My life in red
by Ronnie Whelan
Simon & Schuster, £18.99
Reviewed by Stephen Adams
From WSC 302 April 2012
Ronnie Whelan played for Liverpool in an era that has already passed into legend. The players, managers, trophies and the style with which they were won have all been celebrated by those who witnessed and contributed to the point where there is not really much left to tell.
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
"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.
My autobiography
by Chris Sutton with Mark Guidi
Black & White, £18.99
Reviewed by Jonathan O'Brien
From WSC 302 April 2012
No one who remembers Chris Sutton needlessly humiliating David Tanner of Sky Sports during one of Celtic's on-pitch title celebrations in the early 2000s – "Chris, just what is it that has made Celtic champions this year?" "We got more points than anyone else" – would describe him as an easy character to like. If Sutton has never come across an amiable type, that is because he has never made the slightest attempt to present himself that way.
One city, two teams…
the Old Firm
by Richard Wilson
Canongate, £16.99
Reviewed by Graham McColl
From WSC 301 March 2012
Robust, solid and relentlessly serious, this foursquare introduction to the Old Firm reflects the grim nature of the ongoing struggle for temporary footballing supremacy in Glasgow that obsesses the followers of both clubs. It is almost flawless factually, although many of its tales will be as familiar to Scottish football supporters as their own front door and there appears to be only one fresh interview with a manager or player who has tasted the rivalry.
50 years of trials and triumph with football’s
also-rans
by Tim Quelch
XPublisher, £14.99
Reviewed by Nick Miller
From WSC 301 March 2012
Part memoir, part collection of anecdotes and – perhaps slightly surprisingly – part modern history, Underdog! is a collection of stories about when the improbable occurs in football. There are the obvious tales, such as Wimbledon winning the 1988 FA Cup, along with more obscure stories, like the Northampton Town side that reached Division One in the mid-1960s.