(Part 2) Top products from r/soccer

I posted this in the past to the same question:

Well there's a massive picture book type thing called A Photographic History of English Football which should be recommended more often than it is. It's one of those Guinness Book of Records sized books that might have trouble fitting on a shelf but it covers every aspect of the history of the English game (and thus the history of football itself). The pictures are extremely good too, especially the ones from the 1900s.

For a more in-depth study of football across the world, Simon Kuper's Football Against the Enemy is definitely one of my favourites though it's a little outdated now. However, Kuper travels round Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas interviewing key personnel in some of the bigger Clubs in the area and tells their history. His chapter on Dynamo Kiev and their Cold War era function as a funnel between East and West is worth the price of the book alone in my opinion.

In terms of autobiographies, I have always recommended Sir Bobby Robson's Farewell but not Goodbye as he tells the story of his journey from working in a coal mine in North East England to playing for his country and eventually nurturing the talents of some of the most important people in football now on and off the pitch. Most of all his personality shines through and the man is a hero to me and many others.

If you want a more technical autobiography then Rinus Michel's Teambuilding is the go to standard. Not strictly an autobiography and more a technical book but he intersperses it with his own experiences and you really get the feeling of how the greatest coach in the history of the game came to believe the things that he did.

If you like quirky but thought provoking books then Football and Chess might pique your interest. I'm a great believer in the vast similarities between chess and football on a tactical level and the author shared the same sentiment. Not the best written book in the world but it's gets your noggin ticking over and makes you reassess your ideas on the game which is always the best thing a book can really do for you.
Also as a fan of Italian football and culture, Gianluca Vialli/Marcotti's book The Italian Job is one of my favourite football books ever and extremely thought provoking on the differences in the football cultures in England and Italy and how both can learn from each other.

On the psychological side, I've recently read Inside the Mind of a Manager which was interesting. I can't say that I agreed with all of the conclusions and think the quotes were a little cherry picked but it's a good read for people who want to know more about what the modern manager actually does for a living and the people interviewed for the book are some of the best maangers alive today.

Lastly, if you really want to look at the business side of the game and how it is changing then I would recommend Ferran Soriano's book GOAL! The Ball doesn't go in by chance. Soriano is Man City's current CEO and former Barca CEO so he's certainly been there and done it on the business front and many of his ideas ion that book are beginning to be realised now. He recently did a lecture about it which skimmed over the ideas but the book delves into it deeper and tells stories from his time at Barca.
If you want more of a narrative and less of a business lecture then former Crystal Palace Chairman Simon Jordan's book, Be Careful What You Wish For is an excellent read. Be aware that Jordan is obviously bitter about his time at Palace and tries to settle some old scores here but outside of that it's a semi interesting look at his time at the Club and the problems he faced in implementing his business strategies.

Inverting the Pyramid - Jonathan Wilson
A pioneering book that chronicles the evolution of soccer tactics and the lives of the itinerant coaching geniuses who have spread their distinctive styles across the globe.

Teambuilding: the road to success - Rinus Michels
The late Rinus Michels, FIFA's Coach of the Century, offers his unique insight into the process of "teambuilding".

The Coaching Philosophies of Louis Van Gaal and the Ajax Coaches - Henny Kormelink and Tjeu Seeverens
Louis van Gaal, Frans Hoek, Co Adriaanse and fitness coach Bobby Haarms discuss their training methods and philosophies in this book full of creative ideas for soccer coaches at any level.

Dutch Soccer Secrets - Peter Hyballa & Hans-Dieter te Poel
This book is a first attempt to present expert knowledge of internationally proven useful and effective Dutch soccer coaching in theory and practice, based on qualitative data collection.

Attacking Soccer: a tactical analysis - Massimo Lucchesi
This book examines match strategies for creating goal scoring opportunities out of various systems of play.

Outliers: The Story of Success - Malcolm Gladwell
Gladwell takes us on an intellectual journey through the world of "outliers"--the best and the brightest, the most famous and the most successful. He asks the question: what makes high-achievers different?

The Numbers Game: Why Everything You Know About Soccer Is Wrong - Chris Anderson, David Sally
Innovation is coming to soccer, and at the centre of it all are the numbers—a way of thinking about the game that ignores the obvious in favour of how things actually are.

