The Immortals is a passionate love letter to Celtic FC, by turns ecstatic and distressed, angry and joyous, but always obsessed.
After the disappointment in 2021 of failing to complete the fabled ten-in-a-row league titles, the author took solace in researching causes for celebration from Celtic’s proud past.
His starting point was the rallying cry that ‘two nines are better than one’, and the book’s centrepieces are stories of both of Celtic’s nine-in-a-row triumphs.
On his journey he discovered darkness and despair as well as derring-do and delight, the extremes of emotion inevitable in all love affairs. He uncovered the evils of the Irish Holocaust and the poverty of Glasgow’s East End that preceded Celtic’s foundation, the dubious conduct of Celtic’s money-men, as well as the ‘miracles’ of the immortals among the club’s founding fathers, its dynasties, managers and players.
The book takes us on a pilgrimage through time with faithful hope for the future.
(Publisher: Pitch Publishing Ltd. August 2022. Hardcover: 352 pages)
Meet Eric Gill and Dave Hollins, once feted as two of the finest goalkeepers in Britain. Between them they have more stories to tell spanning the past ten decades than there are holes in a football net.
Their unique friendship started as a rivalry, two men wrestling over the same goalkeeper jersey at Brighton & Hove Albion in the 1950s.
Seventy years later they remain the best of pals, having lived long, eventful lives bookended by the horrors of World War Two and the Covid-19 pandemic.
Journey back to when footballers earned £20 a week and goalkeepers wore string gloves, as Eric and Dave recall how they dodged Hitler’s bombs before pitting their wits against some of sport’s most iconic names: a list that includes Stanley Matthews, Pele and George Best not to mention their shared nemesis, Brian Clough.
Touching, inspiring and searingly honest, Eric and Dave is a salutary reminder that youth is not a time of life but a state of mind.
(Publisher: Pitch Publishing Ltd. August 2022. Hardcover: 288 pages)
When Jim Smith took charge of Derby County in the summer of 1995, he joined a club needing to balance the books after several seasons of failing to reach the Premier League. Little was expected of him.
Yet alongside Steve McClaren, Smith oversaw a transformation that took Derby to a new home, a new division and to the brink of European competition for the first time since the days of Dave Mackay. Smith built a side capable of matching the very best in English football, amassing an array of international talent almost never before seen in the British game, alongside hugely impressive home-grown players.
This is the story of Jim Smith’s Derby County, told with the exclusive insights of Smith’s players, coaching staff, friends and supporters.
Rams legends including Igor Stimac, Stefano Eranio and Steve McClaren speak in depth on what made that Derby County side, while those closest to Jim reveal what the legendary man-manager was like to deal with, both in and out of football.
(Publisher: Pitch Publishing Ltd. August 2022. Hardcover: 336 pages)
Cocker Hoop is the authorised biography of football coaching great Les Cocker. A tenacious and resilient forward, Cocker played for two clubs: Stockport County (196 games, 48 goals) and Accrington Stanley (130 games, 50 goals) before retiring in 1958 to move into coaching.
As one of the first recipients of full coaching badges at England’s Lilleshall, he established himself as a supreme trainer and coach for Leeds United and helped build a famous footballing dynasty alongside Don Revie. His rising reputation attracted the FA’s attention, and Cocker helped the England team achieve their pinnacle success in 1966.
Filled with interviews, anecdotes and revelations from throughout Cocker’s career, Cocker Hoop brings us a personal portrait of the great man and is co-written by his son Dave Cocker and sportswriter and novelist Robert Endeacott.
(Publisher: Pitch Publishing Ltd. July 2022. Hardcover: 256 pages)
MOST SERIOUS football enthusiasts, whether Aston Villa fans or not, are broadly aware of the story of Thomas Edger ‘Tommy’ Ball, a former coal miner, born in 1900 and signed from colliery football by Aston Villa in February.
Ball holds the dubious distinction of being, in November 1923, the only active British professional football player deemed in law to have been murdered.
So begins the introduction to Colin Brown’s book, The Armistice Day Killing: The Death of Tommy Ball and the Life of the Man Who Shot Him. Now I have watched, played, and read a great many books about football over the last 50 years, but it was slightly disconcerting to realise that I had not been aware of Tommy Ball’s story, however on the other hand was intrigued to learn about the Villa players fate.
