(Part 2) Best products from r/soccer

I posted this in the past to the same question:

Well there's a massive picture book type thing called A Photographic History of English Football which should be recommended more often than it is. It's one of those Guinness Book of Records sized books that might have trouble fitting on a shelf but it covers every aspect of the history of the English game (and thus the history of football itself). The pictures are extremely good too, especially the ones from the 1900s.

For a more in-depth study of football across the world, Simon Kuper's Football Against the Enemy is definitely one of my favourites though it's a little outdated now. However, Kuper travels round Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas interviewing key personnel in some of the bigger Clubs in the area and tells their history. His chapter on Dynamo Kiev and their Cold War era function as a funnel between East and West is worth the price of the book alone in my opinion.

In terms of autobiographies, I have always recommended Sir Bobby Robson's Farewell but not Goodbye as he tells the story of his journey from working in a coal mine in North East England to playing for his country and eventually nurturing the talents of some of the most important people in football now on and off the pitch. Most of all his personality shines through and the man is a hero to me and many others.

If you want a more technical autobiography then Rinus Michel's Teambuilding is the go to standard. Not strictly an autobiography and more a technical book but he intersperses it with his own experiences and you really get the feeling of how the greatest coach in the history of the game came to believe the things that he did.

If you like quirky but thought provoking books then Football and Chess might pique your interest. I'm a great believer in the vast similarities between chess and football on a tactical level and the author shared the same sentiment. Not the best written book in the world but it's gets your noggin ticking over and makes you reassess your ideas on the game which is always the best thing a book can really do for you.
Also as a fan of Italian football and culture, Gianluca Vialli/Marcotti's book The Italian Job is one of my favourite football books ever and extremely thought provoking on the differences in the football cultures in England and Italy and how both can learn from each other.

On the psychological side, I've recently read Inside the Mind of a Manager which was interesting. I can't say that I agreed with all of the conclusions and think the quotes were a little cherry picked but it's a good read for people who want to know more about what the modern manager actually does for a living and the people interviewed for the book are some of the best maangers alive today.

Lastly, if you really want to look at the business side of the game and how it is changing then I would recommend Ferran Soriano's book GOAL! The Ball doesn't go in by chance. Soriano is Man City's current CEO and former Barca CEO so he's certainly been there and done it on the business front and many of his ideas ion that book are beginning to be realised now. He recently did a lecture about it which skimmed over the ideas but the book delves into it deeper and tells stories from his time at Barca.
If you want more of a narrative and less of a business lecture then former Crystal Palace Chairman Simon Jordan's book, Be Careful What You Wish For is an excellent read. Be aware that Jordan is obviously bitter about his time at Palace and tries to settle some old scores here but outside of that it's a semi interesting look at his time at the Club and the problems he faced in implementing his business strategies.

Inverting the Pyramid - Jonathan Wilson
A pioneering book that chronicles the evolution of soccer tactics and the lives of the itinerant coaching geniuses who have spread their distinctive styles across the globe.

Teambuilding: the road to success - Rinus Michels
The late Rinus Michels, FIFA's Coach of the Century, offers his unique insight into the process of "teambuilding".

The Coaching Philosophies of Louis Van Gaal and the Ajax Coaches - Henny Kormelink and Tjeu Seeverens
Louis van Gaal, Frans Hoek, Co Adriaanse and fitness coach Bobby Haarms discuss their training methods and philosophies in this book full of creative ideas for soccer coaches at any level.

Dutch Soccer Secrets - Peter Hyballa & Hans-Dieter te Poel
This book is a first attempt to present expert knowledge of internationally proven useful and effective Dutch soccer coaching in theory and practice, based on qualitative data collection.

Attacking Soccer: a tactical analysis - Massimo Lucchesi
This book examines match strategies for creating goal scoring opportunities out of various systems of play.

Outliers: The Story of Success - Malcolm Gladwell
Gladwell takes us on an intellectual journey through the world of "outliers"--the best and the brightest, the most famous and the most successful. He asks the question: what makes high-achievers different?

The Numbers Game: Why Everything You Know About Soccer Is Wrong - Chris Anderson, David Sally
Innovation is coming to soccer, and at the centre of it all are the numbers—a way of thinking about the game that ignores the obvious in favour of how things actually are.

Football Against the Enemy - Simon Kuper
Kuper travelled to 22 countries from South Africa to Italy, from Russia to the USA, to examine the way football has shaped them.

Provided you don't kiss me by Duncan Hamilton - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Provided-You-Dont-Kiss-Me/dp/0007247117

Duncan Hamilton is a Nottingham based journalist who had to put up with Brian Clough for over 20 years and for any Cloughy fans this is probably the best biographical book you could read. It covers the beginning, the exceptional cup wins, the saddening alcohol addiction that eventually brought everything crashing down and everything in between.

