Essential Soccer Books

Discussion in 'Books' started by Jose L. Couso, Jan 15, 2006.

  1. Roger Allaway

    Roger Allaway Member+

    Apr 22, 2009
    Warminster, Pa.
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    It goes into much greater detail about just a few topics (seven of them). Terrific book.
     
  2. Rorysm

    Rorysm New Member

    Aug 12, 2008
    Hidden in a Cave
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Wanted to share that Mr. Foster passed away this Sumer. He will be missed.

    His sequal, "And She Laughed No More" is about Stoke City's first year in the Premiership... in fact he told me once he thought it was better than "She Stood there..." but I politely disagree.
     
  3. Jamooky

    Jamooky Member+

    Mar 24, 2006
    Cleveland, OH USA
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Simon Kuper's new book about the lives of "Football Men" will be coming out in October (at least in the States, that is). It promises to be a good read.
     
  4. Labdarugo

    Labdarugo Member

    Dec 3, 2000
    Downwind
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I totally agree. Great book. Try to find it in hardcover if you can. The paperback edition dropped the photos which was a big loss imho.
     
  5. Kevin Alexander

    May 27, 2004
    America's Dairyland
  6. Kevin Alexander

    May 27, 2004
    America's Dairyland
    I just finished this one:

    [​IMG]

    Great book, and a fast read; I highly recommend it!
     
  7. Jamooky

    Jamooky Member+

    Mar 24, 2006
    Cleveland, OH USA
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Finishing :

    [​IMG]

    Fascinating. Not really about soccer, per se, but it's a clear snapshot of what a part of English soccer culture was like in the '80s.
     
  8. usscouse

    usscouse BigSoccer Supporter

    May 3, 2002
    Orygun coast
    Wow! I don't know why this book isn't in the thread. The single greatest football story of all time. A book to read to your children when your team isn't doing so well. A book they'll dream about and will want you to read it again and again.
    Here We Go Gathering Cups In May: Liverpool In Europe, The Fans' Story

    Well actually it's SEVEN of the single greatest football stories of all time, all told by seven different authors in their own way, for each of Liverpool's forays into the Eurpean Cup Finals. That's right Seven times into the final with *****FIVE***** Wins

    [​IMG]

    "Seven European Cup finals. Seven fans. Seven amazing adventures following the team they love. This book celebrates the achievements of Liverpool FC in Europe, and in particular a love affair with Old Big Ears - the European Cup. It's an ongoing affair that began with the legendary and, in those days, unprecedented exodus of 30,000 Liverpool fans to Rome in 1977, has taken in the glories of Paris and Istanbul, endured the horror of Brussels, and still burns as brightly today with Athens 2007, just the latest staging post of Liverpool's trans-European express. Above all, Here We Go Gathering Cups In May tells of the bond between a club and its fans: the lengths those fans will go to in order to be there at the final to cheer on their team, vivid accounts of what happened along the way, their escapades in some of Europe’s iconic capitals, and their recollections of those historic nights – nights of glory and, sometimes, nights of tragedy."

    For those supporting clubs who haven't made it to the pinacle of European Football, Here's a look at the "Cup"

    [​IMG]
     
  9. Rorysm

    Rorysm New Member

    Aug 12, 2008
    Hidden in a Cave
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I notice the "Gathering Cups in May" book was edited by Nicky Allt. He wrote "The Boys From The Mersey" which was all about how they used to sneak into every game without a ticket (or with a stolen ticket), loot places in Europe when LFC was the only team from England playing in Europe, and just act like a lunatic. It was interesting to say the least if only for the countless ways you used to be able to sneak into football games. It was also way, way concerned with fashion and of course, like all "firm" books, it claimed theirs was the first firm to do this that and the other. I will give him this credit though... he's not afraid to admit the countless times he found himself outnumbered and ran for it (unlike most of the hooligan books which will assure you the author stood his ground and took on firms that outnumbered them 20 to 1 and yet his firm always won). Not much actual football analysis but an interesting look at what it was like to be a fan of the biggest team in Europe and then what it was like when that team quit winning things (it was written before the 2005 and 2007 Champions League titles--maybe abound 2001 or so?).
     
  10. usscouse

    usscouse BigSoccer Supporter

    May 3, 2002
    Orygun coast
    I was wondering when someone was going to bite..:)

    I like your write up though, just please remember that everyone from Liverpool isn't a scally. I'ts pretty easy for city boys to get caught up in the 'firms' and quick nicks but we didn't all do it.
    Although I did jump the turnstyles at Goodison one time, couldn't get a ticket for the Derby match. Geez, I had so much adrenaline running!

    You mentioned that it isn't a football analysis book, nowday's it'd be considered more of 7 blogs linked together. Couple I didn't like at all and does one really think of robbing scalpers as a crime...Don't answer that!

    It was entertaining and described those days for what they were. I was just having a bit of fun and as I said. "I liked your responce"
     
  11. Rorysm

    Rorysm New Member

    Aug 12, 2008
    Hidden in a Cave
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I find that I genrally have more fun with the books that are more about obscure topics or from a perspective I don't see very often. A writing that reads like a bunch of blogs about the biggest teams just isn't going to do it for me as I can, and do from time to time, read those kinds of blogs, or at least the popular soccer bloggers give me all I need to know about those teams. Something obscure, like Jonathan Wilson's book about East European soccer strikes my fancy more, as did Foster's books on Stoke City. I also like fiction, just because after reading all the blogs it's nice to get soccer entertainment in a new format.
    I highly, highly recommend Mal Peet's book Exposure, which fit the bill for all of the above (fiction novel, set in South America of which I know too little, and a great read--it's basically a modern retaling of Othello).
    Oh, also Peet's won some writing awards and such so there's a very good chance your local library will have it--mine did in a city of 60,000.
     
