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2022 William Hill Sports Book of the Year Longlist

The longlist for the 34th William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award has been revealed. A record 158 books were entered into this year’s Award, featuring a diverse mix of authors from across a wide range of sports including, tennis, football, athletics, golf, rugby and cycling.

Following a rigorous judging process from a panel including The Athletics’ Nancy Frostick, sports presenter Matt Williams and William Hill’s Neil Foggin, 15 authors have been selected for this year’s longlist.

The 15-book longlist features an array of topics including hard-hitting autobiographies and heart-breaking memories, along with harrowing accounts of racism and sexism in sport and never-been-heard before encounters of some of the most compelling figures within the sporting industry.

With the Lionesses winning the UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 in July and the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 taking place at the end of the year, it’s no surprise that topics around football dominates this year’s longlist, with eight books making the list. Cycling provides three titles, with athletics, golf, rugby union and tennis represented each with a single title.

Three female authors made the cut with retired track and field athlete Anyika Onuora, The Guardian’s football writer Suzanne Wrack, and former Irish international footballer Clare Shine are in the running for the Award. The story of female athlete Beryl Burton, who dominated the world of cycling, also features in the longlist.

Former sports stars, and first-time authors, Patrice Evra and Steve Thompson have also made the list for the Award which has a £30,000 cash prize for the winner.

The William Hill Sports Book of the Year 2022 Longlist:

Be Good, Love Brian: Growing Up with Brian Clough by Craig Bromfield (Football)

The Master: The Brilliant Career of Roger Federer by Christopher Clarey (Tennis)

1999: Manchester United, the Treble and All That by Matt Dickinson (Football)

Le Fric: Family, Power and Money: The Business of the Tour de France by Alex Duff (Cycling)

I Love This Game by Patrice Evra (Football)

England Football: The Biography: 1872-2022 by Paul Hayward (Football)

God is Dead: The Rise and Fall of Frank Vandenbroucke, Cycling’s Great Wasted Talent by Andy McGrath (Cycling)

My Hidden Race by Anyika Onuora (Athletics)

Scoring Goals in the Dark by Clare Shine with Gareth Maher (Football)

Phil: The Rip-Roaring (and Unauthorised) Biography of Golf’s Most Colourful Superstar by Alan Shipnuck (Golf)

Expected Goals: The Story of how Data Conquered Football and Changed the Game Forever by Rory Smith (Football)

Unforgettable: Rugby, Dementia and the Fight of My Life by Steve Thompson (Rugby Union)

Beryl: In Search of Britain’s Greatest Athlete, Beryl Burton by Jeremy Wilson (Cycling)

Two Brothers: The Life and Times of Bobby and Jackie Charlton by Jonathan Wilson (Football)

A Woman’s Game: The Rise, Fall and Rise Again of Women’s Football by Suzanne Wrack (Football)

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Book Review – In the Heat of the Midday Sun: The Indelible Story of the 1986 World Cup by Steven Scragg

In the Introduction to In the Heat of the Midday Sun, Steven Scragg puts forward, a theory “that you’re chemically wired to your first World Cups.”

My first memories are as an eight-year old when on holiday in Torquay during the summer of 1970 and the World Cup in Mexico. I don’t recall the games as such and all my memories centre on the England v West Germany Quarter-Final and the infamous 3-2 loss. To my eyes and ears all the shops and hotels seemed awash with England squad pictures and Union Jack flags in their windows and the sound of ‘Back Home’ the England World Cup song ever present. I was still two years from attending my first ever game ‘live’ but remember everyone in the hotel we were staying at crowding round the television and the resulting disappointment as World Cup holders, England exited the competition despite leading 2-0 at one point.

Given that for me my first real World Cup was the one held in West Germany in 1974. A tournament of just 16 teams, with four groups of four, with the top two progressing to a further mini-league each containing four teams, with the winners of each meeting in the Final. Memories that are still so clear in my mind include the huge thunderstorms that affected a number of games, a meeting between East and West Germany, Scotland not losing a game but exiting on goal-difference, the beauty and brutality of the Netherlands 2-0 win over Brazil, the birth of the Cruyff turn in the game against Sweden, and the bitter disappointment that the Dutch didn’t lift the newly designed trophy.

And on that basis for me, as Scragg’s theory suggests, those 1970 and 1974 burn more brightly and more special, even taking into account England’s Semi-Final appearances in Italia ’90 and Russia in 2018.

For Scragg, whilst he admits that 1982 is his favourite World Cup, he sees 1986 in Mexico “in his mind as the last great World Cup” and in the books Introduction, he cites his reasons why each of the tournaments since 1998 “has lost a little bit more of its shine”. With Qatar 2022 on the horizon Scragg opines, “I’m not sure that FIFA will ever fully recover its composure.” Only time will tell.

The reality is that the World Cup in 1986 wasn’t supposed to be held in Mexico and Chapter One, details how in typical murky FIFA tradition, Colombia was chosen as the host country for the thirteenth staging of the competition. With Columbia withdrawing in 1982 unable to finance the hosting, a shortlist was drawn up involving Mexico, the USA and Canada (who in 2026 will joint-host the tournament). With more sleight of hand from FIFA, Mexico landed the prize becoming the first country to host two World Cups.

One of the great things about Scragg’s excellent books to date (A Tournament Frozen in Time: The Wonderful Randomness of the European Cup Winners’ Cup, Where the Cool Kids Hung Out: The Chic Years of the UEFA Cup and The Undisputed Champions of Europe: How the Gods of Football Became European Royalty) is that that never run in an orthodox, simple timeline approach, with his research and ability to look from a different angle making them engaging for the reader.

So within In the Heat of the Midday Sun, before he gets down to the business of the 1986 tournament, he takes readers on a wonderful aside as he describes the joy (with all the enthusiasm of the 12 year old Scragg was back in 1986) of looking at a completed Panini sticker album. These albums have been a staple for football fans since their first outing in 1970 and many of us have uncompleted versions from our childhood World Cups (this reader included!).

This is followed by a third chapter, The Hand of God, where Scragg makes the interesting point that to fully appreciate the 1986 World Cup, the infamous first goal from England’s defeat to Argentina has to be taken out of the equation. However, this is monumentally difficult because as the author observes, “it’s the defining image of the 1986 World Cup finals and it’s perhaps even the most distinguishing aspect of the entire history of the tournament stretching back to is very inception in 1930.” And we know that once the global audience is focused on Qatar later in 2022, the footage will once again be rolled out.

With these first three chapters out of the way, Scragg gets down to the tournament itself and takes an interesting path in the remaining fifteen. Rather than simply take it match-by-match as the games were played, he focuses on the teams as they were knocked out of the competition. In doing so, Scragg demonstrates his extensive research skills and tells the stories of all the participants, their path to qualification and their eventual exit from the tournament until Argentina are left as victors lifting the trophy for the second time, eight tears after first victory in their homeland.

Scragg is wonderfully able to conjure up the atmosphere of the time, such as the sweltering heat and the strange sounding commentary, always with a seemingly faraway echo, that accompanied the television images, but also some very specific things which take us back to watching certain games. From the England v Argentina Quarter-Final Scragg details the following, “a match was played out…on 22 June 1986, the midday sun blazing high in the sky, that spidery shadow lurking ominously in the centre circle.” Reading it I was instantly transferred back to watching the game at my local cricket club – a small well observed detail sparking that memory.

Ultimately this is a book which truly reflects Scragg’s joy and boyhood enthusiasm at watching the 1986 tournament and indeed comes across in every page. A tournament which despite the Hand of God goal, has a naivety and innocence that you sense won’t be felt in the 2022 version in Qatar.