Football Against the Enemy - Simon Kuper
Kuper travelled to 22 countries from South Africa to Italy, from Russia to the USA, to examine the way football has shaped them.

Provided you don't kiss me by Duncan Hamilton - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Provided-You-Dont-Kiss-Me/dp/0007247117

Duncan Hamilton is a Nottingham based journalist who had to put up with Brian Clough for over 20 years and for any Cloughy fans this is probably the best biographical book you could read. It covers the beginning, the exceptional cup wins, the saddening alcohol addiction that eventually brought everything crashing down and everything in between.

Not many people have read this book but it really is brilliant.

Other than that; Bobby Robsons book is a must read and for a football autobiography it is very well written.

One more that is slightly controversial i'm sure but Robbie Savages book is actually very entertaining. He's a complete prat but very honest and offers great insight to what it was like to be at United when Becks, Giggs, Scholes, Neville, Butt etc were teenagers.

Futebol: The Brazilian way of Life - really good compilation of articles covering the history of Brazilian football and the penetration of football into various aspects of Brazilian life. The brilliance, madness, personalities and passion are all here, accompanied by sound research and reflection. Very good.

Passovotchka- the tale of Dynamo Moscow's trip to play friendly matches in the UK in 1945. Really interesting story and as much about the east west culture clash in post-WWII as the football story. Fascinating and funny with it.

The Miracle of Castel Di Sangro - the story of one of the most unlikely teams to ever grace the upper echelons of Italian football. This is a great story and a good insight into everyday Italian football life, but the author (a somewhat presumptive American) intrudes a bit too much, to its detriment.

I'm not much of an autobiography reader but one of the few I have read is Tony Cascarino's, and that was excellent. Brutally honest, and one of the first football books that let us see how the stars of the game wrestle with their own demons.

This is not a story. The history and foundations of this club are a fact. You can continue to act ignorant and arrogant about it, but what I've just said is historical truth. If you want to read more about it,

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Manchester-Football-History-Gary-James/dp/0955812704

Second thing is, is it a community club today? Yes. I come from a working class Mancunian background, and yes it definitely does have strong ties to the community. I won't have some North American tell me otherwise.

The most important thing is that there's thousands of clubs in this country, and over a hundred football league clubs. Even if we were to accept that the top 4-5 clubs in this country no longer is a part of the community or that the culture of these clubs is irrelevant and just a marketing trick, they would still form the massive exception to the rule.

Bobby Robson's autobiography. I was recommended it on /r/soccer a few months ago and it acted as a great starting point. It doesn't take much effort to read and gives you a very clear idea on the life of a Manager whilst also telling his vibrant story including growing up in the North East, playing, getting called up for England, his tour of Europe's best, managing England and how it ended at Newcastle.


Also Paul Lake's Autobiography [I'm Not Really Here)(http://www.amazon.co.uk/Not-Really-Here-Paul-Lake/dp/0099553252). Very compelling, details his career as a promising future England captain until struck by a recurring injury. Definitely made me think twice about the lives of the players themselves and caused one or two man tears near the end. A classic tragedy story.

this book can get dry at times, but it’s still a great read. Has a big section on Superga. I’d recommend it to anyone looking to learn a bit more about Serie A, some real interesting stories in there.

Eduardo Galeano - Soccer in Sun and Shadow

not tactics or anything, just love, passion, and great writing.

This is excellent: Duncan Hamilton - Provided You Don't Kiss Me

Hamilton wrote for the Nottingham Evening Post when Clough managed Forest and it covers the whole tenure. It's a fascinating read.

There's also David Peace - The Damned United which was made into a film. It's written as a novel but provides a good insight into what happened with Clough at Leeds, as well as beforehand at Hartlepool, Derby and Brighton.

I assume it is The Damned United which the movie was based on?

You might also enjoy Walking on Water, Clough The Autobiography and I personally look forward to this, Nobody Ever Says Thank You.

> Any suggestions of other soccer related books is appreciated as well.

Would highly recommend Fever Pitch, Miracle of Castel di Sangro, Inverting the Pyramid, Brilliant Orange and Behind the Curtains.

