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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George Best at Hibs
by John Neil Munro
Birlinn, £9.99
Reviewed by Graham McColl
From WSC 289 March 2011

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Scottish club football began the 1970s in the cigar-toting strata of European football, but by the end of the decade it was doing the equivalent of rummaging around looking for fag-ends. Hibernian, whose hugely progressive Turnbull's Tornadoes side had jousted with the likes of Sporting Lisbon and Liverpool early that decade, were chief among the Scottish game's derelicts by the closing weeks of 1979. The Edinburgh club was in an abject state and heading for relegation.

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The Autobiography of the First Black Icon of British Football
by Cyrille Regis
Andre Deutsch, £18.99
Reviewed by Neville Hadsley
From WSC 288 February 2011

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Football autobiographies are often a bit of a tease, promising to let fans of particular clubs behind the scenes, in exchange for a wad of cash. This effort from Cyrille Regis, ghost-written by Chris Green, attempts to confound that cliche and reach instead for redemption.

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The Autobiography
by Rick Holden
DB Publishing, £16.99
Reviewed by Dan Turner
From WSC 288 February 2011

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A touchline-hugging, slaloming winger of the old school, Rick Holden brought a swagger to the teams he played for and a left peg capable of laser-guided crosses. Fans also loved his unusual reputation as both a footballing intellectual and all-purpose off-field loon. Read his autobiography and you'll quickly realise that this image is entirely based on fact.

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How Henry's Hand Exposed FIFA's Failings
by Eugene and Siobhan Gibney
Brandon/Mount Eagle, £10.99
Reviewed by Paul Doyle
From WSC 288 February 2011

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It is tempting to declare that this book is what Metallica were growling about in their song The Thing That Should Not Be. But that would be harsh, as it does appear to have served at least one purpose – the father-and-daughter combo who authored it assert, after 144 pages of disjointed lamentation, that "for us this has been part of the process of healing and acceptance" following Ireland's failure to reach the World Cup after Thierry Henry's handball. For readers, alas, it inflicts new pain.

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