My favourites: [ame="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stamping-Grounds-Liechtensteins-World-Odyssey/dp/0316859397/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1251324362&sr=8-2"]Stamping Grounds: Liechtenstein's World Cup Odyssey: Amazon.co.uk: Charlie Connelly: Books[/ame] [ame="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Inverting-Pyramid-History-Football-Tactics/dp/1409102041/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1251324438&sr=1-1"]Inverting the Pyramid: A History of Football Tactics: Amazon.co.uk: Jonathan Wilson: Books[/ame] [ame="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Keeper-Dreams-Controversial-Premiership-Incredible/dp/0224064428/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1251324527&sr=1-1"]The Keeper of Dreams: One Man's Controversial Story of Life in the English Premiership: The Incredible Story of a Goalkeeper: Amazon.co.uk: Ronald Reng: Books[/ame] [ame="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Back-Home-England-1970-World/dp/0752848437/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1251324655&sr=1-2"]Back Home: England And The 1970 World Cup: Amazon.co.uk: Jeff Dawson: Books[/ame]
I have to second INverting the Pyramis which I'm reading right now. Fascinating book outlining the history of soccer tactics. Author does a great job discussing how different parts of the world adapted to or changed systems of play to fit themselves. It really helps to understand the why's of english play versus brazilian play. One thing I was wondering is if there are any good videos that have recordings of old World CUp games, Euro CHampionship games, or Premiership games? I have teh history of soccer dvd set but it only provides snippets of games. I'd like to sit and watch a full game from say 1950 just to see how the game was being played back then.
You might be interested in this thread https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=645193&page=22 There are lots of traders on this site, they will be your best starting point for old games.
I'll give Inverting the Pyramid a third recommendation. I read it recently and it was excellent, very well written and informative.
Overall a very good read with lot of insight into the tactical development of the game However there are some grave errors in the book of which the most glaring is his chapter on why Sweden adopted the flat-back-four system instead of the sweeper-system in the 1970s. This important tactical change according to Wilson was triggered by Sweden missing the 1970 World Cup ... yet Sweden did not miss the 1970 World Cup. I found that a pretty monstrous mistake actually. The whole explanation offered in the book is null & void because of that. Something else I remember was his claim that the 3-5-2 was devised and introduced to the world by Carlos Bilardo's mid-1980s Argentina. Yet 3-5-2 systems were already played a by club sides and even national teams in the 1970s and early 1980s as a reaction to the 2-forward-systems (instead of 3). Bayern Munich for example moved left back Paul Breitner up to midfield in home games during the early-1970s as opposing sides regularly only fielded 1 or 2 strikes when playing in Munich. Holland experimented with a 3-5-2 before the 1978 World Cup (see the May 1978 test friendly against Austria). Hamburg used a 3-5-2 occasionally already in 1981, 1982. VfB Stuttgart won the German championship in 1983-84 by playing with a 3-5-2. France did the same in 1984. There might be other occasions as well. Also, his claim that "pressing" was only introduced in German football in the 1990s is absurd. When Ernst Happel started coaching Hamburg in 1981, the term "pressing" was all over the news as Hamburg learned to play it under Happel. Interestingly, the more common term in use in Germany during the 1970s and 1980s was taken from hockey - "forechecking", meaning roughly the same.
This is Four-Four-Two's top-50 1) Football Against the Enemy (S.Kuper) 2) Fever Pitch (N.Hornby) * 3) All Played Out: The Story of Italia 90 (P.Davies) 4) Brillant Orange (D.Winner) 5) A Strange Kind of Glory (E.Dunphy) 6) Keeper of Dreams (R.Reng) 7) Full Time (T.Cascarino & P.Kimmage) 8) Tor! (U.Hesse-Lichtenberger) 9) Football in Sun and Shadow (E.Galeano) 10) Puskas on Pusksa (R.Taylor & K.Jamrich) 11) The Glory Game (H.Davies) 12) The Miracle of Castel Di Sangro (J.McGinniss) * 13) Niall Quinn: The Autobiography (N.Quinn & T.Humphries) 14) Only a Game? (E.Dunphy) 15) The Boss: the many sides of Alex Ferguson (M.Crick) 16) The Beautiful Game? Searching for the Soul of Football (D.Conn) 17) The Far Corner: A Mazy Dribble through North-East Football (H.Pearson) 18) Addicted (T.Adams) 19) Football: The Golden Age (J.Tennent) 20) Dynamo: Defending the Honour of Kiev (A.Dougan) 21) The Football Man (A.Hopcraft) 22) Those Feet: A Sensual History of English Football (D.Winner) 23) Passovotchka: Moscow Dynamo in Britain 1945 (D.Downing) 24) A Season with Verona (T.Parks) 25) Tackling My Demons (S.Collymore) 26) Keane (R.Keane & E.Dunphy) 27) Ajax: The Dutch, The War (S.Kuper) 28) White Angels (J.Carlin) 29) Managing My Life (A.Ferguson) 30) Futebol: The Brazilian Way of Life (A.Bellos) 31) El Macca: Four Years with Real Madrid (S.McManaman & S.Edworhty) 32) The Greatest Footballer You Never Saw: The Robin Friday Story (P.Hewitt & P.McGuigan) 33) Kicking and Screaming (R.Taylor & A.Ward) 34) England v Argentina (D.Downing) 35) MorboL The Story of Spanish Football (P.Ball) 36) The Football Grounds of England and Wales (S.Inglis) 37) Ajax Barcelona Cruyff: The ABC of an Obstinate Maestro (F.Barend & H.Van Dorp) 38) The Story of the World Cup (B.Glanville) 39) The Mavericks (R.Steen) 40) Walking on Water (B.Clough) 41) Left Foot Forward (G.Nelson) 42) The Billy the Fish Football Yearbook (Viz Comics) 43) Barca: A People's Passion (J.Burns) 44) The Way It Was (S.Matthews) 45) Back Home: The Story of England in the 1970 World Cup (J.Dawson) 46) Steak...Diana Ross: Diary of a Football Nobody (D.McVay) 47) The Beautiful Game: A Journey through Latin American Football (C.Taylor) 48) Steaming In (C.Ward) 49) Out of His Skin: The John Barnes Phenomenon (D.Hill) 50) The Fashion of Football (P.Hewitt & M.Baxter I've read a few these and my favorite has been Brilliant Orange. I recommend this book if your interest in Dutch soccer, especially Ajax. I currently reading The Miracle of Castel si Sangro and so far I've been very happy with it. It's a quick read and pretty funny.
