Between 2008 and 2012, everything changed for Celtic and the supporters. Everything changed for the Author as well. The Internet Bampots were on the rise, going after songs, Referees and an old enemy... Read how Referees thought about Celtic straight from the mouth of a Grade 1 Ref and marvel at how the Internet Bampots refused to take it any more. There are also stories of seedy trips to Atlantic City, mixing with the Mafia and breakfast with The Latin Kings. Well, it is a Paul Larkin book after all...

Fowler: My Autobiography is a personal and honest account of a phenomenal life in football by goal-poacher Robbie Fowler. Pronounced as the greatest goal scoring talent since Jimmy Greaves, seventeen-year old Robbie Fowler was immediately catapulted to fame and fortune. The thin, baby-faced Toxteth lad, who had trampled the same streets as the rioters, was now a millionaire, an idol and inspiration to every kid who kicked a football. Yet his incredible potential was never quite realized. Injuries and persistent rumours of drug abuse and depression meant that though Fowler remains one of the most celebrated of Premiership stars, he never became the world-beater so many predicted. This is a fascinating and unbelievably frank insight into the beautiful game, taking us behind the closed doors of professional football to expose what really happens at both club and international level. This is a truthful and candid account of an incredible career, examining not just the records and the glory, but the low points and the miseries of a footballing life that many people now believe somewhere, somehow went wrong. Brilliance and controversy have stalked Robbie Fowler from his five goal performance in only his second full game for Liverpool, to his snorting of the touchline in the Merseyside derby. In this utterly compelling autobiography, Robbie Fowler looks back on what was, what wasn't and what might have been. This is the story of one of the game's true icons, and the story of the modern game itself.

The Cleveland Indians of 1928 were a far cry from the championship team of 1920. They had begun the decade as the best team in all of baseball, but over the following eight years, their owner died, the great Tris Speaker retired in the face of a looming scandal, and the franchise was in terrible shape. Seeing opportunity in the upheaval, Cleveland real estate mogul Alva Bradley purchased the ball club in 1927, infused it with cash, and filled its roster with star players such as Bob Feller, Earl Averill, and Hal Trosky. He aligned himself with civic leaders to push for a gigantic new stadium that-along with the team that played in it-would be the talk of the baseball world. Then came the stock market crash of 1929. Municipal Stadium was built, despite the collapse of the industrial economy in Rust Belt cities, but the crowds did not follow. Always the shrewd businessman, Bradley had engineered a lease agreement with the city of Cleveland that included an out clause, and he exercised that option after the 1934 season, leaving the 80,000-seat, multimillion-dollar stadium without a tenant. In No Money, No Beer, No Pennants, Scott H. Longert gives us a lively history of the ups and downs of a legendary team and its iconic players as they persevered through internal unrest and the turmoil of the Great Depression, pursuing a pennant that didn't come until 1948. Illustrated with period photographs and filled with anecdotes of the great players, this book will delight fans of baseball and fans of Cleveland.

After the dog days of the last three decades, it seems as if the sleeping giant of White Hart Lane is stirring once more. With the management reigns of Christian Gross, Harry Redknapp and AVB now distant memories, the club is on the march once more under the leadership of Daniel Levy, looking forward to bringing back the glory days. With exciting young English talent, such as Eric Lamela, Deli Alli and Ryan Sessegnon, along with experienced internationals Christian Eriksen, Jan Vertonghen and Son Heung-min, and now under Jose Mourinho's unique management style, there is a belief that success is within their reach. Perhaps more than most, the club has had its share of ups and downs and more than its share of characters. This book is a collection of quotes from those who have passed through London N17 and some who are still there, soundbites that range from the inspired to the insane, from the profound to the surreal. From Danny Blanchflower, Jimmy Greaves, Paul Gascoigne and Sir Alan Sugar, to Daniel, Mauricio and Harry Kane, few clubs can boast so many people with so much to say for themselves. Tottenham Hotspur have a proud tradition and a very loyal support, and this book captures the flavour of both.