(Publisher: Pitch Publishing Ltd. May 2022. Hardcover: 352 pages)

Buy the book here: Mexico 1986

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ITV7 by James Durose-Rayner

High-Flying sports media mogul and David Beckham doppelganger, Mr. Arsenal – otherwise known as Lee Janes, is back.

Following the production of his company’s documentaries on the former-Arsenal player Jon Sammels, England’s failed World Cup bid and Ramsey’s failings of 1970, and the deceit surrounding Munich 1958, his company had started to be taken very seriously and were awarded a six-month contract to give ITV a few hours a week.

However, things don’t always go to plan – not in his life, anyway.

Side-tracked by his home-life that includes a loving wife, a needy ex-wife, a miserable baby and a more miserable football team led by an even more miserable manager, he sees his team’s 2014/15 season mirroring both the 1958/59 season and the 1972/73 season – and he comes up with ‘Parallel’s – The throwing away of the Doubles.’

However, that doesn’t even scratch the surface of the story that is ITV 7.

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

(Publisher: New Generation Publishing. March 2017. Paperback: 544 pages)

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2021/22 WSL (FA Women’s Super League): Manchester United v Reading

This year sees the WSL (FA Women’s Super League) celebrate its tenth anniversary and whilst tradition dictates that tin should be given as a ten-year anniversary gift, symbolising strength and durability, a decade of persistence by the WSL has been duly rewarded with the biggest ever broadcast deal for the women’s game in England. It is a long time coming for a sport that has been in existence for over 120 years, but even those who have been in and around the game as recently as the last twenty years may not have been able to imagine the days of mainstream coverage of women’s top flight football. And whilst this new deal marks a pivotal moment in the game, everyone associated with the sport will be hoping it isn’t all just a flash in the pan. However, if last night’s opening fixture of the 2021/22 season between Manchester United and Reading was anything to go by, organisers will have nothing to worry about, after an entertaining, exciting and high-quality encounter between last season’s fourth- and seventh-placed finishers respectively.

Indeed, the first half-hour of last night’s match especially showcased the women’s game in all of its glory. From back to front, both teams were brimming with quality in what turned out to be a tight contest and it is clear that the women’s game has developed significantly, both technically and tactically. The emphasis on building from the back and the surety of the defenders was in full display, whilst there was a noticeable patience and composure to the build-up play that are all clear signs of the growth of the game in recent decades.

One of the strengths of the women’s game has always been a lack of histrionics and gamesmanship, and this too was showcased in the opening clash, with a game that saw plenty of meaty challenges but none of the playacting. It will be interesting to see whether any of this changes as the women’s game becomes more commercialised, but there was certainly no evidence of it last night. Even when Reading central defender Deanna Cooper took a thunderbolt of a strike flush in the face that drove to her the ground, she got up and continued without a murmur and no signs of the physios even entering the field.

Whilst comparisons will inevitably be made with the men’s game, the only thing notably lacking last night was the absence of technology, with two contentious issues that could have had an effect on the result. The first came at 1-0, when Reading’s Brooke Chaplen’s shot rebounded off the underside of the crossbar and looked very close to having crossed the goal-line. The speed at which it happened made an on-field decision virtually impossible, but it would have been an instantaneous determination by goal-line technology and could very well have seen the sides levelled up early in the second half. Just as the players brushed aside the tough tackles and challenges, however, there was no fuss or dispute from the Reading contingent, no crowding of the referee or berating of the lineswoman. Instead, the game continued, but Reading soon found themselves once again on the wrong end of a questionable verdict as there was a tight offside call in the build-up to the Reds’ second goal. Whilst fans of the Premier League have pulled their hair out with VAR in the last couple of seasons, its absence last night may have been telling on the result and highlights the ongoing discrepancies at the structural level in the men’s and women’s games.

It has to be said though that the officials themselves did a sterling job, allowing the match to flow in a way that reflected well on the women’s game and that encouraged a strong, competitive and fair contest. Indeed, whilst much of the spotlight will have been on the two well-worked United goals from Hanson and Batlle and Toone’s decisive role in each, for me it was the centre-backs in the shape of Reading’s Gemma Evans and United’s Maria Thorisdottir who epitomised the quality on show, with excellent one v one defending and some well-timed, robust challenges. Blundell at right back too, put in an impressive performance. The tempo and precision did wane in the final quarter of the match, with Reading especially looking slightly leggy, but overall this opening match was a hugely positive reflection of, and impressive advert for, the women’s game in the first showing of this new supercharged season. Long may it continue.

Jade Craddock

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2021/22 Premier League books (Part 3) – Saints to Wolves by Jade Craddock

With the new Premier League season just around the corner and a host of familiar and new players gracing the league, there’s plenty of stories to be written, metaphorically and literally. Here, we take a look at each club and pick an already published autobiography from a player of the Premier League era that’s worth a read and one from the current crop that would appeal.

Southampton

Past: Southampton go into 2021/22 in their tenth straight campaign in the Premier League. When the league kicked off in 1992, the Saints enjoyed twelve seasons at the top, but their thirteenth proved unlucky as they were relegated in 20^th place in 2005. Worse was yet to come as four seasons in the Championship ended in relegation to League One in 2009. But it was only a brief stay with Nigel Adkins steering the Saints back to the Championship in two seasons, with the help of Rickie Lambert’s goals, before a second consecutive promotion from the Championship back to the Premier League in 2011/12. As far as past players go, the Saints boast the likes of Gareth Bale, Sadio Mane and Virgil van Dijk, but there’s only really one man who’s synonymous with the South Coast side – Matt Le Tissier. Le Tissier spent all of his career at Southampton, having joined the youth set-up in 1985, eventually bidding St Mary’s farewell seventeen years later. He holds the accolade of the first midfielder to score 100 Premier League goals and was included in the 1994/95 PFA Team of the Year. His wittily titled Taking Le Tiss was published in 2009.

Present: The departure of Danny Ings to Villa this summer may have caught many out, and the Saints will be keen to hold on to their other star men as they head into the season, none more so than James Ward-Prowse, who, like Le Tissier, is currently a one-club man, racking up a decade in the senior team and almost twenty years at the club in total. He would make a very good case for a Southampton autobiography. Young guns like Kyle Walker Peters and Nathan Tella are ones to watch, while Che Adams has begun to make his mark. However, with his return to his boyhood club, initially on loan in 2020, before making the deal permanent, Theo Walcott’s journey would make for an interesting read. Although an autobiography was published in 2011, Theo: Growing Up Fast, the following decade has been as eventful as his early years and at thirty-two he’s well placed to look back on a career that started in earnest at just sixteen. Indeed, sixteen years in the Premier League is certainly something to write home about.

Tottenham Hotspur

Past: One of the Premier League mainstays, Tottenham’s lowest finish in the top flight came in 1993/94 when they ended up in fifteenth. The nineties and early 2000s saw them finish in and around mid-table, but by 2006 they had become regular top-half finishers and participants in Europe. Major trophies have largely eluded the North London side, with just the League Cup in 2008 to their name in recent times, although a Champions League final was on the cards in 2019, but they came unstuck in an all-English tie against Liverpool. New manager Nuno Espirito Santo, brought in this summer, has begun to ring the changes, but the football world’s eyes will be singularly on the future of Harry Kane. And he’s not the only iconic marksman that Spurs have had in the Premier League era, but, interestingly, neither Robbie Keane nor Jermain Defoe, to name but two, have published autobiographies yet, but with Defoe still banging in the goals for Rangers, there’s plenty of time for that. Similarly, perhaps Tottenham’s biggest ever superstar, or certainly their biggest ever money-earner, Gareth Bale hasn’t yet put pen to paper on his momentous career, but between Wales and Real Madrid, there’s still presumably lots to be written. In terms of those with autobiographies already published, both Luka Modric and Ledley King options are available, but there are few better reads out there across the entirety of the football book world than Peter Crouch’s How To Be A Footballer and I, Robot, both of which benefit from Crouch’s trademark humour. Better yet, a third book looks slated for release next year.

