BOOK REVIEWS

From The Jaws of Victory by Rob McDonald (Halcyon Publishing, RRP £10.99)

CHURCHILL noted that, in war at least, it is the victors who are afforded the honour of writing history, but as the introduction to this exemplary collection of well-written essays suggests, “history might be the preserve of victors, but sometimes the losers tell the greatest stories.” To prove the point, From The Jaws Of Victory by Rob MacDonald insists we recall two fairly recent occasions when England’s national football team led their supporters to believe they could finally emerge successful from a major tournament.

Remember Italia 90 as Gazza’s tears became the lasting image set against Turandot’s Nessun Dorma? England fielded a decent team only for those dastardly Germans… well, you know the rest.

Six years later, on home turf, it seemed that 30 years of hurt could be erased from the memory as England really did play some brilliant football, only for the dastardly Germans….

England are not the sole possessors the ‘nearly men’ label. Much better national football teams, including Holland in 1974 and

Brazil in 1982, somehow contrived to not lift the World Cup despite their collective flair combined with remarkable individual skills and goal-scoring prowess.

A favourite essay focuses on perhaps the best side never to win the World Cup: Hungary in Switzerland in 1954.

The Magical Magyars notched an incredible 25 goals in four matches en route to the final in Bern, including a 9-0 victory over South Korea followed by an 8-3 success when they faced West Germany in the group stages.

Bearing in mind that Hungary had also defeated England 6-3 at Wembley the year before (and 7-1 in a World Cup warm-up game in Budapest) and it was no surprise that they were red-hot favourites to lift the Jules Rimet trophy when they faced West Germany in the final.

Bookies appeared to have got their odds spot-on when Hungary raced to a 2-0 lead inside eight minutes, only for Germany to launch one of football’s greatestever comebacks and emerge as 3-2 winners. Red-hot favouritism is absolutely no guarantee of footballing success, as Bolton in the 1953 FA Cup Final and Liverpool deep into the 2014 Premier League campaign would attest.

From The Jaws Of Victory is a captivating, often uplifting compendium of essays featuring numerous occasions where the unexpected occurred; it’s brought to life by a collection of the nation’s most accomplished sports writers making it an absolute joy to read.

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