Football books

[Simon]

Any of you fags recommend a good book for me to read? Provided You Don't Kiss Me is a great read, the history of Brian Clough by one of the men who knew him best.

[Andy]

Get Stelling's book, it's great.

[da_man]

'The Italian Job' by Gianluca Vialli and Gab Marcotti is the best football book I've read.

The Italian Job: Amazon.co.uk: Gianluca Vialli, Gabriele Marcotti: Books

[Hlebsfall]

The Garrincha one where it tells you about how he used to fuck goats.

Garrincha: The Triumph and Tragedy of Brazil's Forgotten Footballing Hero: Amazon.co.uk: Ruy Castro, Andrew Downie: Books

[StevieV]

If you never read "addicted" then its worth a look. Even though he was a goon cunt and is now a complete joke.

Addicted: Amazon.co.uk: Tony Adams, Ian Ridley: Books

[turdpower]

The Roy Keane one is pretty good. I made this thread a few years back and got some decent recommendations, just never followed up on enough of them.

[BBF]

Top Boys is an interesting read too if you are at all interested in the hooligan culture.

[MichaelC]

Penthouse and Pavements by Bill Leckie. Basically about how money men and the football press are all cunts...

A Season With Verona
Very famous football book, great read too.

[Second City Saint]

I'm currently reading The Ball is Round by David Goldblatt. It's probably a bit more of a historically based than you're looking for, but it's quite thorough.

[Dreyski]

Passavotchka (spelling might be iffy) - The story of Dynamo Moscow's 1945 UK tour

Futebol - Book about Brazilian football and culture together

Morbo - The story of Spanish football

The Goalkeeper's history of Britain - More memoirs than football, but not a bad read.

[Just Joe]

Paul McGrath's book is excellent.

[da_man]

Robbie Savage has an autobiography coming out this month. Should have a few decent anecdotes in. He had a Q&A at a pub in Blackburn last year and certainly told a good yarn.

[El Capitano Gatisto]

Football Against The Enemy by Simon Kuper is a very good read. I read it years ago when I was 15/16, I fancy digging it out again. It's probably worth checking out other work by Kuper as well. Barca: A People's Passion by Jimmy Burns is also a great read, basically a history of the first 100 years of FC Barcelona. The Ball is Round: A Global History of Football is good too, but I dip in and out of it. Haven't finished it completely yet as it is a very comprehensive global history of football i.e. the early years in all continents, tactical developments, history of competitions and their origins etc. Very meticulous, excellently written but it is a dense book (incidentally Tim Vickery rates it as the best book on football ever written and he probably has read most of them).

Jonathon Wilson has written a book about tactics called Inverting the Pyramid: A History of Football Tactics and another called Behind the Curtain: Travels in Eastern European Football. I haven't read either but I think his columns in the Guardian are excellent so will probably check them out.

Left Foot in the Grave by Garry Nelson is another class book, basically a diary of Nelson's first season as a player-manager at Torquay in the 3rd division. He wrote an earlier book too called Left Foot Forward: A Year in the Life of a Journeyman Footballer which is supposed to be good as well.

As for autobiographies, I've read Kevin Keegan's, Jack Charlton's, Roy Keane's, Paul McGrath's and Alex Ferguson's. All pretty interesting, I think the 3 Irish-related ones were best but they may just be the ones I had most interest in.

[Simon]

I dunno if I could deal with McGrath's from what I've heard of it. I'll give that Verona book a go soon, it's back home in London somewhere but I'll dig it out.

[MMH]

Jonathon Wilson has written a book about tactics called Inverting the Pyramid: A History of Football Tactics and another called Behind the Curtain: Travels in Eastern European Football. I haven't read either but I think his columns in the Guardian are excellent so will probably check them out.


I have just bought Behind The Curtain now as you mentioned it here. Ill let you know how it is.

Dynamo is a good book. About Dynamo Kiev in the communist era and the problems they faced.

[Simon]

If you're a real nerd like me, Why England Lose is fascinating reading. It boils every element of football down to statistical probabilities. A lot of is quite hard going but some bits are riveting. The explanation of the Champions League final shootout between Chelsea and United is incredible and shows the depth of scouting that goes on with the top clubs.


At last, football has its answer to Freakonomics, The Tipping Point and The Undercover Economist. "Why do England lose?" "Why do Newcastle United always buy the wrong players?" "How could Nottingham Forest go from winning the European Cup to the depths of League One?" "Penalties - what are they good for?" These are questions every football fan has asked. Why England Lose answers them. It brings the techniques of bestselling books such as Freakonomics and The Undercover Economist to bear on our national sport. Written with an economist's brain and a football writer's skill, it applies high-powered analytical tools to everyday football topics. Why England Lose isn't in the first place about money. It's about looking at data in new ways. It's about revealing counterintuitive truths about football. It explains all manner of things about the game which newspapers just can't see. It all adds up to a new way of looking at football, beyond cliches about "The Magic of the FA Cup", "England's Shock Defeat" and "Newcastle's New South American Star". No training in economics is needed to read Why England Lose. But the reader will come out of it with a better understanding not just of football, but of how economists think and what they know.

