Search: ' football literature'

With the release of two new Alex Ferguson biographies, Barney Ronay assesses the need for more literature on the prolific manager

For those with an interest in documenting the career of English football’s reigning managerial titan, the last few weeks will no doubt go down as another moment of headline significance, and for one or two, of happy synchronicity. The Rooney episode coincided with the publication of two major new Ferguson biographies, Frank Worrell’s Walking in a Fergie Wonderland and Patrick Barclay’s Football – Bloody Hell!, the latter, with its attendant heavy flow of plug-related activities, the more high profile.

Read more…

A biography in nine lives
by Kevin McCarra
Faber & Faber, £16.99
Reviewed by Mark Poole 
From WSC 304 June 2012

Buy this book

Most club histories are too dry. Anything but the longest book can only scrape the surface of over a century in the life of an institution that means so much to so many people. Presumably that problem inspired the format of Kevin McCarra’s biography of Celtic. Choosing to structure the book around the lives of eight key men in Celtic’s history – and the relatively unheralded Flax Flaherty – lets him examine the soul of a club that he describes, in the first line of his introduction, as like no other.

It is a line that would irritate most fans of other Scottish teams, but it is one he immediately justifies in his description of the remarkable mass-migration of fans to Seville for the UEFA Cup final in 2003. McCarra is not shy to praise Celtic where he sees fit: the 1967 European Cup victory, Seville, and Fergus McCann and Martin O’Neill re-establishing the club as Rangers’ equals off and on the pitch. He is equally clear about his opinions on fans who romanticise the IRA or wallow in persecution complexes. Perhaps his absence from Scotland helps him discuss Scottish football objectively without worrying about how his opinions will be received.

The “nine lives” structure lends the book more depth than the majority of club histories, but McCarra does not let that restrict him from going beyond each of his subjects to cover other ground. The result, particularly in the early chapters, is like the pleasant reminiscences of a benevolent grandfather.

Among other things, the Jock Stein chapter is a reminder of how limited Celtic’s resources were when they won the European Cup in 1967. Has any other club ever paraded that trophy on a lorry they have borrowed from a builder? The McCann chapter reads like an extended love letter to the man who enabled Celtic to realise their potential. Great anecdotes and facts are scattered throughout.

In spite of the structure, McCarra seems to feel obliged to provide a full history of the club. This can be a slight disappointment at times, particularly in the chapter on Flaherty, the newspaper seller who was also Jock Stein’s best friend. Flaherty brought the players their papers each day and his relationship with the club was so close that he regularly accom- panied the club secretary, Irene McDonald, to pick up the players’ wages from the bank. This relationship reflects a time, particularly in Glasgow, when clubs were tied closely to their local communities. The prospect of this chapter was intriguing, but it left Flaherty behind and moved on far too soon.

The book is not perfect, but it comes far closer than most to capturing the essence of the club. As a supplementary book for those already well served with Celtic literature, it is worth a look. For those starting out on their Celtic library, it is a must-buy. Mark Poole

Buy this book

How Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club and its fans united to build a stadium
by Paul Hodson & Stephen North
Stripe Publishing, £15.99
Reviewed by Drew Whitworth
From WSC 302 April 2012

Buy this book

We Want Falmer! is a sequel to the authors' earlier Build a Bonfire, from 1997. Their first book is a collection of testimonies from Brighton & Hove Albion players, staff and fans, recounting the fight to depose chairman Bill Archer and save the club from relegation to the Conference. At the time, Brighton were 91st in the League and playing at Gillingham to crowds under 2,000. They now sit in the upper half of the Championship and crowds at the new American Express Community Stadium (Amex) have averaged over 20,000.

Read more…

A German’s view of our beautiful game
by Raphael Honigstein
Yellow Jersey, £11.99
Reviewed by Mike Ticher
From WSC 274 December 2009 

Buy this book

Psychoanalysing national character is “a murky business”, says Raphael Honigstein, a German journalist who has lived in England since 1993. It certainly is, especially when your picture of the nation is a caricature. An unflattering view from an outsider is often unsettling. It can also be refreshing and challenging, but only if the insights are original. Honigstein has absorbed a lot about English football through direct experience and its literature (he leans heavily on David Winner and David Downing), but most of his conclusions seem to me exaggerated, too broad or half-truths, at best.

Read more…

Josh Widdicombe watches a remade film about football fighting

“London – The Eighties” the caption reads at the start of The Firm, and it is with brushstrokes this broad that Nick Love goes on to paint his latest picture of violence in days of yore. If coverage of the recent fighting at West Ham has taught us anything it’s that there are still a lot of people that find football hooliganism quite the turn on. Combine this with a yearning nostalgia for the Eighties that can surely only be shared by Norman Tebbit and T’Pau and you have The Firm.

Read more…