Conference trucks::football;1

    
    
    
    
    Poland	0	Ireland	 2	
    England     2	Turkey   1
    Germany	1	Wales	 1
    Rumania 	3	Scotland 0
    
    
    
    
    

    re -1
    
    Topic 98 I think.
    
    Anyway, England will win by a greater margin than 2-1 and Ireland will
    draw.
    
    jb.

    
    And Germany will win ...
    
    Sounds like we are talking about fairy-tale books ;-)
    
    
    Heiko_
    

    Anyone heard about a book called Heroes and Villains? It is apparently
    a book following the fortunes of Spurs and Arsenal through the 90/91
    season. It is written by a chap from Saatchi and Saatchi. It was meant
    to be released end of Sept but I havn't seen it .
    
    Antony

    I can confirm that this book is available. I've seen it in places
    like Smiths and Menzies. Its go a "dayglo" picture of Gazza and
    Robbo(?) on the front.

    Yup, definitely available. As for Robbo being on the front, I think
    you'll find it's actually an Arsenal player, hence the subject matter.
    A good read so I'm told.
    
    Barry.

    Heroes and Villains is available at Sportspages, Caxton Walk, 94-96
    Charing Cross Road, price 5.99.  It's published by Penguin so I assume
    it's widely available, as has been said before, at the likes of Smiths
    and Menzies.  I bought it this lunchtime at Sportspages where Tommy
    Docherty is holding court whilst signing copies of his new book.  I'm
    sure I heard him say, "When I want to talk to somebody about football I
    call on my mate Martin Cunniffe."  I could be wrong though. :-)  I
    actually did hear him say that he hopes Arsenal win the European Cup,
    you and me Tommy old chum!
    
    Sportspages also has copies of another book on soccer hooliganism by
    Bill Bruford entitled Among The Thugs, price 14.99.  There was an
    excerpt from it printed in last Sunday's Sunday Times magazine.
    
    Mike M

    
>>  Sportspages also has copies of another book on soccer hooliganism by
>>  Bill Bruford entitled Among The Thugs, price 14.99.  There was an
>>  excerpt from it printed in last Sunday's Sunday Times magazine.
    
   


Crikey! So that's what he's up to these days? Suppose drumming with
Yes, Genesis, Brand X took it's inevitable toll. What next, Phil 
Collins and Genesis covering "War on the Terraces" by The Cockney
Rejects?

:^)  :^)

Barry

Barry, that's what I thought too, but I don't think it's the same bloke. He's
an American who came over to the UK several years ago.

He was on Radio 4's "Start The Week" yesterday, (didn't hear him, I got to
where I was going before he got to speak - besides Garret FitzGerald was much
more interesting, and anyway I can't stand Melvyn Bragg :-) ) AND then turned
up on BBC2's "Late Night Late" last night (by which time I was in bed).

Anyway, wasn't it King Crimson?

Tarik.

    Among (or is it Amongst?) the Thugs is actually by Bill Buford, sorry 
    for the spelling mistake.
    
    I finished Heroes and Villains last night.  It purports to contain the
    "inside" story of last season regarding Arsenal and Tottenham.  I
    didn't think there was much more in it than what has already been 
    published in the press.  But nevertheless it is a very well written
    book.
    
    Mike M  
    
    

    For anyone who is into Euro footie, THE EUROPEAN FOOTBALL YEARBOOK by
    Mike Hammond, published by Sports Projects ltd is an absolute must.
    
    It gives results of every 1st division team in all the countries plus
    the players who made the appearances and who scored the goals.  Theres
    also pieces on the top players in each countries and a look at the
    national teams giving the team listings for last seasons games and
    quite an in depth look at last seasons Euro cupcompetitions.
    
    It'll set you back twenty pound but you will not find anything as
    complete as this.  There's also a colour section with teams badges and
    teams strips-and boy, are there some weird ones!
    
                                                         Mike

    
    I discovered on for Cunno in the Puffin Children's Book Shop in Covent
    Garden at lunchtime - It's entitled "Aldo", and is 'written' by John
    Burningham. The hero is portrayed in a green and white football scarf,
    but unfortunately......
    
    ....only one little girl believes in him, or can see him. The best line
    I noted was :
    
     "I can't tell anyone about him; no one would believe and they would
    all laugh"
    
    Rob
    
    
    Oops! Almost forgot, Aldo is...
    
