Footy Books...

I enjoyed it. I found the two books an excellent contrast with their views on how professional our club was, compared to what they were used to.

Neil Redfearn's book on the other hand, just read like a documentary.

 

Scoured the local bookshop for that one. Finally found it in the Fantasy/Fiction section.

 

I can't tell if that's criticism or praise or what it means. Can you explain for someone interested but struggling.

 

I've never read a well written football book, certainly not by a player. The best you can hope for is a regurgitation of facts relating to a club you're interested in. I think I've read pretty much all the ones relating to Barnsley. Maybe the one by John Dennis was the most interesting.
As was said above by Old Goat Football Daft by Parky is by far the best and Cricket Mad is also a good read.

 

I've read snippets from John Dennis' book online. A decent read (the bits I've read).

 

I'd love to know what you think of it after you've finished reading it. It's a long while since I read it, so I hope I'm not remembering it with red-tinted glasses.

 

Try the Fifty Six Written by Martin Fletcher who lost his brother, father, grandfather and uncle in the Bradford fire disaster and how in later years he devoted his life investigating how the disaster was caused
Incredibly moving and will strike a chord with anyone who followed football in the 80s

 

It makes my mind boggle how we get away with our West Stand?

 

A bit of a criticism. I found it neither engaging, nor humorous. Scant on ripping anecdotes or particular insight into anything, just a broadly chronological account of what a bloke has done in his life. It wasn't for me.

 

Thank you

 

Just finished that book. Found it quite moving in places.

 

This is something that I just can't get into, as reading books has never interested me.
I think I'm one of those who says I'll watch it at the pictures or when it comes out on dvd lol.

 

Some of my favourites:

Harry Pearson - The Far Corner - probably my favourite football book
Eamonn Dunphy - Strange Kind of Glory - Dunphy is a *****, but this is a great book, about Matt Busby and Man United
Bobby Charlton’s 2 autobiographies, My Manchester United Years and My England Years - at the risk of overdosing you on Man United
Pete Davies - All Played Out - about England in the 1990 World Cup
Gary Jordan - Out of the Shadows - about England at the 1982 World Cup (the greatest World Cup!)
Barry Fry’s autobiography - the index alone makes it seem like a crime novel
Duncan Hamilton - Provided You Don’t Kiss Me: 20 Years With Brian Clough - best book I’ve read about the great man

Nick Hornby’s Fever Pitch is also a great book, but I tend to, probably unfairly, associate that with Sky and the Premier League as when football started to lose its roots. In came all seater stadiums, razzmatazz, ridiculous wages, ridiculous ticket prices, the money grab by the top clubs and a thousand chin stroking intellectuals with their opinions on the game. Still, I was at that game in Liverpool, and Hornby wasn’t!

 

Fever Pitch isn't a bad film.

 

Though not really anything to do with the book.

 

I don't know. Never read it. Just assumed it was about an Arsenal fan that was desperate for them to win the League for the first time since 1971.

 

It's much, much better than that. Really worth a read. Especially about his season watching Cambridge.

 

Peter Shilton - Saved
Paul Merson - Hooked

Both books are fantastic insights in to their addictions and how they managed to get to the place they are now in their lives.

 

"Full Time: The Secret Life Of Tony Cascarino" is a good read and very different from the usual footballers autobiography story !

 

Has anybody read the book version of The Damned United, as well as seen the film ?.
Apparently the book was/is a shoddy and appalling version of the truth, about Clough and his time at Leeds.