Can't recommend it enough.

[The Rosk]

McGrath's is good. Just utterly mental. I actually found his upbringing to be one of the most interesting I've read from an autobiography in my time on this Earth reading literature. Don't know why you wouldn't be able to "cope" with it, you fucking twat.

Garrincha's is good too, as someone said.

[Star fruit surf rider]

If you're a real nerd like me, Why England Lose is fascinating reading. It boils every element of football down to statistical probabilities. A lot of is quite hard going but some bits are riveting. The explanation of the Champions League final shootout between Chelsea and United is incredible and shows the depth of scouting that goes on with the top clubs.



Can't recommend it enough.
"How could Nottingham Forest go from winning the European Cup to the depths of League One?"

What was the answer to this question???

[Star fruit surf rider]

Tony Adams is very interesting - although probably not for a Spurs fan.

Clough's first autobiography where he was still drinking and blamed Liverpool fans for Hillsborough is good. I think he calls Justin Fashanu a poof in that one too.

I echo who said about McGraths. And Rodney Marsh. Get that one.

I clearly like reading about footballers who drink excessively it seems.

[Simon]

"How could Nottingham Forest go from winning the European Cup to the depths of League One?"

What was the answer to this question???

Probably "Forest are and were nothing without Clough". And don't have a go at me because you know it's true :D

[Star fruit surf rider]

Probably "Forest are and were nothing without Clough". And don't have a go at me because you know it's true :D
We have still finished 3rd in 1995 which is higher than you have since the 60's - as I have pointed out before... :cool:

[The Rosk]

Yo Red Dog. Do you want in on the Game of Death? Seems like you will be sticking around.

[Simon]

We have still finished 3rd in 1995 which is higher than you have since the 60's - as I have pointed out before... :cool:

And if Des Walker hadn't been so bloody useless you might have won a trophy in that time as well :eek:

[Star fruit surf rider]

And if Des Walker hadn't been so bloody useless you might have won a trophy in that time as well :eek:
In what time?

Clough retired in 1993, the Cup final was 1991.

What 'time' are you talking about Simon???

You really do have no excuse for this seeing as you have just read a book on Clough and you support Tottenham.

Poor show.

[Star fruit surf rider]

Yo Red Dog. Do you want in on the Game of Death? Seems like you will be sticking around.
Thanks for the offer but no.

I joined that Rajah fantasy league and lost interest after about 3 weeks and I reckon this would be similar.

I'll do it when we have been promoted.

[Dreyski]

Dynamo is a good book. About Dynamo Kiev in the communist era and the problems they faced.

Unless there are two books with the same title, I thought it was about the Dynamo team that played against the nazi's in WWII. A bit 'Escape to Victory' without the happy end. Cracking book all the same. :yes:

[Star fruit surf rider]

I have just read Matt Le Tissier's book.

Not much in the way of slagging people off but it is quite a lighthearted and funny read. He never earned any more than £5k a week. He gets more for doing Soccer Saturday. He does not like Glenn Hoddle.

One funny bit, and yes I am shoehorning Forest here, was that when he was a youngster, Jimmy Case was captain and if anyone kicked Le Tiss then Case would say let him know and he'd give them a whack back. And he did this for 2 or 3 years as Case was a bit of a hardman.

Anyway, one game, Le Tisser is up against Pearce (:heart:) and he goes over to Case and says "Jimmy, he has done me three times"".

Case turned round and went "Not today, son".

[son_of_foley]

Where would I get the McGrath book from? I can only find versions which are out of print and out of stock at the minute

[MMH]

Where would I get the McGrath book from? I can only find versions which are out of print and out of stock at the minute

Back from the Brink: The Autobiography: Amazon.co.uk: Paul McGrath: Books

87p

bargain


I have just finished reading Stamping Grounds: Liechtenstiens World Cup Oddessey about a bloke from England who decided to go and watch Liechtenstiens World Cup Campaign for 2002 and just generally what its like there etc.

Its brilliant, I highly recommend it.

I have just started on a book on football in China. The writer has been a knobhead so far so hopefully it will improve. I also have a book on football in warzones like the middle east which looks good.

Oh and Tor which is the book of German football is probably my fave football book. Lots of good stories in there.

[RFF Champ]

This one is mainly aimed at The Rosk.

