Best Football Book?

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19/12/2006, 3:35 PM
Jaime

Quote:

Originally Posted by WeAreRovers

Bring it back and swap it for Calcio. Your dad already knows more about Italian football and Italian culture than Agnew will ever know. How a man can spend 20 years in a country and completely miss the point is beyond me. Then again he's a Milanista.... :rolleyes:
KOH

By all means havbe a pop, but it's not really a football book written for football anoraks though is it? Is the title even trying to be? Not really. More of a flippant blog, and the bloke's trade, after all, is foreign freelance correspondent, not football writer. His 5 minute slot on Champions League Tuesday/Wednesday mornings on Dunphy's old show used to be a lesson to Dunphy in something he's totally ignorant of (Italian football in general), which he'd happily repeat that night on RTE (who as we all know like to employ pantomime characters in place of football analysts).

And anyway, how exactly to you expect a mainstream IT journo to treat a subject such as knife-wielding Romanisti merde? :ball:
19/12/2006, 3:48 PM
Partizan

My 3 fav of all time in my preferential order.

1. The Miracle of Castel di Sangro by Joe McGinnis.
2. Football Against the Enemy by Simon Kuper.
3. A Season with Verona by Tim Parkes.

The Miracle of Castel di Sangro, best footy book I ever read. ****es on anything by Dunphy or the Premier**** drivel that is currently in stock.
19/12/2006, 3:53 PM
wws

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dodge

Took pride of place in your old living room too.

That was just to make me appear learned.

Or is that learn-ed.
19/12/2006, 3:53 PM
MyTown

Impressed that at least 2 of my fellow GUFC die hards are naming Eamon Sweeney's book as their #1. It is in keeping with the very civil excahnges bwtween ourselves and the Sligo supporters in recent times. No doubt we'll all revert to type once hostilities resume in March.

While I can relate to 'There's only One Red Army' (as posted by Saigon), I just didn't enjoy it as much as Dunphy's 'Only a Game' and Horby's 'Fever Pitch'. Heard great things about Gary Imlach's book & will probably press the book token into service if one comes down my chimney.
19/12/2006, 3:53 PM
Larry 'da' Wyse

1. Puskas on Puskas (signed :)
2. Brilliant Orange
3. White Storm - spells Madrid as Madird all though the final chapter
4. Barca: a peoples passion
5. Tor!
6. Football behind the curtain (not sure if correct title but some great info on Commie football)

Still to read 'Who stole our game' but looks good. Never got the one by Billy Bagster or the Rod de Khors bewk yet.
19/12/2006, 3:53 PM
RogerMilla

the tim parks book was a great read , he knows his stuff and brought in the political and cultural element, i would highly recommend it. I am going to buy tony cas's book again as i gave away my copy , a cracking warts and all look at his life. obviously i would encourage everyone to buy paul mcgraths book !
19/12/2006, 4:00 PM
Ash

Quote:

Originally Posted by Larry 'da' Wyse

Never got the one by Billy Bagster or the Rod de Khors bewk yet.

Tut tut ;)

Tadgh Carey is currently writing a book on the history of Athlone Town FC
from 1921-1928 and Kevin O'Neill is working on a book about St Mels Park.

Good reads, in no particular order

1. A Season With Verona
2. Football Against The Enemy
3. Theres Only One Red Army
4. Pointless
5. Strings Of My Harp
6. Baghdad FC

Currently in the middle of
- Who Stole Our Game
- Stamping Grounds
- We Are Rovers
- Whats The Story

I got McGraths book for Christmas so its still unopened under the Christmas tree :)
19/12/2006, 4:16 PM
JW.