Present: As England captain and current Premier League Golden Boot holder, it is hard to look beyond Harry Kane for a future autobiography regardless of what the next couple of weeks bring. But as the transfer saga rumbles on, let’s turn our attention to other Spurs players. Eric Dier and Hugo Lloris have been Tottenham mainstays for seven and nine years respectively. Dier’s start offered a somewhat different route to a lot of England players, having begun his journey in Portugal with Sporting CP, before moving to England with Tottenham. Lloris, meanwhile, began in his native France with Nice and latterly Lyon but has spent the bulk of his career in the Premier League. As captain of France, he led Les Bleus to both the final at Euro 2016, eventually finishing runners-up, before going one better two years later at the World Cup in Russia, where France triumphed over Croatia. Whilst Dele Alli has found himself on the fringes in recent times, at still only 25, there is plenty more to come from the MK Dons youngster. A mercurial talent Alli was soon spotted at the League One side and was named PFA Young Player of the Year in his first two consecutive seasons in the Premier League. He has played at both a Euros and World Cup, racking up almost 40 caps, but missed out on this summer’s entertainment. But when it comes to the final pick, it has to be Son Heung-Min who has taken the Premier League by storm since his arrival in 2015, growing into one of the league’s top performers, winning the Premier League Player of the Month three times, Goal of the Month three times, Goal of the Season once and the Puskas Award in 2020. He has notched various awards as Asian International Player of the Year and Korean Player of the Year.

Watford

Past: In its 29 seasons, Watford have featured in the Premier League for seven campaigns. In 1992, they were playing in Division 1 and fell to Division 2 in 1996, before consecutive promotions in 1998 and 1999 saw them join the top flight for the first time. However, it was the briefest of stays with the Hornets immediately dropping back down. Several seasons in Division 1/Championship followed, before a return to the Premier League in 2006. But history was to repeat itself with the London outfit managing just the single campaign. Eight years in the Championship followed before Watford once again made it to the top, and this time their stay extended across five seasons before their relegation in 2020. However, the Hornets bounced back at the first time of asking, finishing second last season to begin anew in the Premier League this time out. Like many teams outside of the so-called big six, Watford players haven’t typically been the subject of autobiographies. However, one man central to Watford’s past has penned his life In His Own Words – the late Graham Taylor. Manager of the Hornets for ten years, he led Watford from the Fourth Division to the First in five years and three years later was England manager. He returned to Watford for a second spell in charge from 1996 to 2001.

Present: There is a case for saying that two of Watford’s best players are part of the current squad and both would be suitable picks for an autobiography. In fact, Cassell have beaten me to the punch, by landing Troy Deeney’s memoir, Redemption, which will be published next month and will chart his footballing career from Chelmsley Town, whilst training as a bricklayer, to becoming captain of a Premier League side and leading the line for Watford for over a decade. The second man to rival Deeney’s charge is Watford’s current number 1. Ben Foster had two loan seasons at Watford, picking up Player of the Season in 2006/2007, before moving there on a permanent basis in 2018. His has been a meandering journey that saw him start out in Southern League Division One West for Racing Club Warwick whilst also training as a chef. Turning professional in 2001, he made the move to Stoke and saw time on loan at Bristol City, Tiverton Town, Stafford Rangers, Kidderminster Harriers and Wrexham. In 2005 came the biggest move of his career as he was signed by Manchester United, but appearances were hard to come by in his five years at Old Trafford, two seasons of which were spent on loan at Watford. Interim moves to Birmingham City and West Brom followed, but Foster has taken to life as Watford’s number one.

West Ham United

Past: Despite starting the Premier League era outside of the top flight, West Ham soon rectified that with automatic promotion at the end of that first campaign in 1993. Ten years of top-flight football followed, which included a season in Europe. The Hammers have twice been relegated in subsequent years, first in 2003 and again in 2012, but their time out of the Premier League has been minimal, with them bouncing back quickly on both occasions. The new season is their tenth consecutive in the Premier League since their return to the top in 2012, with a sixth-placed finish last time out signalling a marked improvement on previous seasons. When it comes to former players, West Ham have boasted some big names, including Frank Lampard, Rio Ferdinand and Michael Carrick who have all gone on to pen autobiographies, whilst other Hammers graduates are still absent from the bookshelves. Whilst Tony Cottee’s affiliation with the club spans almost a decade, he spent just two years with the Hammers in the Premier League era and released his autobiography, centred on the club, in 2012. Paolo Di Canio may not have been at West Ham as long as Cottee but his legacy continues. Few can forget his goal against Wimbledon that is one of the iconic moments in the league’s history and earnt Di Canio BBC Goal of the Season and Hammer of the Year. Although he never represented Italy at senior level, Di Canio’s career saw him represent some of the biggest names in Serie A, where he won the league and UEFA cup. The Inside Story told in Paolo Di Canio: The Autobiography was published in 2001.

Present: It would be relatively easy to make a case for a number of current West Ham players: Lukasz Fabianski who started off at Lech Poznan before breaking into the Premier League at Arsenal; Craig Dawson whose circuitous journey to the top started off at Radcliffe Borough; New Zealand captain Winston Reid who represented his nation at this summer’s Olympics; Michail Antonio who has been the Hammers top scorer in the last two seasons (joint with Tomas Soucek in 2020/21); and despite being 21, who can rule out Declan Rice, who as well as pushing himself into the England spotlight in recent seasons also has the habit of becoming a meme. But there’s no denying that really there’s only one name when it comes down to it: Mark Noble – nicknamed Mr West Ham. Indeed, despite brief loans at Hull and Ipswich Town and an early blooding at Arsenal, Noble has been a part of the furniture at West Ham since 2000 – over twenty years. With players barely seeing out contracts these days, Noble has put in enough service for the Hammers for two testimonials, but prior to the coming season he announced that 2020/21 would be his last at West Ham, having racked up over 400 appearances. It remains to be seen what Noble will do after he’s hung up his boots, but publishers may just want to get a phone call in early.

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Past: Wolvers were one of the founding members of the Football League in 1888 and have had some memorable moments in the sun in their 140-plus history. When the Premier League kicked off, however, Wolves weren’t at the top any longer and spent the first eleven seasons in Division 1. A brief foray into the top flight came in 2003/04, but it was back to the Championship for another five seasons before Wolves got their second shot at the big time. Their stay lasted three seasons, but subsequent relegations saw them drop down to the third tier in 2013. The Midlands men bounced back straight away and with new ownership and management in charge made a concerted push for the Premier League, which paid dividends in 2018. Wolves’ return to the top flight saw them secure Europa League football at the first time of asking and now new manager Bruno Lage will be looking to bring the European nights back to Molineux. When it comes to Wolves’ greats in the Premier League era, despite never having experienced the top flight himself, Steve Bull remains a legend for a generation of supporters and his book My Memories of Wolves was released in 2003. Top pick, however, goes to Carl Ikeme, whose book Why Not Me was published in 2019 and charts the former goalkeeper’s biggest battle, off the pitch, with leukaemia.

Present: Since stepping up to the Premier League in 2019, Wolves have caught many an eye, thanks to an impressive roster of players. Ruben Neves, Adama Traore and Raul Jimenez are amongst the star men at Molineux, but stalwarts like Romain Saiss and Willy Boly have been an integral part of their journey into the Premier League. Whilst talented youngsters Pedro Neto and Rayan Ait-Nouri are ones for the future, few players come more experienced than Wolves’ midfield maestro Joao Moutinho, who boasts several league titles in Portugal and one in France, the UEFA Cup and European Championship. But when it comes to wresting a publishing opportunity away from Moutinho, Conor Coady is the man. The former Liverpool youngster may have felt his opportunity for the top flight had slipped away when he was released by the Reds in 2014, but he’s taken his chance at Wolves with both hands. A natural captain and reconfigured as a central defender, Coady is very much at place in the top flight, and equally in the England set-up. Despite missing out on minutes at this summer’s Euros, the former England U20 captain is clearly an asset to any team and his post-match conferences and appearances on Monday Night Football also highlight his ease and warmth. A publisher’s dream, I imagine.