I need to buy a gift for my Sister's boyfriend but I haven't got a clue what to get. All I know is that he is a Villa fan and enjoyed Mcgrath's book.

Any suggestions of other ex-Villa players with a good book out?

[Star fruit surf rider]

Merson's is good.

[RFF Champ]

That's a shout. I'm not sure if you can pick it up new anywhere though.

Looks like he's got a new one coming out in March, as an aside.

[The Rosk]

This one is mainly aimed at The Rosk.

I need to buy a gift for my Sister's boyfriend but I haven't got a clue what to get. All I know is that he is a Villa fan and enjoyed Mcgrath's book.

Any suggestions of other ex-Villa players with a good book out?

Hello mate.

As 1PA has pointed out before, Southgate's book he wrote with a mate who started their career together but went very different ways is actually quite brilliant.

Woody and Nord: A Football Friendship: Amazon.co.uk: Gareth Southgate, Andy Woodman, David Walsh: Books

Other Villa players... well Merson's is OK. Haven't read Yorke's.

Oh actually Collymore's is alright and actually quite interesting, these are both cheap if you want to get them both.

[RFF Champ]

The Southgate one looks good based on the reviews. I think I'll pick that on up. I've got a feeling he's read Collymore's, I can remember him talking to me about it.

I notice Friedel has a book out but that's probably aimed more at the yanks.

[The Rosk]

John Gregory's was quite funny considering how arrogant the cunt is. He wrote it when we were on top of the League and he thinks he is God's gift.

[Bad Collin]

Why England Lose gets my recommendation too, it is very good.

I also found a book called 'Don't mention the score: A masochists history of English football' in Poundland which was well worth a quid.

[RFF Champ]

Did anybody get any good books for Christmas?

I read 'a Life too Short' about Robert Enke by Ronald Reng which was excellent and desperately sad in equal measure. I'd recommend it to anyone.

I also read 'No Smoke No Fire' by Dave Jones. Most stories are written from Jones' perspective and then his wife's perspective as well. It worked quite well because the interest in the book is obviously when he was wrongfully accused of child abuse so you see it from his family's point of view also. It leaves you feeling that the justice system really let him and others involved down. I'd only read it if you are interested in Dave Jones though, not one for the neutrals.

[Red Dog]

Self pitying scouser.

[Andy]

Just finished Merson's latest book, god it's a depressing read at times. I didn't read his first one so I'm not sure how much is new but it's worth a read. Not many particularly good stories about other players that haven't been talked about before but his brutal honestly is great. He basically admits that he's an utter prick. Selfish, made moves completely for the money, shat in David Seaman's hotel room. The stuff about drugs and gambling is just frightening though, it's quite astonishing that he made it past his mid 20s, let alone to where he is now.

He basically got away with taking drugs for years because he was able to blame it on Spurs fans. He said he'd go into training and every other day be presented with a letter from a member of the public claiming they'd seen him doing/buying drugs but he'd just say it was a Spurs fan trying to get him in trouble.

Onto Graham Hunter's Barca book next.

[Beefy]

I picked this up at the airport the other week.

http://www.skysportsdvdshop.co.uk/images/productimages/1/9780007281268.jpg

[RFF Champ]

That Stelling book is perfect toilet reading.

[Simon]

Onto Graham Hunter's Barca book next.

Hands down the best football book I've ever read. Don't be put off by the shit cover.

[TraXX]

That book is great Beefster. :yes:

[StevieV]

Just read The Secret Footballer book.

Really enjoyed it. Also I'm convinced it's dave kitson. Reading the book and then past interviews with him it just seems to fit.

[Beefy]

Kitson is too young isn't he? Plus he's not been a Premier League player in ages.

Obviously you've read the book....

[Hlebsfall]

http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/sport/pompey/pompey-past/kitson-to-go-the-distance-for-new-book-1-3026897

[turdpower]

There's a whole website dedicated to who it is.

[MikeHunt]

Well turd who is it then? 100% who is it?

[Beefy]

I didn't realise Kitson was 31. I remember seeing him at Cambridge when he was just breaking through there.

[turdpower]

Well turd who is it then? 100% who is it?

I think it's between about 5 players. They have a section which shows all the clues, I guess you could sift through that and work it out if you really wanted to.

http://www.whoisthesecretfootballer.co.uk/

[MikeHunt]

Right I can confirm that the secret footballer is Dave Kitson.

[Simon]

TSF has played international football, so it's not Kitson.

[StevieV]

Do you have a source for that Simon? I have to admit i didn't read the articles but there was no suggestion in the book of an international career. Mainly it mentioned not quite living up to his potential.