If you're American (or even if you're not), I'd recommend Soccer in a Football World by David Wangerin.
If you're interested in the history of Italian football (right up until present day) check this one out" Calcio written by John Foot Foot is an Englishman who lived in Italy for quite a long time. Good read. Doesn't sugarcoat things. Very in depth. [ame="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Calcio-History-Football-John-Foot/dp/0007175744"]Calcio: A History of Italian Football: Amazon.co.uk: John Foot: Books[/ame]
While Football Against the Enemy gets top billing, perhaps rightly so, I would like to see The Miracle of Castel Di Sangro and both editions of Simon Inglis' "Football Grounds of Britain" higher up in the list. The latter is brilliant, provinding a real background to the history of each club, and how the ground shaped the club's evolution, and vice-versa. There are also two versions on the book. The 1996 version is actually a completely new rewrite, despite having exactly the same name as the 1987 one. The 1996 edition is probably better, but the 1987 one is good to see the British grounds before 20 years of rebuilding changed their character completely. (there's also a "football grounds of England & Wales" which is a slightly earlier version. The 1987 British version is almost exactly the same, except for the addition of Scottish clubs and a few port-Bradford updates) three others I'd recommend are... "No More Buddha, Only Football" Chris England - a fan's month-long experience in Japan at the 2002 world cup, while working for a cheap radio station who wouldn't even pay for proper press accreditation (talksport). "Life at the Tip" Merv Grist - the book of the old When Saturday Comes column "Les Bence's Manager Notes", a kind of Adrian Mole from the depths of the Multivite Vegeburger/Singleton's Valve Replacement League. "A Season With Verona" Tim Parks. An Englishman living in Verona, and a Verona fan, takes the plunge and follows them home and away for a whole season. A good insight into the Ultra culture and Italian culture in general. Depsite Ultras featuring heavily, it's not a hooligan book. As a general point I'd recommend not reading any hooligan books at all, or at least not without taking enough pinches of salt with it for people to make comparisons with the byproduct of a desalination plant.
Biographies/Autobiographies are interesting reads, at least from a player´s perspective. The most entertaining tend to be written on problematic characters like Rooney, Gascoigne, Maradona, (Brazilian) Ronaldo, Cantona. [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Keane-Autobiography-Roy/dp/0141009810/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1254169966&sr=1-1"]Amazon.com: Keane: The Autobiography (9780141009810): Roy Keane, Eamon Dunphy: Books[/ame] Roy Keane´s stirred the most controversy since he went into detail chronicling his personal vendettas for over a decade. Future edditions were edited to avoid a possible lawsuit after his foul against Haaland that ended the player´s career.
I haven't read too many of those, but I thought Brilliant Orange and Football in the Sun and Shadow are both really well-written books, apart from being good football books. Brilliant Orange is more analytical and Football in the Sun and Shadow is very poetic. The Miracle of Castel di Sangro was meh to me...the author interjected himself way too much into the story.
What are the best books written on foot I am really fascinated by books on the WWI era, especially with photos. More people talk about WW2, so I like to know more about things that arent discussed as often.What are some good books to read?
[Another excellent book if u happen to b an England or Tm. USA fan is "The Game Of Their Lives" (I can't recall the author name right now) regarding the USA's upset of the 3 Lions in the '50 WC. I'd have liked to seen a little more of Winterbottom's/England's POV in the book, but aside from that minor issue, it is a very informative window into a bygone age in football, IMO.]
Being of German decent I absolutely love Tor! By Uli Hesse (he recently shortened his last name so watch out if you are searching for it online). Now for everyone else, The Ball is Round was awesome, though over 1000 pages I think so not for the light hearted. Also, Fever Pitch by nick hornsby is more of an autobiography of an Arsenal fan- hilarious and very honest. Cheers!
Great call. The Miracle of Castel Di Sangro is my favorite football book. The writer is a great US crime writer who stumbled into football after the 1994 WC so he has a very different outlook. I expect to get Inverting the Pryamid very soon. Others: The Italian Job Vialli/Marcotti Brillant Orange Football in Sun and Shadow Futebol: The Brazilian Way of Life Football Against the Enemy, probably the best
Fever Pitch, The Inverted Pyramid, How Soccer Explains the World, The Ball is Round, Soccer in Sun and Shadow, Soccernomics, The Manager, Offside, Among the Thugs, The Damned Utd. Best anthology: The Global Game.