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2021/22 Premier League books (Part 2) – Reds to Canaries by Jade Craddock

Liverpool

Past: As one of the most successful teams in English football, the Premier League eluded Liverpool for almost three decades, but after near-misses in 2002, 2009, 2014 and 2019, they finally put their PL duck behind them, scooping the top trophy in 2020. For a club that has had FA Cup, League Cup and Champions League success in that time, the Premier League was a long time coming, but the 2019/20 team guaranteed their place in the Reds’ long history. When it comes to past players, the Premier League roster reads like a who’s who of the best footballers in the world, so it comes as no surprise that a fair few autobiographies have followed. In fact, Liverpool are amongst the best represented when it comes to former players. Indeed, you can make a veritable XI of Liverpool Premier League autobiographies: Dudek – A Big Pole in Our Goal (which just edges out Pepe Reina’s Pepe purely on its title); Jamie Carragher – My Autobiography/The Greatest Games; Neil Ruddock – Hell Razor/The World According to Razor; Sami Hyppia – From Voikkaa to the Premiership; John Arne Riise – Running Man; Jamie Redknapp – Me, Family and the Making of A Footballer; Steven Gerrard – My Story; Gary MacAllister – Captain’s Log; Fernando Torres – El Nino; Robbie Fowler – My Life in Football; and Luis Suarez – Crossing The Line. That list excludes books by Xabi Alonso and Dirk Kuyt which are yet to be translated into English, as well as books by Bruce Grobebelaar, Jason McAteer and Michael Owen. Whilst John Barnes published his autobiography in 1999, my pick is his forthcoming book The Uncomfortable Truth About Racism.

Present: Liverpool can already count two published authors amongst their ranks in James Milner, who published Ask A Footballer in 2019, and Andy Robertson, who published Now You’re Gonna Believe Us in 2020. And with some of the league’s biggest hitters in their squad, it’s likely that the writing bug will catch on. But where to start? In goal, with Alisson, who has already won the Copa America and Best FIFA Goalkeeper Awards on top of the Premier League, Champions League and Club World Cup at Liverpool? Or at the back with 2019 PFA Players’ Player of the Year Virgil van Dijk? Or maybe in midfield with the captain who guided Liverpool to their first Premier League title, Jordan Henderson? What about up front with twice Premier League Golden Boot winner Mo Salah? Or how about Mane? Or Firmino? Or Trent Alexander-Arnold? It’s something of a publisher’s dream surely. But if I had to pick one, I’d go with Mo Salah, for his journey from Egypt, via Switzerland to relative disappointment at Chelsea before a move to Roma and a return to England that saw him become one of the world’s greatest players. And the title? Well, it has to be The Egyptian King, doesn’t it? Or maybe The Pharaoh, either will do.

Manchester City

Past: If we’d been compiling this list at the start of the Premier League era, pre-Millennium, Manchester City’s story, and its players, would have looked very different indeed. Those first years of the top flight actually saw City slide all the way down to Division Two before yo-yoing back between Division One and the Premier League. It was only in 2002 that Manchester City returned to the big time, but with modest returns for a decade, until the breakthrough came in 2012 with the first Premier League title. Since then, it’s been a very different story, with Manchester City winning four of the next nine campaigns, with a lowest finish of fourth in 2016, and central to that rejuvenation has been a host of big-name incomings. Not least Sergio Aguero, who spent a decade at City and struck that famous title-winning goal, before departing in the summer and whose autobiography was published in 2014. Who could forget David Silva either – another player to give the Manchester side a decade of incredible service – for whom a tribute book was published last year. But the beating heart of the team for over a decade? None other than their captain, Vincent Kompany, a relative unknown when he arrived from Anderlecht in 2008, but who left the north-west a true City legend. So he’s the pick for City, with his 2019 book, Treble Triumph.

Present: A case can be made for virtually every Man City player when it comes to an autobiography. Phil Foden may only be 21, but he has already won the U17 World Cup, been a European Championship and Champions League runner-up, won an FA Cup, two Community Shields, three Premier Leagues and four League Cups! Most players would love to win half of that by the end of their careers! At the other end of the spectrum is Kyle Walker, who, ten years Foden’s senior, has played in League One, won the Championship, finished fourth at a World Cup and has experienced both the lows and highs of football. Last year’s Premier League Player of the Season Ruben Dias has had only that one season in England but has already made his mark, whilst the winner of Premier League Player of the Season for 2019/20 was another man from the blue half of Manchester – Kevin de Bruyne, whose story surely will be penned in the not-too-distant future. Another City icon, Fernandinho’s journey takes him from Brazil via Ukraine to England and now 36 he’ll surely be relishing his ninth season in the Premier League and seeking that elusive Champions League. But one player who has rewritten the script in more ways than one and whose story he has taken ownership of is Raheem Sterling. Named Golden Boy in 2014, Sterling’s journey has not been without difficulty, but his 2021 MBE attests to the challenges he’s not only overcome but faced head on. Still only 26, he has plenty of time to accomplish even more, but he’s already got a notable story to tell.

Manchester United

Past: Manchester United are the runaway leaders when it comes to the most Premier League titles, with thirteen. Yet despite their early domination in the nineties, their most recent trophy came nine seasons ago in 2013 – in, not at all coincidentally, Sir Alex Ferguson’s last season at Old Trafford. In recent times, the Red Devils have struggled to really put up a notable challenge for the title, though signs of recovery have been shown in the last couple of seasons under former United marksman Ole Gunnar Solksjaer. Given the size and stature of United, it’s no surprise that there are a host of autobiographies to choose from, so, as with fierce rivals Liverpool, here’s an eleven-a-side of reads. Peter Schmeichel – One (forthcoming in September); Gary Neville – Red; Jaap Stam – Head to Head; Rio Ferdinand – Thinking Out Loud (two previous autobiographies have also been published but this one reflects on the important subjects of grief and loss in Ferdinand’s life); Patrice Evra – I Love This Game (forthcoming in September); Michael Carrick – Between the Lines; Roy Keane – The Autobiography/The Second Half (surely an Extra Time is due shortly); Eric Cantona – My Notebook; Paul Scholes – My Story; Andy Cole – Fast Forward; and Dwight Yorke – The Autobiography. Notable absences are of course David Beckham, who has some five books to his name and Wayne Rooney who has his own trilogy. However, when it comes to picking one icon of Manchester United’s past it surely has to be the club’s most successful manager, Sir Alex, whose books include A Year in the Life, Managing my Life, My Autobiography and Leading.

Present: With the arrivals of Jadon Sancho and Raphael Varane, Manchester United have added two huge talents to their roster and two who would arguably be perfect subjects for autobiographies – Sancho, still only 21, has made his mark in the Bundesliga and was named Golder Player at the U17 European Championships, whilst Varane has won nearly all there is to win in Europe as well as a World Cup for France. In terms of more familiar United faces, they don’t come much more familiar than David de Gea who has been at the club ten years and was part of the Red Devils’ last successful Premier League triumph in 2013. Marcus Rashford has been at the club boy and man and whilst he has already published a hugely inspiring book aimed at younger readers (You Are A Champion), his is surely a story that needs to be told. Harry Maguire’s impressive Euro 2020 showing was a reminder of how he became the most expensive Premier League defender, whilst Jesse Lingard’s performances on loan at West Ham last season recalled the flair and skill of the Academy product – both of whom would make for great reads. Edinson Cavani’s journey from Uruguay to Italy, France and finally to England, racking up the Coppa Italia, Ligue 1 and Copa America along the way would be worth a tome, but in keeping with the theme of Manchester United’s mercurial French mavericks, Paul Pogba gets the vote.

