Kirjahaku

In 1914 one of Britain's most famous sportsmen went off to play his part in the First World War. Like millions of others, he would die. Unlike millions of others, nobody knew how or where. Until now. Lost in France is the true story of Leigh Roose: playboy, scholar, soldier and the finest goalkeeper of his generation. It's also the tale of how one man became caught up in a global catastrophe - one that would cost him his life, his identity and his rightful place as one of football's all-time legends. Lost In France is the biography of goalkeeper Leigh Roose, football's first genuine superstar, a man so good at his position on the field of play that the Football Association made one of the most significant rule changes in the game's history just to keep him in check. Small wonder that when the Daily Mail put together a World XI to take on another planet, Leigh's was the first name on its team sheet.

Imagine Pep Guardiola quitting Manchester City to take over at Rochdale. Or Jose Mourinho walking out on United to join Southend. That sort of thing just wouldn't happen, would it? Except that in 1973, it did. At that time Brian Clough was managerial gold dust, having taken Derby County to the Football League title and to the semi-finals of the European Cup. After those feats, he and his sidekick Peter Taylor could have managed anywhere. And yet the most famous men in British football decided to take the reins at Brighton & Hove Albion, sixth bottom of the old Third Division, for what would prove a controversial and ultimately unsuccessful spell that would test their friendship to breaking point. The move to a sleepy backwater football club made little sense then and, forty years on, it remains a mystery. It seems especially odd considering Clough's aversion to the south and refusal to relocate his home from Derby. Featuring candid interviews with the men who played under Clough and Taylor at Brighton, Bloody Southerners attempts to make sense of the strangest managerial appointment in English post-war football. What shines through in page after page of never-before-heard stories is the profound complexity of both characters.

Long before Erling Haaland, Thierry Henry and Eric Cantona, there was George Robledo, the first overseas star of English football. Abandoned by his father as a child in Chile, Robledo came to the UK, where he was raised in a Yorkshire mining village, serving underground as a 'Bevin Boy' during the Second World War prior to making his name with Barnsley. During the 1951-52 season, his thirty-three goals for Newcastle United in what is now the Premier League were the most goals scored in a single season by an overseas registered, foreign-born player, a record that has stood unbroken for over seventy years - despite what the record books might say. Postcards from Santiago is the poignant, inspiring story of Robledo's remarkable journey from the moon-like wastes of the Atacama Desert to the cover of John Lennon's 1974 album Walls and Bridges, via Wembley glory and the 1950 World Cup in Brazil. Where, in England's first ever World Cup match, Robledo became the first Football League player from outside the British Isles to face England in an official international. Featuring interviews with family, friends and admirers, this fascinating biography is the definitive account of a man who overcame immense hardship and heartache to become a sporting trailblazer in his adopted homeland and a national hero in his native Chile.

Meet Eric Gill and Dave Hollins, once feted as two of the finest goalkeepers in Britain. Between them they have more stories to tell spanning the past ten decades than there are holes in a football net. Their unique friendship started as a rivalry, two men wrestling over the same goalkeeper jersey at Brighton & Hove Albion in the 1950s. Seventy years later they remain the best of pals, having lived long, eventful lives bookended by the horrors of World War Two and the Covid-19 pandemic. Journey back to when footballers earned GBP20 a week and goalkeepers wore string gloves, as Eric and Dave recall how they dodged Hitler's bombs before pitting their wits against some of sport's most iconic names: a list that includes Stanley Matthews, Pele and George Best not to mention their shared nemesis, Brian Clough. Touching, inspiring and searingly honest, Eric and Dave is a salutary reminder that youth is not a time of life but a state of mind.

The Wimbledon Anthology is your essential companion to the world's oldest and finest tennis tournament. Filled with fascinating stories, facts, figures and trivia, it’s a must-read for anyone with a passion for Wimbledon and the players who’ve made it one of the greatest events in the sporting calendar. Travel back in time and relive some of the golden moments from the tournament’s rich 150-year history, while discovering other stories that haven't seen the light of day before. Want to know who served the first ball on the Centre Court, or which former Wimbledon champion died on Devil's Island? Or the identity of the first player to be disqualified at SW19? This book has all the answers.