  12. Jamooky

    Jamooky Member+

    Mar 24, 2006
    Cleveland, OH USA
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Check this one out then :

    [​IMG]
     
  13. Dr. Wankler

    Dr. Wankler Member+

    May 2, 2001
    The Electric City
    Club:
    Chicago Fire
    For fiction, here's one I mentioned on page two:

    [​IMG]

    The Barbarian Parade, by Kirby Gann. A novel about an American kid who discovers soccer in the 70s and plays professionally in the league that existed between the NASL and the A-League. For guys my age, the passages about discovering the game then learning to play it on your own mostly (banging rubberized soccer balls off walls, juggling in the backyard, etc) are really good.

    http://www.hostpublications.com/books/soccer.html

    I haven't read this one, but it's a brazilian collection of short stories about soccer.

    And there's a novel long out of print by Isaac Goldemberg called Play by Play in which the narrative jumps back and forth between an international match between Brazil and Peru (IIRC. I think the novelist is Peruvian) and the main characters life. Haven't read it in awhile, but I liked it quite a bit.
     
  14. chazsoccer

    chazsoccer Member

    Nov 22, 1999
    Republic of Texas
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    For Novels / Fiction - there are a couple out by an American Author


     
  15. Kevin Alexander

    May 27, 2004
    America's Dairyland
    I would absolutely agree with that.

    You ever have a book you were really excited to read, and then about 5 pages in just hit a roadblock? That's what happened to me with this one. I don't know what it was, but I just couldn't keep going. Maybe I'll give it another shot.
     
  16. Kevin Alexander

    May 27, 2004
    America's Dairyland
    Another one that I really enjoyed recently...

    [​IMG]
     
  17. usscouse

    usscouse BigSoccer Supporter

    May 3, 2002
    Orygun coast
    Another old favourite of mine to pass on.

    "Faith of our Fathers" Alan Edge. Football as a Religion. Growing up in Liverpool as a Liverpool supporter.

    [​IMG]

    With chapters entitled:
    Baptism.
    Indocrination.
    Conformation.
    Communion.
    Confession. and
    Penance.

    Good reading for me, I came from just a couple of miles away and pretty close to the same age... Old!
    I remember or was at most of the games he wrote about.

    One passage was from when the kids would carve the names of their fav. players on their desks. The Father, teachers called the kids out in turn to dole out punishment. When they called his name he went up to face it and the fathers all patted him on the back and said he was a good example to the others.

    His football hero was St John. Or Ian St John the Liverpool striker.
    Lucky bugger.

    What it's like living in a household, in a city with 2, 1st division clubs.
     
  18. Roger Allaway

    Roger Allaway Member+

    Apr 22, 2009
    Warminster, Pa.
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    David Wangerin, author of "Soccer in a Football World" and "Distant Corners," two of the greatest books about the history of soccer in the United States, died on Saturday (6/30) in Scotland.
     
  19. Jamooky

    Jamooky Member+

    Mar 24, 2006
    Cleveland, OH USA
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Bummer - I own "Soccer . . .", but what is "Distant Corners" all about?
     
  20. Roger Allaway

    Roger Allaway Member+

    Apr 22, 2009
    Warminster, Pa.
    Club:
    Philadelphia Union
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    "Distant Corners" takes seven specific topics within the overall field of American soccer history and goes into much greater detail about them. Last night, I reread my favorite chapter in it, a 30-page biography of Thomas W. Cahill, who may have been the most signficant American soccer administrator ever.
     
  21. Jamooky

    Jamooky Member+

    Mar 24, 2006
    Cleveland, OH USA
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Guess I'll have to get a hold of that one, too.
     
  22. Johnny31

    Johnny31 New Member

    Jul 13, 2012
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    football against the enemy KUPER
    FUTEBOL: the brasilian way of life ALEX BELLOS
     
  23. Skippysasquirrel

    May 11, 2012
    San Diego, CA
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    You know, How Soccer Explains the World isn't a great book, but it is a fascinating read, especially for those unfamiliar with events in the former Yugoslav republics, and the sectarian violence in Northern Ireland, and how it spread over into the Old Firm.
     
  24. Stuart95

    Stuart95 Member+

    Mar 11, 2012
    NoVA
    Club:
    Colorado Rapids
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I just finished "La Roja" by Jimmy Burns with is a part traveloge, part soccer history of Spain. It reminded me of Simon Kuper's "Ajax, The Dutch, and the War" or Laurent Dubois' "Soccer Empire." I'd recommend it.

    In all I have about 50 books on soccer, here are those I rate the highest:
    "The Ball is Round" by David Goldblatt ... the best single history of soccer/football out there
    "The World is a Call" by John Doyle ... World Cup history, very funny
    "Long-Range Goals" by Beau Dure ... great history of MLS
    "The Beckham Experiment" by Grant Wahl ... the parts I liked were those that contrasted ordinary MLS players with Beckham, great insight into the league
    "A Season with Verona" by Tim Parks ... Parks is a UH-expat living in Verona and follows Hellas Verona, funny insights into Italy, Serie A, and the ultras ... better than "The Miracle of Castel Di Sangro" but focused on the fans vice a team
    "Lamar Hunt" by David Swift ... not exclusively about soccer but great insight into the NASL and MLS
     
  25. Jamooky

    Jamooky Member+

    Mar 24, 2006
    Cleveland, OH USA
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Agreed - Goldblatt's book is THE soccer history book.
     

Share This Page