DIVIDED CITIES: THE WORLD’S MOST PASSIONATE SINGLE CITY DERBIES by Kevin Pogorzelski

Rivalry is everywhere in football, from battles on the pitch to boardroom politics, regional and national quarrels and fights for silverware. These conflicts spark countless debates over which are the ‘biggest’ and ‘best’ fixtures in the global game, but those involving teams from the same city are especially intense, both on and off the pitch.

Divided Cities is a game by game account of the good, bad, indifferent but always eventful experiences of journeying to 11 of the world’s most prominent same-city derbies. Along the way, Kevin Pogorzelski explores some of the most wonderful cities on Earth, delving into the rich histories of clubs and meeting the people who live and breathe the local football culture. Pogorzelski does not try to glorify the violence or animosity between ultra groups but stumbles into some tricky situations.

Have you ever thought about embarking on your own football pilgrimage? Then this book is for you.

(Publisher: Pitch Publishing Ltd. March 2023. Paperback: 320 pages)

 

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1992: THE BIRTH OF MODERN FOOTBALL by Rob Fletcher

1992: The Birth of Modern Football brings to life the key events from one of the most important years in football history.

After the huge success of Italia ’90 and the potential to show football around the world on TV, law makers, chairmen and players ushered in monumental changes to the structure of the game.

Everyone remembers the first year of the Premier League but changes to the backpass rule and the arrival of the newly branded Champions League would have a seismic effect on football.

On the pitch, Italian clubs spent huge sums as they bolstered their squads for success at home and abroad. In England, Leeds and Manchester United were battling at the top of the league for the final season in the First Division. That sliding-doors moment really did have a huge impact on Alex Ferguson’s men. To add to the growing changes, the revolution was televised.

1992: The Birth of Modern Football transports you back to the year that changed football forever.

(Publisher: Pitch Publishing Ltd. March 2023. Paperback: 256 pages)

 

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WALSALL’S GREATEST: TONY RICHARDS AND THE SADDLERS’ GLORY YEARS by Gary Richards

At the end of the 1953/54 season, Walsall Football Club finished bottom of the Third Division South and applied for re-election to the Football League for a third successive year. Five months later, manager Frank Buckley offered 20-year-old Tony Richards a four week trial.

This is the story of how Richards and his team-mates changed Walsall from a music hall joke into a team challenging for a place in the top tier of English football. In three seasons the club went from playing a Fourth Division league match in front of 2,366 people at Gateshead to facing Liverpool in front of an Anfield crowd of 42,229 in the Second Division.

Including testimony from Walsall players Keith Ball, Ray Wiggin, Trevor Foster, Stan Bennett and Nick Atthey, Walsall’s Greatest is a detailed account of the Saddlers’ Glory Years and the impact of the man voted by the club’s supporters as Walsall’s greatest ever player.

(Publisher: ToneRedDays. April 2022. Paperback: 255 pages)

 

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INSIDE DIEGO: HOW THE BEST FOOTBALLER IN THE WORLD BECAME THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME by Fernando Signorini, Luciano Wernicke & Fernando Molina

The inside story of football superstar, Diego Maradona – from the person in football who knew him best.

As Diego Maradona’s personal trainer, Fernando Signorini spent more than a decade at the superstar’s side, witnessing a dizzying array of highs and lows, from helping Diego recuperate from a broken ankle in 1983 to his dramatic exit from the 1994 World Cup after a failed drugs test.

Signorini offers a unique perspective on the troubled legend, giving us the lowdown not only on Diego’s evolution as an athlete, but on Diego the human being, a far cry from the character we saw on TV screens. He brings us the inside track on Maradona’s preparation for three World Cups: Mexico 86, Italia 90 and USA 94. We also get an insider view on his battles with fame, drugs and extramarital paternity, plus his time in charge of the Argentine national team.

Brimming with incredible stories and anecdotes, Inside Diego is an intensely personal rollercoaster account of a flawed football genius.

(Publisher: Pitch Publishing Ltd. January 2023. Paperback: 272 pages)

 

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SCOTLAND 42 ENGLAND 1: AN ENGLISHMAN’S MAZY DRIBBLE THROUGH SCOTTISH FOOTBALL by Mark Winter

Scotland 42 England 1 is an English OAP’s light-hearted and affectionate look at Scottish football.

Growing up in the 60s when ‘abroad isn’t for the likes of us’ was a common refrain, Mark Winter developed a fascination with Scotland and its football clubs, his interest piqued by listening to the football results in compulsory silence as his grandad’s pools coupon was checked.

The process provoked many questions in the mind of the impressionable eight-year-old. Why had Third Lanark, apparently out of pure spite, won and stopped his grandad becoming a rich man? If East Fife was a town, why wasn’t it on a map? When playing those cunning continentals, why did Scottish teams suddenly become British when they won?