Not many people have read this book but it really is brilliant.

Other than that; Bobby Robsons book is a must read and for a football autobiography it is very well written.

One more that is slightly controversial i'm sure but Robbie Savages book is actually very entertaining. He's a complete prat but very honest and offers great insight to what it was like to be at United when Becks, Giggs, Scholes, Neville, Butt etc were teenagers.

The second oldest continuously running Cup tournament in the world is the US Open Cup. The 101st US Open Cup Final will be held this coming Tuesday (Sept 16), between Philadelphia Union and Seattle Sounders.

For most of its history, the US Open Cup has been an amateur tournament. During the 1920s, professional teams competed, but disagreements between the league and the then-USFA over Cup participation, combined with the stock market crash and great depression, led to a collapse of professional soccer in the US in the early '30s.

MLS teams have competed in the US Open Cup since the league's first season in 1996. Teams in the old NASL never participated.

The most successful teams in the competition have been Bethlehem Steel FC, a professional team in the 1920s, and Maccabi Los Angeles, an amateur team that dominated the 1970s.

Bethlehem Steel was a strong enough team in their heyday to ignite a diplomatic row over their "poaching" of players from Manchester United and other English teams.

In the MLS era, an MLS team has won the Cup every year except 1999, when the semi-pro Rochester Rhinos won, upsetting four MLS teams in the process. The most successful MLS team in the tournament are the Chicago Fire with four Cups, though Seattle has the chance to win their fourth Cup this year.

It's an absolutely bizarre tournament, but its history is more or less the history of the sport in the US. This year I saw AC Schwaben, an amateur club in the Chicago suburbs that has been around since 1926, take on Dayton Dutch Lions, a semi-pro club from Ohio that featured the grandson of Cruyff (who, other than a nifty touch or two, was not that good).

For more information, see this.

Also, come back on Tuesday night. A Cup final is always an entertaining match.

It's good, it has a very odd first chapter that reads sort of like a poem to Sir Alex but after that I've really enjoyed it, it seems well researched and apparently the author is well respected. Definitely gave me a new appreciation for the Pep's journey and insights into him as a person, there are probably other people here who are more well versed into how accurate it is, but its a good read so far.

Futebol: The Brazilian way of Life - really good compilation of articles covering the history of Brazilian football and the penetration of football into various aspects of Brazilian life. The brilliance, madness, personalities and passion are all here, accompanied by sound research and reflection. Very good.

Passovotchka- the tale of Dynamo Moscow's trip to play friendly matches in the UK in 1945. Really interesting story and as much about the east west culture clash in post-WWII as the football story. Fascinating and funny with it.

The Miracle of Castel Di Sangro - the story of one of the most unlikely teams to ever grace the upper echelons of Italian football. This is a great story and a good insight into everyday Italian football life, but the author (a somewhat presumptive American) intrudes a bit too much, to its detriment.

I'm not much of an autobiography reader but one of the few I have read is Tony Cascarino's, and that was excellent. Brutally honest, and one of the first football books that let us see how the stars of the game wrestle with their own demons.

Completely understandable, he doesn't say specifically "watch for known divers" but he was one of the first referees to do really close research into individual players and teams tactics to find out more about them. I think it's a pretty clear line to be drawn, when a player goes down a lot, or to easily, to know that you have to tread carefully and watch closely.

I think what I can do best is point you towards his book, if you're a referee it's a must read.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Rules-Game-Pierluigi-Collina/dp/0330418726

Yeah, they had very good teams pre WW2 and drew some pretty good crowds. For anyone interested in the past of American soccer, their is a pretty good book, American Soccer: History, Culture, Class

Previous post:

>They don't really have that great if a midfield and apart from pjanic and maybe Can none of them really fit Sarris playing style

Then in my reply:

>Khedira I doubt will get minutes. Matuidi def doesn't fit sarris system. Dybala doesn't play midfield. I forgot about Ramsey tho

So from my fucking post, pjanic, MAYBE Can and Ramsey are great midfielders that also fit Sarris style. At that moment they didnt sign Rabiot. The fucking Graphic is literally Ramsey, Rabiot and Pjanic. Two fucking mids i already mentioned were quality.

Then in my post that you replied to:

>Having quantity in midfielders don't mean they have quality. The current lineup of midfielders are quality. Apart from 1 other in the bench they aren't worth anything compared to other top 5 clubs

Their current lineup, which i ALREADY said was good and fit sarris style, was never up for debate.

