We are delighted to announce that three of our authors have made the longlist for the Telegraph Sports Book Awards Football Book of the Year! Congratulations James Montague, Daniel Gray and Tim Rich.
1312: Among the Ultras by James Montague
1312: Among the Ultras tells the story of how the movement began and how it grew to become the global phenomenon that now dominates the stadiums from the Balkans and Buenos Aires. With unprecedented insider access, the book investigates how ultras have grown into a fiercely political movement, embracing extremes on both the left and right; fighting against the commercialisation of football and society – and against the attempts to control them by the authorities, who both covet and fear their power.
Extra Time by Daniel Gray
From club lottos to undeserved wins, and from pitch-invading animals to the roar after a minute’s silence, Extra Time is another romantic celebration of football fandom and its shared joys, habits, eccentricities and peculiarities. It is a salute to keepers going forward for corners, match balls landing on stand roofs and goals scored in quick succession.
These chapters offer a gleeful antidote to disillusionment with modern football, VAR and all. They are reminders of why we care and justifications for our devotion. Each warmly evokes this sport’s blessed capacity to offer escape and diversion. Let us share the delight once more.
The Quality of Madness: A Life of Marcelo Bielsa by Tim Rich
Featuring interviews from across South America, Europe and Yorkshire, The Quality of Madness is a comprehensive and compelling biography, tracing Bielsa’s story from growing up as a member of one of Argentina’s most remarkable families to his revival of Leeds.
Bielsa has long been known as ‘El Loco’ – the Madman – and yet as Tim Rich’s revelatory study reveals, there is mercurial method and audacious logic to the madness.