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.

Sport, and in particular the sporting environment, has undergone significant changes in recent decades. The social significance and commercialization of sport; the use of new technologies and organizational structures; and the involvement of various stakeholders matter more today than ever before. This book addresses the key influence of stakeholders in particular on the activities of sports organizations, taking into account certain territorial differences around the world, but also within Europe. The authors explain the key characteristics of the management of sports organizations as opposed to other organizations. These include the strategic management and setting of long-term goals such as sporting success, sustainable funding, youth training, and community building. The authors present a strategic model for these goals and stakeholders in the context of sport, together with research-based case studies in which the critical factors in the strategic management of successful and unsuccessful sports organizations are identified.

The 1951 Los Angeles Rams were one of the greatest teams in professional football history. Led by pioneer owner Daniel Reeves, head coach Joe Stydahar, and future Hall of Famers Bob Waterfield, Norm Van Brocklin, Elroy Hirsch, Tom Fears, and Andy Robustelli, the team won the NFL championship of that season. In doing this, they defeated the defending champion Cleveland Browns in a fantastic rematch of the 1950 title game. The Rams were the first team in a major professional sports league to relocate to the West Coast, forever changing the face of the NFL and professional sports in America. Fueled by an exciting and accomplished lineup of veteran star players and impactful rookies, the product of the Rams' innovative scouting system and their reintegration of the NFL in 1946, the Rams successfully married the NFL to the glamorous world of Hollywood. Delve into the story of the '51 Rams, the NFL's First West Coast Champions.

This book takes a closer look at the societal functions of sports clubs by using the broad range of empirical data of a comparative study. There is a limited amount of up-to-date knowledge on the functions of sports clubs and their potential to promote public health, social cohesion and democratic participation through volunteering and thus contribute to public welfare in European societies. Most of the existing studies are country-specific and therefore do not allow for making comparisons from a cross-national perspective. In light of this, the project 'Social Inclusion and Volunteering in Sports Clubs in Europe' (SIVSCE) collected, analysed and discussed comparable data and knowledge across ten European countries and disseminated this knowledge to politicians, sports professionals and sports volunteers in Europe. The SIVSCE project contains comparative data of clubs as well as of members in selected sports clubs. In each country chapter, the comparative data from the SIVSCE project is put together in a coherent way. Particularly, the data of the member survey give in-depth information about the fulfillment of the different functions of sports clubs (e.g. extension of democratic participation, social integration). Providing in-depth data related to policy issues, structure and management of clubs and individual member surveys, this book will be useful for students particularly those in sports management programmes as well as researchers and practitioners in social science and economics.

Liverpool FC is rarely out of the news and always is the subject of interest from inside and outside of the world of football. From Kenny Dalglish, Alan Hansen and Graeme Souness through Michael Owen, Robbie Fowler and Jamie Redknapp to Jamie Carragher, Steven Gerrard, John Henry and coach Jurgen Klopp, few clubs can boast as many people with so much to say for themselves, especially in the case of Bill Shankly, football's most quoted man. Liverpool have a proud tradition and a very loyal support, and this book aims to capture the flavour of both. In 2019 the Reds came to within a point of their long-awaited 19th title, but ultimately avoided disappointment by finishing their season winning the UEAF Champions League. With the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup also won by the end of 2019, Klopp now knows what it takes to win and few will be surprised if Liverpool are front and centre when it comes to handing out trophies in 2020. The Little Book of Liverpool, brim-full with more than 170 quotes, celebrates the club's continued success at home and abroad.

The untold story of the most contested fixture in world football.

Liverpool and Manchester. Two gloriously independent-minded, eclectic, culturally vibrant places. Yet the inhabitants dislike each other with a passion that is visceral. It is a divide that spans generations, across class, gender and ethnicity. And it has grown over the years, largely driven by one thing: football.

The dark, malignant loathing shared by the followers of Liverpool and Manchester United has seeped into every aspect of life in the two cities. Football is not a barometer of disdain, as it is in places like Glasgow or Istanbul or Moscow. In northwest England, it is the engine of animosity.

How did it come to this? Why did things turn so nasty? And what does it say about the two cities in which the clubs are based?

Written by a Scouser and a Manc in a rare collaboration, Red on Red addresses the divide by talking to those involved in ten seminal football matches. It speaks to the characters who patrolled and provoked the rivalry: Alex Ferguson, Kenny Dalglish, Steven Gerrard and Gary Neville, among many others. Also questioned are the fans, the administrators, the referees, the police, and politicians. And through each legendary game, its authors tell the full story of the most extraordinary division not just in football, but in modern Britain.