​

Here is a link on Amazon for Reading comprehension. Its for 6th graders which i think is adequate for your level. Buy it, make use of it. Study the absolute shit out of it. https://www.amazon.com/Reading-Comprehension-Grade-Skill-Builders/dp/1936023342/ref=sr_1_3?crid=3V7MV5BD2QPPJ&keywords=reading+comprehension+grade+6&qid=1564096714&s=gateway&sprefix=reading+compr%2Caps%2C210&sr=8-3

Use Camel Camel Camel. It's a website that will notify you when the price of the product you are looking for has a price drop. http://camelcamelcamel.com/Coleman-2000007827-Sundome%C2%AE-4-Person-Tent/product/B004J2GUOU

All you have to do is enter the URL of the exact product you want and enter the price you want it to drop to and your email so you can be notified. Great thing is, they don't spam you with junk emails in between the notifications!

Polo and Izod shirst are pretty cheap, I got a couple for work at about $17, they are usually about $40. I

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006O2SQEU?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00

This is something you don't need, but they are super fun to throw around the office. A shitload of styrofoam planes for less than 10 bucks!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001D99IUA?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00

This tent, I actually got it for $48 when I bought it.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004J2GUOU?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00

> Narconomics

I wanna check that. Usually I read some best sellers or books on Bill Gates list. He usually has some good ones. Also I read up on religious or self help books. IMO most of self-helps books in the last 50 yrs came straight out of religious stuff.

Visual Intelligence Sharpen Your Perception Change Your Life

this book can get dry at times, but it’s still a great read. Has a big section on Superga. I’d recommend it to anyone looking to learn a bit more about Serie A, some real interesting stories in there.

It's pretty difficult to show evidence when they have no transparency, I mean, it's almost like a mafia organization, but there's a few books on the subject, like Foul!: The Secret World of Fifa: Bribes, Vote Rigging and Ticket Scandals, Badfellas: FIFA Family at War and probably the best one (and most up-to-date) is written by an UK journalist recently but I forgot the name, "FIFA: How the game was won/lost" or something like that.

If you start reading up on this subject there's no question that bribery was involved during this Qatar deal, especially not since Blatter's whole campaign to rise to power in FIFA from out of nowhere was paid by Qatar in the first place.

The best evidence to support bribery is probably that FIFA presidential candidate Mohamed Bin Hammam got a lifetime ban for it recently although he was only Blatter's scapegoat.

The ultras (they don't tend to be near the Curva Sud, those are more like normal fans which will indeed be perfectly fine) on both sides have very similar political views. I read a book a few years ago called Football, Fascism and Fandom which goes into detail about this:

https://www.amazon.com/Football-Fascism-Fandom-UltraS-Italian/dp/1408123711

That said, the image I posted and those from Lazio fans are several years old, more than 10-15 years I'd wager so both sides are kinda no longer showing swastikas, white power symbols,... in their Curva plus many of them were from matches against Livorno, a well known pro-Communist club whose fans celebrate Stalin so I think some of it can be classed under 'provocation gone too far'.

It would be correct in saying that Lazio are more vocal about it yeah.

Goal: the ball doesn't go in by chance.

It reads like a business book. I'm not going to lie, could be the English translation but I found it to be a pretty tedious read.

However, as a Barca fan I think you'd find it very interesting. It's a managers perspective on his reign there.

This is excellent: Duncan Hamilton - Provided You Don't Kiss Me

Hamilton wrote for the Nottingham Evening Post when Clough managed Forest and it covers the whole tenure. It's a fascinating read.

There's also David Peace - The Damned United which was made into a film. It's written as a novel but provides a good insight into what happened with Clough at Leeds, as well as beforehand at Hartlepool, Derby and Brighton.

Anyone interested in FIFA, and the reasons why Blatter is so unpopular should really check out Foul! by Andrew Jennings

It's a bit out of date now, but is a great investigation into all sorts of corruption at FIFA, but especially into the bribes that ISL paid to Blatter to secure World Cup rights.

I assume it is The Damned United which the movie was based on?

You might also enjoy Walking on Water, Clough The Autobiography and I personally look forward to this, Nobody Ever Says Thank You.

> Any suggestions of other soccer related books is appreciated as well.

Would highly recommend Fever Pitch, Miracle of Castel di Sangro, Inverting the Pyramid, Brilliant Orange and Behind the Curtains.

Thanks! This is my first time actually trying to impress someone beyond a casual fling so I have a wide budget.
This is the glass I'm pairing the whisky with, is it any good?

Having just read this book, and learned about Guardiola, his attitude, intelligence and the changes he made to that team to make them such a success, I have absolutely no doubt whatsoever that Bayern will be very close to retaining every competition they won last season, including the Champions League.