None of them would compare to the rare wit of your website's old match reports Ash!
19/12/2006, 4:19 PM
red bellied

They Think Its All Over a seasons review of Sligo Rovers 94-95. Great read all together, deadly photographs. Its done like a magazine, any Rovers fans remember it.
19/12/2006, 4:50 PM
Sandro

My favourite book is definitly Stadi d'Italia, if only because I wrote it :) . More seriously, Paolo Di Canio's biography is simply a cult to me.
19/12/2006, 4:53 PM
Sandro

I was in Ireland last week, in Dublin I got in at Eason looking for books about Irish clubs but I couldn't find any. I know there are some, maybe they are on sale only at club shops or locally? Does anybody know if the LOI annual will ever appear again?
19/12/2006, 4:54 PM
Billy Lord

Agnew's wilful ignorance of - for example - the circumstances surrounding the abandoned Rome derby summed it up for me. He doesn't understand, and doesn't want to understand, hardcore football fans, and treats anyone who doesn't suck sweets in Monte Mario with contempt. He was full of the same garbage on Leagues Apart. In the book he also shows a very provincial attitude towards the city of Rome and its people. He's basically a calcio Kevin Myers.

My favourites:
A Season With Verona
The Red Army Years
Brian Glanville's The Story of The World Cup
19/12/2006, 5:30 PM
holidaysong

My Favs:

A history of Dundalk FC.
Stamping Grounds.
19/12/2006, 5:36 PM
1 9 2 8

Quote:

Originally Posted by red bellied

They Think Its All Over a seasons review of Sligo Rovers 94-95. Great read all together, deadly photographs. Its done like a magazine, any Rovers fans remember it.

Yeah I've a copy of it. It's a pity we don't put out one like that every season
19/12/2006, 6:07 PM
GuisaSaigon

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sandro

I was in Ireland last week, in Dublin I got in at Eason looking for books about Irish clubs but I couldn't find any. I know there are some, maybe they are on sale only at club shops or locally? Does anybody know if the LOI annual will ever appear again?

we are rovers is available here http://www.amazon.co.uk/We-Are-Rover...e=UTF8&s=books
Who stole our game herehttp://www.amazon.co.uk/Who-Stole-Ga...745287-3523918 one red army here http://www.amazon.co.uk/Theres-Only-...e=UTF8&s=books
Eason in Galway had a few copies of who stole our game a few days ago but they didnt have much else
Di Canio's book was a good one alright , great Tiramisu recipe too !
19/12/2006, 6:26 PM
SeanDrog

One of my fav Irish soccer books is A history of Dundalk FC., even though its another clu, it is excellently written, some amount of detail - fully recommend it
19/12/2006, 6:33 PM
R�iteoir

Stamping Grounds (about one man's travels from London to follow Liechtenstein in a recent qualification campaign)

Who Stole Our Game (the new one on the League of Ireland) - working through that atm - pretty good so far

Tor! (History of German football)

Cascarino's book

plus some others
19/12/2006, 11:39 PM
floatinghoop

Only a Game was a terrific book, I remember our manager made us read it as kids in case any of us got ideas about football being a glamourous business. (Which was rather optimistic on his part, none of us were near good enough...)

Goalkeepers are Different is another I remember enjoying as a kid.
20/12/2006, 12:43 AM
Sheridan

Imlach's books is probably the most mature meditation on the game I've ever read, I had no idea he was capable of such profundity and approached the book with few expectations. He avoids the hyperbole and specious correlations between football and life which so many authors espouse.

Tor! is a great primer on German football (despite writing in what is obviously his second language, Lichtenberger displays a mastery of English which is beyond most Irish journalists.) Stamping Grounds is very enjoyable too, if a trifle twee. Jonathan Wilson's Behind the Iron Curtain is a startling insight into the corruption of Eastern European football, and Simon Kuper's Ajax, The Dutch, The War is still worth a read.
20/12/2006, 12:49 AM
stann

Quote:

Originally Posted by Galway Harps

The miracle of Castel di Sangro was pretty good, as was the strings of my Harps by Patsy McGowan. The latter gets very bitter towards the end though.

Towards the end!!!! :eek: :D

Only One Red Army is the best LOI / eL / Superduperleague book I think, though Singing The Blues by Brian Kennedy that's just out is very good too, may be slightly partisan with that one mind you.

McGrath's book is great, but not a feel good read. Quinn's one is very enjoyable, and has the best line, the one along the lines of "not every player would give their lives for the green shirt, we know that now".

Cascarino's book is the best autobiog (or ghost written, whatever) bar none, though Dunphy's is almost up there too.

I've just got Hand of God by Jimmy Burns about Maradona but haven't started it yet. Am encouraged by the preface about him sending solicitors letters to anyone who contributed to it though, bodes well. :D

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