Desert Island Books: 89 books

Urban neighbours Celtic and Rangers are known throughout British football as The Old Firm, but for Ipswich Town and Norwich City its more a case of The Old Farm. Separated by 40 miles of arable fields and woodland, the Canaries and the Tractor Boys have been doing battle for more than 100 years, just...

After years of flirting dangerously with demotion, in 2010 the unthinkable happened to Grimsby Town. After 99 years of membership, the club tumbled through the dreaded trap door and out of the Football League. It was a major shock for a club with a proud history and traditions. The Mariners are one...

Who can break the Old Firm monopoly? That was Scottish footballs recurring cry throughout the 1920s. For over a quarter of a century, since 1904, either Celtic or Rangers had lifted the Scottish League Championship. By 1931, Rangers were determined to win their sixth title in a row, and so equal Celtic,...

Luton Town may have dropped through the trap door in May 2009, exiting the Football League for the first time in 89 years, but this was no ordinary demotion. Mismanagement and financial distress led to unprecedented points penalties, which saw the club plunge like a broken elevator. Back in 2005-06 they...

Giant-killers and gallant underdogs are the lifeblood of British football. Rarely, however, does a rank outsider actually win one of the big prizes. But in the 1961-62 season Ipswich Town achieved the 'impossible' and lifted the Football League Championship trophy at the first attempt. A more unlikely...

Seasons in the Sun tells the story of Swansea Citys rapid climb from the Fourth to the First Division, and in particular the 1981-82 and 1982-83 seasons when the club faced, and in many cases beat, Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and the other top teams of the day. It also depicts in great detail...

Since 1992 Colchester United have risen from the obscurity of Non-League football to the upper echelons of the Championship, a feat that shocked its own supporters, never mind the football world at large. Season after season the pundits have made the Us certainties for relegation, but time and again...

1876. Custer was slaughtered at the Little Big Horn, Mark Twain wrote Tom Sawyer, Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone and Essex County Cricket Club was born. Although Essex produced famous cricketers, it did not produce a famous team. By 1978 the county had won nothing, a fate aggravated by...

Thirty years separated Carlisle Uniteds brightest days from its darkest. In 2004 the club were demoted from the Football League and banished (temporarily) to the wilderness of the Conference. In 1974-75, however, Carlisle were playing in the biggest League of all. Alan Ashmans players posted some famous...

It might be hard to imagine now, but in the mid-to-late 1960s Coventry City boasted the biggest crowds of any Midlands club - bigger than those at Villa, Wolves, Albion, and Birmingham. The reason for this explosion of support was simple - Jimmy Hill. The 'bearded wonder' steamed into Highfield Road...

If everyone loves an underdog, then Northampton Towns footballers must have been cult heroes of the mid-1960s, when they reached The Promised Land of Division One. Unless that is, you played for Manchester United, Liverpool or Chelsea, and suddenly had to slum it at the County Ground. The likes of...

In the 1920s Huddersfield Town were the premier club in England. During that decade they became the first club to win the League Championship three times in a row. TThe story of Huddersfields success is a footballing fairy tale, for just before they won their first championship they had been on the brink...

This is the story of one of the most eventful and successful periods in Bristol Rovers' long history. The Bert Tann Era began early in 1948, when the former Charlton Athletic reserve, the son of a ship's painter, joined the club as chief coach, and lasted until the summer of 1972, when he died in office...

Supporting Stoke City FC is never dull. Fans emotions are tested with increasing frequency at both ends of the spectrum. Since 1970, Stoke have won several promotions, graced Wembley, qualified for European competition, and acquired a swanky new ground. Conversely, they have suffered relegations, Cup...