Simon Ritter’s smashing article about Wor Jakey (ED: Jacob Murphy) the other day, referenced one of my favourite football books, ‘Left Foot Forward’ by 80s-90s striker Garry Nelson.
It got me thinking about other great and interesting football books I have read over the years.
I’m a big reader and I enjoy recommending books that I’ve dug.
So here goes.
There’s none of the ‘superstar ghost-written’ autobiographies here and I didn’t think there was much point mentioning any Newcastle United based books, as we’ll know them already.
Tom Bower – Broken Dreams [2003]
Exposé of the money swirling down the plughole into the pockets of agents, dodgy managers and others. Venables, Redknapp and Monkey Heid come under particular scrutiny. Nothing changed, of course.
Arthur Hopcraft – The Football Man [1968]
Interviews a lot of those at the top of the game in the mid-60s [you can skip Bobby Charlton, obviously] in among his own thoughts, to show how the game fit in to the society of the time.
Its greatness comes from being written by someone who deeply loves the game.
Garry Nelson – Left Foot Forward [1995] and Left Foot in the Grave [1997]
Some of you may remember Garry, a hard-working left-footed striker at Brighton and Charlton. [He scored for Charlton in both games v Newcastle in the 92-93 promotion season].
His books are diaries of a couple of seasons late in his career, the second one where he is player/assistant manager at Torquay. Warm and entertaining, the books give an idea of what life was like for such a player in the long-lost days of the 90s [Robert ‘Lurker’ Lee gets a few mentions as a former teammate].
Paul McGuigan and Paolo Hewitt – The Greatest Footballer You Never Saw [1997]
The story of the life and [short] playing career of Robin Friday, possibly the wildest of the wild 70s maverick footballers.
Told in the form of short excerpts from interviews with those who knew him best.
It’s a great story, not least because of how his last game ended [I won’t spoil the surprise].
Eamonn Dunphy – Only a Game? [1976]
Another ‘Diary of a Season’, similar to Left Foot Forward.
Dunphy is a well-known controversial pundit, this book is about a season with Millwall in the old second division.
Simon Kuper – Football Against the Enemy [1994]
I think this is inspired somewhat by The Football Man [see above], not just UK-based, Kuper travels the world trying to find out how various nations’ football styles are dependent on national character.
Great revealing interviews with Helenio Herrera, Roger Milla, Valeriy Lobanovskyi and more.
Bill Buford – Among the Thugs [1990]
I saved the best for last.
This is one of my favourite books.
Buford, a US citizen living in the UK, becomes fascinated by football violence in the early 80s and decides to see it first hand.
What follows is a fascinating look at UK society with football violence at the centre.
He starts off following Man Utd fans but don’t let that put you off.
As with all great writing, it’s about more than just the subject at its core.
A masterpiece that I make sure to re-read every couple of years.
Have fun.
This post was originally published on here
