Football's Strangest Matches

Author: Andrew Ward
Publisher: Portico
ISBN: 1911042289
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 275

Book Description
‘It’s a funny old game.’ The world’s favourite sport has certainly given us its fair share of strange moments, and this absorbing collection gathers together the best of them, from more than a century of the beautiful game. From Blackburn Rovers’ one-man team to Wilfred Minter’s seven-goal haul in which he still ended up on the losing side, here are goals and gaffes galore drawn from all levels of the footballing world, whether high-profile internationals or the lowest tiers of domestic football. The stories in this book are bizarre, fascinating, hilarious, and, most importantly, true. Revised, redesigned and updated for a new generation of football fanatics, this book is the perfect gift for the soccer obsessive in your life. Word count: 45,000 words

Football's Strangest Matches

Author: Andrew Ward
Publisher: Robson
ISBN: 9781861052926
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 260

Book Description
In this fascinating collection of true stories taken from more than 100 years of soccer history, Andrew ward has gathered together the most extrordinary happenings ever to befall a soccer field. They include stories about the game spectators couldn't see: the game that lasted four days; the games between the strikers and the police in 1926 and between Eton College and the unemployed boys; the games of three halves; the game decided by a hypnotist; and the one in which the same player scored all four goals--two for each side. A delight for all soccer fans, this is also a unique look at the more curious moments of the beautiful sport.

Football Nation

Author: Andrew Ward
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1408803526
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 468

Book Description
Football is at the heart of British national identity, intrinsically linked to our social history. Through more than forty fascinating stories Football Nation reveals the hidden and not-so-hidden history of the game since 1945. From the mass audiences of austerity Britain and the introduction of floodlights at Accrington Stanley in the 1950s, through the escalating hooliganism of the 1970s and the arrival of the first all-seater stadium at Coventry in the 1980s, to the Hillsborough disaster and the coming of the Premiership, Andrew Ward and John Williams reveal the truth about the national game as it was once and is today in the age of satellite TV, celebrity lifestyle and extreme wealth. Looking back at the days when footballers were amateurs who travelled to the match with the fans, right through to the present day where top-flight players command a higher weekly wage than the average spectator can earn in a year, Football Nation is informed, wryly amusing, often surprising and always vastly entertaining. It offers an entirely fresh perspective on the history of the beautiful game in Britain.

The Times 50 Greatest Football Matches

Author: Richard Whitehead
Publisher: The History Press
ISBN: 0750991151
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 216

Book Description
From the earliest FA Cup finals in the 1870s between teams of former public schoolboys to the glittering world of 21st-century Champions League matches contested by squads of millionaires, The Times has been at pitchside to write the history of football as it has happened. It is story of great matches: Hungary's historic victory over England at Wembley in 1953, Manchester United's triumph over Benfica in the 1968 European Cup final, Brazil's thrashing of Italy in the 1970 World Cup final, Liverpool's remarkable recovery to win the Champions League in Istanbul in 2005. It is a story of dazzling individual performances: Stanley Matthews finally winning an FA Cup winners' medal at Wembley in 1953, Bobby Moore giving a masterclass in the art of defending for England against Brazil in the 1970 World Cup, Cristiano Ronaldo's virtuoso performance as Real Madrid won the 2017 Champions League. It is a story of national highs and lows, from Wembley in 1966 when England ruled the world after defeating West Germany to the humiliation of losing to Iceland in the 2016 European Championship. But above all it is a story of great players, great managers and great personalities in a sport that grips the attention of the world like no other.

City of Sheffield

Author:
Publisher: PediaPress
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 419

Book Description

Who Invented the Stepover?

Author: Paul Simpson
Publisher: Profile Books
ISBN: 1847658423
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 289

Book Description
Have you ever wondered who invented the 4-4-2 formation? Why footballers used to celebrate success by releasing a platitudinous pop single? And who has really scored the most goals in the history of the game? You can find the answers to all these questions and more in a book which takes the time to consider the debt the stepover may owe to Dutch speed skaters, explores the most surprising world transfer record and celebrates the most dysfunctional World Cup campaign ever. Through a series of answers to puzzling and perennial questions, the book sheds unexpected light on the beautiful game, challenging conventional wisdom, discovering neglected heroes and destroying a few urban myths along the way.