This is Red on Red, a rivalry like no other.

Manchester City On This Day revisits all the most magical and memorable moments from the club's rollercoaster past, mixing in a maelstrom of quirky anecdotes and legendary characters to produce an irresistibly dippable diary of Blues history - with an entry for every day of the year. From the club's Victorian roots as a church side right up to the Etihad era, City fans have witnessed Edwardian scandal, league and cup triumphs and embarrassments, hard-fought derbies and unforgettable European nights - all featured here. Timeless greats such as Francis Lee and Georgi Kinkladze, Colin Bell, Frank Swift and Billy Meredith all loom larger than life. Revisit 11th May 1968, when City clinched the league title with a 4-3 win at Newcastle. 7th November 1987, when the Blues hit double figures beating Huddersfield Town 10-1 at Maine Road. And 5th May 1956, when Bert Trautmann broke his neck in the Cup Final.

Champions Under Lockdown is the third book in the Red Odyssey series. It tells the story of an extraordinary season from the perspective of the terraces. After their epic 2018/19 season, in 2019/20 Jurgen Klopp would target Liverpool's first league title in 30 years. During this unforgettable season his side would smash all records. They claimed the UEFA Super Cup and then the Club World Cup before sailing to a 25-point lead at the top of the Premier League. Fans who thought they had seen it all witnessed arguably the greatest Reds side in history sweep all before them. They were declared champions-elect, but the fates decreed there would be a final barrier to Liverpool claiming their prize. In the midst of a global virus pandemic and with the country on lockdown, voices called for the season to be declared null and void, threatening to wipe the achievements of this incredible team from history. But Jurgen and his men rose again to claim their holy grail. This is the unique story of the champions under lockdown.

In the fall of 1908, no one could have guessed that the Chicago Cubs, a team that had dominated the National league three straight years, would for a century be shut out in its efforts to reclaim the world championship. Stars like Frank Chance, Johnny Evers, Ed Reulbach, and Three Finger Brown were still in their primes, and they had just emerged the winner in the most remarkable pennant race in major league history.In the decades since, the achievement of the 1908 Cubs has been overshadowed first by the events of the season, which included the Merkle Game and a playoff that pitted two all-time great pitchers against each other, and more recently by the calendar, as the centennial anniversary of the last Cubs championship closed in. This engaging book rescues the 1908 team from its status as footnote to baseball history, following one of the all-time great clubs on a thrilling, season-long march toward the World Series.

With virtually the same lineup that had won both the National League pennant and the World Series the previous season, the 1926 Pittsburgh Pirates were favored by the majority of preseason prognosticators to capture the pennant for the second year in a row. But they finished in third place, four and a half games behind the St. Louis Cardinals. That failure has largely been attributed to the ""ABC Affair,"" the alleged dissension between vice president and assistant to the manager Fred Clarke and several players who attempted to remove him. This retelling of the story shows that the blame assigned to Clarke has mostly been misplaced and that the reasons for the Bucs' 1926 failure were far more complex.

Let Stephen Curry, Charles Barkley, Grant Hill, Reggie Miller, and more, tell you what it was like to take the floor against one of the Greatest of All Time. With a Foreword by Jerry West, and a new tribute from the author about Kobe's tragic death. When he entered the NBA in 1996 as a high-school star from Lower Merion, Pennsylvania, Kobe Bryant faced enormous expectations. No one can deny that he rose to the challenge. Today Bryant's status as a future Hall of Fame player is assured. During his stellar career, Bryant won five NBA championships; was a seventeen-time All-Star, NBA MVP, and two-time NBA Finals MVP. He led the league in scoring in 2006 and 2007. Now for the first time, hear stories from opponents, teammates, and players about what it was like to go against Kobe in Remembering Kobe Bryant. Contributors include: Chris Webber Jeff Van Gundy Rick Barry Doc Rivers Dwayne Wade Draymond Green Giannis Antetokounmpo Russell Westbrook Carmelo Anthony And many more Kobe Bryant was the greatest basketball player of his generation-a former schoolboy prodigy whose moves are now imitated in gyms and playgrounds around the world. Remembering Kobe Bryant provides an unprecedented glimpse into what it was like to play against one of the best of all time. Skyhorse Publishing and our Sports Publishing imprint is proud to publish a range of books for readers interested in sports-baseball, pro football, college football, pro basketball, college basketball, hockey, soccer, and more, we have a book about your sport or your team. Whether you are a New York Yankees fan or hail from Red Sox nation; whether you are a die-hard Green Bay Packers or Dallas Cowboys fan; whether you root for the Kentucky Wildcats, Louisville Cardinals, UCLA Bruins, or Kansas Jayhawks; whether you route for the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, or Los Angeles Kings; we have a book for you. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

For more than five decades, pioneering researcher Dorothy Seymour Mills has studied and written about baseball's past. With this groundbreaking book, she turns her attention to the historians, stat hounds, and many thousands of not-so-casual fans whose fascination with the game and its history, like her own, defies easy explanation. As Mills demonstrates, baseball elicits a passion--and inspires a slightly off-kilter, obsessive behavior--that is only slightly less interesting than the people who indulge it.

