Book Recommendations (football books ... none of that Hunger Games malarkey)

[njligernj]

http://www.zonalmarking.net/2011/12/06/book-recommendations/

Saw that post on ZM and it's a pretty long list so wondered if anyone has read any of them and have any specific suggestions? The one which sounded the most interesting to me is written by an RS so that gives me pause. Any suggestions?

 

[tsubaki]

davek highly recommends the barca book

 

[BigBlueBalls]

'Scally' by Andy Nicholls.

 

[wm02]

http://www.zonalmarking.net/2011/12/06/book-recommendations/

Saw that post on ZM and it's a pretty long list so wondered if anyone has read any of them and have any specific suggestions? The one which sounded the most interesting to me is written by an RS so that gives me pause. Any suggestions?

Feeling like a bit of a nerd here...I've read eight of the books on that list. I'd highly recommend Inverting the Pyramid, Soccernomics, Moneyball, and Brilliant Orange. Inverting the Pyramid is one of the best books I've read over the past couple of years and is especially worth a shout if you also have an interest in history; it's fantastic. Even though some of the authors' theories concerning international football have been refuted, I also really enjoyed Soccernomics (very entertaining read and the format makes it a great page-turner). Though it's been a while, I remember really enjoying Moneyball and found it much, much better than Pay as You Play (which I would not recommend). Brilliant Orange is a really fun, quirky read that helped fill in the knowledge gaps of Dutch football for me. Behind the Curtain and Calcio were both decent but inconsistent reads. For Behind the Curtain, I felt several countries (Poland, Russia, etc.) could have had more interesting narratives. That being said, some of the anecdotes from Romania and Caucasus region were fantastic. Overall, Calcio was a good read but after a while the author's political beliefs being injected in the narrative began to irritate. I wouldn't recommend Englischer Fussball at all...slog of a read.

 

[njligernj]

Feeling like a bit of a nerd here...I've read eight of the books on that list. I'd highly recommend Inverting the Pyramid, Soccernomics, Moneyball, and Brilliant Orange. Inverting the Pyramid is one of the best books I've read over the past couple of years and is especially worth a shout if you also have an interest in history; it's fantastic.

Cheers I will check it out. Thanks for the tips.

Good article on Grantland recently about Moneyball you might enjoy: http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7328539/the-economics-moneyball

 

[Alio]

Not read it, but my man from LC! recommends this book

 

[Mikey_Fitzgerald]

Reading "Fever Pitch" at the moment for the first the time since my childhood

It's a cracking read actually

 

[Ashtonian]

Kevin Ratcliffe's first autobiography.
Alex Ferguson's new autobiography
Half of Graham sharpe's autobiography.
Roy Keane autobiography.

Thats my footballing knowledge on books i have read.

some funny anicdotes in the Rats one, all from his time as a current player rather than a post humeous one like all the others.

 

[spence03]

Gary ablett`s and Mark ward's are good reads. As mentioned Keane's is a good book. Alex fergusons first book over his second one.

 

[BlueLlama]

A good read, especially of you are off tp the WC and want to understand teh place a bit better

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Futebol-Bra...1XG_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1396283920&sr=1-2

 

[Azzurri]

'Scally' by Andy Nicholls.

If you want a book full of lies, yeah.

 

[jaybx1878]

Calcio-The History of Italian Football

 

[Twinkletoes123]

Just bought Neville Southall - The Binman Chronicles, will get round to reading it eventually.

 

[Raino85]

Paul mcgrath's autobiography is a great read

 

[jaycee]

Gary Ablett
Southall
Ratcliffe
Harvey
Kendall
Gascoigne
McGrath
Best
All decent reads most of the hooligan books are pretty boring