Book reviews

Memories of Matt Busby, Jimmy Murphy and Manchester United
by Keith Dewhurst
Yellow Jersey Press, £8.99
Reviewed by Joyce Woolridge
From WSC 302 April 2012

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"It seems almost incredible that the best team in Europe, and one of most thrilling in history, was run by two elderly men who had theories, put players together accordingly and then more or less let them get on with it." Those two elderly men were Matt Busby and his assistant Jimmy Murphy, the hero of Keith Dewhurst's masterly memoir of a partnership that began in a stuffy Nissen hut at the Army Recreation Centre in Bari in the summer of 1945.

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From Hitler Youth to FA Cup Legend
by Catrine Clay
Yellow Jersey, £16.99
Reviewed by Mike Ticher
From WSC 279 May 2010

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Bert Trautmann was born in the worst possible year for a 20th century German, 1923. At ten he was eligible for the Hitler Youth just as the Nazis came to power. At 17 he was ready for war. Most of his contemporaries did not make it to 25, let alone quiet retirement in Spain.

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The Story
by David Redshaw
Troubador Publishing, £9.99
Reviewed by James Calder
From WSC 289 March 2011

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Admirable though it is, David Redshaw's history of the club he has been following since the late 1980s is not without its flaws. The organiser of a sizeable band of Malaga-supporting foreigners known as the Guiri Army, the ex-pat fan has trawled a variety of sources to piece together a history of football in the city, from the first match in Easter 1904 through to Malaga CF's final game of 2008-09.

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Manchester United 1972-1977
by Sean Egan
Cherry Red Books, £17.99
Reviewed by Joyce Woolridge
From WSC 290 April 2011

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"We wanted a gentleman as well as a good football manager," pronounced Manchester United chairman Louis Edwards on appointing Dave Sexton, simultaneously delivering a hefty backhanded swipe at the previous incumbent, Tommy Docherty. In this heavyweight volume (literally – it runs to 578 closely packed pages with appendices of player biographies and statistical tables), Sean Egan provides more than ample evidence for the case for and against Edwards's verdict on the United manager who has probably divided opinions most sharply, both during his time at the helm and since.

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Up Close with the Giants of the Modern Game
by Simon Kuper
Simon & Schuster, £16.99
Reviewed by Jonathan O'Brien
From WSC 295 September 2011

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Though it shares a near-identical title with John Giles's recent memoir, The Football Men is several galaxies removed from the pockmarked pitches, pitiful wage packets and gnarled enforcers of that book. The world upon which it gazes is one of big names, bigger contracts, jawdropping skill, lucrative endorsements, expensive sunglasses and public tantrums.

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