[Simon]

Maybe I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure he has mentioned being away with international sides etc. In any case I am almost certain it's not one man.

Also one story he tells about an unnamed manager in an article is supposedly a well-known old story about Dario Gradi, which again makes me think that if it was one person, it might be Murphy. But there are plenty of reasons for it not to be each of the suspects.

[Simon]

Years ago, at my first club, the manager would spend hours coming up with set plays that he would go through with us on the training pitch. One role that is nearly always taken up at every level of the game is the "position of maximum opportunity", or pomo. The pomo is the space inhabited by a striker, usually after pulling away from the goalkeeper after a corner is taken. It is the space in between the six-yard line and the back post and is important because a high percentage of headers won by the attacking team are flicked towards this area. God forbid if one of our forwards weren't there. "That is the difference between you becoming a millionaire and spending the rest of your career at the fucking Dog and Duck!" he used to scream if someone went awol.

This is the bit that is supposedly known to be Gradi.

[Beefy]

I think the book is about one player but the regular articles are written/ghost-written by a number of players.

[Slare]

From a recent one...

"When one of our players has a baby, you can't move at the training ground for Harrods hampers and baby clothes."

Harrods? Fulham? Murphy?

[Simon]

I think the book is about one player but the regular articles are written/ghost-written by a number of players.

Not heard much about the book, been too wrapped up in the Barca book and now the Football Manager book, is it supposed to be any cop?

[Beefy]

If only someone in this thread had read it a couple of days ago. If only.

[StevieV]

I read it cover to cover over the weekend barely putting it down.

I think that a fair few bits are rehashed from articles. Although I largely haven't read the articles.

I enjoyed it a lot and felt it had a pretty good insight that I hadn't heard before. Although it can be considered as a bit self serving but then any autobiographical works tend to be.

[turdpower]

I imagine the book is just the articles put in a book, no?

It's what Booker's are.

[RFF Champ]

From a recent one...

"When one of our players has a baby, you can't move at the training ground for Harrods hampers and baby clothes."

Harrods? Fulham? Murphy?

Nicky Shorey would fit and he's a leading candidate on the website that turdy posted.

[turdpower]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Triggs-Autobiography-Roy-Keanes-Dog/dp/1409144992/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1379088997&sr=1-1&keywords=triggs+roy+keane

This looks brilliant. Buying.

[El Capitano Gatisto]

Zlatan's book. It's quality.

[turdpower]

I think that might be a Christmas present request.

I saw the headline of the serialisation in the Daily Mail and didn't want to spoil it by reading any further.

[Simon]

There's a new book about scouting that has come out and its supposed to be great.

[connorboy]

DB10s book it on Amazon for the kindle for 49p. 49 PENCE.

[Simon]

Currently reading The Nowhere Men by Michael Calvin, about the scouting system. Quite interesting and entertaining so far. Also surprised by how much I enjoyed the most recent Secret Footballer book, I thought it was just a bit of a gimmick but it gives you a decent insight into the murk of a footballer's career even at the top level, as well as plenty of funny stories and gossip.

[Romford Pele]

Read the Walcott book - pretty average to be honest. Doesn't give many controversial opinions apart from 'I shouldn't have been at the 2006 world cup'

The latest Fergie one was quite good though.

[Simon]

Fergie's was alright, but not much that he hadn't said before - he regrets selling Stam, Keane was a pain in the arse, he doesn't like Posh Spice and the Glazers are alright really.

[Romford Pele]

I like the fact he criticised Jordan Hendersons 'gait' :)

[turdpower]

Every decent bit of Fergie's book was already plastered all over the news.

[son_of_foley]

I read secret footballer and zlatans book.

Thought zlatan book was excellent. Really well structured and interesting. Highly recommended.

Secret footballer.... I think he's a tosser who gets a pass because he writes for the guardian. I don't find him likeable I didn't find the majority of it insightful. Thought it was bollocks

[Simon]

Just coming to the end of The Beautiful Game: Searching For The Soul Of Football by David Conn, would massively recommend it...I had it for years but never read it as I thought it would be very dry and academic, but it manages to delve quite deep without ever feeling like a chore. It's a bit dated now as it came out a decade ago and the game has gone even more mental financially since then, but it's a great insight into the ridiculous way in which most teams are run.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Beautiful-Game-Searching-Soul-Football-ebook/dp/B004FEG2Z4/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1407415209&sr=8-2&

[Simon]

Finally got round to reading Sid Lowe's "Fear and Loathing in La Liga", waded through (most of) it in the space of a week leading up to El Clasico at the weekend. It's a potted history of the rivalry between Madrid and Barca, and I say I read "most of" it because the first third is basically unrelated to football, with lengthy chapters on Franco and the politics of Catalonia/Spain. I ended up skipping a few chapters as I just couldn't get into it, eventually jumping back in sometime around the mid-60s.

