THE SCOTTISH LEAGUE CUP: 75 YEARS FROM 1946 to 2021 by David Potter

The Scottish League Cup is often wrongly described as the ‘Cinderella’ of Scottish football, as distinct from its two ugly sisters, the Scottish League and the Scottish Cup.

Dating from the Second World War, it is certainly the youngest.

The trophy is unusual, if not unique, in having three handles. It is a major part of the Scottish season and has been keenly contested for 75 years.

Sixteen teams have won the cup. Unsurprisingly, the big Glasgow clubs have won it the most, but Aberdeen, Hearts, Hibs and Dundee have also tasted glory. The trophy has also given the likes of Raith Rovers and Livingston their moments in the sun – and who could ignore the mighty deeds of East Fife, who won the cup three times in its first decade?

Rangers hold the record for Scottish League Cup wins, but Celtic’s victories have been more spectacular, not least their astonishing 7-1 triumph in the 1957 final.

This book pays homage to each one of the 75 seasons, with a detailed account of every final.

(Publisher: Pitch Publishing Ltd. February 2022. Hardcover: 288 pages)

THE DAMNED UTD by David Peace

In 1974 the brilliant and controversial Brian Clough made perhaps his most eccentric decision: he accepted the position of Leeds United manager. A successor to Don Revie, his bitter adversary, Clough was to last just 44 days.

In one of the most acclaimed British novels of recent years – subsequently made into a film starring Michael Sheen – David Peace takes us into the mind and thoughts of Ol’ Big ‘Ead himself and brings vividly to life one of football’s most complex and fascinating characters.

(Publisher: Faber & Faber. Main edition April 2007. Paperback: 368 pages)

A LIFE TOO SHORT: THE TRAGEDY OF ROBERT ENKE by Robert Reng

On 10 November 2009 the German national goalkeeper, Robert Enke, stepped in front of a passing train. He was thirty-two years old and a devoted husband and father.

Enke had played for a string of Europe’s top clubs, including Barcelona and Jose Mourinho’s Benfica and was destined to become his country’s first choice in goal for years to come. But beneath the veneer of success, Enke battled with crippling depression.

Award-winning writer Ronald Reng pieces together the puzzle of his friend’s life, shedding valuable light on the crushing pressures endured by professional sportsmen and on life at the top Clubs. At its heart, Enke’s tragedy is a universal story of a man struggling against his demons.

William Hill Sports Book of the Year winner 2011

Read our review here: Book Review: A Life Too Short – The Tragedy of Robert (footballbookreviews.com)

(Publisher: Yellow Jersey. Reprint edition – May 2012. Paperback: 400 pages)

FEVER PITCH by Nick Hornby

For many people watching football is mere entertainment, to some it’s more like a ritual; but to others, its highs and lows provide a narrative to life itself.

But, for Nick Hornby, his devotion to the game has provided one of few constants in a life where the meaningful things – like growing up, leaving home and forming relationships, both parental and romantic – have rarely been as simple or as uncomplicated as his love for Arsenal.

Brimming with wit and honesty, Fever Pitch, catches perfectly what it really means to be a football fan – and in doing so, what it means to be a man. It sits side by side with the very finest football classics of the last twenty five years, from The Damned United by David Peace to A Life Too Short by Ronald Reng, but it is ultimately a book that defies categorization and can be enjoyed by all.

William Hill Sports Book of the Year winner 1992.

Read our review here: Book Review: F (footballbookreviews.com)

(First published 1992. Publisher: Penguin Classics. August 2012. Paperback: 256 pages)

FOOTBALL’S BLACK PIONEERS: THE STORIES OF THE FIRST BLACK PLAYERS TO REPRESENT THE 92 LEAGUE CLUBS by David Gleave & Bill Hern

A new perspective on the lives, careers and experiences of ground-breaking black footballers in England. Ninety-two chapters tell the unique stories of the first black players to represent each of the Football League Clubs.

Four years of original research have not only identified these history makers but have also uncovered a wealth of fascinating and often eye-opening personal tales. This collection of rich and hugely varied stories spans the period from Arthur Wharton’s debut for Sheffield United in 1885 right up to the present day, covering over 130 years of social history.

They include personal interviews with many of the players – including Viv Anderson MBE, Chris Kamara, Tony Ford MBE, Neville Chamberlain and Roland Butcher – and family members of stars from the more distant past.

Football’s Black Pioneers features an incredible variety of emotive human stories and forgotten characters, together with a powerful theme of struggle against now-unthinkable attitudes, and the revelation of many unexpected historical facts.

Read our review here: Book Review: Football’ (footballbookreviews.com)

(Publisher: Conker Editions Ltd. August 2020. Paperback: 228 pages)

RISE TOGETHER: COVENTRY CITY UNDER MARK ROBINS by Adam Sloman

Rise Together: Coventry City Under Mark Robins examines the rebirth of Coventry City FC from 2017 to 2020.

Having sunk to the depths of English football’s lowest professional division, the Sky Blues were a million miles from the FA Cup-winning heyday of 1987 and the glitz and glamour of Premier League football.

After a decade of decline, a constant churn of managers, coaches and players, the arrival of Mark Robins for a second spell in charge would end all that.