The Big Red Machine dominated major league baseball in the 1970s, but the Cincinnati franchise began its climb to that pinnacle in 1961, when an unlikely collection of cast-offs and wannabes stunned the baseball world by winning the National League pennant. Led by revered manager Fred Hutchinson, the team featured rising stars like Frank Robinson, Jim O'Toole, and Vada Pinson, fading stars like Gus Bell and Wally Post, and a few castoffs who suddenly came into their own, like Gene Freese and 20-game-winner Joey Jay. In time to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their pennant-winning season, the amazing story of the "Ragamuffin Reds" is told from start to finish in Before the Machine. Written by long-time Reds Report editor Mark J. Schmetzer and featuring dozens of photos by award-winning photographer Jerry Klumpe of the Cincinnati Post & Times Star, this book surely will be a winner with every fan in Reds country and coincides with an anniversary exhibit at the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame and Museum. Through interviews and research, Before the Machine captures the excitement of a pennant race for a team that had suffered losing seasons in 14 of the past 16 years. Schmetzer also beautifully evokes the time and place--a muggy Midwestern summer during which, as the new song of the season boasts, "the whole town's batty for that team in Cincinnati." Led by regional talk-show star Ruth Lyons (the Midwest's "Oprah") fans rallied around the Reds as never before. The year didn't begin well for the team. Budding superstar Frank Robinson was arrested right before spring training for carrying a concealed weapon, and long-time owner Powel Crosley Jr., died suddenly just days before the start of the season. Few experts--or fans--gave the Reds much of a chance at first place anyway. With powerhouse teams in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Milwaukee, the National League pennant was unlikely to fly over Cincinnati's Crosley Field. But manager Hutchinson somehow galvanized his motley crew and led them to victory after victory. Joey Jay, who had languished with the Braves, mowed down hitters while his rotation mates O'Toole and knuckleballer Bob Purkey did the same. The team also featured a dynamic duo in the bullpen in Bill Henry and Jim Brosnan, whose book about the season, Pennant Race, became a national bestseller the following year. As the rest of the league kept waiting for the Reds to fade, Hutch's boys kept winning--and finally grabbed the pennant. Though they couldn't continue their magic in the World Series against the Yankees, the previously moribund Reds franchise did continue to their success throughout the decade, winning 98 games in 1962 and falling just short of another pennant in 1964. They established a recipe for success that would lead, a few years later, to the emergence of the Big Red Machine.

Recognized in his prime as one of baseball's best, Alan Trammell was a World Series hero and a central figure in one of the greatest pennant races in the American League. For nearly two decades he played an all-around game as a fielder, hitter, and baserunner-rare for shortstops of his era. From his early days as a multi-sport prep star in the talent-rich San Diego area to an impressive through the minor leagues, he won over doubters and overcame setbacks to become one of the top players in Detroit Tigers history. With second baseman Lou Whitaker, Trammell formed perhaps the greatest ever double-play combination. In retirement, he joined Ty Cobb and Al Kaline as the only players to have spent 20 seasons in Detroit, and later served an ill-fated managerial stint with the franchise. This exhaustively researched biography provides the first book-length account of the life and career of one of the most well-known figures in Detroit sports history.

This book chronicles the history of the Philadelphia Athletics, the first real dynasty in Major League Baseball. The focus of the book is the 1931 season, where Philadelphia, led by is superstar pitcher, Lefty Grove, had the best season in franchise history, leading to a third consecutive trip to the World Series. With a roster full of future Hall of Fame players like Al Simmons, Mickey Cochrane, Jimmie Foxx, Connie Mack, and Lefty Grove, the Athletics were one of the best baseball teams of all time, and the 1931 season served as the apex of their success, as the financial restrictions of the Great Depression caused team ownership to break up the team.

With a line-up that included future Hall of Famers Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, Tony Perez and Pete Rose, the "Big Red Machine" powered its way to six division titles, four pennants, and two World Series, all in the 1970s. Three other times in that decade they finished second in their division to the eventual pennant winner.

