Which sports book are you reading at the moment?

[Crusty Ring]

States of Play by Miguel Delaney

Football is rotten. Not that I didn't know, but when you have it all laid out by a decent writer..........

City won't suffer a bean from the EPL charges either. Cheating bastards. No wonder no one gives a fuck about their "achievements". Then you have that wanker Dias complaining that Southampton did a bit of time wasting today.

Yeah Ruben m8, really hitting the mark there.

Brilliant book I got it at Christmas.

The last few years I’ve found myself watching less and less football due to the genuine drop off in quality, VAR etc has wrecked the game but reading that book has taken it to another level, I have absolute distain for those running the game.

Money is all that counts but we knew that already

 

[El Guapo]

Just about finished, "a few more laps" by Dave Chalfen

He's the Highgate Harriers coach for the last 30 years or so.

Very funny guy. Book isn't great..one of those ones where everyone does not have a book in them everyone in fact has a first draft. Some interesting stuff but don't recommend this one

 

[Philby]

2025 William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award are:​

• Finding the Edge by Jimmy Anderson
• Ultra Women by Lily Canter and Emma Wilkinson
• I Can’t Stop Thinking About VAR by Daisy Christodoulou
• The Warrior by Christopher Clarey
• States of Play by Miguel Delaney
• More Than a Shirt by Joey D’Urso
• European Football’s Greatest Grounds by Leon Gladwell
• Chasing Salah by Simon Hughes
• The Last Bell by Donald McRae
• Engulfed by James Montague
• Go to War by Jon Spurling
• The Escape by Pippa York and David Walsh
• Test Cricket by Tim Wigmore
• The Power and The Glory by Jonathan Wilson
• The Art of Batting by Jarrod Kimber

 

[dukeroyale]

2025 William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award are:​

• Finding the Edge by Jimmy Anderson
• Ultra Women by Lily Canter and Emma Wilkinson
• I Can’t Stop Thinking About VAR by Daisy Christodoulou
• The Warrior by Christopher Clarey
• States of Play by Miguel Delaney
• More Than a Shirt by Joey D’Urso
• European Football’s Greatest Grounds by Leon Gladwell
• Chasing Salah by Simon Hughes
• The Last Bell by Donald McRae
• Engulfed by James Montague
• Go to War by Jon Spurling
• The Escape by Pippa York and David Walsh
• Test Cricket by Tim Wigmore
• The Power and The Glory by Jonathan Wilson
• The Art of Batting by Jarrod Kimber

has anyone read states of play by delaney?

i ordered it a while back through my library but yet to receive it.

is there anything new in there? i’ve read two books on football and corruption in the last few weeks. other than chuck blazer’s wife teaching their pet parrot to abuse chuck i learned very little.

 

[Nollaig O Muracu]

has anyone read states of play by delaney?

i ordered it a while back through my library but yet to receive it.

is there anything new in there? i’ve read two books on football and corruption in the last few weeks. other than chuck blazer’s wife teaching their pet parrot to abuse chuck i learned very little.


View attachment 44934

Dunno about new, but it's a brilliant riveting read.

I just started this.

Mostly entertaining anecdotes so far, but a good light read.

 

[El Guapo]

Simon Kuper was only 24 writing Football against the enemy.

The book that launched a thousand Sporting hipsters

Great read

https://twitter.com/x/status/2028764166966653341

 

[BlackpoolTerrier]

Simon Kuper was only 24 writing Football against the enemy.

The book that launched a thousand Sporting hipsters

Great read

https://twitter.com/x/status/2028764166966653341

Yep, and Spielberg was 26 when he made Jaws. Lads on the PROC tend to be more of a fine wine Guapo- always building towards our peak.

He absolutely captured the zeitgeist in that book - explained an awful lot to football fans about their feelings. The cover pic was right on the money too - that incident was still a very big deal. My young lad found it upstairs there a couple of years ago and once he opened it he couldn't put it down - a good sign.

"Fever Pitch", "Football Against the Enemy" and a subscription to WSC were staples chez BpT in the early / mid nineties. Even Martin Amis got in on the act in "London Fields". Halcyon days...

 

[dukeroyale]

berlin 1936: sixteen days in august.

i thought it’d all be about propaganda and political horse trading by germany to get the games but it was actually about the lives of ordinary berliners with the games as a backdrop. im yet to finish it. lots of the stuff is newspaper reports with firsthand accounts of events, diary entries from top nazis about their shitty marriages, weather forecasts and other boring day to day stuff. it’s an interesting enough book but i think it was originally in german and translated to english. i don’t think the style of language holds up well after translation. definitely didn’t belong in the sports section.

the most interesting bit is, according to the author, hitler never snubbed jesse owens. he actually had to head off to do something else.

 

[Nollaig O Muracu]

The Club by Jonathan Clegg

Basically a history of the Premier League from it being an idea to when the book was published (2018). More concerned with the Boardroom, tv rights and the different owners that have come, gone or remained, than what happened on the pitch, though that is mentioned too. Nothing earth shattering here, but it's well written and might jog your memory on a few things.

 

[Nollaig O Muracu]

2025 William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award are:​

• Finding the Edge by Jimmy Anderson
• Ultra Women by Lily Canter and Emma Wilkinson
• I Can’t Stop Thinking About VAR by Daisy Christodoulou
• The Warrior by Christopher Clarey
• States of Play by Miguel Delaney
• More Than a Shirt by Joey D’Urso
• European Football’s Greatest Grounds by Leon Gladwell
• Chasing Salah by Simon Hughes
• The Last Bell by Donald McRae
• Engulfed by James Montague
• Go to War by Jon Spurling
• The Escape by Pippa York and David Walsh
• Test Cricket by Tim Wigmore
• The Power and The Glory by Jonathan Wilson
• The Art of Batting by Jarrod Kimber

Just downloaded The Power and The Glory on audible. Love Wilson as a writer.

Angels with Dirty Faces is a must read for any football fan. It's about the history of Argentinian football, but it's also a history of the times and places of said football. One of the best sports books I've ever read.