Books on Football

Discussion in 'Soccer History' started by frasermc, Jan 21, 2015.

  1. Leabostero4

    Leabostero4 New Member

    Jun 3, 2015
    Buenos Aires, Argentina
    Club:
    CA Boca Juniors
    Nat'l Team:
    Argentina
    Hello everybody... first of all, sorry my bad english!!
    i read "Tor" (Germany), "Brilliant Orange" (Holland), "Calcio" (Italy) and "Morbo" (Spain)...
    Any book of the story of the english soccer like the ones that i have mentioned?
    is the great country that I lack...
    no books of story? i have some (the football game, for example) but no like the others...
    Thanks!!
     
  2. PuckVanHeel

    PuckVanHeel Member+

    Oct 4, 2011
    Club:
    Feyenoord
  3. Leabostero4

    Leabostero4 New Member

    Jun 3, 2015
    Buenos Aires, Argentina
    Club:
    CA Boca Juniors
    Nat'l Team:
    Argentina
  4. comme

    comme Moderator
    Staff Member

    Feb 21, 2003
    There isn't really a book, in English at least, about English football in that general way of the books you mentioned above.

    England Expects by James Corbett is a good history of the England national team but there isn't one that covers off the club game and the general national game in the same way. I have actually been thinking about writing one for just that reason.
     
  5. Leabostero4

    Leabostero4 New Member

    Jun 3, 2015
    Buenos Aires, Argentina
    Club:
    CA Boca Juniors
    Nat'l Team:
    Argentina
    Hey, Comme!! What a great news!! I take your word and i expect that very anxious... Any collaboration you need... Im here!,
     
    comme repped this.
  6. PuckVanHeel

    PuckVanHeel Member+

    Oct 4, 2011
    Club:
    Feyenoord
    It is an extension of soccernomics. If someone likes that book, this one is good too. It focuses on the business/statistical side of the sport (such as: the team with the highest budget wins the English Division eight out of ten times).

    For the specific country books, I didn't read Morbo but I did read 'La Roja' by Burns. Does anyone know some key differences between the books? I only saw the table of contents and 'La Roja' connected better to me.

    I also liked the concise summary of Wangerin (1993) about the Bundesliga. This is the first chapter online:
    http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/davidwangerin/dwroots.htm
     
  7. Leabostero4

    Leabostero4 New Member

    Jun 3, 2015
    Buenos Aires, Argentina
    Club:
    CA Boca Juniors
    Nat'l Team:
    Argentina
    I do not read "La Roja"... but Morbo is a very good read for me... it begins with Phill Ball journey to find the spanish first football club and all the myth around the begginig of spanish football...
    then, every chapter focuses in one club or region (chronologically)... inside there´s an attempt to demystify some issues...
    sometimes is the search of the author, sometimes facts, sometimes the political and social things...
     
  8. PuckVanHeel

    PuckVanHeel Member+

    Oct 4, 2011
    Club:
    Feyenoord
    Bump,

    Any goods books around in the meantime? Which books are good?

    Maybe any noteworthy article that has appeared? The best ('unknown') magazines around?
     
  9. comme

    comme Moderator
    Staff Member

    Feb 21, 2003
    Some good ones out this year. I'm guessing you have read the new one by your favourite writer (Jonathan Wilson) about your favourite subject (Argentine football) Angels with Dirty Faces?

    A couple of good ones were Mister by Rory Smith and Forever Young by Oliver Kay.

    Some ones coming out iminently, an autobiography from Johan Cruyff, a book from Ruud Gullit on watching football, a biography of Alfredo Di Stefano by Ian Hawkey, a Joey Barton autobiography ghosted by Mike Calvin.
     
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  10. PuckVanHeel

    PuckVanHeel Member+

    Oct 4, 2011
    Club:
    Feyenoord
    I have that book but it's very long... sometimes difficult to get through, at other times not.

    Yes, I liked that one too. :thumbsup:

    At the moment, the best Gullit is a silent Gullit.

    I hope the JC14 autobiography isn't a rushjob, since the planning was hastened after the discovery of the disease (the book was already in progress before that).
     
  11. comme

    comme Moderator
    Staff Member

    Feb 21, 2003
    I haven't read it yet. I'm waiting for it to come out in paperback so it's lighter to carry around (I prefer to not get books like that on Kindle).

    I'm intrigued by the Gullit one. Might browse that in a book shop before I decide to get it.

    I hope the Cruyff one is suitably comprehensive. He deserves a truly definitive tome.
     
  12. PuckVanHeel

    PuckVanHeel Member+

    Oct 4, 2011
    Club:
    Feyenoord
    Are those OPTA books anything informative? Does it contain historical info or comparison too?

    They have released two.
     
  13. comme

    comme Moderator
    Staff Member

    Feb 21, 2003
    Which is the other one? I only know of this one:

    https://www.amazon.co.uk/OptaJoes-Football-Yearbook-2016-opposite/dp/1780895542

    I haven't got it yet but probably will do. Duncan Alexander is good on Twitter and having just had a look at the preview I would think it has some good stuff in there.
     
