The Greatest Footballer You Never Saw

The Greatest Footballer You Never Saw
Author: Paolo Hewitt
Publisher: Random House
Total Pages: 140
Release: 2011-05-06
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 178057021X

Robin Friday was an exceptional footballer who should have played for England. He never did. Robin Friday was a brilliant player who could have played in the top flight. He never did. Why? Because Robin Friday was a man who would not bow down to anyone, who refused to take life seriously and who lived every moment as if it were his last. For anyone lucky enough to have seen him play, Robin Friday was up there with the greats. Take it from one who knows: 'There is no doubt in my mind that if someone had taken a chance on him he would have set the top division alight,' says the legendary Stan Bowles. 'He could have gone right to the top, but he just went off the rails a bit.' Loved and admired by everyone who saw him, Friday also had a dark side: troubled, strong-minded, reckless, he would end up destroying himself. Tragically, after years of alcohol and drug abuse, he died at the age of 38 without ever having fulfilled his potential. The Greatest Footballer You Never Saw provides the first full appreciation of a man too long forgotten by the world of football, and, along with a forthcoming film based on Friday's life, with a screenplay by co-author Paolo Hewitt, this book will surely give him the cult status he deserves.

Hoolifan

Hoolifan
Author: Martin Knight
Publisher: Random House
Total Pages: 175
Release: 2011-12-16
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1780573901

Hoolifan is the story of one man, Martin King, and his experiences spanning three decades with the country's foremost soccer gang. Chelsea have always been at the cutting edge of football violence, and King himself was at the heart of the evolving Chelsea mob for some 30 years. From his first visit to a football ground in the early 1960s, he charts his development from a rattle-waving child through to a fully fledged member of the notorious Chelsea Shed in the 1970s and finally to his exploits as a key player in the most feared football gang of the 1980s and 1990s - the so-called Chelsea Headhunters. King describes the leading characters of the various eras, not just from Chelsea but from across the country. He also records every clash, ambush and act of revenge in vivid detail, as well as the camaraderie and style of this most infamous soccer gang. This is not just another book on the well-trodden subject of football hooliganism, as, unlike so many authors, Martin King makes no attempt to distance himself from the violence and leaves readers to draw their own conclusions. At times provocative, often humorous and always honest, Hoolifan places the phenomenon of football hooliganism in its true social context.

When Footballers Were Skint

When Footballers Were Skint
Author: Jon Henderson
Publisher: Biteback Publishing
Total Pages: 232
Release: 2018-06-05
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 1785903853

Shortlisted for The Telegraph Sports Book Awards 2019 Long before perma-tanned football agents and TV mega-rights ushered in the age of the multimillionaire player, footballers' wages were capped – even the game's biggest names earned barely more than a plumber or electrician. Footballing legends such as Tom Finney and Stanley Matthews shared a bond of borderline penury with the huge crowds they entertained on Saturday afternoons, on pitches that were a world away from the pristine lawns of the game's modern era. Instead of the gleaming sports cars driven by today's top players, the stars of yesteryear travelled to matches on public transport and returned to homes every bit as modest as those of their supporters. Players and fans would even sometimes be next-door neighbours in a street of working-class terraced houses. Based on the first-hand accounts of players from a fast disappearing generation, When Footballers Were Skint delves into the game's rich heritage and relates the fascinating story of a truly great sporting era.

Ten Men You Meet in the Huddle

Ten Men You Meet in the Huddle
Author: Bill Curry
Publisher: ESPN
Total Pages: 354
Release: 2009-08-11
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 0345517490

No sport rivals football for building character. In the scorching heat of two-a-days and the fierce combat of the gridiron, true leaders are born. Just ask Bill Curry, whose credentials for exploring the relationship between football and leadership include two Super Bowl rings and the distinction of having snapped footballs to Bart Starr and Johnny Unitas. In Ten Men You Meet in the Huddle, Curry shares the wit, wisdom, and tough love of teammates and coaches who turned him from a next-to-last NFL draft pick into a two-time Pro Bowler. Learning from such giants as Vince Lombardi and Don Shula, Ray Nitschke and Bubba Smith, Bobby Dodd and even the indomitable George Plimpton, Curry led a football life of nonstop exploration packed with adventure and surprise. Blessed with irresistible characters, rich personal history, and a strong, simple, down-to-earth voice, Ten Men You Meet in the Huddle proves that football is much more than a game. It’s a metaphor for life. From the Trade Paperback edition.

The Accidental Footballer

The Accidental Footballer
Author: Pat Nevin
Publisher: Monoray
Total Pages: 355
Release: 2021-05-20
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1913183394

*** THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'A heroic outsider - a pleasure to read.' - The Guardian 'A fulsome evocation of football before the Premier League.' - The i 'Such a good storyteller...joyous.' - Financial Times 'Honest, raw, revealing and very funny. How to live a life and career to the full. Insightful book about the most successful outsider inside football ever...' - Henry Winter, Chief Football Writer, The Times 'Pat is a wonderful one-off...and this is the story of why that is.' - John Murray, Chief Sports Correspondent, BBC Radio 5 Live 'Unusually vibrant and elegant with heroic doses of humour, insight and self-effacement, this is an absolute must-read for the football connoisseur.' - Omid Djalili 'The biggest influence of my professional career both on and off the pitch.' - Graeme Le Saux 'I grew up captivated by Pat Nevin the player. As a man he taught me even more about the beauty of the game. One of football's great mavericks, and Chelsea's greatest players. And he can spin a mean tune too.' - Sam Matterface 'I used to walk miles to see Pat Nevin play football and I'd do the same now to read his thoughts. Always challenging, always entertaining.' - Lord Sebastian Coe 'A refreshingly honest and thought-provoking autobiography. As deftly delivered as some of Pat's ball skills in his 1980's heyday.' - ToffeeWeb Pat Nevin never wanted to be a professional footballer. His future was clear, he'd become a teacher like his brothers. There was only one problem with this - Pat was far too good to avoid attention. Raised in Glasgow's East End, Pat loved the game, playing for hours and obsessively following Celtic. But as he grew up, he also loved Joy Division, wearing his Indie 'gloom boom' coat and going on marches - hardly typical footballer behaviour! Placed firmly in the 80s and 90s, before the advent of the Premier League, and often with racism and violence present, Pat Nevin writes with honesty, insight and wry humour. We are transported vividly to Chelsea and Everton, and colourfully diverted by John Peel, Morrissey and nights out at the Hacienda. The Accidental Footballer is a different kind of football memoir. Capturing all the joys of professional football as well as its contradictions and conflicts, it's about being defined by your actions, not your job, and is the perfect reminder of how life can throw you the most extraordinary surprises, when you least expect it.

Why Soccer Matters

Why Soccer Matters
Author: Pelé
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2015-04-07
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 0451468759

Pelé—legendary footballer and humanitarian—explores the sport’s recent history and shares his most inspiring experiences, heartwarming stories, and hard-won wisdom. “I know in my heart that soccer was good to me, and great to the world....I saw, time and again, how the sport improved countless millions of lives, both on and off the field. For me, at least, that’s why soccer matters.” The world’s most popular sport goes by many names—soccer, football, the beautiful game—but fans have always agreed on one thing: The greatest player of all time was Pelé. Before Messi, before Ronaldo, before Beckham, Pelé had a stunning twenty-year career, where he was heralded as an international treasure. His accomplishments on the field proved to be pure magic: an unprecedented three World Cup championships and the all-time scoring record, with 1,283 goals. Since retiring, he has traveled the world as soccer’s global ambassador, relentlessly promoting the positive ways soccer can transform young men and women, struggling communities, even entire nations. This is Pelé’s legacy, his way of passing on everything he’s learned and inspiring a new generation. In Why Soccer Matters, Pelé details his ambitious goals for the future of the sport and, by extension, the world.

The Mumper

The Mumper
Author: Mark Baxter
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Total Pages: 193
Release: 2011-10-27
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1780220464

Seven drinking buddies decide to buy a racehorse and embark on the journey of a lifetime in the book that inspired the film Outside Bet. It's 1985 - Thatcher is in power, Sade is on the radio and the print workers have gone on strike. A motley rabble of seven firm friends: Thimble, Gudger, O'Sh, Fred the Shoe, Dave, Alfie and Bax meet every Sunday in their favourite South London boozer for banter of the highest order and a lot of taking the mick. Then, out of the blue, one of their number receives some news which knocks him and his merry band for six. Reeling from this shock and confused about how to deal with it, the boys meet and rally in standard fashion, in the Dutchman with a few light ales and an aim to set the world to rights. One day an unknown character approaches the crew and asks them a most intriguing question...'Does anyone here want to buy a racehorse?!' From that simple but surreal question unfolds the story of seven likely lads who embark on a unique journey in the name of their mate, and what happens when they just decide to go the whole bifta.

The Footballer Who Could Fly

The Footballer Who Could Fly
Author: Duncan Hamilton
Publisher: Random House
Total Pages: 356
Release: 2012
Genre: Soccer
ISBN: 1846059801

"Without football, we were strangers under the same roof. With it, we were father and son'. Inspired by his father's devotion to Newcastle United and the heroes of yesteryear, such as Jackie Milburn, Bobby Charlton and Duncan Edwards, Hamilton recreates a distant, bygone age and charts the progress of post-war British football to the present day. From the hardscrabble 1940s and the 'never-had-it-so-good' 50s, right through to how the dowdy-looking First Division of the 80s transformed itself into the slick, money-driven Premiership that is so familiar to us today. Hamilton writes about the some of its most sublime players, from George Best to Lionel Messi, and some of its most respected managers, from Bill Shankly to Sir Alex Ferguson. But at the heart of "The Footballer Who Could Fly", is Hamilton's exploration of the bond between father and son through the Beautiful Game, and how football became the only live connection between two people who, apart from their love of it, were wholly different from one another. From the two-time winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year comes a personal and affecting story that beautifully captures one of the most important three-way relationships in a man's life. Father and son and football."--Amazon.com.

The Last Lecture

The Last Lecture
Author: Randy Pausch
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2010
Genre: Cancer
ISBN: 9780340978504

The author, a computer science professor diagnosed with terminal cancer, explores his life, the lessons that he has learned, how he has worked to achieve his childhood dreams, and the effect of his diagnosis on him and his family.

Bobby Moore

Bobby Moore
Author: Tina Moore
Publisher:
Total Pages: 310
Release: 2007
Genre: Large print books
ISBN: 9781407406978

Bobby Moore's death in 1993, at the age of fifty-one, had a profound impact on the people of this country. As the only English football captain ever to raise the World Cup, he was not just a football icon but a national one. Yet Bobby was an intensely reserved, almost mysterious personality. Only one person was his true friend and confidante - his first wife, Tina, whom he met at seventeen and married in 1962. Tina Moore's story of her life with Bobby, the break-up, of their marriage and what happened afterwards is a moving tribute to a national icon by the person wh knew him better than anyone.