In 1973-74, Britain was in meltdown. The Arab-Israeli War had sent energy prices soaring. Petrol was scarce. Offices were limited to a temperature of 17c and power cuts were frequent. A three-day working week came in as inflation took hold and miners and other workers went on strike.
The northern mill town of Rochdale suffered more than most. Its cotton industry was on shut-down in the face of cheap imports, and the football team was a mirror image of the town – tired, defeated, clinging to life.
The Rochdale team of 1973-74 are considered the worst to play in the Football League. They finished bottom of the Third Division, winning just twice in 46 league matches. They closed the season with a 22-game winless run and played one home match in front of the lowest-ever post-war crowd. That season 32 players played for the team, many of them drafted in from amateur or Sunday league clubs.
The Longest Winter is as much a piece of forensic social history as it is a sports book. It evokes the smells, textures and moods of the early 1970s.
(Publisher: Pitch Publishing Ltd. August 2022. Hardcover: 304 pages)
Have you ever wondered how football finds its star players?
Uncover the inner workings of English football’s talent hotbeds in this captivating book.
For decades working-class northern towns have churned out players – places like Huyton, a town of just over 33,000 that has produced the likes of Steven Gerrard, David Nugent, Peter Reid, Joey Barton and Tony Hibbert.
However, the emergence of south London as a new talent hotbed is equally as exciting with a new generation of players coming through – Jadon Sancho, Wilf Zaha, Joe Gomez and Joe Aribo among others.
Players produced here are like nothing seen before in England.
Bringing together thoughts, ideas and exclusive interviews with those involved at every level of the game – from the south London estate cages to the Premier League and Europe’s elite – this book unearths the secrets of two of England’s biggest talent hotbeds that represent the past, present and future of English football.
(Publisher: Pitch Publishing Ltd. August 2022. Hardcover: 224 pages)
Kits are cultural touchstones that tell us more about our club, ourselves and the beautiful game’s custodians than we often realise.
The colours, crests, designs and prices show what makes the game – and us – tick. Kit and Caboodle searches out the stories that our shirts tell us about our support and the society we accept or try to rebel against.
The book alternates short, shirt stories with a deeper dive into themes of ethics, philanthropy and dumb decision making.
We listen to MP Tracey Crouch as she tells us about her Fan Led Review and how shirts show the progress being made to a more equitable football ecosystem.
Shirts also illustrate the rise and mutation of gambling from pools to NFTs and cryptocurrencies, attitudes to the LGBTQ+ community, how clubs like St Pauli are determined to be driven by their values and why Messi’s transfer to PSG Qatar can never be financed by shirt sales.
Unlike anything else we wear, our club shirts envelop us in the history of our team and give us a hint of the future.
(Publisher: Pitch Publishing Ltd. September 2022. Hardcover: 224 pages)
Power & Glory is a visual homage to the NFL, which takes us on a hard-hitting journey from the pre-Super Bowl era to the present day.
Using stunning images, it’s a celebration of a uniquely American sporting culture, featuring the greatest stars, teams, games and stadiums.
From Terry Bradshaw to Tom Brady, Jim Brown to Joe Montana, from the Green Bay Packers who won the first ever Super Bowl to Aaron Rodgers winning the Super Bowl for Green Bay decades later, it covers all 32 teams that have competed in the NFL.
Whether the photos are from the era of muddy pitches or modern-day indoor arenas, Power & Glory projects a physicality and toughness that defines the NFL’s players. From the harshness of playing the game in freezing and wet conditions to the glamour and pageantry of the Super Bowl, this eye-catching photographic collection showcases the game in all its glory.
Alongside these beautiful and breath-taking images are stats, records and write-ups on the teams that bring the NFL’s rich history to life.
(Publisher: Pitch Publishing Ltd. September 2022. Hardcover: 224 pages)
The Special Relationship: The History of American Football in the United Kingdom charts the arrival and development of gridiron football on this side of the Atlantic.
This comprehensive account presents the story across three key sections, outlining how and why the sport became so popular in Britain – from the first match at Crystal Palace back in 1910 to the birth of the incredibly popular International Series, which has become a permanent fixture in the NFL regular season.
It covers every match played in London from 2007 to 2021, with anecdotes intertwined throughout to bring the deeper NFL history, its greatest players and franchises to life. The book also tells the unique tales of the British players who have played in the NFL, with each player providing special insight into their journey from Britain to the National Football League.
The Special Relationship is the captivating story of how the sport arrived on the doorstep of America’s great allies – and survived to become the ever-growing presence it is today.