Fifty years later, Mark decides to visit all 42 league clubs north of Hadrian’s Wall to separate the myths from the facts. Setting off from Dover each time, invariably he is met by a warm welcome, a hot pie and a strong drink. Along the way he has to climb the odd mountain. What he expects and what he finds are quite different.

(Publisher: Pitch Publishing Ltd. January 2023. Paperback: 320 pages)

 

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FORGOTTEN FOOTBALL CLUBS: FIFTY TEAMS ACROSS THE WORLD, GONE BUT NEVER FORGOTTEN by Philip O’Rourke

The fascinating stories of fifty lost football clubs from around the world, including their history, their successes and their ultimate failures.

Football brings joy to people across the world, and it evokes memories and nostalgia about past glories and events. When a football club folds, these memories and nostalgic moments are often all that is left. Forgotten Football Clubs uncovers these very stories, from clubs founded in the 19th century to others lasting only a few years.

Author Philip O’Rourke interviews fans and experts from the teams’ respective countries to find out why they disappeared and how it happened. Along the way, he analyses their results, what honours they won and casts a spotlight on their key players, managers and any controversies.

Forgotten Football Clubs unearths a diverse range of tales, transporting us from Asia to South America and from Europe to Africa. With such an eclectic mix, these are stories for football fans young and old.

(Publisher: Pitch Publishing Ltd. February 2023. Hardcover: 352 pages)

 

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PANTOMIME HERO: MEMORIES OF THE MAN WHO LIFTED LEEDS UNITED AFTER BRIAN CLOUGH (FOOTBALL SHORTS) by Ian Ridley

Jimmy Armfield was one of the great figures of English football – captain of the national team before Bobby Moore, member of the 1966 World Cup-winning squad, one-club man with Blackpool.

Gentleman Jim went on to enjoy a wonderfully rich life and career as a manager with Leeds United, before becoming a broadcaster of warmth and insight, then consultant with the Football Association and the Professional Footballers’ Association.

In Pantomime Hero, award-winning football writer and author Ian Ridley tells the remarkable tale of when Armfield took over at Leeds after Brian Clough’s ill-fated 44 days and came up with a novel and unique idea to restore the morale of a club in turmoil.

Around that amazing tale, Ridley also describes a friendship forged through the bonds of cancer with a giant of a man who was already long established as a national footballing treasure at the time of his death in January 2018.

This is the first book in the innovative Football Shorts series.

(Publisher: Football Shorts. January 2023. Paperback: 160 pages)

 

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WE PAID TO PLAY: REFLECTIONS OF PLAYING FOOTBALL AT SCHOOL AND IN LOCAL LEAGUES by Kenneth McLauchlan

We Paid to Play by Kenneth McLauchlan is an interesting and educated read about the history of English and international football. McLauchlan discusses football from its beginning to current times and from grass roots football to international standard football, across all countries.

With discussion about experts involved in the game from the early days such as Rous and Pentland, the book gives an interesting insight into the world of football. Racism and hooliganism in football are touched upon too – a subject being discussed at the moment in the media.

We Paid to Play is a fascinating read, written by someone who has a clear love of football at all levels. It is an ideal read for anyone even remotely interested in football – everyone will learn something new.

 

(Publisher: Olympia Publishers. June 2022. Paperback: 194 pages)

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THE BOY WHO SAVED BILLY BREMNER by Nicholas Dean

Coventry. 1973. The first day of the school summer holidays. Phillip Knott is 14, a superb natural swimmer and a die-hard Leeds United fan. Phillip has entered a competition in his favourite comic which, incredibly, leads to him receiving a short letter from his all-time favourite footballer and Leeds legend, Billy Bremner. After he is dumped by his girlfriend in favour of an older boy, Phillip writes back to Billy for advice, and gradually an unlikely pen pal friendship develops between the pair, which helps Phillip navigate his difficult home life on a neglected council estate on the outskirts of the city.

Phillip’s dad is a lorry driver, involved in some shady deals and frequently unable to control his temper at home, while his mum is losing her battles with him and with her depression. Philip does his best to protect his younger brother from the arguments and violence and to keep his older sister from shopping his dad and walking out.

The only things that keep Phillip going are his swimming and his letters from Billy, and as Leeds United stretch their unbeaten run from the start of the season to twenty nine games, and Phillip gets to try out for the best swimming team in the city, the pressure on both boy and footballer mounts. But in their unlikely friendship they both find unexpected support and wisdom.

If you loved Spangles but hated your paper round then this is the novel for you. A funny, kind and moving novel which evokes its setting and era with detail and warmth.

 

(Publisher: Independently published. July 2022. Paperback: 532 pages)

 

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