I'm reading Teambuilding by Rinus Michels, the father of total football. I'm not a coach but I though it'd be fun to get a peek into Michels' approach, given his influence and the rise of total football-influenced styles (like Barca's tiki-taka). I'm nearly finished, I can give you some examples of the book's content if you want. It's pretty in-depth.

Having just read this book, and learned about Guardiola, his attitude, intelligence and the changes he made to that team to make them such a success, I have absolutely no doubt whatsoever that Bayern will be very close to retaining every competition they won last season, including the Champions League.

Sir Bobby Robson's autobiography.

An absolute must read for any football fan. Hilarious, insightful and at times quite sombre. Great look into the life of a legend.

It's superb. His other book, Behind the Curtain, (about football in Eastern Europe) is also very worth reading. And while I'm at it, a mention for The Blizzard.

(I promise I'm not Jonathan Wilson)

[edit to fix formatting]

Interesting.

It looks like the ranking compared to how the teams did in their respective leagues strongly supports the main conclusion of the people who wrote "Soccernomics": the greatest predictor of how a team will do, is how much they are spending on wages.

There are some overachivers (Man Utd, Tottenham in the EPL) and some underachivers (Liverpool seems to stand out for the EPL, and obviously Man City given that they are using in excess of 25% more than Man Utd), but it mostly seems to be a really close correlation.

Why do you need fiction? The truth (non-fiction) is far stranger and far more dramatic than fiction could ever be. That is: the true stories would never be believable as fiction. But they really happened.

One of the best books you'll ever read about the sport is Soccer/Football in Sun and Shadow by Eduardo Galeano.

It may be called 'Soccer in ...' or 'Football in ...' depending on where you live in the world, but it doesn't matter.

Read this book. It will change how you think about the game. And will certainly change how you write, and how you evaluate writing about the game.

As for fiction. I don't know. Try Mark Twain. Or Dickens ...

I remember reading about this during breakfast, I bawled my eyes out. Robert Enke was a true jewel for Hannover. His personality was so... just simply beautiful.
His Biography is actually one of the saddest, and most interesting books I have read. Here is the link

Calcio if you're interested in Italian football.

A season with Verona about an Englishman who lives in Verona and talks about his adventures following them.

Football, Fascism and Fandom: The UltraS of Italian Football
if you're interested in the darker side of the Ultras in Italian football (and mainly Rome).

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Barca-Making-Greatest-Team-World/dp/0956497152/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1372787895&sr=1-1&keywords=barcelona This is pretty interesting.

There's a whole book that covers this and other nefarious involvement in football called The Fix by Declan Hill. I haven't read it in years but I really enjoyed it.

I strongly recommend reading Paul Tomkins' Pay as You Play:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pay-As-You-Play-Success/dp/0955925339/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1318780912&sr=8-1

Hmm the only thing off the top of my head that would compare to 11 Rings would probably be "Teambuilding: the road to success" by Rinus Michels. http://www.amazon.com/Teambuilding-road-success-Rinus-Michels/dp/1890946737

Suggest you make this a very worthwhile purchase. It'll help prevent you from sounding completely out of touch again in future.

Was in the book Soccernomics. IIRC his stats said he was tackling less often which contributed to Fergie selling him, but his tackles decreased because the team as a whole had improved meaning he was needed less often.

Read this book "Soccernomics" for a great ELI5 on the issue.
http://www.amazon.com/Soccernomics-England-Germany-Australia-Destined/dp/1568584814

Not exactly an autobiography, but A Life Too Short about Robert Enke was a very interesting read to me.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Futebol-Brazilian-Life-Alex-Bellos/dp/0747561796

Futebol, by Alex Bellos. Loved this book (a bit of insight into Brazilian football).

Football Ramble’s book is good:

The Football Ramble https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1780896344/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_yC8PAbHPVAFX4

And The Damned United. The film was very good, but the book is even better:

The Damned Utd https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0571224334/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_4D8PAb2RTMV73

If being top 4 means buying titles/referees, then yes.