(Publisher: Pitch Publishing Ltd. September 2022. Hardcover: 384 pages)
An in-depth analysis of Rangers’ tactical evolution over three seasons under Steven Gerrard, culminating in a league title win which saw them crowned kings of Scotland for a 55th time.
In May 2018, Rangers appointed Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard as the 16th permanent manager in the club’s near 150-year history.
A legend as a player but untested as a manager, many wondered how Gerrard would fare at a club like Rangers, especially in light of the club’s struggles in the previous six seasons. Fast forward to 7 March 2021 and Gerrard’s Rangers clinched their 55th title in record time with the club also completing an unbeaten league season conceding just 13 goals – a new British record.
This book delves into the tactical approach of Rangers under Steven Gerrard and his coaching team and looks to explain the key principles of their footballing philosophy. Adam Thornton picks out key games and players which helped chart the tactical evolution of the side and shape the team into league champions.
(Publisher: Pitch Publishing Ltd. August 2022. Paperback: 272 pages)
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.
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)
Scottish teams have a tough time in European competition. It is not just the games in which they may struggle which are challenging but also the humour plumbed when Christmas comes and the best present a fan could have, would be a European tie in January.
It is doubled when you might not be a supporter of either Celtic or Rangers. Celtic may have the proud boast of being the very first British team to win the European Cup and Rangers five years later managed to add the second Scottish European triumph, but the 80s brought Aberdeen and Dundee United to that Eurovision of their achievements, though only the Dons would win a cup.
Ironically, Brawls, Bribes and Broken Dreams by Graeme Strachan, which could be the subtitle for any Scottish League campaign, tells the story not of Dundee United but their near neighbours. A team which shares the same city and the same road as United, Dundee, were once, the team most people believed would win the European Cup and be the very first Scottish team to so do. It is a compelling tale.
This is the story of 1962/63 when the champions of Scotland, Dundee, took on the might of Europe. It was, of course, a simper time, when it was only the champions of each country who competed. It made it much smaller as a competition too. It was also, according to Strachan when, “young boys played football in the streets and parks of Dundee.” Those of us of a certain age can all remember then. What is less well remembered is that before there was Bill, there was Bob and Bob managed a European run before his well-considered older sibling. Bob Shankly, was the manager at Dundee who gave us, according to Bob Crampsey, “the best pure footballing team produced in Scotland since the war.” This is their story.
Strachan recaps for us the story of the run in to the title in 1962 and it does well to remember a time when Rangers or Celtic had their dominance regularly challenged. It includes a cameo appearance by a young St. Johnstone striker by the name of Ferguson, Alex, and such cameos are regular features in Strachan’s tale. So too is the humility of Shankly – having won the title, he was next seen mowing his lawn!
Strachan then outlines an interesting pre-season in the USA. Long held as a soccer/footballing desert but here the champions of Scotland get trans-Atlantic travel under their belts early. Dundee was a team, not just bound by their own, soon to be whispered, mythology but included one name from the Famous Five at Hibernian, another great Scottish side long forgotten and much missed, Gordon Smith. Despite the pedigree Dundee had, not all were convinced that Dundee would manage much abroad, and the Weekly News scathingly opined at the beginning of the season and their campaign, “European Cup? Well, all the best anyway!”
It gives Strachan a fantastic backdrop as he starts with the first round, epic encounter with Cologne. Dundee managed such a margin of victory in the first leg, that the second leg became a formality, and there was suddenly a frenzy of interest in all things European and Dundonian. Strachan draws in what was happening in the world of the time but also the city of Dundee – it is an additionally welcome backdrop. From descriptions of the city being redrawn, the civic vandalism which has been condemned not only by those with the benefit of hindsight, but of natives like Brian Cox, the actor, we hear of the heart being ripped from a city. Whilst aerodromes and bridges were being built, JFK was declaring a man would be put on the moon and Arbroath miniature railway enthusiast, Mathew Kerr was running his mini link. It was a heady time and Strachan mixes both with respect. He never seeks to diminish one nor over complicate the other.
The sixties were an obvious time of change and Dundee’s exploits were part of that hope for the future. The more pressing future was the defence of their title in Scotland and that was not going to plan – all eyes could concentrate on Europe for glory.
Following their defeat of the German champions, they then got paired with the Portuguese champions, the swashbuckling Sporting Lisbon. Having dethroned Benfica domestically, Sporting Lisbon was a formidable opponent. But there was trouble at mill with some players unhappy at the level of involvement they were having in the team and Shankly was called upon to show deft management skills. They had to be pretty acute as this was a time when there were no substitutes and squad size beyond the 11 on the pitch included another 11 in reserve who were literally playing, in the reserves. Keeping all happy was a nightmare. It was also a time when internationals happened, there was no pause for anyone to work, rest then play again. You could lose good players and still have to fulfil your usual league fixtures.