The Life and Times of Herbert Chapman

Author: Patrick Barclay
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
ISBN: 0297868519
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 349

Book Description
The definitive story of the father of modern football, Herbert Chapman. Herbert Chapman, the boss of the all-conquering Arsenal team of the 1930s, was the father of modern football management. A relative journeyman as a player, he moved into the dugout aged 29 with Northampton Town, before building a multiple-title-winning team with Huddersfield in the 1920s. It was at Arsenal, however, where Chapman would leave an indelible mark on the landscape of football. Patrick Barclay's poignant and detailed biography weaves Chapman's story into the momentous times through which he lived, including the tragedy of the First World War, the subsequent Depression and the rise of fascism. Deeply influential on Arsenal successors such as George Graham and Arsène Wenger, he also pioneered changes in the game's scenery and tactical approaches. As Sir Matt Busby later remarked, Herbert Chapman changed the game of football.

Foul!

Author: Andrew Jennings
Publisher: HarperSport
ISBN: 9780007208708
Category : Soccer
Languages : en
Pages : 386

Book Description
Andrew Jennings, the investigative sports reporter, spent four years delving into the dark side of 'the beautiful game'. The result is this expose of football's world governing body FIFA - a story of racketeering, bribe-taking, election-rigging, illicit trading, and dirty tricks."

The New Psychology of Sport and Exercise

Author: S Alexander Haslam
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 1529738393
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 643

Book Description
′The Roger Federer, the Steffi Graf, the Usain Bolt of all books about the psychology of sport, packed with insight and wisdom’ - Brian Viner, Sports writer and author of Pelé, Ali, Lillee, and Me This is the first textbook to explore and explain the contribution of social groups and social identity to all aspects of sports and exercise — from leadership, motivation and communication to mental health, teamwork, and fan behaviour. In the context of increasing recognition of the importance of group processes for athletic performance, engagement in exercise and the business of sport, this book offers a new way of understanding, researching and practicing sport and exercise psychology Written by an international team of researchers at the cutting edge of efforts to apply social identity principles to the world of sport and exercise, this will be an essential resource for students, teachers and practitioners who are keen to be at the forefront of thinking and practice.

Playing for Uncle Sam

Author: David Tossell
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 178057472X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 286

Book Description
A coach transported to the field in a hearse as he played dead. An English manager taken at gunpoint to an Argentinian jail after trying to sign that country's World Cup captain. The hero of 1966 who talked his team out of going on strike on the eve of a title decider. All are part of the British professionals' story of life in the North American Soccer League (NASL) in the 1970s and early '80s, when star turn and unsung journeyman alike had the chance to play alongside Pelé, Cruyff, Beckenbauer and Eusebio in the greatest galaxy of world stars ever assembled in one league. Playing for Uncle Sam recalls the British players and coaches who were part of an organisation that changed the face of football with its shoot-outs, offside rule and wacky marketing methods. It began with Stoke City and Wolverhampton Wanderers spending a bizarre summer posing as the Cleveland Stokers and Los Angeles Wolves in 1967. The late '70s saw the NASL, run by a former Welsh international, reach its peak, drawing crowds of 70,000 and featuring names like Banks, Moore, Hurst and Ball. Rodney Marsh pitched his tent in America by declaring famously that English football had become a grey game, while George Best used the NASL as an escape from the fishbowl of his life in Britain. Typically, the pair delighted and exasperated teammates and coaches in equal measure. Through approximately 60 interviews with members of the British contingent who accepted the offer of the Yankee dollar, Playing for Uncle Sam recalls one of the most fascinating episodes in football history: the remarkable rise and chaotic collapse of the NASL.