  14. PuckVanHeel

    PuckVanHeel Member+

    Oct 4, 2011
    Club:
    Feyenoord
    comme repped this.
  15. comme

    comme Moderator
    Staff Member

    Feb 21, 2003
  16. PuckVanHeel

    PuckVanHeel Member+

    Oct 4, 2011
    Club:
    Feyenoord
    #41 PuckVanHeel, Sep 20, 2016
    Last edited: Sep 20, 2016
    Previews of both books have appeared on google books now. Maybe I'll read both books after all. It seems to be better structured than I imagined. I was a bit annoyed by his recent appearances in the media and his recent (non-)involvement in the national team. He appears to be more receptive and understanding of the 75000 euro a year figure now, and that this is just about the limit what the FA can do.

    On the other hand I was a bit dissapointed by the first few pages of the autobiography but now I've seen more the narrative and information gets better later on (apparently the sections he himself reviewed and completed). I already spotted he mentions himself urging to not sign Scolari as manager, but seems to step over a similar episode concerning Mourinho (in 2008). I'll read it anyway.

    The superclub book looks interesting too, the theme at least.
     
  17. comme

    comme Moderator
    Staff Member

    Feb 21, 2003
    Good stuff. I will probably check out all three but I have a bit of a backlog of stuff to get through at the moment.
     
  18. PuckVanHeel

    PuckVanHeel Member+

    Oct 4, 2011
    Club:
    Feyenoord
    Something football related too by chance?
     
  19. comme

    comme Moderator
    Staff Member

    Feb 21, 2003
    A mix of football, other non-fiction and fiction. In the football world I still have the Balague book on Messi, his one on Guardiola and Ferguson's autobiography that I am meaning to get round to.
     
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  20. Excape Goat

    Excape Goat Member+

    Mar 18, 1999
    Club:
    Real Madrid
    I just finished Carlo Ancelotti's "The Beautiful Game of an Ordinary Genius". I mistook it his new book.... this book was written in 2010. I did not know he is a funny guy. I am reading his new one. They sounded liked a completely different person.
     
  21. PuckVanHeel

    PuckVanHeel Member+

    Oct 4, 2011
    Club:
    Feyenoord
    Ferguson is nice, also that other one about leadership (and his view on other leaders, players and coaches) although I need to complete the last few chapters.

    This is him at his best (cf. post #33):
    https://soccerbrain.co.uk/2014/10/07/the-ryder-cup/

    I'm not a fan of Balague (like Wilson indeed) and the nationalist twist he occasionally applies in his work, stretching the facts; I do like most of what Marcotti produces as articles and books.
     
  22. comme

    comme Moderator
    Staff Member

    Feb 21, 2003
    Marcotti is very good. I said before I think that he used to be a member of this board. I do like him.

    Personally I like Wilson but not particularly Balague, he writes on topics I'm interested in though.

    I think Rory Smith is one of the best journalists around at the moment.
     
  23. PuckVanHeel

    PuckVanHeel Member+

    Oct 4, 2011
    Club:
    Feyenoord
    I saw I had the epub version of the Guardiola book (it's a book from 2012). Yes, some chapters are good and avoid the trap of presenting a hagiography although I think the Perarnau one shows more about his interaction with his staff. For ex. Balague has inserted only two references to his assistant Buenaventura who features far more prominently in the Perarnau book I remember. A middle ground would have been appropriate there. There is a lot about his relationship (or non-relationship) with other managers.

    That is one of the things I liked about Ferguson's leadership book (you can't avoid the backroom staff ofc). But at the end I thought too it's a pity he doesn't seem to help Scottish football, a tendency he saw in 2009.
    https://www.theguardian.com/football/2009/aug/23/scotland-football-future
     
  24. PuckVanHeel

    PuckVanHeel Member+

    Oct 4, 2011
    Club:
    Feyenoord
    Found these three things recently;

    https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...actics-with-ruud-gullit-football-weekly-meets

    - this is also how he is in the local media. On the one hand he has that bland, plastic and 'fake-ish' face as he has on MOTD with comments devoid of content (third only behind Shearer and Keown..); on the other hand he has a serious face, with fewer smiles and twinklings, reaching out to the actual content. Interesting comment by him that he played in 1986 in the Gamper tournament, playing with PSV against Barcelona as a central defender which impressed AC Milan. This was the final spark for his transfer. Then laughs, rightly so, that Milan subsequently used him as striker and midfielder.

    Some more comments in The Guardian
    http://www.newstalk.com/ruud-gullit-how-to-watch-football

    I also liked some aspects of the 'La Roja' book by Jimmy Burns. He inserted some interesting and telling details in the general story, without those being totally irrelevant or pretending that he himself was standing in the dressing room (a common criticism on Amazon of Graham Hunter his work). For ex. "Guardiola would later keep a copy of a book by Cruyff, like a Bible, always by his bedside." (p. 264) and in that fashion there are more good but illustrative details in the book.
    He can be quite harsh at times, but at least he doesn't use Sid Lowe his 'trick' (in his Barca vs Real work) where at times he he quotes and cites exclusively the opposite/rival party if he wants to make a critical point - that felt cheapish at times.

    To make it complete there's the Phill Ball book (which came out in 2002, updated in 2011) but I've a poor and incomplete recollection of that one, other than he's a Real Madrid supporters whereas Burns is more sympathetic to Barcelona (and lives/has lived there for some time I see).
     
  25. comme

    comme Moderator
    Staff Member

    Feb 21, 2003
    PuckVanHeel repped this.

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