Fever Pitch

[marshall881]

I am currently reading Fever Pitch. I am looking for any other soccer books that anybody would suggest. They do not have to be similar in nature. Anything soccer related would be appreciated.

[Chas in Cinti]

I am currently reading Fever Pitch. I am looking for any other soccer books that anybody would suggest. They do not have to be similar in nature. Anything soccer related would be appreciated.

Miracle of Castel di Sangro (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0316557366?v=glance)

Best... Sports... Book... Ever...

Seriously, it's very good. Has all the intrigue, hoopla, etc. of European Soccer.

-Chas

[AlexB]

Also recommend The Miracle of Castel di Sangro.

Also two books by Garry Nelson, the first 'Left Foot Forward' chronicling his season as a veteran player, and the second 'Left Foot in the Grave' as a coach at a lowly league side, are excellent reads (he was left-footed in case you haven't picked that up!), and give a good insight into the real world of football rather than the Beckhams, Giggs, etc of this world...

[AlexB]

Dola,

Also 'The Greatest Footballer You Never Saw: The Robin Friday Story' by Paul McGuigan and Paolo Hewitt is a great book - the tragic tale of a George Best-like figure

[AlexB]

Double dola,

'Tales From The Boot Camps' an aided auto-biography by Steve Claridge (aide by Ian Ridley), another book about a generally lower league eccentric player, who played his way into the upper leagues at the end of his career, including the mighty Leicester City, for whom he scored two of the most important goals in the club's history (securing promotion in the last minute of extra time of the play-off final, and a late winner in the League Cup final replay to give us our first major trophy and European qualification for thirty years). But despite my obvious subjectivity, it's still an entertaining read, if less gritty than Garry Nelson's books and much more upbeat than the Robin Friday story...

[scooter]

442 magazine (a Brit football mag) did their "50 Best Football Books Ever" article in their August 2005 issue. Fever Pitch was 2, The Miracle of Castel Di Sangro was 12, The Greatest Footballer You Never Saw was 32.

Their #1 pick was "Football Against the Enemy" by Simon Kuper. According to their write-up it's about "how politics and football interwined throughout the world." I have not read it, but it certainly looks interesting. The article itself is full of interesting books - most with a distinctly Brit bias, but there are definitely a few that I will try to find in the years to come (Fever Pitch being the only one I've read on the list).

[Crapshoot]

Eh,
The Miracle is nice, but McGinnis is more than a little overbearing in it - deciding he's a tactical expert, for example. But he does write like a fan.

my pick would be Phil Ball's book: Morbo - wonderful book on Spanish football - very enjoyable.

Also, there's apparently a great footy book about football in the trenches in WW1 - the name escapes me right now.

[Crapshoot]

Dola,
I really enjoyed Garry Nelson's Left Foot Forward, but I would be shocked if you found it here. Only place I ever saw it was a remote safari ground in Tanzania.. :D

[Raiders Army]

Isn't Fever Pitch with Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon and about the Red Sox?

[st.cronin]

The book was about Arsenal, I think - some euro soccer team.

The best sports book I've read recently was the book about the guy that invented Strat-O-Matic ... forget the title...

[AlexB]

The book was about Arsenal, I think - some euro soccer team.

The original Fever Pitch was about a chap torn between his love of Arsenal and his lovelife, at a time when both were coming to the greatest heights in recent memory. It was originally made into a film with this storyline, starring Colin Firth, and was decent, but not as good as the book.

It was repackaged about some US baseball team, I think, for the US market

[AlexB]

Dola

If you are after a wider based sports book, I can also recommend 'In Your Dreams' by Ian Stafford, a journalist who trained with five professional sports teams (rugby union - Leicester Tigers; rugby league - Wigan Warriors; football - Everton; F1 - Jaguar; cricket - Yorkshire) and two professionals (wrestling [UK style] - Pat 'Bomber' Roache; sprinting - Mike McFarlane) and actually played/raced/wrestled in professional events for the teams he trained with (mostly these were friendlies, but the athletics meet and wrestling show were the real deal)

The book is basically about how the different sports train, and how much out of his depth he was, but again gives in interesting microcosm into each sport.

[ice4277]

I enjoyed "Full Time", the story of former Ireland international Tony Cascarino. Quick read, in-depth account of his life as a footballer, not sugarcoated like a lot of autobiographies. I've never seen it Stateside though, so you may have to order it from overseas.

[marshall881]

Wow, thanks for all the suggestions.