    ....a white rabbit

    Nay, don't encourage him or we'll have the Big C in here giving statistics
    on the rabbit's Liverpool career: Scored 500 goals before being given a
    free transfer to Max Factor. 
    
    Barry
     

    Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby. Looks a very good read and WSC feature 
    an interview with the author in their October issue. An advertisment 
    in the same issue reads:
    
    "I have measured out my life in Arsenal fixtures, and any event
    of any significance has a footballing shadow. When did my first 
    love affair end? The day after a disappointing 2-2 draw at home
    to Coventry."
    
    And this corker about being a football fan which leads the feature:
    
    "I am aware of the downside to this wonderful facility that men have:
    they become repressed, they fail in their relationships with women,
    their conversation is trivial and boorish, they find themselves 
    unable to express their emotional needs, they cannot relate to their
    children, and die lonely and miserable. But you know, what the hell?"
    
    Love it, I must buy this book. Also procurred from the October WSC
    was something less pleasing. Mentioned in a reader's letter was the
    experience of a blind Radio-5 phone-in caller who was called a "poof"
    by a policeman on leaving a ground simply because he was holding his
    brother's arm. 
    
    barry.  
    

    My wife works at the local public library and being a soccer fan she
    keeps  an eye out for new books.  She recently brought home a 1994
    release called -

      "The Simplest Game : The Intelligent Fan's Guide to the World of Soccer" 
       by Paul Gardner (1994 Collier Books ISBN 0-02-043225-9 US$12.00
       CAN$15.50). 
    
    This is a second edition - the original was released in 1976.  The 
    forward to the new edition was written by Pele.


    The table of contents lists the following chapters -

	1  Beginnings					  1
	2  The World Cup, 1930-1954			 20
	3  The World Cup, 1958-1974			 43
	4  The World Cup, 1978-1990			 71
	5  Soccer in the Nineties			115
	6  Tactics					149
	7  The Changing Game				198
	8  Soccer Comes to the United States		210
	9  American Soccer: The Present and the Future	231

	A  Glossary					243
	B  The Rules of Soccer				250
	C  The Members of FIFA				279
	D  Worldwide Winners				282
	E  The United States				304


    Aside from giving a lot of history and information, the author has some
    specific views on the game.  To give you a flavor of the writing, here
    are some more or less randomly  extracted passages that I think point
    these out.

    "A team that is unwilling - read frightened - to attack will not
    attack, or  will do so without conviction.  It was that caution, that
    fear of taking  risks, that lay at the root of soccer's problems at the
    beginning of the  1990s.  The orthodox view - and statistical support
    for it was not lacking  - was that coaches who concentrated on building
    strong defenses were the  ones who won titles, and the ones who kept
    their jobs.

    The challenge for the sport's leaders is to devise measures that would 
    change that mentality - that would ensure that risk-taking,
    entertaining  soccer could also be winning soccer."


    "The reliance on physical power was only half the story.  As the
    marking  got tighter, the fouling got worse and worse.  Defenders
    seemed to have  been given carte blanche to rough up forwards,
    barrelling into them from  behind, tripping and holding them.  Nothing
    was done about it.  The kicking  went on; the game deteriorated. 
    George Best quit soccer in 1972 at the  ridiculously early age of
    twenty-six because he was tired of being  close-marked and kicked,
    because he no longer enjoyed playing the game."


    "In 1988 the Americans signaled that they were ready to join the big
    time,  and submitted an offical bid to act as hosts for the 1994 World
    Cup.  In  accepting the bid, FIFA emphasized that this was the
    opportunity to help  the sport conquer the last frontier.

    Others saw only a commercial ploy to get American dollars into the
    sport.   A more genuine criticism came from soccer purists, who did not
    like the  idea of giving the sport's crown jewel to a country with no
    soccer history.

    No soccer history?  A comment that is worth a closer look..."


    "The European domination, plus the [American] football mentality, has 
    saddled American soccer with an unsophisticated, coach-dominated, 
    hard-running athletic game that has a long track record of failure when 
    offered to the American sports fan as a spectator attraction.  A
    version of  soccer that features large-sized players indulging in much
    running and  physical contact.  Why on earth would it appeal to
    Americans?  They can get  all that, and get it better, in football."


    "The point about Brazilian soccer - and Latin American soccer in
    general -  is that it is based on ball skills.  It does not exclude
    anyone, whatever  their size or shape.  It is an equal-opportunity
    style for any player who  has taken the trouble to learn and refine the
    game's skills."