Manchester United have boasted some of the game's greatest ever players but who makes it into their all-time best XI? The competition is fierce as Old Trafford has played host to so many legendary talents, from the Busby Babes in 1950s to the 1968 European Cup winners and the Treble winners of 1999. Who plays in the heart of the defence, Jaap Stam, Steve Bruce, Nemanja Vidic or Rio Ferdinand? And how can you ever possibly separate Paul Scholes, Bryan Robson and Roy Keane? It gets even harder when having to choose between Ryan Giggs, David Beckham, Cristiano Ronaldo and George Best. Up front there are only two places, so who from Wayne Rooneyhange, Denis Law, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Eric Cantona will make it on to the team sheet? Experienced football writer Sam Pilger selects his side from this vast array of talent and aims to finally settle the debate of who should be included in United's greatest ever XI. A lifelong United fan, and the author of several books on United's history, Sam Pilger has interviewed and got to know nine of the eleven players in his side, and so provides his own unique and personal insights in to what makes each of them great. Reviews for Best XI Manchester United A superb book, rich in insight and anecdote, it reflects Sam Pilger's deep knowledge of his subject...Thoroughly entertaining and wise.' Paul Hayward, Chief Sports Writer of The Daily Telegraph An excellent book; poignant, fascinating, and packs an emotional punch...Pilger possesses an uncanny ability to evoke fandom's entire spectrum of sweet and sour shades and the endless nuances of Saturdays gone by. ESPN Soccernet.com **** (4/5 Stars) FourFourTwo

Home of the legendary Tar Heels basketball team, the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill enjoys a sporting brand known the world over. The alma mater of Michael Jordan and Mia Hamm, winner of forty national championships in six different sports, and a partner in what Sporting News calls "the best rivalry in sports," UNC-Chapel Hill is a colossus of college athletics. Now, it has become ground zero in the debate on how the $16 billion college sports industry operates--an industry that coexists uneasily within a university system professly dedicated to education and research. Written by notorious UNC athletics department whistleblower, Mary Willingham, and her close faculty ally, Jay Smith, Cheated: The UNC Scandal, the Education of Athletes, and the Future of Big-Time College Sports exposes the fraudulent inner workings that for decades have allowed barely literate basketball and football players to take fake courses, earning fake degrees from one of the nation's top universities while faculty and administrators looked the other way. In unobscured detail, Cheated recounts the academic fraud in UNC's athletic department, even as university leaders attempted to sweep the matter under the rug in order to keep the billion-dollar college sports revenue machine functioning, and it makes an impassioned argument that the"student-athletes" in these programs are being cheated of what, after all, has been promised them from the start--a college education.

Leeds United AFC was formed in 1919 following the disbanding of Leeds City FC by the Football League. The team took over the Elland Road stadium and have won three First Division League titles, one FA Cup and one League Cup. The club also won two Inter-Cities Fairs cups. The majority of the honours were won under the management of Don Revie in the golden age of the 1960s and '70s. In Leeds United: A History, author Dave Tomlinson relates the complete and definitive history of the club from foundation to the present day. He reveals the voices of the people involved with the club, including supporters, players and former players, owners, administrators and local writers, to describe the club's history within its social context, how changes have affected the club and how developments in football itself have made an indelible impact upon both the football club and the wider community. This is a must-have for any fan of the 'Mighty Whites'.

One of the most influential and controversial team owners in professional sports history, Walter O'Malley (1903-79) is best remembered--and still reviled by many--for moving the Dodgers from Brooklyn to Los Angeles. Yet much of the O'Malley story leading up to the Dodgers' move is unknown or created from myth, and there is substantially more to the man. When he entered the public eye, the self-constructed family background and early life he presented was gilded. Later his personal story was distorted by some New York sportswriters, who hated him for moving the Dodgers. In Mover and Shaker Andy McCue presents for the first time an objective, complete, and nuanced account of O'Malley's life. He also departs from the overly sentimentalized accounts of O'Malley as either villain or angel and reveals him first and foremost as a rational, hardheaded businessman who was a major force in baseball for three decades, and whose management and marketing practices radically changed the shape of the game.

One of the most influential and controversial team owners in professional sports history, Walter O'Malley (1903-79) is best remembered-and still reviled by many-for moving the Dodgers from Brooklyn to Los Angeles. Yet much of the O'Malley story leading up to the Dodgers' move is unknown or created from myth, and there is substantially more to the man. When he entered the public eye, the self-constructed family background and early life he presented was gilded. Later his personal story was distorted by some New York sportswriters, who hated him for moving the Dodgers. In Mover and Shaker Andy McCue presents for the first time an objective, complete, and nuanced account of O'Malley's life. He also departs from the overly sentimentalized accounts of O'Malley as either villain or angel and reveals him first and foremost as a rational, hardheaded businessman, who was a major force in baseball for three decades and whose management and marketing practices radically changed the shape of the game.

