How Chuck Blazer got rich from – and sold out – the most powerful cabal in world sports  
by Mary Papenfuss & Teri Thompson
HarperCollins, £20
Reviewed by Alan Tomlinson
From WSC 353 July 2016

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Chuck Blazer: the Father Christmas lookalike whose weight had mushroomed to 450lbs by the time the FBI and the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) nobbled him on the Manhattan pavement outside his Trump Tower base in November 2011. This was just under a year after FIFA’s decision to award the next two World Cups to Russia and Qatar, and while a generation of FIFA powerbrokers and crooks was beginning to shatter the silence of a long-held code of omertà.

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The men who taught the world how to beat England at their own game
by Rory Smith
Simon & Schuster, £18.99
Reviewed by Andy Brassell
From WSC 353 July 2016

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Mister is the story of England’s (and its coaches’) role as a football missionary, spreading the gospel across the continent and beyond until the point when the pupils overtake the master – and keep going until the latter is a mere dot in the distance.

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Euro 96 and the last great British summer
by Paul Rees
Aurum, £18.99
Reviewed by Si Hawkins
From WSC 353 July 2016

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There’s something oddly masochistic about our ongoing desire to wallow, at length, in massive disappointments. This book may well be one too, for those attracted by the title: 311 pages long, its Euro 96 coverage ends on page 189, which may come as a surprise. But then When We Were Lions isn’t strictly a football book.

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Dave Lockwood has been at The Valley for 24 years but wants rid of Roland Duchatelet

19 July ~ Charlton Athletic’s long-time matchday announcer has stepped down from his role and will now join fans’ protests against club owner Roland Duchatelet. Dave Lockwood, who has been on the mic at The Valley for 24 years, released a statement to the South London Press yesterday in which he said: “It isn’t Charlton anymore is it? Not our Charlton. For 24 seasons I have had the privilege of being the announcer, maybe the voice of the Valley? But I can take no more. When a statement on the website accuses fans of wanting failure.”

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August issue available online and in stores

The new WSC is out now, available in all good newsagents or to order from the WSC shop.

– England exit in confusion
– Marvellous month for Wales
– Portugal: teamwork triumphs
– From Bilic to Shearer: TV analysed
– Views from Lille and Marseille
– Taking on Europe in 1973

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