But where Strachan is at his best is describing the effect of dedication to your team from within their support. – the likes of Peter Cabrelli, son of an Italian exile and proud Dundonian fish and chip owner who played for both United and Dundee – as well as Dundee Juventus – but had Dens Park firmly in his heart and on a mural behind the frying pans. These stories make an appearance as part of the narrative and not as an academic exercise meaning we are still careering towards the next game but now have the emotions of the Dundee support in our minds.
Alan Gilzean (Credit: Collect)
Once the Sorting Lisbon tie was out the way, including Alan Gilzean getting his second hat-trick in the competition, things began to get serious. They were in the last eight alongside AC Milan, Dukla Prague, defending champions Benfica, Feyenoord, Stade de Reims, Galatasaray and Anderlecht. Strachan may be describing times before the dominance of Real Madrid, but we are in heady times.
Dundee was not alone in Europe as recognised by Strachan as Jock Stein’s Dunfermline Athletic and Glasgow Rangers were also deeply involved in their campaigns. But as Lawrence of Arabia was in the cinemas and the Bay of Pigs receded as a threat to global security and Dundee schoolkids got to grips with European geography, Dundee was ready to face a Quarter Final of the European Cup against Anderlecht.
It was also one of the coldest winters in living memory. People were able to walk across the frozen Tay – Alec O’Brien and Ian Smith became the very first people to walk across a frozen River Tay since 1898 – and players could have been forgiven for thinking they too could have walked on water. The build up to the two legs are described in detail including some United supporters, and players, who in a show of solidarity turned up to wish their rivals well in the next phase of their adventure. The city of Jute, Jam and Journalism was in thrall.
Anderlecht were despatched.
And then they were in a Semi-Final. Strachan’s ability to draw the detail of the games is good and as well as the crosses, the free kicks and the goals we get how at each and every stage, players were praised – especially Ian Ure – described by the BBC’s Kenneth Wolstenholme as “the greatest centre-half in the world today.” Belief was turning into expectation.
The Semi-Final was against AC Milan. A successful result would lead to Wembley where the Final was going to be held. There was a frenzy of support and confidence and people believed that the future Liverpool’s legendary manager’s older brother, Bob Shankly was the man who would get their men to a historic Final. Strachan manages to bring such enthusiasm to the page as you know, there has never been a focus on these European marauders rather than the Lisbon Lions, so you know how it ends, but you are compelled to stay long enough in the story to see if it is quite how you imagined it.
We get the build up to the games against Milan with a wide variety of views and witnesses quoted who believed that THIS Semi-Final was going to provide the eventual winners – Dundee was 50% of that contest! In a prescient tale of mudslinging football, the derby game beforehand as played in a Scottish quagmire, on a pitch that ended up more on the player’s jerseys than remained on their ground. As a platform for the greatest game of their careers in the best competition for clubs, this was not premium preparation. There were also injuries after a long season which included to Bobby Cox, Hugh Robertson and future Scotland manager, Craig Brown.
The first leg was where the tie was won – in Milan. The towering enthusiasm and the unbelievable run was not to continue much further. Dundee could have given much more had they not had a 12th man on the pitch determined to penalise them constantly whilst giving the Italians opportunity to behave as they wished. Milan had 15 free kicks granted in the first 15 minutes! The statistics continue as Tommy Gallacher in The Courier reported, “some of the referee’s decisions were ridiculous.” Condemnation came from all sides – former referees, the players themselves and supporters who had a list of grievances after the game but in the end, the first leg left a mountain for the Dundee team to climb if they wanted to make their, and by now, our dreams come true.
It was a notable return leg for Dens Park, as Milan’s players with film star looks, according to The Bard of Dundee, Michael Marra – an 11 year old schoolkid at the time – as they watched Milan Catenaccio into the Final. The 10 Dundee men who finished the second leg were far more sporting than many of their European opponents. As they trudged off it left an indelible mark on the city. It had been a season that Tottenham won the European Cup Winners Cup, Giovanni Trapattoni graced the Dens Park pitch and in Dundee, for a while, there was the hope. Such hope had been killed by a referee, perhaps, who was later banned for accepting gifts from Milan prior to the Semi-Final. It was a time of change as tactically aware coaches, like Jock Stein and Willie Waddell, then of the Pars and Killie were beginning to change the game and Dundee finished a weak defence of the league in the glow of their European brilliance. Strachan draws out the effect on a city, the supporters and the future of Scottish football. It is a compelling read and one well worth making a visit to remind yourself at some point that, times were different, and it was the hope that sustained you more than killed you.