During the 1972-73 season, the Philadelphia 76ers were not just a bad team; they were fantastically awful. Doomed from the start after losing their leading scorer and rebounder, Billy Cunningham, as well as head coach Jack Ramsay, they lost twenty-one of their first twenty-three games. A Philadelphia newspaper began calling them the Seventy Sickers, and they duly lost their last thirteen games on their way to a not-yet-broken record of nine wins and seventy-three losses.
Charley Rosen recaptures the futility of that season through the firsthand accounts of players, participants, and observers. Although the team was uniformly bad, there were still many memorable moments, and the lore surrounding the team is legendary. Once, when head coach Lou Rubin tried to substitute John Q. Trapp out of a game, Trapp refused and told Rubin to look behind the team's bench, whereby one of Trapp's friends supposedly opened his jacket to show his handgun. With only four wins at the All-Star break, Rubin was fired and replaced by player-coach Kevin Loughery.
In addition to chronicling the 76ers' woes, "Perfectly Awful" also captures the drama, culture, and attitude of the NBA in an era when many white fans believed that the league had too many black players, most of whom were overtly political and/or using recreational drugs.

Chicago in the Roaring Twenties was a city of immigrants, mobsters, and flappers with one shared passion: the Chicago Cubs. It all began when the chewing-gum tycoon William Wrigley decided to build the world's greatest ball club in the nation's Second City. In this Jazz Age center, the maverick Wrigley exploited the revolutionary technology of broadcasting to attract eager throngs of women to his renovated ballpark. Mr. Wrigley's Ball Club transports us to this heady era of baseball history and introduces the team at its crazy heart-an amalgam of rakes, pranksters, schemers, and choirboys who take center stage in memorable successes, equally memorable disasters, and shadowy intrigue. Readers take front-row seats to meet Grover Cleveland Alexander, Rogers Hornsby, Joe McCarthy, Lewis "Hack" Wilson, Gabby Hartnett. The cast of characters also includes their colorful if less-extolled teammates and the Cubs' nemesis, Babe Ruth, who terminates the ambitions of Mr. Wrigley's ball club with one emphatic swing.

"Fear and Loathing in La Liga" is the definitive history of the greatest rivalry in world sport: FC Barcelona vs. Real Madrid. It's Messi vs. Ronaldo, Guardiola vs. Mourinho, the nation against the state, freedom fighters vs. Franco's fascists, plus majestic goals and mesmerizing skills. It's the best two teams on the planet going head-to-head. It's more than a game. It's a war. It's El Clasico.
Only, it's not quite that simple. Spanish soccer expert and historian Sid Lowe covers 100 years of rivalry, athletic beauty, and excellence. "Fear and Loathing in La Liga" is a nuanced, revisionist, and brilliantly informed history that goes beyond sport. Lowe weaves together this story of the rivalry with the history and culture of Spain, emphasizing that it is "never about just the soccer." With exclusive testimonies and astonishing anecdotes, he takes us inside this epic battle, including the wounds left by the Civil War, Madrid's golden age in the fifties when they won five European cups, Johan Cruyff's Barcelona Dream Team, the doomed Galactico experiment, and Luis Figo's "betrayal."
By exploring the history, politics, culture, economics, and language--while never forgetting the drama on the field--Lowe demonstrates the relationship between these two soccer giants and reveals the true story behind their explosive rivalry.

No owners...Five players under contract...In administration...Not even a kit to play in...Is it any wonder that Port Vale FC were written off as 18th favourites for promotion at the start of the 2012-2013 season? But by the end of a memorable campaign, the club had been promoted, finished as the division's top scorers and a life-long Vale fan was the club's top goalscorer. How on earth did that happen? Rob Fielding, editor of the award-winning Port Vale website onevalefan.co.uk chronicles one of the most extraordinary seasons in the long history of Port Vale FC. A contribution to charity will be made for every book sold.

Jose Mourinho's Real Madrid: A Tactical Analysis - Attacking A Chance for You to Learn Mourinho's 4-2-3-1 System of Play, Tactics, Each Player's Responsibilities, Positioning & Movement With Every Possible Phase of Play The long awaited study of Jose Mourinho's tactics is finally here with an extensive analysis of his Real Madrid team's 4-2-3-1 formation. You can now see a full analysis of Real Madrid's attacking and defending tactics which have been so important to their success. They scored 121 goals in La Liga and this book shows Real's 4-2-3-1 system of play, each player's responsibilities, positioning and movement within every possible phase of play. The attacking phase was key for Real Madrid and the main features were creating width, maintaining superiority in numbers around the ball zone, long diagonal passes, in/out swinging crosses from the flank and Ronaldo's efficiency in front of goal. Terzis Athanasios is a Tactical Professor of Football and has compiled an extensive assessment of Real Madrid's defensive play after over 1000 hours of studying all the games from the 2011-12 season. Real Madrid won the La Liga title, beating Pep Guardiola's Barcelona team, one of the most successful club sides in history, by 9 points. This attacking book starts with the characteristics of the players and builds into a comprehensive overview of the attacking tactics employed with clear diagrams and detailed descriptions. This gives you a unique opportunity to use the same 4-2-3-1 pattern of plays that Jose Mourinho's used for his winning Real Madrid team.. Integrate them into your sessions Now This Attacking book includes: Pages: 286 Diagrams: 382 Coaching Topics: 131 Printed: B/W Don't miss this unbelievable chance for you to learn Jose Mourinho's 4-2-3-1, how the team play and adapt their tactics to all conceivable situations. Their attacking and defensive play is key to their great success and the blueprint is available right here for you to learn and apply the same tactics for your team.