Newcastle United

Past: Starting the Premier League era in Division 1, Newcastle were the first side to get promoted, finishing first in 1992/1993, and joining the top flight, where they stayed for some sixteen seasons. Relegation in 2009 was followed by immediate promotion in 2010 and a similar pattern ensued in 2016 when the Magpies found themselves once more in the Championship before bouncing back at the first time of asking. In their four seasons back, Newcastle have enjoyed some degree of stability but nothing quite as high-flying as their back-to-back second-placed finishes in 1996 and 1997. When it comes to former players, one name sticks out, certainly in the Premier League era – Alan Shearer, and, unsurprisingly, there’s a couple of books, with Dave Harrison, that cover the number 9’s prolific career as the League’s all-time top goalscorer, as well as the more recent My Illustrated Career. Newcastle’s other famous son, Paul Gascoigne, also has a number of books to choose from, charting successes and struggles on and off the pitch. Cult figures David Ginola and Nolberto Solano also published autobiographies, the former titled Le Magnifique and the latter Blowing My Own Trumpet, while Shay Given, who spent 12 years on Tyneside, brought out his autobiography, Any Given Sunday, in 2017. But whilst Shearer may be the player that defines Newcastle United’s Premier League history, and his statue stands in pride of place outside St James’ Park, it is joined by the manager who defined this period in the club’s recent past – Sir Bobby Robson. A couple of recent biographies by Bob Harris (Bobby Robson: The Ultimate Patriot) and Harry De Cosemo (Black & White Knight) offer new reflections on the man, but for the definitive autobiography, look no further than Farewell but Not Goodbye.

Present: The icons of Newcastle’s past make for a very hard act to follow and a number of exciting players, like Allan St Maximin and Callum Wilson, are still only in the infancy of their Tyneside journeys, whilst both Ryan Fraser and Matt Richie have had expansive careers. While Joelinton made the move to Newcastle via Germany and Austria from Brazil, Miguel Almiron came via Argentina and the MLS from his native Paraguay and remains only one of eight Paraguayan players to feature in the Premier League across its history. Jamaal Lascelles and Jonjo Shelvey both stand out, though, when it comes to the final pick. Captain Lascelles started out at Nottingham Forest before making the move to Newcastle in 2014 and has been instrumental in the last six seasons, including the Magpies’ most recent promotion from the Championship. Jonjo Shelvey, however, has a bit more of a varied journey, spending time in his youth at Arsenal, West Ham and Charlton, before breaking through at the latter. A move to Liverpool followed, but three years after his arrival he departed for Swansea City before finally settling on Tyneside in 2016. Shelvey has made over 170 appearances for the Magpies.

Norwich City

Past: No one could accuse Norwich City of not having had an eventful past, not least in the last two decades of the Premier League era, in which they’ve been relegated from the top-flight four times, relegated from the Championship once and experienced no less than six promotions. Canaries fans will surely be hoping for a smoother ride this time out back in the Premier League, following their immediate promotion last season. Fans looking for a Norwich autobiography are not overwhelmed with choice, it has to be said, but there are a few knocking around out there, including top striker in 2003/04 Darren Huckerby and former goalkeeper Bryan Gunn, whilst Iwan Roberts’ All I Want For Christmas offers an insider look at Norwich’s promotion-winning 2003/04 season, taking the campaign month by month. However, pick of the bunch goes to Grant Holt, with his autobiography A Real Football Life. Club top scorer in League One in 2009/10, the Championship in 2010/2011 and three consecutive seasons in the Premier League from 2011 to 2014, although, surely, he’s remembered just as fondly in wider circles for his foray into wrestling in 2018.

Present: As Daniel Farke prepares his team for another go at the Premier League, he’s assembled a squad with a mixture of youth and experience. Exciting youngsters like Todd Cantwell, Max Aarons and loanee Billy Gilmour are all ones for the future but are surrounded by some incredible support in older heads. Grant Hanley started his youth career with Queen of the South before joining The Railwaymen of Crewe Alexandra, returning north of the border to Rangers and finally breaking through at Blackburn Rovers. His travels have since taken him to Newcastle before a move to the Canaries in 2017. In addition, he’s earned over 30 caps for Scotland and was part of their historic return to the Euros this summer. Teemu Pukki’s journey is even more distinct, starting out in his native Finland, before moving to Sevilla in Spain, HJK in Finland, Schalke in Germany, Celtic, Brondby in Denmark and finally Norwich, where he didn’t take long to make his mark, being named player of the season in the Championship in his first year in England and winning the EFL Championship Golden Boot. He has twice been Finnish Footballer of the year and once Finnish Sports Personality of the Year and in his first campaign in the Premier League won Player of the Month in August 2019. Two years Pukki’s senior, Tim Krul has had a similarly eclectic career, starting out at ADO Den Haag in the Netherlands before making his way to Newcastle, where loans at clubs from Falkirk to Ajax, Carlisle to AZ Alkmaar followed. On the world stage too, despite fairly limited caps, Krul was part of the team that finished third at the 2014 World Cup, where his contribution was notable in his being the first keeper sent on as substitute specifically for a penalty shootout at the World Cup – and what’s more, he delivered, saving two of Costa Rica’s five penalties to see his side advance.

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2021/22 Premier League Books (Part 1) – Gunners to Foxes by Jade Craddock

Arsenal

Past: Arsenal have had some mighty fine players in the Premier League era and some mighty memorable personalities too – a number of which have made their mark in the publishing world. Legends like Sol Campbell, Ian Wright and Dennis Bergkamp have put pen to paper, although, perhaps Arsenal’s greatest Premier League player, Thierry Henry, has never done so, with just Philippe Auclair’s biography, Thierry Henry: Lonely At The Top available so far. Last year also saw the man who led Arsenal for 26 seasons in the top flight and revolutionise the club, not least in shaping the 03/04 Invincibles, Arsene Wenger, publish his first book, My Life in Red And White, and a startlingly frank memoir from cult hero Nicklas Bendtner, Both Sides. Although not autobiography, looking forward, there’s also an exciting project on the horizon which sees Ian Wright’s debut novel for younger readers, Striking Out, published in September. But, as legends go, they don’t come much greater than Tony Adams and two notable autobiographies have been penned with Ian Ridley; the first Addicted in 1998 and the second Sober in 2018 – the titles of which tell you all you need to know about Adams’ battles on and off the pitch.

Present: Arsenal haven’t perhaps had quite the wealth of big-name talent in recent years as they more traditionally have had in the Premier League era, but with Ben White’s arrival this summer and the emergence of some young guns, with the likes of Emile Smith Rowe and Gabriel Martinelli, there’s plenty to look out for from the Gunners. When it comes to penning their life story, captain and talisman Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang would seem like an obvious choice that would surely be full of the goalscorer’s infectious personality. Elder statesmen Willian and Granit Xhaka would also have interesting journeys to share, while despite being only nineteen, Bukayo Saka has already written an impressive entry into Arsenal and England’s history books. But my choice for Arsenal autobiography would be Arsenal’s current longest-serving player, Hector Bellerin, who has not only entered his tenth year at the club and been around in a changing era at the North London side, but who is also an eloquent and passionate speaker on a number of subjects beyond football.