Villa fan Brown’s intention is to re-examine through extensive research as much about the case, and the main protagonists as possible. So whilst there is detail about Ball growing up and his football career up until his fatal shooting, the books focus is very much on building up a picture of George Stagg, a decorated veteran and ex-policeman, who was convicted of Ball’s killing, as well as a thorough review of the evidence and events leading to the tragic day, and additionally the court hearings, trial and events post the sentencing of Stagg.
It is if you like a modern day retrial in book form, with the reader playing the part of the jury, whilst Brown operates as both prosecution and defence in trying to present both sides of the argument. And just as jury service requires, for anyone that has done it, this book needs to have your full attention, as Brown presents and reviews the witness testaments of the time, finding the inconsistencies in them but whilst attempting to bring some balanced perspective without trying to influence the reader too much.
What Brown comes to illustrate is that there seemed to be some haste with the way in which Stagg was sentenced, given that trying to firmly establish the events of the night, even now cannot be conclusively drawn. Stagg was sentenced to the gallows but following the intervention of the country’s first Labour Home Secretary this was changed to a life sentence. He spent two years in Parkhurst from 1924 to 1926 but spent the majority of his life in Broadmoor the high-security psychiatric hospital up to June 1963, passing away in 1966, aged 87 in Highcroft Hospital.
There is very much a sense of this case not being as clear-cut as events came to pass at the time, and indeed this reader was left with an overriding feeling of sadness at the loss of Ball, a talented player, who had been touted as a possible future England international and for Stagg who having been branded a murderer, spent nearly 40 years locked away as a lunatic in an asylum.
Murder? Manslaughter? Not guilty? You the reader decide.
(Publisher: Pitch Publishing Ltd. May 2022. Hardcover: 288 pages)
The Official Rangers Story celebrates the rich history of Rangers FC, one of the oldest and most successful football clubs in the world.
This is the story of a special city, the story of the birth of football and of a club that is revered by fans throughout the world. It is a story of humble beginnings in 19th-century Glasgow that charts the development of the ‘Association game’ in Scotland.
Drawing on 36 years of research, the author tells of the triumphs – a record number of Scottish championships and victory in Europe – but also of the disasters, like the 1902 and 1971 Ibrox tragedies, each reverberating throughout the UK.
The book explores the importance of men such as Struth, Souness, Smith and Gerrard, who with determination and ambition built this great club and its traditions. Then there were the great players such as Baxter, Gascoigne, and Laudrup.
It is no wonder Rangers has followers worldwide, each carrying the emotional attachment of their fathers and grandfathers before them. To them the club is everything – the beginning and the end.
(Publisher: Pitch Publishing Ltd. August 2022. Hardcover: 304 pages)
“These supporters can win you the game. When I hear them, the hairs on my neck stand up. They must be the best in the world. It makes me want to finish my career back in Britain. But Scotland will have to play with the passion they showed against us in Mendoza four years ago.”
Jonny Rep, who scored against Scotland in the 1978 World Cup, putting us out of it, prior to the final game for Scotland against Russia in the 1982 World Cup.
Front cover
When I went to university, my first encounter with my History Professor was just after he had published his new book on World War One. When asked about the reviews that he should expect he told us these mattered little as most of his contemporaries would not read the book, just look at the bibliography and sources he quoted. From there they should be able to work out what he thought and his opinion of the principal facts; all of which were not in doubt.
At the time, it appeared odd.
Reading We Made Them Angry by Tom Brogan reminded me precisely of that discussion. Of all the books you will ever read, I would challenge you to find one that is as well researched and documented as this. There are not just references made to player’s biographies but also to obscure matchday programmes, interviews, many of which are long forgotten and a bibliography which includes periodicals, websites and scholarly tomes.
It is all in aid of telling a tale of World Cup redemption under the leadership of arguably the best manager Scotland ever produced, Jock Stein. It is of a campaign sunk in the midst of more noticeable and argued over World Cup Group failures – ’74 when we never lost, ‘78 when we lost our dignity, ’86 when we lost our leader, and ‘90 when we last graced the competition, and thus thereafter lost our place on its stage.
1982 was the year of two headlines – a toe poke and a collision. Both with connotations of violence which the Scottish Football Association were nervous about fans displaying under the Spanish sunshine whilst on the terraces, but we were undone by both, ironically, not in the stands but on the field of play.