While much has been written about the players and manager Sparky Anderson, no book until now has given adequate attention to the man behind the Machine, general manager Bob Howsam. From his hire in 1967 through the end of his first stint with the Reds in 1978, Howsam brought about a remarkable change in fortune for the Reds, who had claimed only one pennant in the 26 years before his arrival. This detailed history of baseball's last dynasty shows not only how the team performed but why, delving into the off-field strategy and moves behind the Reds' success.

Manchester City stormed to the clubs fourth Premier League title in 2019, the fourth championship in seven seasons, which is a far cry from the 44-year wait which ended in 2012! It is hard to believe that less than 20 years ago, City were in what is now League One. Their loyal fans spent so many years riding on the wildest roller-coaster in English football, with so many ups and downs that they hardly knew in which division they were competing, but things have changed and now City are among not only England's elite, but also Europe's. This incredible journey is recorded in this updated edition of The Little Book of Man City, a selection of the wit and wisdom of the great characters who have been associated with the club. From managers, such as Malcolm Allison, Kevin Keegan, Roberto Mancini and Pep Guardiola, via garrulous fans such as Radio 1's Mark and Lard and the Gallagher brothers to voluble players such as Francis Lee, Dennis Tueart, Rodney Marsh, Kun Aguero and Vincent Kompany, here are more than 170 funny and biting quotes for the avid fan of 'the only club in Manchester'. As their chaplain once said, 'Imagine where City would be if I hadn't been praying for them all these years.'

More than 300 ballplayers have spent time with both the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees, opposing teams in one of the most intense rivalries in sports. This book examines the century long antagonism between the two clubs, chronicling their storied pasts and their evolution during the 20th century. Several what-ifs are considered: what if Babe Ruth had never been traded from the Red Sox to the Yankees? What if the clubs had swapped Joe DiMaggio for Ted Williams, as was proposed by the owners of both teams? What if Alex Rodriguez had gone to Boston, as was originally intended, rather than to New York? The debate as to which team has made out better with shared players is explored.

A Financial Times Sports book of the Year 2018 pick Who's better: Ronaldo or Messi? Ask any football fan and they'll have an opinion. For the best part of the last decade football has seen a personal rivalry unlike any seen before. Cristiano and Leo. This is their definitive story, from children kicking a ball halfway around the world from each other to their era-defining battle to be number one. One the preening adonis, a precision physical machine who blows teams away with his pace and power. The other a shuffling genius, able to do things with a football that seem other-worldly. Their differences seem to tap into something fundamental about football and indeed life. Between them they have scored over a thousand goals, won the Ballon d'Or nine times and redefined modern football. For the past eight seasons they have shared the accolade of best footballer in the world and arguments rage over which one deserves the title of greatest player of all time. Cristiano and Leo by Spanish and South American football expert and journalist Jimmy Burns is the essential book to understand the defining players of a generation. 'Burns is incapable of writing a boring sentence.' - Irish Times

Nothing evokes the glory days of Negro Leagues baseball like the name of star pitcher Satchel Paige. This collection of essays and papers based on the 9th Annual Jerry Malloy Negro League Conference focuses on Paige and on the Kansas City Monarchs, the team he led to the Negro Leagues World Series in 1942 and 1946. Essays discuss such topics as the people Paige encountered in his career; Paige's effect on the Jim Crow era; and Paige in myth and reality - do we gain or lose by separating the two? Also considered is how the image of the Negro League was shaped in its day by newspaper coverage, and later in the popular film ""Bingo Long and the Traveling All-Stars"". A biography of Paige, highlights of his career, and a history of the Monarchs are all included, along with Kansas City rosters and other team information.

Hal Trosky played first base for the Cleveland Indians during the Great Depression, a time when the American League included perhaps the greatest trio of first basemen ever: Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, and Hank Greenberg. Because of the phenomenal feats of those players, Trosky's story was consigned to the figurative back page of history. He led the American League in Runs Batted In in 1936, was elected to the Indians' All-Time team in 1969, and at his peak played at a level comparable to anyone in the game. His career was tragically cut short due to an onset of severe migraine headaches, and he was out of baseball by the age of 34, but his playing days spanned the time from Babe Ruth through the end of World War II. Until now, his story has never been entirely told. This book combines access to Trosky family archives with exhaustive research in order to craft a narrative of Trosky's life. From his early years in Iowa, through his entire major league career and throughout his life after baseball, this book looks at the man on and off the diamond, and on the legacy that remains.