Aston Villa

Past: In the first ever Premier League season, Aston Villa finished second – it proved to be their highest-ever finish in the new top flight as subsequent seasons, and particularly more recent years, have been more down than up. Yet, Villa Park has been graced by some genuine quality and a few iconic cult heroes in the three decades of the Premier League. Surprisingly, though, few of these have had their stories put down on paper. Indeed, the likes of Villa stalwarts such as Mark Bosnich, Ian Taylor and Dean Saunders remain absent from the bookshelves, as do unexpected heroes like John Carew, Savo Milosevic and Juan Pablo Angel. In fact, only a couple of Villa players have autobiographies to their name, including nineties legend Paul McGrath, whilst more recent icon, Stiliyan Petrov, published his autobiography in 2005, prior to his move from Celtic to the West Midlands. So it’s sadly slim pickings, so I’m going to suggest three past players who publishers should consider for future autobiographies: Gareth Barry, who remains top of Villa’s most EPL appearances chart; Lee Hendrie, who rose up the ranks at his local club; and Dion Dublin, who needs no introduction.

Present: Before this month, there was just one man who would have been at the top of fans’ lists in terms of a Villa autobiography – Jack Grealish, but despite Manchester City having put the kibosh on that, there’s still some great and perhaps even more worthy candidates available. With Danny Ings and Ashley Young arriving at Villa Park this summer, they’ve both got substantial journeys to share, whilst John McGinn’s story began in St Mirren before marking his mark at Hibernian and latterly the Midlands club. However, few players have had quite the journey of England’s Tyrone Mings, who spent eight years in the academy at Southampton before his senior career saw him start not at the dizzy heights of the Premier League but at non-League Yate Town. A move to Southern League Premier Division Chippenham followed, before he made his League football bow with Ipswich Town. The Premier League beckoned following a move to Bournemouth in 2015, before he really made his mark at Villa and stepped up for the Three Lions.

Brentford

Past: As we head into the 2021/22 season, Brentford are the only team never to have previously played in the Premier League since its inception in 1992, having bounced around the old Second and Third Division, League One and League Two and spent the last seven seasons in the Championship, coming close to promotion in 2019/20, before securing their spot in the top flight last season. There are, unsurprisingly, therefore few books charting Brentford players past, although Greville Waterman has penned a couple of tomes on the club and its players, while The Official Brentford Book of Griffin Park was released in 2019, to mark their move from the stadium the Bees have called home for over 100 years. There’s rich pickings then for any wannabe authors out there or publishers who want to fill the Brentford gaps on the bookshelves.

Present: Brentford arguably have one of the best alumni in recent years, with the likes of Neal Maupay, James Tarkowski and Ollie Watkins all making the move from the West London club to the Premier League, and the Bees now have a squad all ready to step on to the biggest domestic stage in football, but one of the standout performers last time out was centre-forward, Ivan Toney, who was League One’s top scorer in 2019/20, before backing that up by becoming the Championship’s top scorer last season in his first campaign for Brentford. In some 45 appearances, Toney, who started his journey at Northampton Town, becoming the side’s youngest player, scored 31 times. His move from Northampton to Newcastle United failed to bear fruit, with Toney being sent out on loan lower down the football pyramid, variously at Barnsley, Shrewsbury Town, Scunthorpe United, and Wigan Athletic, before his move to Peterborough in 2018. Just three seasons on, Toney finds himself, still only 25, finally having his shot at the big time and going on past performances it would be unwise to count him out.

Brighton & Hove Albion

Past: When the Premier League kicked off in earnest, Brighton and Hove Albion were struggling in Division 2, before a period in Division 3. Their fortunes seemed to turn with the new millennium, but as near back as 2011, they were still competing in League One. A few years in the Championship culminated in 2017 in their first promotion to the Premier League, and since then they haven’t looked back. The Premier League era has seen some stalwarts at the South Coast side, but none of these, including second on Brighton’s goalscoring charts, Glenn Murray, and joint sixth, Bobby Zamora, as well as talisman Bruno, have turned their journeys into books so far. The club’s leading goalscorer, Tommy Cook, who was also notable for being a first-class cricketer for Sussex way back in the 1920s and 1930s, was memorialised earlier this year in Tommy Cook: The Double Life of Superstar Sportsman, but for a more recent tome, albeit prior to the Premier League era, the autobiography of Brian Horton, who both played and managed at Brighton stands out.

Present: Brighton have been a team that have caught many an eye since their promotion to the Premier League four seasons ago and have quality in abundance, in both young, up-and-coming talent and experienced pros. One-man-club and current captain Lewis Dunk would be an obvious starting point for a Brighton autobiography, but there’s plenty of other names in the running. Youngsters Tariq Lamptey and Yves Bissouma are ones who are at the beginning of their journeys but certainly worth keeping an eye out for, whilst Percy Tau’s story takes him from South Africa to Brighton with time spent in Belgium. For their wealth of experience, though, it is hard to look past Danny Welbeck and Adam Lallana, and whilst Welbeck has perhaps had the slightly more varied journey via Manchester United, Preston North End, Sunderland, Arsenal and Watford, Lallana’s successes on the European stage with Liverpool top his story off with Champions League and Club World Cup success.

Burnley

Past: Like Brentford and Brighton before them, Burnley were well out of the Premier League reckoning when it all kicked off in 1992. Bouncing around Division 1 and 2 throughout the nineties, the new millennium saw them consolidate in Division 1, latterly the Championship, before making the final step up the pyramid to the Premiership via the play-off in 2009. It was but the briefest of stays and was repeated in 2013/14 when the Clarets were once more promoted only to be relegated after their first season back at the top. However, since winning the Championship in 2016, Burnley have become a mainstay of England’s top league. Dave Thomas has been at the forefront of charting Burnley’s recent past, including Champions: How Burnley won promotion 2015/2016 and a biography of Bob Lord of Burnley, described as football’s most controversial chairman. So when it comes to the players, it’s another Dave Thomas offering that is worth a look – Paul Weller’s Not Such a Bad Life.

Present: There are some absolute stalwarts to choose from when picking a future Burnley autobiography. The man at the top, by which I mean Sean Dyche, who is starting his ninth season in charge of the club, surely is in the reckoning and is someone who makes for a good listen. When it comes to the players, Ben Mee and Ashley Barnes are amongst the longest-serving on the current roster, whilst Jay Rodriguez is back at his hometown club after an initial spell from 2007 to 2012, before moves to Southampton and West Brom. At 36, Phil Bardsley’s journey has taken him from the Manchester United academy to loans in Antwerp, Rangers, Villa and Sheffield United, before moves to Sunderland and Stoke preceded his switch to Burnley. But Chris Wood has without doubt made the greatest journey, literally, from Ohehunga Sports in New Zealand as a junior, firstly to West Brom, with loan spells at everyone from Barnsley to Millwall, before moves to Leicester, then Leeds and finally, in 2017, Burnley. Wood is one of only six New Zealanders to have played in England’s top flight.

Chelsea

Past: Last year’s Champions League winners have been Premier League mainstays since its first season, winning the league title five times with some of the biggest names in football, from Anelka to Zola. Whilst there have been some high-profile Chelsea autobiographies to date, including Dennis Wise’s memoir, John Terry’s My Winning Season and Frank Lampard’s Totally Frank, there are some obvious omissions, including Gianfranco Zola. Claude Makelele and Marcel Desailly both penned autobiographies, but these haven’t been published in English, whilst there are a number of pre-Premier League reads available, including Bobby Tambling’s Goals in Life and Kerry Dixon’s Up Front. But for a Premier League icon, you don’t have to look much further than Didier Drogba’s 2015 autobiography Commitment. Drogba is one of just 29 players to have scored over a century of Premier League goals and is Chelsea’s fourth-highest goalscorer of all time and greatest overseas striker. He is also the third most capped Ivory Coast player and their top scorer. Whilst at Chelsea, he won the gamut of Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup, Community Shield and Champions League.

