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Are you a loyal England supporter? Do you look forward to the World Cup and eagerly follow England's progress? Would you like to find out more about the history of your national team and their past performance in top flight football? If so, this book is certain to appeal to you. England's World Cup Story documents England’s journey in the World Cup from 1950 under the guidance of Sir Walter Winterbottom up to 2010 with Fabio Capello at the helm as manager. Packed with fascinating facts, quotes and profiles of many of the all-time great players, this book tells the story of the England team through the years from the many near misses and disappointments to victory in 1966 and beyond. Who can forget the likes of Gordon Banks, Bobby Moore and Sir Stanley Matthews to name but a few? They are all in this book together with more recent heroes such as David Beckham, Alan Shearer and Wayne Rooney. As one of only eight national sides to have lifted the World Cup trophy, this book is a fitting tribute to the England team. This is a must-have for all fans of the beautiful game and anyone with an interest in the history of the World Cup.

Fearless. Competitive. Controversial. Three words that sum up the football career of Alan Mullery. His passion for football is matched by a stream of anecdotes about the players that have filled his professional life, including Bobby Moore, Pele, Johnny Haynes, Jimmy Greaves and George Best. Here, for the first time, Mullery lets the reader into the secrets he has previously kept hidden: the shame of being sent off for England; the true story behind England's 1970 World Cup quarter-final defeat; how he sold one thousand Cup final tickets on the black market; the bitterness behind the cheers of Spurs' 1972 UEFA Cup victory and the naked blonde in the hotel. In addition, he relates from the heart his darkest moments, brought on by stiffling financial pressure, and how he had to look deep within himself to come through the other end.

***FOREWORD BY FABIO CAPELLO*** Since their first appearance in the competition in 1950, England's World Cup story has been one of broken dreams, bad luck, shock losses and penalty nightmares, with one shining exception in 1966, when they famously won the Cup after beating Germany 4-2. In Three Lions Versus the World, Mark Pougatch talks to those who have shaped England's World Cup odyssey, from Brazil 1950 when England lost to the amateurs of America, through the triumph of 1966 and the subsequent failure to retain the Cup in 1970, to the spirit-sapping quarter-final defeats in Japan 2002 and Germany 2006. Household names such as Sir Tom Finney, Don Howe, Martin Peters, Trevor Brooking, Gary Lineker, Tony Adams, Glenn Hoddle and Danny Mills share their personal recollections of playing for England both on and off the pitch in the World Cup. Some reveal how they were affected by the demands placed upon them and by the mounting pressure of expectation from the English public. Others comment candidly on the myriad controversies to befall the England squad over the years. Massive highs are recounted and crushing lows painfully recollected. The contributors are united in the pride they shared in wearing the Three Lions shirt for their country in this most special of tournaments. The players' stories and anecdotes woven around the narrative of the World Cup itself, this is an unbeatable, entertaining and enlightening journey through half a century of English World Cup action that no football fan can afford to miss.

The word ‘unique’ is often wrongly used but, in the case of A Game of THREE Halves, the author’s story is indisputably one of a kind. No other writer has worked on the inside for both Aston Villa and Birmingham City while keeping an eye on local and national footballing affairs for more than seventy years. During that period he met, and sometimes worked with, many of the best-known personalities in world football: from Pele to Cruyyff, Busby to Ferguson, Matthews to Cullis, Wright to Banks, Hill to Coleman, Saunders to Atkinson, Best to Francis, and many more. From war-time football to the present day, across eight decades, football has changed so much that not even the ball, apart from still being spherical, is the same as before. The fight to remove the maximum wage, the initially steady and ultimately explosive growth in pay, the arrival and development of European football, the curse of the hooligan, the introduction of the Premier League. A flavour of these developments can be found in these pages. This is not an anorak’s football history, but a lively collection of real-life anecdotal memories laced with controversial personal comment. The object of the exercise is simply to be a ‘good read’ while hopefully introducing a touch of football and social history. Here can be found such unlikely characters as an armed robber, an exorcist, some terrified sky divers, half a moustache that ‘went missing’, a factual hungover ‘Biggles’ and a shoot-to-kill former iron curtain guard. This is a look at football like no other.

Shortlisted for The Telegraph Sports Book Awards 2019 Long before perma-tanned football agents and TV mega-rights ushered in the age of the multimillionaire player, footballers' wages were capped – even the game's biggest names earned barely more than a plumber or electrician. Footballing legends such as Tom Finney and Stanley Matthews shared a bond of borderline penury with the huge crowds they entertained on Saturday afternoons, on pitches that were a world away from the pristine lawns of the game's modern era. Instead of the gleaming sports cars driven by today's top players, the stars of yesteryear travelled to matches on public transport and returned to homes every bit as modest as those of their supporters. Players and fans would even sometimes be next-door neighbours in a street of working-class terraced houses. Based on the first-hand accounts of players from a fast disappearing generation, When Footballers Were Skint delves into the game's rich heritage and relates the fascinating story of a truly great sporting era.