Top reads to help steer you through lockdown
FILLING THE VOID: THIS WEEK OUR WRITERS ON THEIR FAVOURITE SPORTS BOOKS
HAVING given you the benefit of our wisdom in recommending sports documentaries, films and podcasts, we now turn our attention to leafing through some of the best lockdown reads for you to fill the time with over the coming weeks.
Whether it be on an electronic device or a good, old-fashioned physical hard copy, our writers share their recommendations with you below.
■ Ben McKenna: For a great read from one of football’s most likeable characters, in James Milner; Ask a Footballer, the Leeds-born Liverpool midfielder is quick to highlight in the opening pages how this is not an autobiography but more of a Q&A session spanned over a few-hundred pages. The 34-yearold’s career officially began when he made his debut for Leeds United as a 16-year-old in 2002 and in it he talks about his breakthrough and what life as a footballer entails. His answers to the various questions posed to him in the text are always straightforward and honest. As one of the few players left from the early 2000s, he is able to give a different insight into how footballers’ lives have changed over the last 17 years.
■ Phil Harrison: In Game Change - The Life and Death of Steve Montador and the Future of Hockey, former NHL Stanley Cup-winning goalie Ken Dryden tackles one of the most divisive issues in the game, head injuries and, in many cases, the related concussion that affects the players on the receiving end.
After the death of former NHL defenceman Montador - aged just 35 - researchers studying his brain noted that he had suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain condition that doctors say is caused by concussions.
The book uses his situation to conduct a debate into how such tragedies may be avoided in the future and whether more can be done to deter the kind of hits that lead to such injuries.
■ Stuart Rayner: Patrick Barclay’s biography of Herbert Chapman, the Sheffield-born manager who changed football at Huddersfield Town and Arsenal, is a great read for those who love the history of football.
In The Life and Times of Herbert Chapman we are told how Chapman survived the scandal which brought down Leeds City to create not one but two title-winning dynasties without seeing either out, and led the tactical revolution taking place in England at the time.
Also worth a read is Leo McKinstry’s Jack and Bobby on the Charlton brothers – united in England’s 1966 World Cup winning team but divided by their very different personalities and club rivalries.
As with his biography of Geoffrey Boycott, there is nothing deferential in the approach of McKinstry, who is never afraid to ruffle a few feathers to tell his story.
■ Richard Byram: Starting locally with The Damned United by David Peace, this is a completely different take on football books, full stop.
My mum bought me this because she knew the author’s parents. I had no intention of reading it but am so glad I did.
In, Provided You Don’t Kiss Me former Yorkshire Post deputy editor Duncan Hamilton produces a superb chronicle of the relationship between the legendary Nottingham Forest and ex-Leeds United manager Brian Clough and himself, while he was covering the club for the Nottingham Evening Post.
Undisputed Truth My Autobiography by Mike Tyson is a fantastic journey through the underbelly of humanity. You have to put it down at times and have a rest from the unrelentless and unbelievable nature of Tyson’s life.
■ Leon Wobschall:For me, Only a Game? by Eamon Dunphy is still the ‘daddy’ of all football books and helped bring sports writing into the modern era and was the precursor for many other successful similar tomes.
It retains the ability to still be as relevant today as it was when it was written in the Seventies with Dunphy chronicling the fortunes of Millwall in the 1973-74 season in a compelling diary form.
I might just go and read it again.
Chris Waters: With Tales From the Boot Camps, Ian Ridley puts together Steve Claridge’s story of irregular salary payments and training sessions conducted on dogfouled car parks at soon-to-bedefunct Aldershot; of repeated clashes with John Beck over his long-ball tactics and army camp methods of preparation at Cambridge; of David Pleat’s Luton, who played “too much passing football”; of Barry Fry’s unorthodox reign at Birmingham; and of the flight to the Premiership with Leicester.
Claridge also talks frankly about his addiction to gambling in a fine and forthright book.
■ Nick Westby: For the statisticians among us, cycling’s The Road Book was only launched in 2018 but already has the look and feel of becoming that particular sport’s Wisden.
It has stats from every professional race over the last two years and also includes some well-researched essays.
Fiction-wise, if you like boxing, George Kimball’s 2008 book Four Kings takes you back to the 1980s and a golden era of the middleweight division, with evocative names like Roberto Duran, Sugar Ray Leonard,
Thomas ‘The Hitman’ Hearns and Marvellous Marvin Hagler brought to life.
■ Mark Absolon: It may have been written over 25 years ago but Garry Nelson’s Left Foot Forward: A Year in the Life of a Journeyman Footballer is still a cracking insight into the life of a lower-league professional.
Not blessed with the talent of a Tony Yeboah or Ian Wright, striker Nelson spent most of his career playing for illustrious names such as Southend, Swindon, Plymouth, Brighton, Charlton and Torquay.
It takes the form of a diary but as well as providing great insight into the day-to-day workings a team dressing room, Nelson also has time to give his own telling analysis of the big footballing stories of the day and look back on some of his personal highs and lows.