The St. Louis Cardinals are perhaps the most popular and successful franchise in National League history, having won more world championships than any other club in the league. Baseball greats such as Stan Musial, Rogers Hornsby, and Albert Pujols have all worn the Cardinals uniform. But which Cardinals are the finest in franchise history? Examining every player who has donned the Redbird uniform since 1892, Robert W. Cohen ranks the best of the best in The 50 Greatest Players in St. Louis Cardinals History. This book carefully studies the careers of the players who made the greatest impact while playing for the St. Louis Cardinals. The ranking was determined based on such factors as the extent to which each player added to the Cardinals legacy, the degree to which he impacted the fortunes of his team, and the level of dominance he attained while wearing the Redbird uniform. Features of The 50 Greatest Players in St. Louis Cardinals History include: *Each player's notable achievements *Recaps of the player's most memorable performances *Summaries of each player's best season *Quotes from opposing players and former teammates Including players such as Bob Gibson, Ozzie Smith, Lou Brock, and Mark McGwire, this book is sure to fuel debate among Cardinals fans. A fascinating collection of bios, stats, recaps, quotes, and more, The 50 Greatest Players in St. Louis Cardinals History is a must-read not only for die-hard Cardinals fans, but for all fans of baseball.

On April 4, 2012, the former Florida Marlins of Major League Baseball played their first official game under their new name-the Miami Marlins. Many in attendance were unaware, however, that the original Miami Marlins had played in their city more than 50 years earlier. As part of the AAA International League, the 1956 Marlins helped set the stage for major league baseball's entry into south Florida. During the five years this minor league club played in Miami Stadium, fans were treated to their first taste of high level baseball, with a team made up of battle-hardened veterans and fresh up-and-comers. The Forgotten Marlins: A Tribute to the 1956-1960 Original Miami Marlins brings to life one of the most colorful and flamboyant teams to ever play in baseball's minor leagues. During their five years of existence, the Marlins featured prominent personalities such as eccentric manager Pepper Martin, zany Mickey McDermott, maverick promoter Bill Veeck, and Hall-of-Famer Satchel Paige. Although the team was an instant sensation, drawing national attention with their outlandish promotions, success did not always follow. The Forgotten Marlins relives those days in detail and follows the players through their triumphs and tribulations both on and off the diamond. Including rarely-heard stories about baseball icon Satchel Paige's years in Miami, and containing interviews between the author and several of the surviving ballplayers, this book is a unique and comprehensive account of a truly original baseball team. The Forgotten Marlins is an entertaining and engaging read for all baseball fans and historians.

When future generations ask who saved Rangers and revitalised the club thereafter, the fans of today can say with some confidence: ‘We were the people.’ The saga of Rangers is a tragic one. It is the story of the fall of Scotland’s most prestigious football clubs. A tale of hate and accusations. One which blurred truth with speculation and turned a trial into a witch-hunt. Yet it is also a tale of loyalty in the face of unprecedented adversity. In Follow We Will: The Fall and Rise of Rangers we hear the story of the fans. Within these essays and interviews is the uplifting tale of how they rallied to protect the club they loved and how now, against all odds, they are helping to put it back together.

By 1964 the storied St. Louis Cardinals had gone seventeen years without so much as a pennant. Things began to turn around in 1953, when August A. Busch Jr. bought the team and famously asked where all the black players were. Under the leadership of men like Bing Devine and Johnny Keane, the Cardinals began signing talented players regardless of colour, and slowly their star started to rise again. Drama and Pride in the Gateway City commemorates the team that Bing Devine built, the 1964 team that prevailed in one of the tightest three-way pennant races of all time and then went on to win the World Series, beating the New York Yankees in the full seven games. All the men come alive in these pages - pitchers Ray Sadecki and Bob Gibson, players Lou Brock, Curt Flood, and Bobby Shantz, manager Johnny Keane, his coaches, the Cardinals' broadcasters, and Bill White, who would one day run the entire National League - along with the dramatic events that made the 1964 Cardinals such a memorable club in a memorable year.