Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 10, 2014 16:11:54 GMT
Any good football books you can recommend? Inverting the Pyramid, A History of Football Tactics by Jonathan Wilson is an excellent, entertaining and informative read described by When Saturday Comes as "not a dry work of analysis, but a wide ranging and entertaining account of the evolution of football tactics around the world from the original 1-2-7 line-up favoured by England in 1872 to the 4-3-3 of José Mourinho’s Chelsea." www.wsc.co.uk/reviews/63-General/1075-inverting-the-pyramidThe most recent book i read was The Nowhere Men by award-winning sportswriter Michael Calvin about the life of a scout. It was quite a revealing look at a part of the game we hear very little about and was a decent read. Well worth a look. thetwounfortunates.com/book-review-the-nowhere-men/ |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 10, 2014 16:32:27 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jun 10, 2014 16:53:27 GMT
That is one i've wanted to read for a while, but never got round to getting a copy, thanks for the reminder darlo! |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 10, 2014 17:01:42 GMT
Two books I'd love to read are Valeri Lobanovskiy's 'The Methodological Basis of the Development of Training Models' and Rinus Michels 'Teambuilding: The Road to Success'. It's virtually impossible to source either book*, but i will get a copy one day. The insight from two legends like that will be fascinating to read. *Or it was the last time i looked. Michels' now on amazon. Happy days.  |
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irishrover
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Post by irishrover on Jun 10, 2014 20:45:02 GMT
Not sure there's all that much good football stuff out there. Compared with Cricket I find Football has not generated the same range of interesting books. Having said that Inverting the Pyramid is excellent I agree because Wilson can make tactics sound fun as he's an excellent writer. Others that spring to mind are;
Hunter Davies - 'The Glory Game' from the late 60s. This is the book that just destroyed any notion of a golden age where players were morally pure and decent. It was the first modern 'lift the lid' on the dressing room book. It's still the best that did this. If you kind find any of his other stuff then I recommend that too. No football writer understands fans more than Davies.
Colin Irwin - 'Sing When you're Winning'. From about 10 years ago. An anarchic romp round British fan culture. Fun stuff with some real gems in there celebrating a culture that is beginning to die out I fear - we feature in it several times.
David Goldblatt - 'The Ball is Round'. This is the ultimate cultural history of football. Massive but well written and worth it. Explains why we are where we are and is particularly good on the development of the game outside of Europe which is often ignored.
Oh and subscribe to the Jonathan Wilson edited 'The Blizzard'. Quarterly journal featuring the best modern football writers. As good as it gets in my view (and the cricket equivalent 'the Nightwatchmen'. Intelligent, in depth well written and researched articles. A pleasure to read. I steal them off my mate who subscribes whenever I get the chance though actually it's quite reasonably priced for what you get.
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Swedish Gas
Bob Lee
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Post by Swedish Gas on Jun 12, 2014 11:30:05 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jun 12, 2014 12:02:23 GMT
Tor!: The Story of German Football by Ulrich Hesse-Lichtenberger; a cracking read and pretty much does what it says on the tin.
Grobar by James Moor; about his experiences watching Serbian football and especially the Eternal Derby. Very interesting.
A Life To Short: The Tragedy of Robert Enke - Ronald Reng; one of the hardest books I've ever read, I wouldn't even call it a football book. One about depression and the struggles it brings. Heartbreaking.
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