To be honest I wouldn't hugely recommend it. Trying to capture a century of football in a couple of hundred pages was always likely to be a tough ask and really it doesn't feel like much of it is explored in depth - it was nice to read back over the Barca side of the early 90s and be reminded of little things like Ronaldinho's hat trick at Bernabeu, Figo's incredible transfer and the way McManaman became something of a hero in Madrid, but there's surprisingly little about the modern era (maybe because it's already been covered in better books). One thing I will say is that, when you read this and Graham Hunter's BARCA, it is incredible to see the influence Cruyff seems to have had at Barca - basically everyone, from pundits to staff at every level of the club including players and chairmen, agree that everything they've had over the past thirty years is a direct result of Cruyff moulding the club in his image.

[Clive Plasma]

Not a book, but an article I found yesterday that I thought might be of interest;

https://www.theblizzard.co.uk/articles/notes-on-street-football/

Full article below;

What kickabouts reveal about the tortured artists of neo-romantic myth.


I should have to venture a guess, pick-up football is the primary way of practising the sport in the world. All you need for a pick-up game is a reasonably flat surface, a sufficiently round object and someone to show up. The rules are thus flexible enough to accommodate the reality of the players’ lives and surroundings.

Pick-up football is not exactly the best name for that particular mode of playing. I prefer to think of it as street football, a variation — or, arguably, a foundation — of the sport as exercised by the majority of humans, who have no means or will to join leagues, be coached, or leave their neighbourhood. Obviously, it doesn’t necessarily have to be played on the actual street: any game with no particular gain in sight other than pleasure, consensually arranged by unprofessional players, would come under street football. It is to professional football what dance is to ballet.

2) I’ve played street football pretty much exclusively all of my life — no leagues, no coaches, no training sessions, no fans, no appreciation or rewards other than an occasional experience of bliss. As a kid, I played on the gravel in the playground between the two apartment buildings where my friends and I all lived in Sarajevo. What can only generously be called a pitch included, in addition to the flesh-shredding gravel, a sandbox, seesaws, slide, merry-go-round and a metal frame on which rugs would be hung to beat dirt out of them. After the game, which, for all intents and purposes, we played inside a cloud of black dust, my mother would not let me in the apartment until I fully undressed, as all of my clothes and shoes, as well as my skin and the inside of my mouth, would be black.

Sometimes, if our numbers were low and/or odd, the rug-beating frame would serve as the only goal, and we’d play what we called viktorija. The single goalie would throw the ball up with his back turned to both teams (two or three players each) and the team that got the ball would attack, while the other one would defend until the situation reversed. The sand box was right in front of the frame, so the only way to score was by way of long-distance shots or from tight angles.

Most of the time, the goals were the benches at the far ends of the playground. The slide was right in front of one of the benches — effectively playing the role of the centre-back — and if you were running (imagining yourself to be, say, Ian Rush) in anticipation of a wing pass, you had to duck under to get into a scoring position. (A late duck would’ve surely led to a cracked skull, but that, miraculously, never happened.) You also had to slalom among the seesaws, the merry-go-round and the swings, while making sure that your rare pass made it past the sandbox. The playground conditioned our skills and tactical decisions — our ball control developed within this physical context, as did positioning and spatial awareness, all far less useful for winning than for mere survival in the jungle of injurious objects. Even if the games mattered enough for us to risk our limbs, few somehow ever got seriously injured. The only corporal damage I can recall was sustained by one of the clumsiest players — nicknamed Bear, behind his back — who once turned into the metal frame and crashed into it with his forehead, which then bled profusely.

Now, when I see my daughter in her football class, moving the ball between orange cones on artificial turf, part of me wishes that she had to slalom among playground equipment in a cloud of black dust, as if those harsh conditions would make her a better player. It is the aging, grumpy, immigrant part of me that tends to believe that the young ones today have it too easy, which makes them less tough, less skilful and less motivated. But I’m fully aware, of course, that’s bullshit: no kid from my playground has become a great, let alone professional, player. And it’s fair to say that we would’ve happily settled for an obstacle-free grassy pitch, even if artificial.

3) We sometimes played on the neighbourhood parking lot as well, conveniently located across the street from an emergency room. Usually, the parking lot was devoid of obstacles, except that, when it was full, the rows of cars would be side lines. Getting the ball from under a car required rolling in a puddle of machine oil; when the ball bounced off to the busy street we ran between zooming cars to fetch it. The goals would be marked by two bricks, which allowed us to dispute and argue over any goal that was not self-evident.