OK, so it's not your point that Schalke was the Nazis favored club. Sorry, I guess I misunderstood your point then

>I'd love to know why you, I or anyone for that matter, should take an un-linked study referenced by an obviously biased source (the PR head) as gospel.

Well, from a PR standpoint I'd be surprised if he lied about that, as that could've majorly backfired. And it's pretty easy to find the study, and what it says, at least if you are German. You can watch a speech from the professor who made the study here

Schalke reappraised their history and hired independent historians in 2004 to dig into their Third Reich past. They came up with nothing unusual.


As the most successful team at the time the NS regime used them as a shining example for Germanic virtues - despite the fact almost all players were of Polish descent. The club as a whole had no real relation to the NS regime and didn't profit aside from more fans due to increased publicity. Some players were "black sheep", though. Fritz Szepan, one of the most famous players of Schalke at the time, inherited a store in 1938 which belonged to a Jewish couple before it was taken from them by the regime.


It has to be noted that Schalke had Jewish members (among these was Dr. Eichengrün, vice-chairman) before the so-called "Aryan Parahraph" came into effect in the whole West German football association and the club didn't protect them from reprisal measures or deportation.


Today, the club tries its best that this part of their history isn't forgotten. Just over a year ago they inaugurated a memorial in front of the Veltins Arena for the Jewish members who were deprived of their rights, deported and/or murdered by the NS regime.

Edit: Some interesting stuff: A letter by Gerd Voss who was Head of Media and PR at Schalke at the time addressing the Times' publishing of a list of the 50 worst football fans - which included Hitler's alleged love for Schalke 04.

For all who can read and understand German: Great summary on the club's website.

This book was published by the historians who were hired to investigate Schalke's NS past. Stefan Goch is a renowned historian I had the pleasure to meet at a lecture he gave at my university last year about Schalke 04 and the Ruhr district during the Nazi rise to power.

This book helped me understand our history better. If you get a chance it goes pretty in depth about the leagues and there fall.

i'd suggest starting to read books like this.

You can also research and find some great articles about this. But in general, like all careers, you have to start low. Contact a 4th tier team and negotiate to be their youth player's agent. (with minimal to no fees of course). Then, you wait for your first "big" move.

It's mostly about networking after that. You sell a player from your 4th tier team to a 2nd tier team, making lots of important connections. Then you move gradually until you hit a goldmine (a donarumma, ideally)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Barca-Making-Greatest-Team-World/dp/0956497152/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1372787895&sr=1-1&keywords=barcelona This is pretty interesting.

David Winner's _Brilliant Orange_. It's about Total Football and its relation to Dutch culture. Loads of interviews with Dutch legends, particularly about Ajax's wonder years and Holland's '74 WC run.

I just finished Inverting the Pyramid, simply awesome.

Zonal Marking has a bibliography page which offers several suggestions. From that list I've only read the two aforementioned books in full. I'll probably get a copy of Attacking Soccer to read next.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Futebol-Brazilian-Life-Alex-Bellos/dp/0747561796

Futebol, by Alex Bellos. Loved this book (a bit of insight into Brazilian football).

If being top 4 means buying titles/referees, then yes.

Source: https://www.amazon.com/Calcio-History-Football-John-Foot/dp/0007175752/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1468754206&sr=1-2&keywords=calcio+italian+football

'Provided You Don't Kiss Me: 20 Years with Brian Clough' by Duncan Hamilton is a brilliant read.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Provided-You-Dont-Kiss-Me/dp/0007247117/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377697375&sr=8-1&keywords=provided+you+don%27t+kiss+me+20+years+with+brian+clough

Yeah, I read about how they are everywhere in this:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Futebol-The-Brazilian-Way-Life/dp/0747561796

Includes the story of a Brazilian guy who ends up in the Faroes playing in their league while working part-time in a fish factory. He married a local gal.

A lot of players get stitched up by agents because they are blinded by the promise of a better life. This is also happening with african footballers who are brought over thinking they will be the next Drogba and end up stuck in europe living illegally and too ashamed to come home.

Guillem Balague's book is the best. Covers his 4 years as Barca coach. It really shows how obsessive he is: http://www.amazon.com/Pep-Guardiola-Another-Way-Winning/dp/1409129462

Either The Damned United, as someone mentioned previously, or Barca: The Making of the Greatest Team in the World

Miracle of Castel di Sangro

Football Against the Enemy

Futebol: The Brazilian Way of Life By Alex Bellos and Soccer in Sun and Shadow by Eduaro Galeano

[You should read this book]
(https://www.amazon.co.uk/Miracle-Castel-Sangro-Joe-McGinniss/dp/075152753X)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Barca-Making-Greatest-Team-World/dp/0956497152