Donald C Stewart
(Publisher: Pitch Publishing Ltd. May 2022. Hardcover: 352 pages)
League One Leeds is the story of Leeds United’s three seasons spent in the third tier of English football. An illustrious club who had never fallen so low, their journey through League One would become the most chaotic period in Leeds’s history and the drama started before a ball was kicked.
An unprecedented 15-point deduction that plunged the Whites from promotion favourites to relegation fodder set the tone, as the club’s fortunes undulated wildly over the course of three bizarre seasons.
Record-breaking winning runs, long barren spells, FA Cup defeats at Histon and Hereford, victory at Old Trafford – this is a football story that twists and turns all the way through to a hair-raising finale.
The book is written through the eyes of the author and features exclusive insight from Simon Grayson, Jermaine Beckford, Jonny Howson, Bradley Johnson, David Prutton, Casper Ankergren and Luciano Becchio, whose first-hand experiences are interwoven with his own.
The result: a riveting account of a fascinating period in Leeds United’s history.
(Publisher: Pitch Publishing Ltd. August 2022. Hardcover: 256 pages)
With global coverage of the English Premier League, and the reach of social media, you are just as likely to see fans wearing the colours of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City and United in the bars of Beijing, New York, Sydney and Tokyo, as you would back in London, Liverpool and Manchester. Given the effort that these Clubs put into attracting overseas fans, i.e. with trips to play in friendlies and tournaments abroad, it was a pleasant surprise to read Please Don’t Take Me Home: A Lovestory with Fulham Football Club, a story of an Italian who has come to love the club from Craven Cottage – who despite recent years in the Premier League, cannot be considered one of the ‘big hitters’ in English football.
Simone Abitante like many Italians is football crazy. Born in November 1975, he first attended games in the 1980s watching his local team, Vicenza, graduating to his first season ticket at the club in 1991. Around that time Abitante was exposed to the English First Division and its clubs as they transitioned into the Premier League. Abitante’s hometown side I Biancorossi, won the Italian Cup in 1996/97 which meant that the club entered the European Cup Winners Cup the following season. Incredibly the little known team from North East Italy reached the Semi-Final and were beaten 3-2 on aggregate by Chelsea – so beginning Abitante’s dislike for Fulham’s West London rivals from Stamford Bridge.
He initially came to London in November 2000 and was looking for a team to support. He read in the Metro newspaper about Fulham then in the Football League First Division (now the Championship) who ran away with the title to gain promotion to the Premier League.
From here the book details events from that point to the end of the 2019/20 season as Fulham beat Brentford 2-1 in the Championship Play-off Final with COVID ensuring it was played at an empty Wembley Stadium.
It very much has the feel of a diary format as Abitante travels to and from London as his work and personal situation changes. Like any diary, it is written with passion and honesty, whether about the good times or the bad. From a football perspective, the reader gets to feel Abitante’s joy at attending his first game at the Cottage and on each occasion as he takes friend and family to the ground by the Thames. The Italian’s support coincides with Fulham’s longest stretch in the Premier League (2001/02 to 2013/14), a European trophy (UEFA Intertoto Cup in 2002) and reaching the UEFA Europa League Final in 2009/10 and in the last few season, the yo-yo existence as the club bounces between the Premier League and the Championship.
With Abitante moving around Europe as his jobs change, and in the years when Fulham are playing in the Championship, he has at times a battle to watch and get information via the internet about The Whites, something readers who have been in the same situation can sympathise with. However, his passion for the club remains steadfast, whether Abitante is attending games at the Cottage or hundreds of miles away, and that comes across to the reader in his writing.
As well as his love for Fulham and football, you can add, family and friends to those things most dear to Abitante’s heart. And he talks with real love about his relationships with those close to him, none more so than two friends, Umberto Scomparin and Giampaolo Bonato, who died tragically young and to whom this book is dedicated.
The book closes with Fulham beating Brentford at an empty Wembley Stadium due to the Global pandemic and Abitante dreaming of returning to the Cottage to see the club back in the Premier League. What he also manages to capture is the strangeness of the time that COVID created and there is something haunting about his return to Italy in May 2020:
Bergamo’s airport is almost empty. I’ve never seen it like this. I’m used to a crowded and bust terminal while this time you could hear the echo of your voice if you screamed. Also the flight is so unusual, just a few masked passengers. Surreal, this is the word.
Thankfully, the world has returned to some sort of reality, whilst Fulham continue with the ‘normaility’ of being relegated once more from the Championship, only to return again for the 2022/23 season. One can only hope that Abitante will once again get back to the Cottage to see The Whites once more in the top flight of English football.
(Publisher: Pitch Publishing Ltd. March 2022. Hardcover: 224 pages)