Brogan has much to say about both, but to his credit they do not dominate the tale he tells. He begins at 7am on Wednesday the 14th of October 1981, in Belfast. It is the culmination of the campaign to get to the World Cup in Spain; we are one game away. It is symbolic. Not just that this was a game being played by the Scottish national team in Northern Ireland for the first time since 1972 but as a Scotland fan, it is always games close to the wire which hold significance. We are past masters at taking the entire process and holding it on a knife edge prior to destroying ourselves; at least that has been the majority of our experiences…. 1982 was little different.
To be reminded of the fact that we were in the midst of five World Cup Finals in a row, rather than it being a painful memory, stirs the blood and I have fond memories of the processes of getting to World Cups which, unlike now, were expected to be successful. I have not often agreed with Graeme Souness, but here I can wholeheartedly, insofar as these were our World Cups, the process of qualifying. Brogan is highly expansive in the build up and in the detail, he brings to the table.
But it is here where I began to struggle just a little.
Academic treatises tend to have their bibliographies and footnotes but keeping your reader onside needs the yarn told swiftly with pace and flair. The interruptions to tell of each significant player’s background, fascinating to start with, becomes slightly irritating as we progress. Turning some of the reference points into footnotes or refences would not have diminished the authority with which this story is told but enhance the structure with which it is enjoyed.
I don’t know if I really wanted to know as much about the Russian coach as I found out, that Alan Hansen was born in Sauchie or the tartan background of so many of the New Zealand team, but to be fair, it was interesting to read. But it took nothing away from the authenticity of the research. It felt authoritative. It was interesting to note that Alan Hansen turned down a trial with Hibs so he could play a golf tournament or that The Game (a fictional account but a very real emotional rollercoaster of Scottish fans going to Argentina in 1978) was broadcast on STV in opposition to the night of BBC Cup Final Sportscene’s highlights programme or of the machinations in government which could have seen the Scottish team being pulled out of the entire Finals due to the worsening military and political situation in the Southern Hemisphere, but they could have been crafted in a more integrated manner.
That political situation was the Falkland’s War and Brogan quotes from a number of sources over the possibility that the team would have to bow to pressure and not play in a contest where the possibility that they may meet on a field of play, a country fighting them on a field of battle, was very real. In the end opinion swayed all and Scotland went to the Finals. Brogan quotes widely from official documents released in 2012 as well as players like Danny McGrain who reflected that a poll in the Daily Record wanted them to play, Graeme Souness who responded to the news that the Task Force wanted them to play and Kenny Dalglish who seemed unaware of it all! In the end, the government wanted them to go, so go they went. It is interesting to note that this is the equivalent today of asking Ukraine the defenders to withdraw from sport rather than Russia, the aggressors.
The other political back drop of which I was unaware was the Home Internationals and how playing in Belfast had become such an issue. It clearly feels a far more violent time and Brogan does well to draw our attention to the historical detail which some may have called a more naïve period in our collective history but is in reality far more sensitive to the cause of offence than some would admit. Names of the past who had their teeth cut administratively within that context find a voice and Brogan tells it as it was, without much by way of criticism. It is a refreshing feeling that we, as a reader, are given the notion of being able to form our own views.
What I also enjoyed was the detail around how the authorities dealt with the preparations and the scandal of the tickets and Mundiespana, the post competition reflections from the likes of Jim McLean and where there was disappointment and dissension, it was noted and explained. These appealed, as much to my interest in the Scotland team as to my academic prejudices.
Back cover
Perhaps my favourite part of the entire book, as a proud Scot, is the claim, borne out by Brogan’s meticulous evidence is that 1982 gave birth to a phenomenon which has endured – The Tartan Army. Rather than disgrace themselves in the sun, as some worried would happen, the Scottish supporters excelled. Warm, friendly and in some cases under extreme provocation, given that Argentina was a Spanish speaking country, they behaved and earned the highest of praise. I am sure that there were many who followed the competition who were disappointed that the Scots did not get through. The voices that Brogan brings of the fans who went and saw the glory of their country are very worthy of reading. Of the drinking competitions, the water polo playing by a guy from an estate in Dunfermline or the ways in which they travelled there and came back, derring-do is made de rigueur.
Of course, for Scottish fans two events defined the Finals.