Present: Though he moved on to pastures new this summer, Olivier Giroud’s forthcoming autobiography is already in the pipeline and scheduled for release next month, but who else in the Blues’ ranks would have plenty to bring to an autobiography? From current Euros winners to World Cup Winners, there are a host of contenders, not least the Selecao’s captain, Thiago Silva, whose former teams span six countries and include Fluminense, AC Milan and PSG, and who has won trophies in four countries, including the Copa de Brasil, Serie A, Ligue 1 and Champions League, as well as the Confederations Cup and Copa America for his national team. It would take some beating to surpass Thiago’s incredible journey… Step up, N’Golo Kante. The French midfield marvel is one of only six – yes, six – players to have won the triumvirate of Premier League, Champions League and World Cup. (The other five, worth noting for your next quiz night – Fabian Barthez, Juliano Belletti, Pedro, Gerard Pique and Thierry Henry.) Yet despite his successes, Kante hasn’t gone big time. Indeed, away from the pitch, he tends to go under the radar, and that makes fans love him all the more.

Crystal Palace

Past: As Crystal Palace head into the new season, it’s all change at the top, with Roy Hodgson stepping away and Patrick Vieira taking up the reins for his first term in charge in the Premier League, and they’ll be big shoes to fill after the former England man made Palace a firm Premier League outfit. Whilst the Eagles were part of the Premier League from the get-go, they hold the dubious honour of being one of the three teams to be relegated in that inaugural season (quiz-goers out there, two points if you were able to name Middlesbrough and Notts Forest as the other two teams to fall), and despite briefly yo-yoing back to the top flight, the majority of the nineties and noughties were spent in Division 1/Championship. In 2013, however, Crystal Palace once again returned to England’s top division and have stayed there ever since. When it comes to autobiographies, Vince Hilaire’s autobiography published in 2018 offers a pre-Premier League take, whilst Mark Bright’s My Story similarly just misses out on the new era but both are ones to look out for. For something a bit different though, and to get another side of the Premier League story, Simon Jordan’s Be Careful What You Wish For was a finalist for both the William Hill Sports Book of the Year and shortlisted for the British Sports Book Award for best autobiography. And surely Sky Sports pundit Clinton Morrison’s memoir can’t be too far off.

Present: When it comes to Crystal Palace, there’s always one name that’s on everyone’s lips – Wilfried Zaha, and, having been at the club for some fifteen plus years, not counting loan spells, he’s an Eagles mainstay. Defenders James Tomkins and Joel Ward have been around the game for a considerable time, as too has Scott Dann, who has done the footballing rounds. Having just left Crystal Palace for Galatasaray, Dutch defender Patrick Van Aanholt may have been in the reckoning, with a career journey that has spanned some seven English clubs, from Chelsea to Coventry City. Captain Luka Milivojevic vies for a memoir, having come through the ranks in his home country of Serbia, before going on to play in a further three nations, including Belgium with Anderlecht, Greece with Olympiacos and latterly England. However, Christian Benteke’s journey to the top is even more breathtaking, having had to flee Kinshasa as a small child, before a youth career in Belgium that led to senior football with Genk and Standard Liege before impressing at Aston Villa and continuing in the Premier League with Liverpool and Crystal Palace.

Everton

Past: Since being founded in 1878, Everton have a rich footballing history, including being part of the Football League from its inception in 1888 and champions first in 1891 and a further eight times, the most recent in 1987. Despite not having such successes in the Premier League, the Toffees have been mainstays throughout the league’s 29-year history. Unsurprisingly, therefore, there are a few Everton books knocking around, including Jim Keoghan’s look at nine players to have worn the number 9 shirt in Everton: Number Nine, Tony Evans’ Two Tribes and a forthcoming book to look out for The Forgotten Champions by Paul McParlan. When it comes to autobiographies, one man who’s missing from the list is Toffees legend, Duncan Ferguson, although Alan Pattullo’s 2015 book In Search of Duncan Ferguson is available. Whilst Peter Reid and Pat Nevin have both brought out entertaining autobiographies in recent years, Cheer Up Peter Reid and The Accidental Footballer respectively, they just miss out on the Premier League era, so the honour goes to goalkeeper and cult hero Neville Southall. Aside from an earlier autobiography, grippingly titled The Binman Chronicles, Southall brought out a second book last year called Mind Games, which explores the important subject of mental health.

Present: After his impressive outing at the Euros this summer, it is hard to look beyond another goalkeeper when it comes to picking a future autobiography. Indeed, Jordan Pickford has been England’s number one for both a World Cup and Euros campaign, getting to a semi-final and final respectively, and is about to embark on his fourth season with Everton. World Cup Golden Boot winner James Rodriguez and Brazilian midfielder Allan’s journeys both take them from South America to Europe before their moves to Everton, similarly for Yerry Mina. Meanwhile, having already made a name for himself in the league, Richarlison spent the summer winning Olympic gold in Tokyo. However, if there is one player that has Everton running through him and defines the club’s recent past it is perennial defender Seamus Coleman, who is now in his twelfth year with the Toffees – only West Ham’s Mark Noble has a longer stay at a single club of the current Premier League crop. Having started out in his home nation with Sligo Rovers, Coleman’s commitment to Everton has been unwavering, seeing him surpass 300 appearances for the club, as well as being a mainstay for the national side. Fans from other teams will wish some of their players showed the loyalty Coleman has.

Leeds United

Past: As the Premier League era kicked off, Leeds United were a mainstay for the first decade, regularly securing European football, but in 2004 the club were relegated to the Championship and worse was to follow just three short seasons later, when a second relegation landed them in League One. Back-to-back play-offs followed before Leeds moved back up to the Championship in 2010, where lower-half finishes were the order of the day, that is until new chairman Andrea Radrizzani pulled off perhaps the most unexpected and spectacular signing, bringing one Marcelo Bielsa to Yorkshire. In the Argentine’s first season, Leeds just missed out on promotion, but despite a COVID-ravaged second season, his team finished the job, earning promotion back to the top flight for the first time in sixteen seasons. Last season saw their impressive form continue and this current crop follow in the footsteps of some Leeds legends of yore. Somewhat surprisingly, players like Nigel Martyn, Lucas Radebe, Ian Harte, Harry Kewell, Mark Viduka and Tony Yeboah are without autobiographies, whilst former players James Milner and David Batty are two of the few to have published books. However, there are few more important books than Gary Speed: Unspoken, which was published by the late-midfielder’s family, following his tragic death.

Present: England fans found themselves a new hero this season in the form of Kalvin Phillips, who stepped up onto the international stage at his first major championship like the proverbial duck to water. Still only 25, there’s plenty more yet to come from the Leeds-born lad who has been at the club for over a decade. Other long-serving players include captain Liam Cooper, right-back Luke Ayling and the versatile Stuart Dallas, all of whom have experienced the club’s startling revival in recent years. And it would be remiss not to mention Patrick Bamford, whose Premier League career, after being let go from Chelsea after five years and six loan spells, variously at MK Dons through to Burnley, was quick to be written off in some quarters when he moved to Middlesbrough in 2017. His move to Leeds a year later though proved his best yet as he was integral to the club’s promotion and he then went on to score in his first game on his return to the top flight, going on to rack up 17 goals – joint fourth with Son Heung-Min, and only behind Bruno Fernandes, Mo Salah and Harry Kane. Key to Bamford’s and Leeds’ success has without doubt, though, been the mercurial Argentinian manager, who has developed something of a cult following. And if there is anyone whose autobiography I’d like to read it’s Marcelo Bielsa’s.

