The football book was once a Christmas staple. No visit from Santa to the Ross household was complete without the Shoot! Annual or the Topical Times Football Book. These photo-based publications, along with the obligatory My Story by a star player, established a lowly perception of football books as either pictorial and aimed at children, or as cliche-ridden as a post-match interview with an impatient manager. But football is a metaphor for life, isn’t it? Surely the perfect vehicle to convey the frailties of human existence? A fascinating read for any football fan but less so if you just want to know more about Gerrard as a person. One of the greatest footballers of his generation, Rio Ferdinand’s autobiography charts his rise from West Ham’s youth teams to Manchester United legend. He also reveals another side of his persona and talks about his personal battles with his inner demons, drugs and his time spent in prison for assault.

Brilliant written and intensively researched, this is one of those football books that you won’t be able to put down.All in all one, we found Steve Nicol’s book to be one of the most funny, insightful and well written books that we have read for a long time.

Hamilton recalls, “I stayed well into the autumn afternoon and left hopelessly drunk on Bell’s Whisky. We never got to the champagne. My notebook was choked with stories.”Whereas the first book was all about his playing career and his off the field troubles, Sober focuses on the difficulties Adams has faced not only staying off the demon drink but also the problems he has encountered starting out as a new coach. Arguably changing the modern game when he joined the North London Arsenal with his approach to nutrition and coaching methods, Wenger talks openly about his football league and cup triumphs and the unrest that led to his departure from the club in 2018. As the title suggests, this book from Manchester United legend Roy Keane is a follow-up to his hugely successful first book Keane: The Autobiography which was first released in 2002. Robert's death reminded most of us how little we understand about the illness that is depression," wrote Ronald Reng in the introduction to A Life Too Short: The Tragedy Of Robert Enke. Enke, destined to become Germany's first-choice goalkeeper at the 2010 World Cup Finals, had been a friend of the author since 2002, and they had loosely planned to write a book together on Enke's football career.

If you want to be a writer, you must read this book. If you want to know more about football history, you ought to read this book. If you love football and good writing – and if you don’t, you’re in the wrong list – then this will educate and entertain. Gary Parkinson Although the overall tone of the book focuses on the negative side of the modern game, it is not a gloomy read at all and when you finish it you’ll be surprised at how much you enjoyed it. If you like Jamie Carragher’s punditry style then you will like his book as it’s written in the same kind of tone but it won’t be everybody’s cup of tea purely because of this football book’s age.Supporters can easily become obsessed by tactics and formations. Whether the “diamond” trumps the “ false nine” or whether 4-3-3 is just 4-5-1 with lazier forwards? And for those who (pre-Covid) lived for those never-ending pub arguments with no hope of resolution, this book is their bible. Although it stops short of explaining the theory of the ‘67th-minute’ goal. That’s explored in detail in There’s Only One Danny Garvey. Balague has previously written football books on Lionel Messi and Pep Guardiola and this book follows the same biographical format, charting Ronaldo’s early career at Sporting Lisbon, through to his time in England with Manchester United and becoming a ‘ galactico‘ at Real Madrid. Prepared to stand his ground on any of the topics he writes about, however controversial, Savage does talk a lot of sense. Few may actually agree with him, but everyone listens. However, we have found that some of the best football books are by lesser-known players such as Alan Stubbs, Danny Higginbotham and Muzzy Izzet which are just as entertaining, mainly down to their honest, descriptive stories and accounts of their footballing past.