English Soccer

On the second oldest football pitch in the world, Jonathan Sayer stands atop a beer crate to address the assembled fans of Ashton United FC. As his initial optimism and disillusionment begin to slip through his fingers, the new co-chairman and co-owner (alongside his dad) starts to realise the scale of the challenge ahead.

For those who enjoyed I Am the Secret Footballer, this new book delivers hard-hitting insights into the hidden world of professional football and footballers. In the vein of Hotel Babylon and Confessions of a GP, The Secret Player will fascinate football fans with its wealth of insider knowledge and willingness to talk, albeit anonymously, about the inner workings of the game. Based on the hugely popular 'The Player' columns in FourFourTwo magazine, the book gives a warts-and-all insight into the daily life of professional footballers.

Daniel Gray is about to turn 30. Like any sane person, his response is to travel to Luton, Crewe, and Hinckley. After a decade's exile in Scotland, he sets out to reacquaint himself with England via what he considers its greatest asset: soccer. Watching teams from the Championship (or Division Two, as any right-minded person calls it) to the South West Peninsula Premier, and aimlessly walking around towns from Carlisle to Newquay, Gray paints a curious landscape forgotten by many.

The Denmark side of the 1980s was one of the last truly iconic international football teams. Although they did not win a trophy, they claimed something much more important and enduring: glory, and in industrial quantities. They were a bewitching fusion of futuristic attacking football, effortless Scandinavian cool, and laid-back living. They played like angels and lived like you and I, and they were everyone’s second team in the mid-1980s.

In a tiny, decaying aluminum smelting town in southern Tajikistan, a short drive from a raging war zone, Afghanistan take on Palestine in the first Asian qualifier for 2014's World Cup in Brazil. Every player on both teams is risking something by playing: Their careers, their families, even their lives. Thirty-One Nil is the story of how footballers from all corners of the globe begin their journey chasing a place at the World Cup Finals.

Goal! covers the history of the beautiful game from its origins in English public schools in the early 19th century to its current role as a crucial element of a globalized entertainment industry.

In this edition, your child can learn all about their hero, super Jack Grealish of Man City and England.

Inspire kids to be their best selves and get involved in social change with this stunning anthology about thirty-five amazing women in sports around the world and throughout history. Do you play sports? Maybe you dream about scoring a goal on the soccer field or hitting a home run in baseball...

Dignity and the Pitch is an audiobook about people and about world futball (soccer). It is both philosophical and lighthearted, serious and fun, intense and care free. There are characters based around a lower level futball club who appear in the audiobook and through their experiences a respectful world philosophy is developed. It is easy to listen to but it will make you think.

Specky comes face to face with a tough, talented player by the name of Derek "Screamer" Johnson. He was responsible for having Specky sent off during a game last season. The two boys become bitter rivals, and when a popular TV show runs a nationwide football contest, Specky is relieved when everyone except Screamer decides to enter.

As a footballer, my first touch of the ball was key. Control, timing, dexterity and skill were all needed to ensure I scored. I figured it wouldn't be dissimilar in a relationship, only even though I was one of Manchester Athletic's star players, I didn't actually know for sure. I'd never had a girlfriend. I'd never, you know—scored. I trained, I joked with my teammates, I helped my mum out with my cousins who she was bringing up. I was studying for a degree, even though it was going to take me years to get it. I hung around at Kitty's café. The coffee was good, but coffee wasn't my thing.

Welcome to the true story of my life. From a modest upbringing in a town never before exposed to soccer, to the playing fields of competitive NCAA Division I soccer. From the plush grass fields, coaching next to farms in the suburbs, to the concrete courts and metal fences that surrounded them in NYC. I would be left to find my own way in a world where anything could happen and often did. The tragedy, the violence, the assaults, and the murders would all impact me. Soccer would expose me to a world many don't even know exists.

I've been playing soccer for a long time, and believe me; I've made plenty of mistakes along the way. Every mistake taught me something, but sometimes the costs were a little higher than I wanted to pay at the time. Look, there's no instant way to be as good as Pele was in his prime or being able to steal the show like Beckham! But you can get started today. That's why I'm taking what I've learned and packing it into a fun, straightforward audio guide for you to listen to and put into practice immediately.

This guide is your Rosetta Stone for soccer Spanish. From chilenas to Chicharito, the key words and examples from real life soccer moments will amuse and educate you.

Andy Bernal's incredible life journey has spanned three continents—Australia, Europe, and South America—and some of the world's biggest names in football. A graduate of the AIS, he was the first Australian to play in La Liga. He went on to play with Ipswich Town, six seasons with Reading, five seasons with Sydney Olympic in the NSL, and 21 games with the Socceroos from 1989 to 1996.

Sir Alex Ferguson CBE, born 31st December 1941, is a former Scottish football player and was manager of Manchester United from 1986 to 2013. During his 26 years in charge of United, he won more trophies than any other manager in the history of football. Packed with nearly 80 entertaining and exclusive interviews from those who know Ferguson best - friends, colleagues, associates and those who worked with him at both Aberdeen and Manchester United share their unique insight into the innermost secrets of Ferguson’s fascinating life and hugely successful career.

With 19 spells at various clubs in the Football League, Jon Parkin has cut an instantly recognisable figure in English football for the past 20 years. At 6'4", and weighing in as one of football's heavyweights, Parkin has played more than 600 games during his time with Barnsley, Hartlepool, York, Macclesfield Town, Hull City, Stoke City, Preston, Cardiff, Doncaster, Huddersfield, Scunthorpe, Fleetwood, Forest Green, Newport County and back to York, where he is currently top scorer. This is his no-holds-barred life story.

Did Francis Jeffers ever keep you awake at night? Did you slap yourself in the face each time you witnessed an Eric Djemba-Djemba attack-splitting pass? Did Titus Bramble cause you to eat your match program in frustration? Then this is the book you've been waiting for.

The World Cup is the largest sports event outside the summer Olympics: the progress of the 32 countries which qualify for the finals is watched by billions all over the globe. Since the very first World Cup in Uruguay in 1930, there have been 18 finals, held every four years (with a 12-year break over the World War II period). The World Cup in South Africa will be the 19th. Brian Glanville, the distinguished journalist and World Cup historian, has written a fascinating history of the event.

Thou Shall Not Pass (the title comes from a command England captain Terry Butcher would shout before every match) celebrates the football position where brutal characters are loved for their hard-hitting tackles and bruising mentality and yet laughed at for their apparent lack of skill. As well as covering the long and illustrious history of the centre-half, the book will take the listener into the muddy penalty area frequented by our protagonists, into their domain.