Leicester City

Past: The greatest underdog story of recent history was completed by the Foxes in 2016, when at odds of 5000-1, Claudio Ranieri led the likes of Wes Morgan, N’Golo Kane, Shinji Okazaki and Jamie Vardy to the Premier League title, for the first time in the club’s history. Leicester City firmly placed themselves on the footballing map and have continued to compete, as demonstrated last season, winning the FA Cup for the first time, and kicking the new season off with a trophy in last weekend’s Community Shield. Whilst Harry Harris’s The Immortals charts that incredible season, Rob Tanner’s updated 5000/1 is due out next month. Jamie Vardy’s story from non-league to Premier League winner has already been penned in his 2016 autobiography, and there is even a film about his life in the works. With a lot of the 2016 heroes still playing, further books will surely follow when they come to hang up their boots, but in terms of other autobiographies already available, Emile Heskey published his first book in 2019, whilst Muzzy Izzet’s eight-year spell at the club from 1996 to 2004 covered a tumultuous period which saw the team relegated from the Premier League, before bouncing straight back and then being relegated straight after.

Present: Leicester are blessed with some really exciting young talent in the likes of Caglar Soyuncu, James Maddison and new arrival Patson Daka, and but for a horrific preseason injury that has put him on the sidelines for the time being, Wesley Fofana was sure to have followed up an impressive first season last time out. Old hands like Marc Albrighton and Ricardo Pereira have been around the footballing block and have plenty of experience to show for it, whilst Jonny Evans’ story includes eleven trophies from his time at Manchester United. Meanwhile, you’d be forgiven for thinking Youri Tielemans and Kelechi Iheanacho were older than their mere 24 years, having been in and around the Premier League for several seasons, but both have already made their mark and still have plenty of years ahead. Ten years their senior, Kasper Schmeichel has been at the club a decade and almost as long with the Denmark national team. As one of those who lifted the trophy in 2016 and has been there for Leicester’s incredible journey in recent years, as well as being at the centre of Denmark’s inspiring run at this summer’s Euros, Schmeichel’s autobiography would be one worth reading.

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Stan Bowles Alzheimer’s Research UK Fundraiser

Football fans are oft labelled as tribal, only becoming mentioned in the media generally in a negative light. Therefore, it is a pleasure to be able to write about a positive story, where fans of one club are being active in the support of another team’s once legendary player.

Step forward the Harrogate Branch of the Leeds United Supporters Club (LUSC), who are now looking to raise funds and awareness of Alzheimer’s and in particular the plight of ex-QPR and England international Stan Bowles.

Dave Rowson a former secretary of the branch founded in 1982 takes up the story of how this link came about.

“At the Leeds away game at Loftus Road back in January 2020, as a bit of fun we bought a Stan Bowles calendar which was being sold due to his suffering with Alzheimer’s.

It is a condition in footballers that is getting more media attention with the deaths of player such as Jeff Astle and Nobby Stiles. This has struck Leeds as well with legends such as Jack Charlton, Gordon McQueen and Frank Worthington falling victim to this awful disease.

As a result, we are hoping to run a ‘picture with Stan’ event at Elland Road, which will involve people having a photo with the Stan Bowles calendar, making a donation to Alzheimer’s Research, with the pictures uploaded to the @StanBowlesHarrogateLUSC Facebook site. Currently we are waiting for the club (Leeds United) to give the thumbs up for 23rd May, if not it will be held next season.

Additionally I will be making a donation from the sales of my book We’re not Leeds, We ARE Leeds (details here) published in April and I am also going to organise a charity bowls competition in the summer.”

More details will be provided when the events have been confirmed.

For more details about the disease Alzheimer’s Society – United Against Dementia

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Book Review: Cambridge Rules – Written In Stone | Interpreted Worldwide | Brought Back to Cambridge by Neville Gabie and Alan Ward

Back in November 2016 Axis Projects Publishing released Breaking Ground: Art, Archaeology and Mythology. This beautifully constructed book, both in terms of words and images, looks at the story of an abandoned football ground, reclaimed by nature and the remarkable work to carry out an archaeological dig on the site of Bradford Park Avenue’s former home. The results of an initial excavation in November 2013 and another two years later are recorded in the book and accompanying DVD, which deservedly was shortlisted for the 2017 William Hill Sports Book of the Year. Now just over four years later, Neville Gabie and Alan Ward, who collaborated on the Bradford book, return with another equally creative football project.

It’s premise, is that 165 years after a group of Cambridge University students first played football with a set of rules akin to those of today on Parker’s Piece in Cambridge, the City Council commissioned an artwork to celebrate the ‘Cambridge Rules’ and acknowledge the importance of the location in the birth of the game.

The book, which cleverly is produced as a scale model of the artwork that adorns Parker’s Piece in Cambridge tells the story of the 1848 rules, and the creation of the art from the initial block of stone quarried from Portugal, through its splitting and engraving in Halifax, to the laying of the stones not only in the United Kingdom but Brazil, China Egypt, India and Kenya.

As with the Bradford book, this publication goes beyond simply the physical edition, which is beautifully illustrated and written throughout, with a number of QR codes placed on the pages, so that readers might experience, for example, the song sung before every Barcelona home game. Additionally, there is an accompanying website which can be found at: www.cambridgerules1848.com which provides further details about the project and is also a hub for football stories for fans from across the world. And that is where this book and its content is also a winner in its reflection of football with its roots in England but reflecting the spread to become the global game. One stone, split into nine and spread across the world.

It would be remiss to not also mention that the book details its collaboration with Street Child United which uses sport to bring street children together in a safe space. Ahead of the world’s biggest sporting competitions, like the FIFA World Cup, they put on international sports events, specifically for street-connected children, and the 2018 Football event in Russia is featured in the book.

Once again this is another excellent multifaceted book from Axis Projects.

For copies of the book go to: www.axisgraphicdesign.co.uk/product/cambridge-rules-1848-neville-gabie-alan-ward

(Axis Projects. January 2021. Paperback 800 pages)

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Book Review – Sir Unwin Pugh: From Hull to Camp Nou by Warren Dudley

Warren Dudley is a screenwriter best known for the 2018 film The Bromley Boys based on the book about Bromley FC by Dave Roberts. In 2020 Dudley turned his hand to writing novels, producing Baby Blue: An American Horror Story and then his football based book, Sir Unwin Pugh: From Hull to Camp Nou.

The author himself describes it as, “a comedy football autobiography about a 90 year old ex-player and raconteur called Sir Unwin Pugh. A bit Partridge, a bit Count Arthur Strong, a bit Ron Atkinson.” Traits from these three personas are presented to the reader, as Sir Unwin regals his life story against the background of an impending court case. Like Alan Partridge, Pugh is never afraid to promote his own worth and has something of the Little Englander about him, with his right-wing views evident through his story. Pugh also displays at times a pompous attitude with significant delusions about his abilities as a player and manager, and indeed his life in all aspects, features akin to the Count Arthur Strong character. In respect of Dudley’s nod to the much travelled ex-manager Ron Atkinson, Pugh comes to represent all the cliches that managers and pundits come to espouse in the game over the last few years. There are of course other influences, with this book also aiming an arrow firmly at the ‘boy-done-good’ football autobiographies.

As its title suggests, the book does indeed take readers from Hull and its team Hull City to the Nou Camp the home of Spanish giants Barcelona FC via Pugh’s playing and managing exploits. However, in addition to the football related aspects, there are various bizarre tales of song-writing, business interests and his various marriages, with each chapter a mini-story or anecdote in the overall tale. As the book cover itself headlines, this is a “Footballish Story”.

Dudley is clearly a skilled writer which means this is a very readable and in parts amusing adventure. Comedy like music or art, is all about personal taste and therefore whilst one might appreciate a particular form, invariably it can never appeal to everyone. With that in mind, this readers view is that this book is likely to divide opinion.

(Sixty6Media. November 2020. Hardback 278 pages)

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