Thinking about the game in tactical terms meant nothing more than that we bothered to defend at all. Passing was not something that was valued, the skills were really dribbling or ball-hogging. Stuck in my room doing homework and unable to play, I knew the game was on because I could hear the shouts: “Dodaj!” (“Pass!”), followed, with boyish regularity, by a stream of curses.

The hardest thing to learn in football is passing. It is perfectly unnatural. Children do not pass, because they’re fascinated by the ball at their feet, by their nascent ability, however limited, to control the ball. So many times in my daughter’s football class (she’s six now), I’ve watched a cluster of kids in Brownian motion at the centre of which was one kid who couldn’t give up the ball if his or her life depended on it. During the time the ball moves through the space between two players, it belongs to nobody — it is nowhere. To pass is to relinquish control, to give up the certainty of the ball at your feet for the uncertain outcome of a pass. To pass is to anticipate and imagine a future, while to keep the ball and dribble is to stay in the moment for as long as possible.

A forest of playground equipment or even a parking lot were certainly not conducive to creative ball sharing. Even if the ball was relinquished and kicked over to another player, he would always have to spend some time alone with it. I have no way of proving it, but my guess is that, even now, no kids involved in street games the world over play like the Barcelona the grown-up writers and tacticians admire. The Barcelona the kids like would be embodied in Messi, the runt who runs solo past the defence, with the ball seemingly strung to his feet, which is how he’s been doing it since he was a kid, as evidenced by the YouTube footage that purports to be of him at the age of six.

4) Obviously, there are no managers or coaches in street football, which is to say that everyone is equally qualified to be coach or manager. The street democracy necessarily results in frequent mouthing off, as everyone believes that they know best. The neighbourhood game I play in every week requires lengthy and not always friendly negotiation during the divvying of the pool players, while nearly everyone coaches in the game, constantly talking at and even insulting other players. Professional football always has an audience — the paying, judging fans — while street players essentially perform for one another, always mutually subject to harsh momentary judgment.

A street team is always unbalanced, because not everyone is at the same skill level. The general approach to addressing the imbalance (apart from yelling) is a ruthless division of labour: the best players are in the attack and midfield (which in a small compressed field is the same thing), the less skilful and/or more aged ones defend, while the weakest one is in the goal. The problem is often that there are too many self-declared good players upfront — there is no coach or any authority to establish a hierarchy or positioning within the team. Moreover, street football often features small, six-foot-wide goals. There is no box, no offside, no penalties; defensive formations are fluid to say the least — more often than not, no one sticks to their position. This commonly leads to more unpleasant imbalance and, eventually, to fractious chaos and apocalyptic yelling. Also, a lot of goals.

5) A view of the game — indeed an aesthetic and an ideology — arises from the culture of street football, even after the kids grow up. It all boils down to this: 1) those who can do it alone are the best; 2) the best ones grow up on the street, where they acquire their skills by avoiding various obstacles, be they social (poverty) or physical (the roughness of the concrete pitch). Which is why the Brazilians are considered to be the best — their sumptuous skills always imply a street, a favela or, at least, a beach. Not only are, say, defensive midfielders unappreciated by the street kids imagining themselves as Messi or Ronaldo, they’re also invisible and incomprehensible. Childish adults are not enamoured with the unspectacular diligence either: recall Florentino Pérez getting rid of Makélélé, from whose departure Real Madrid have never fully recovered.
A useful, hardworking player possessing no glamour or spectacular skills was referred to in the Yugoslavia of my childhood as “water carrier” (vodonoša), someone, I used to imagine, who ran around faithfully providing water for the street-bred artist who could turn the game with one fancy move. Such an artist, however, was not necessarily thirsty, as part of the artistic aura was the proudly exhibited absence of interest in running and defending. Tactical and any other indiscipline was seen as a mark of untamable genius, an expression of his artistic nature and recalcitrance, which would've been nurtured — the neo-romantic stereotype required — in some poor, obstacle-riddled neighbourhood.

The artist-player, presumably merely expressing his unpredictable, exuberant nature, is essential for what might be called a neo-romantic football aesthetics. Such artistic nature deplores pseudo-rationalist tactical schemes, while being entirely dependent on inspiration and perceivable only in moments of greatness. The street-artist is by definition an underdog and is particularly valued if playing for an underdog club. This underdogness is necessarily nostalgic, a way of longing for inspired innocence, and therefore crucial. The artists who learned their ball magic on the street and scoffed at tactics and discipline could always easily be absorbed into the urban mythology customarily featuring all kinds of rebels. Hence part of that street aesthetics is always hating the rational, realist football, which was exemplified when I was growing up by all teams German, who relied on tactical discipline and hard work, and, very unromantically, always won.

