Football Soccer category: 2112 books

2016 will mark the 20th anniversary of the 1996 European Cup, hosted in England, when the national football team reached the semi-finals to be knocked out, on penalties, by Germany. It was also the end of a generation – these were the last footballers to be brought up on beer and sweat. In September...

Record Breakers: The Inside Story of Notts County's Momentous 1997/98 Title Triumph delves into the inner sanctum of a basement-league dressing room in the 90s, as its inhabitants attempt to write themselves into the history books. Led by future England boss Sam Allardyce, taking some of his first...

The History Boys celebrates 30 iconic goals and players in the illustrious history of Nottingham Forest. Featuring exclusive interviews and detailed career profiles, it delves deep into the club's defining moments, which echo down through history and resonate with each generation of Forest fans. Goals...

Ken Barnes was widely regarded as one of the finest footballers of his generation never to have won an England cap. During a distinguished playing career with Manchester City, Ken appeared in the FA Cup finals of 1955 and 1956 and later captained the club before retiring in the early 60s. He spent...

Sunday Times Sports Book of the Year 2015 Sometimes you love a football team not only for their strengths, the splendour of their play and the appealing thrust of their character, but also the haunting possibility that their best hopes may never be fulfilled. This has rarely been demonstrated...

The Brazilian football team is believed to have played its first official match in 1914 against English club side Exeter City, which they won 2-0. Their first full international was against Argentina the same year. Since then they have become the most successful international football team in history....

Long before the deaths of Wales manager Gary Speed and Germany goalkeeper Robert Enke shocked football, the Scottish game was forced to deal with a numbing death of its own over Christmas 1985. International full-back Erich Schaedler, aged 36, was found dead in a Borders beauty spot, with a shotgun...

Celtic is an unusual football club, inspiring strong feelings in almost everyone. It is of course virtually impossible to chronicle all that has happened in the history of the club, but this little gem draws together some of the most interesting, quirky, and downright odd events that have taken place...

Gordon Smith is one of football's all-time greats. As a player, he was world-class and in a glittering career, he won almost every honour available, played the game with passion and lived life to the full. From his early days playing in the backstreets of Montrose, Gordon Smith went on to become a...

In what sense can organized football fans be understood as political actors or participants in social movements? How do fan struggles link to wider social and political transformations? And what methodological dilemmas arise when researching fan activism? Fan Activism, Protest and Politics seeks ethnographic...

They were the Golden Years of Portsmouth Football Club. In 1948 the south coast club was celebrating its 50th anniversary and the then Chairman Vernon Stokes had a simple message for the team: 'Win the Championship for the Jubilee!' Under the astute guidance of manager Bob Jackson, 'Pompey' found the...

The Second World War was one of the most turbulent periods for British football. It was an era when clubs struggled to find men to fill their eleven threadbare shirts, players laid down their lives for their country in combat, and those who remained behind performed remarkable feats. Stoke Citys Tommy...

The first academic book to look at supporters’ reactions to the increase in the number of foreign players in the very clubs they support

Latics were founded as Pine Villa FC in 1895, but four years later rivals Oldham County folded and Villa moved to their stadium, the Athletics Ground, to become Oldham Athletic. A meteoric rise saw them elected to the Football League in 1907, quickly promoted and runners-up in the First Division in...