Firstly, when Jimmy Hill called Dave Narey’s goal against Brazil, a toe poke, he meant it as a compliment. Most Scots did not take it as such, and Hill enjoyed notoriety in Scotland from that point onwards. It was not always good natured, however, but the goal led to an alleged conversation, not in the book, where one Scottish player was to say to another, I think we have annoyed them! On the terraces the quote became the title of the book – we made them angry. Having woken them up, the samba perfect Brazil went on to beat us 4-1 in an exhibition of football which was a privilege to watch, and according to the players, quoted in the book, with which it was a privilege to share a pitch.
Then came Willie Miller and Alan Hansen bumping into each other in an attempt for both to clear a Russian attack, which led to Russia scoring. It has become part of our folklore that this was blamed for putting us out of the competition. As Brogan makes very clear, it was a little more complex than that, but a draw was what finished us. The perspective of fans, the manager, pundits and both players add to the understanding Brogan brings to the debacle.
And as the final game drew its veil over our participation, it was indeed a draw, once again that did for us. We should have known. In ’74, all we did was draw, in ’78 the draw with Iran became the headline, ’82 was the draw with Russia, ’86 the draw with Uruguay and then in ’90 all we needed was … a draw. And guess what we did not get…
Despite it being very heavy on the evidence, this is a book which does great service to a World Cup Finals which drew us back into the realm of some dignity. 1978 was not just a tough watch but for someone like me, an Ayr United fan, a tough experience as our greatest ever manager was castigated for one of the greatest footballing disasters which befell any national team. Brogan has the material to dwell on what we were good at, because we were, and this lends authority to the memory of a time when we expected to be at the top table.
Donald C Stewart
(Publisher: Pitch Publishing Ltd. April 2022. Hardcover: 384 pages)
Dundee were the punch-drunk underdogs when they chased European Cup glory after winning the league in 1962. AC Milan, Benfica and Real Madrid were at the peak of their powers and Ipswich would represent England after winning the league under Alf Ramsey. Dundee were about to enter a new world of glamour.
Expectations were so low that just ten Dundee fans put their names forward for a special flight to mark the club’s first venture into the unknown. The Dark Blues were up for the fight though and destroyed Cologne 8-1 in a blitzkrieg at Dens Park that left the German Embassy reeling. In the week they shared the same bill as boxing legends Sonny Liston and Sugar Ray Robinson, the British Army rescued Dundee from a mass riot with as many punches thrown in the return leg.
As this remarkable Cinderella story unfolded, fans of city rivals Dundee United were soon hitch-hiking across the continent to watch Dundee as they came close to conquering Europe, before it all ended in brawls, bribes and broken dreams.
(Publisher: Pitch Publishing Ltd. May 2022. Hardcover: 352 pages)
In the Heat of the Midday Sun is a love letter to the 1986 World Cup.
A tournament viewed via the shimmering satellite images of an age before the dawn of high-definition coverage – which was introduced four years later, at Italia ’90 – it was the last World Cup where the commentaries sounded like they were broadcast from the surface of the moon.
Mexico took on the tournament after Colombia failed to deliver on their host candidature, relinquishing the rights in 1983. With a devastating Mexico City earthquake just eight months before the big kick-off, it was a miracle that the Estadio Azteca was still able to be the venue of Diego Maradona’s greatest and most infamous hours.
As well as Argentina’s most gifted son, Mexico ’86 was blessed by the presence of Socrates, Platini, Francescoli, Butragueno, Belanov and Elkjaer to name but a few of the icons on display.
This is the story of an evocative World Cup that seemed to be held together by Sellotape.
(Publisher: Pitch Publishing Ltd. May 2022. Hardcover: 352 pages)
Don Howe is one of English football’s great coaches, with an unrivalled record at international and club level.
As right-hand man to three England managers, he helped his country to the 1990 World Cup and Euro 96 semi-finals. He helped to steer them through the 1982 World Cup unbeaten and to the quarter-finals four years later. Howe masterminded the 1970/71 double at Arsenal, where two spells as coach also brought European and further FA Cup glory. He was also an integral part of one of the greatest Wembley upsets when he helped Wimbledon’s ‘Crazy Gang’ to victory over the mighty Liverpool in 1988.
As a player at West Bromwich Albion, Howe won 24 international caps, but as a manager he failed to achieve the success he craved. Yet over a three-decade period, he won acclaim from many of England’s finest players as a genius of the coaching profession.
Through interviews with players, colleagues, friends and family, this book examines the triumphs and challenges of Don Howe’s career and assesses his contribution to English football.
(Publisher: Pitch Publishing Ltd. April 2022. Hardcover: 336 pages)