A study of neo-romantic football would feature such players as Garrincha, Best, Hagi, Stoichkov, Gascoigne, Le Tissier, Riquelme, Adriano, who have left a trail of greatness and related (public) drama. Some of them earned far fewer trophies than clips with fancy footwork presently available on YouTube. Some ended up on the heart-breaking path of self-destruction, while others carried their soloist unpredictability off the pitch. In their indelible love of pleasure (for that is what is really behind all their exuberance, the neo-romantic thinking goes), many of them acquired, along with drinking and/or drug problems, more weight than property. Few of the great football artists become successful managers: inspiration is not teachable, or even expressible, outside the moment in which it exists. Their talent is an entrancing, eternal mystery, creating an image — even in their addled retirement — of a suffering, romantic loner.

6) I've played with so many self-perceived artists that I can now identify them from their first touch, at which they always give off an air of self-importance. Having long grown out of my romantic phase, however, I cannot stand the players who do not defend, who do not retain positional discipline, who exude belief that the rest of their team ought to be grateful for their presence, who always choose a fancy move over a simple Makélélian pass in order to bamboozle the opponent just for the fuck of it, who take it upon themselves to elect — all this while hogging the ball insufferably — the teammate worthy of the masterpiece pass.

I hate watching such players just as I hate being on the team with them. Much too often, the romantics can think of themselves only within the contest of some hierarchy of greatness (even if the game is played on the street — particularly on the street) rather than within the game itself. They don't care about winning in collaboration with their team, ever invested in finding ways to express their tortured genius, their drama always more gripping than the game they're playing. And yet — and yet — as a writer and a professional story teller, I'm still attracted to and fascinated by the romantics precisely for that heroic drama, which is, needless to say, never limited to the stadium. Such players induce stories, their lives always spilling over.

7) One of the greatest Yugoslav/Bosnian players of all time was Safet Sušić, who in the seventies and eighties played for FC Sarajevo and the Yugoslav national team and then went to PSG. Until Ibrahimović and his class arrived, Sušić had been widely considered the best player who ever wore the shirt of the Parisian club. He was fancy-footed all right. He scored hat-tricks in friendlies against Argentina and Italy, which involved quite a bit of dribbling past the opponent's defence. But in addition to all the memorable moves, he indeed had a distinguished, responsible career, largely devoid of self-destruction. Presently, he's the manager of the Bosnia national team, very much on the verge of taking them to Brazil next year. In short, a remarkable player — last year France Football voted him the best foreign player in Ligue 1 of all time — far more than an artist and therefore of limited narrative interest.

His older brother Sead, however, is an entirely different story. As fancy-footed as Safet, if not more so, he was believed to have been the greatest talent of his generation. He started at the FK Sarajevo youth team but was signed as a teenager, in 1970, by Belgrade's Crvena Zvezda, the biggest and the most powerful Yugoslav club, managed at the time by Miljan Miljanić. (One of the great characters of eastern European football, he also managed Real Madrid and the Yugoslavia national team and is still fondly remembered as having an uncanny ability to avoid giving a straight answer.) Sead had a middling career at Zvezda, went on to Belgium by way of the USA, until his career fizzled out on his way to Saudi Arabia or some such place. He played for the Yugoslavia national team exactly once and retired at the age of 28. While I can without effort recall Safet's goals and the way he tiptoed past the Argentinian defence like a ballerina, my mind contains no visual memory of Sead's play, even if I remember admiring whatever it was he was doing on the pitch.

But my head is full of the stories of Sead! We in Sarajevo believed that he was (possibly to this day) the only player of Muslim background whose name was chanted by the Crvena Zvezda fans, long invested in Serbian nationalism and notoriously prone to casual racism. In Belgium, the story went, he once dribbled past an entire defence and, with unnecessary fakes, toyed with the goalie who threw himself desperately from one side to another, only for the ball to be poked in the goal when Sead got bored with his helpless victim. Infuriated by the humiliation, the goalie charged at Sead, who offered him his middle finger for consideration, whereupon he bit into it. Another time, Sead received a yellow card, which he ripped out of the ref's hand and tore to shreds. The ref then pulled out the red card, which Sead ripped out of his hand and tore to shreds. And then there was the story — my favourite — in which Sead was in Sarajevo, on his way to Saudi Arabia where he had signed his latest contract. The night before he was to report to his new club, he was drinking with his buddies at the Sarajevo cafe called Stari Sat (The Old Clock — somehow, even the name of the cafe pertains) when he noticed that he had missed his plane. He had another drink, then stepped out on the street and hailed a cab. “Saudi Arabia,” he told the cabbie and on he went to the Kingdom, only 3000 miles away, to finish off his career.