Backed by a fanbase desperate for success, winning the 2017 Football League Trophy was just the beginning. Robins would mould Coventry City into a side capable of something few at the club had achieved before – success.

That first trophy at Wembley would be followed by two more – victory in the 2018 League Two play-off final, then the League One title in 2020.

With off-the-field issues continuing to dog the club, including a second move out of Coventry, the story of Rise Together is one that every football fan will appreciate.

(Publisher: Pitch Publishing Ltd. January 2022. Hardback: 224 pages)

TANGLED UP IN BLUE: THE RISE AND FALL OF RANGERS FC by Stephen O’Donnell

If the wider, football-conscious world is aware of just two things about Scottish football, they are surely as follows: firstly, that there is a virulent rivalry in Glasgow between the city’s two great teams, Rangers and Celtic, based on a religious divide; and secondly, that Rangers recently suffered a catastrophic financial collapse, which ultimately led to the club’s insolvency.

Split into two separate, but closely linked, sections, Tangled Up in Blue: The Rise and Fall of Rangers FC gives the full account of both of these stories.

Stephen O’Donnell explores how Rangers first became associated with hard-line Protestantism, dominating Scottish football for decades without ever knowingly signing a Catholic footballer, until the feted arrival of Maurice Johnston at Ibrox in 1989.

He then switches focus to the club’s financial affairs, as Rangers’ unsustainable spending brought the club to the brink of collapse and, despite the hidden benefits of an illegal tax avoidance scheme, resulted in its liquidation.

Read our review here: Book Review: Tang (footballbookreviews.com)

(Publisher: Pitch Publishing Ltd. August 2019. Paperback: 320 pages)

FERGUS McCANN VERSUS DAVID MURRAY: HOW CELTIC TURNED THE TABLES ON THEIR GLASGOW RIVALS by Stephen O’Donnell

Fergus McCann Versus David Murray charts the changing fortunes of Glasgow’s two great footballing rivals as shaped by two business moguls. Both men came to prominence in the 1990s when new methods of governance and finance were taking hold of football.

At the start of the decade, under Murray’s chairmanship, Rangers were the dominant force, and the club went on to win a record-equalling nine consecutive league titles. Their success, however, was built on an extravagant spending strategy, which caused a financial catastrophe.

Celtic, by contrast, were struggling in the early 1990s, thanks to a complacent and nepotistic board of directors. But McCann took charge of the club in 1994 and turned things around. The new owner left Parkhead having won the league, rebuilt the stadium and left his shares in the hands of supporters. It was Murray, however, who was lauded in the media throughout his tenure at Ibrox, while McCann was chastised. Ultimately, though, their legacies would be utterly different from those misleading media portrayals.

Read our review here: Book Review: Fergus McCann (footballbookreviews.com)

(Publisher: Pitch Publishing Ltd. July 2020. Paperback: 352 pages)

FROM TRUIMPH TO TRAGEDY: THE CHAPECOENSE STORY by Steven Bell

From Triumph to Tragedy is the glorious, uplifting but ultimately tragic story of Chapecoense, the small-town Brazilian football club that made worldwide news following their meteoric rise from non-league to continental sensation.

Yet the headlines that will be remembered centre on the air disaster en route to what should have been their greatest ever match. Less than ten years after the local mayor had intervened to save the club from liquidation, Associacao Chapecoense de Futebol had become champions of the Santa Catarina State Championship.

At the summit of the Brazilian national league structure, they also qualified sensationally for the final of the Copa Sul Americana. The team of rejects and journeymen became heroes not just in their own city, but also to the whole nation.

But the final was never to take place, as tragedy struck to render all those triumphant nights insignificant. Could the club now stage one more incredible recovery to allow Era Chape to continue, rather than to accept their fate as the tragic team beloved in fans’ memories?

Read our review here: Book Review: From (footballbookreviews.com)

(Publisher: Pitch Publishing Ltd. August 2019. Paperback: 224 pages)

CAN WE NOT KNOCK IT? A CELEBRATION OF 90s FOOTBALL by Chris Scull and Sid Lambert

Can We Not Knock It? is your ultimate guide to the most ground-breaking and downright insane period of football history.

Football in the 1990s was brilliant and bonkers in equal measure. And if you want to read anecdotes about all those goals that Alan Shearer scored, how good Zinedine Zidane was, or pontifications on David Beckham’s halfway line heroics, then this is absolutely not the retrospective for you.

Sid Lambert and Chris Scull celebrate the niche and the nonsense of this defining decade. Gary Lineker doing a poo in his shorts during a World Cup game; the unforgiveable length of David Seaman’s ponytail; Jack Charlton falling asleep in front of the Pope – these are mere footnotes in most modern histories, but within these pages they are cornerstones of 90s football culture.

And where else can you find chapters devoted to Sensible Soccer, Subbuteo, ClubCall, and the joy of Ceefax? Can We Not Knock It? is a nostalgia-fuelled tribute to a footballing era that refuses to be forgotten.

Read our review here: Book Review: Can We (footballbookreviews.com)

(Publisher: Conker Editions. October 2021. Paperback: 176 pages)