion for those long match-day trips up, down and across the country or for simply testing you and your mates' knowledge of our illustrious club. From the obscure to the frivolous, the book is packed with 30 themed rounds of questions designed to entertain and amuse all Owls supporters. So get your Wednesday thinking caps on - it's quiz time!

Wolverhampton Wanderers FC was founded in 1877 as St Luke's Football Club, and became one of the founding members of the Football League. The Origins of Wolverhampton Wanderers tells the story of the formative years of Wolverhampton Wanderers FC, with particular reference to the lives and actions of the principal founders of the club: John Brant Brodie, John Baynton, and Jack Addenbrooke. This is the story of quite ordinary young men from the backstreets of Wolverhampton who created something truly extraordinary, famous and enduring - the Wolves! The early years were dramatic and often turbulent, and the fledgling club nearly foundered on more than one occasion, but thanks to the efforts of the founders and supporters, it came through and survived. The Origins of Wolverhampton Wanderers deals with events and people well outside living memory, showing an appreciation of their contribution to the history and development of this famous old club, and it does much to add to our knowledge of the history of Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Completely revised and updated featuring two brand new chapters, in preparation for the 2019 Ashes series From the William Hill Award-Winning Author of A Lot of Hard Yakka comes Cricket's Greatest Rivalry: A History of the Ashes in 12 Matches by Simon Hughes. A fast-paced, distinctive history of the iconic, 137-year-old cricketing rivalry between England and Australia published in the year of back-to-back Ashes contests. No other sport has a fixture like the Ashes. From the early 1880s the rivalry between these two great sporting nations has captured the public imagination and made sporting legends of its stars. Commentator, analyst and award-winning cricket historian Simon Hughes tells the story of the 12 seminal series that have become the stuff of sporting folklore. Cricket's Greatest Rivalry places you right at the heart of the action of each pivotal match, explaining the social context of the time, the atmosphere of the crowd and the background and temperaments of the players that battled in both baggy green and blue caps. The book also includes complete statistics and records of all the Ashes fixtures and results and much more!

Since 1888, Rangers and Celtic football clubs have been locked into an intense and frequently explosive rivalry: Rangers the product of West Scotland's Protestant establishment, Celtic the team founded to raise money for the Catholic underclass of Glasgow. On 2 January 2010 the two teams met in the Old Firm's New Year Derby, a fixture that had been banned for ten years because of the trouble it brought with it. Richard Wilson puts that game at the centre of a book which delves into the history and widens out to the cultural resonance of the fixture within Scotland. It is a potent mix of close-up observation and big-picture thinking, with insight, understanding and depth.

Among many legendary episodes from the life and career of men's basketball coach Dean Smith, few loom as large as his recruitment of Charlie Scott, the first African American scholarship athlete at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Drawn together by college basketball in a time of momentous change, Smith and Scott helped transform a university, a community, and the racial landscape of sports in the South. But there is much more to this story than is commonly told. In Game Changers, Art Chansky reveals an intense saga of race, college sport, and small-town politics. At the center were two young men, Scott and Smith, both destined for greatness but struggling through challenges on and off the court, among them the storms of civil rights protest and the painfully slow integration of a Chapel Hill far less progressive than its reputation today might suggest. Drawing on extensive personal interviews and a variety of other sources, Chansky takes readers beyond the basketball court to highlight the community that supported Smith and Scott during these demanding years, from assistant basketball coach John Lotz to influential pastor the Reverend Robert Seymour to pioneering African American mayor Howard Lee. Dispelling many myths that surround this period, Chansky nevertheless offers an ultimately triumphant portrait of a student-athlete and coach who ensured the University of North Carolina would never be the same.

Forfar Athletic have had some dreadful times, but they have had their share of success as well. Here the author has found something memorable that has happened on every single day in the year - a chronicle by a man who first watched the Loons in 1954 and whose father and grandfather watched them way before. This is a football book, but it is more than that - it is a glimpse of the social history of the town, the area and the nation. Outstanding players like Davie McLean, Alec Troup and Craig Brewster are mentioned, the red letter days when Forfar took on Rangers, Celtic and Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup, and the day when they astonished the world by beating Hearts at Tynecastle. But credit is given to the less spectacular of days as well, like defeats at Cowdenbeath, Stenhousemuir and Dumbarton in the pouring rain. Such days are also part of supporting a small team like Forfar.

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 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER* This is the remarkable story of a local lad who grew up in the shadow of Upton Park and became ‘Mr West Ham’: a one-club man who lived the dream. A modern footballing legend, Mark Noble is the embodiment of what it means to be a Hammer, pouring his heart and soul into the club he supported as a boy. Born and raised in Canning Town, Mark joined the West Ham youth squad in 2000 and made his senior-team debut aged just 17. Now, after over 20 years, with a wealth of memories and more than 500 appearances for his boyhood club under his belt, Mark finally looks back at his remarkable career, reflecting on his journey from boot boy to club captain, bossing the midfield, scoring pressure penalties and becoming an inspirational figurehead on and off the pitch. This is the story of a brilliant footballer, a genuine ambassador and a local legend. This is the unforgettable autobiography of Mark Noble.