Let me make it clear that none of those stories were reported in the press. The stories were produced by the perpetual myth-mill of Sarajevo's streets, which somehow made them more believable. The myth-mill also inducted him in the gambling-and-drinking hall of local fame, also featuring the singer known for the song entitled “Sarajevo, My Love” along with the greatest Bosnian basketball player of all time. Sead was thus part of Sarajevo's neo-romantic pantheon, important for the maintenance of our urban mythological system. I would've hated playing with him, but I could never have enough stories about him.

I met Sead only once. I worked at a Sarajevo radio station in the late eighties, and there I managed to accompany a colleague to an interview with him. Already comfortable in his retirement, he was a quiet, pudgy guy, not so much exuberant as projecting a melancholic kindness and modesty. My colleague and I were eager to check the veracity of the stories his legend rested upon, so we outright asked him. Yes, he confirmed, a goalie did bite his middle finger. (I recall him now as showing me the little scar on his middle finger, but that could well be an embellishment perpetuated by the narrative machinery in my head). No, he did not tear the red and yellow cards to shreds: he grabbed the yellow one from the ref's hand and threw it to the ground, for which he received a red one and then simply left the pitch without further drama. No, he did not take a cab to Saudi Arabia. He was indeed at the Stari Sat, drinking, and decided that he missed Safet, who was playing for PSG at the time. Sead was burning to see him, so he hailed a cab and told the cabbie to take him to Paris, but then came to his senses before the cab left the city and went home instead.

It was one of the most enjoyable interviews I've ever conducted, because I liked Sead a lot. In the radio studio, he did not see himself as a genius or a suffering artist. Even if he did meet some requirements for being a neo-romantic player, the work of romanticising was done by the street fans — we needed him for the stories, we projected and completed his legendary profile. That was, now I understand, a crucial moment in my comprehension of football. It was around then that I shed the last residues of my boyish neo-romantic aesthetics.

8) Romantic street artists were far more possible and present before the game of football became globalised and commercialised, before the money poured in, before unthinkable amounts came to be at stake, before the great players were able to sign astronomical endorsement contracts — all of which professionalised the game to the point of very rationalist discipline. Today's players pursue and project strength and health, taken to be necessary for any act of on-pitch brilliance and available in all sizes and flavours from the corporations they endorse. Even Ibrahimović, who grew up playing in a rough area of Malmö and is as close to a street romantic as any contemporary footballer, is a consummate, ambitious professional. Messi could be perceived as a solo artist only if you somehow disregard the perfectly attuned Barça orchestra and have no memory of the romantic soloists of the past.

And yet — and yet! — the street dimension is still indelibly present in all of football. After all, Neymar has just landed in Barcelona.

My favourite bit of it; "The hardest thing to learn in football is passing. It is perfectly unnatural. Children do not pass, because they’re fascinated by the ball at their feet, by their nascent ability, however limited, to control the ball. So many times in my daughter’s football class (she’s six now), I’ve watched a cluster of kids in Brownian motion at the centre of which was one kid who couldn’t give up the ball if his or her life depended on it. During the time the ball moves through the space between two players, it belongs to nobody — it is nowhere. To pass is to relinquish control, to give up the certainty of the ball at your feet for the uncertain outcome of a pass. To pass is to anticipate and imagine a future, while to keep the ball and dribble is to stay in the moment for as long as possible."

[Simon]

Has anyone read the latest Secret Footballer book? There's always been a somewhat grumpy vibe to the books but fucking hell the latest one is just relentlessly bitter the whole way through. It's the football equivalent of Bouncing Back.

[Reech]

I had my fill with the first one.

Currently on "The Football Manager guide to Football Management" by MacIntosh. It's not got much to do with FM yet.

[Simon]

I got that for Christmas too - it doesn't have anything to do with FM really, bar the last chapter which gives you a rundown of the types of side you might want to pick. It's a tie-in in name only, and is pretty much a straightforward book about football management. Thought it was decent though.

[Reech]

Mine seems to have fundamental editing errors in it, did you have those 2?

"Winnging" as a typo in a header and I swear there's 2 paragraphs exactly the same after each other.

[Simon]

Yeah I noticed that as well, I think they are quite early in the book? Didn't notice anything after that though.

[Red Dog]

I just finished "A League - Inside story of the first decade".

Really good, it's more about the politics than the actual football but worth a read if you like football books.

[Simon]

Extract from a book about football financing on The Guardian - the extract is good, looking forward to the book...

https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2017/mar/30/neymar-brazil-barcelona-santos-transfer

Also I'm reading this at the moment. It's quite a light read but for fans of football and the 90s it's fucking great :yes:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/When-Football-Came-Home-England/dp/178531128X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1490868971&sr=8-1&keywords=euro+96+book