Source: https://www.amazon.com/Calcio-History-Football-John-Foot/dp/0007175752/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1468754206&sr=1-2&keywords=calcio+italian+football

'Provided You Don't Kiss Me: 20 Years with Brian Clough' by Duncan Hamilton is a brilliant read.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Provided-You-Dont-Kiss-Me/dp/0007247117/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377697375&sr=8-1&keywords=provided+you+don%27t+kiss+me+20+years+with+brian+clough

I remember a good start to the season DVD!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Everton-Off-flyer-DVD-Fc/dp/B000F7M6NM

Yeah, I read about how they are everywhere in this:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Futebol-The-Brazilian-Way-Life/dp/0747561796

Includes the story of a Brazilian guy who ends up in the Faroes playing in their league while working part-time in a fish factory. He married a local gal.

A lot of players get stitched up by agents because they are blinded by the promise of a better life. This is also happening with african footballers who are brought over thinking they will be the next Drogba and end up stuck in europe living illegally and too ashamed to come home.

Either The Damned United, as someone mentioned previously, or Barca: The Making of the Greatest Team in the World

I suggest you read Soccernomics. I'd never advise you to download a pirated pdf version online, so don't do that. I'm sorry for the lame reply, it's 03:17am and I'm almost asleep. But you should find interesting answers to your question there.

Basically: people who used stats proved to be more effective (winning more) than those who didn't. Kind of how Moneyball did in American baseball.

Read my other comment. Don't be gullible; just because you don't know it doesn't mean it doesn't happen. Read "The Fix" for further info.

Don't know about you lads, but I'm looking forward to Off to a Flyer 2 - Everton Boogaloo

Singer and guitar player: http://amzn.com/B00000ADLG

Alexi Lalas Ginger

A fairytale ending not even acclaimed author steve bruce could write.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Life-Too-Short-Tragedy-Robert/dp/0224091654

Futebol: The Brazilian Way of Life By Alex Bellos and Soccer in Sun and Shadow by Eduaro Galeano

[You should read this book]
(https://www.amazon.co.uk/Miracle-Castel-Sangro-Joe-McGinniss/dp/075152753X)

Here' one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Striker-Steve-Barnes-Bruce/dp/1841990116

Steve Barnes is his pseudonym.

Inverting the Pyramid

Soccernomics

Fever Pitch

Alex Ferguson

I am the secret footballer

The numbers game

Miracle of Castel di Sangro

Football Against the Enemy

This, I think.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Barca-Making-Greatest-Team-World/dp/0956497152

The Damned United. About Brian Clough's 44 day reign of Leeds. Also if you haven't seen it watch the film. Michael Sheen absolutely nails Clough.

I guess that's just his opinion of the team. Jonathan Wilson is a very knowledgeable journalist with a special interest in Eastern European football, so he wouldn't be rubbishing them out of spite or ignorance.

May not be totally football since it's a biography but I highly recommend "A Life Too Short: The Tragedy of Robert Enke - Ronald Reng".
A real tear jerker.

Everyone in this thread should go buy and read The Fix by Declan Hill. It's a great book (I'm only half-way through it), but he talks about corruption in soccer and how it relates and functions like organized crime.

Asia is by far the worst and is one of the most corrupt areas with many matches fixed and leagues in the dumps now. Yes, there are mentions of Italy, but like people in this thread talk about, your naive to think it's the only area this happens. It's huge in the former Yugoslavia-nations of Russia, Ukraine, etc.

History has shown that the same activities take place in England, in some cases, involving the biggest teams (ie. Man United, Liverpool, etc). Very likely not recently, but the author mentions ties in the past that big England teams were involved in so it's not rare to exclude them from the discussion.

Note: Reading this book will MESS up your mind. You'll never look at football the same again. Once you know every small way a game can be thrown (which the author discusses), and you can recognize odd patterns that are normally present in matches that are fixed (author analyzed statistics), you will definitely be affected. You've been warned.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Everton-Off-flyer-DVD-Fc/dp/B000F7M6NM

The hell is this?

You're right. I shouldn't have worded it that way so I've added a little correction. I remember reading, here I think, that the game was the first time that a lot of people saw the tension manifested as a massive act of collective violence. One thing let to another and boom big war.

If that's wrong, I bow to your superior knowledge.