Kevin Pietersen and Geoffrey Boycott: Two cricketers, two eras, two giant egos

• Five publishers battled for KP's guaranteed best seller
• Boycott's cancer fight catalyst for new autobiography
• Pietersen's focus was on airing his grievances
• Yorkshire batsman opens up as never before

Reviews

Books shop sports sections used to bulge with cricket biographies. These days, few see the light of day with the larger publishers if they do not scream 'guaranteed best seller.' That was clearly the case with two that did find a place in mainstream catalogues in 2014.

After all the claims and counter-claims that surrounded his jettisoning from England's cricket teams, Kevin Pietersen's autobiography was always going to fly off the shelves as the South African-born batsman -- the most exciting star in the English game since Ian Botham -- took the opportunity to tell his side of the biggest cricket story since Botham's chequered career was making front page headlines in the 1980s.

It was no wonder there were five publishers competing for the right to publish his story, Little, Brown eventually winning the bidding war for the book, which was published under the Sphere imprint in time for the Christmas market.

Geoffrey Boycott has not picked up a cricket bat in anger -- at least not in terms of playing the game for a living -- since Yorkshire declined to offer him a new contract in September 1986, when Pietersen was perhaps picking one up for the first time as a six-year-old boy in Pietermaritzburg.

Yet his outspoken punditry has enabled him to stay at the forefront of the game, and his survival after developing throat cancer ensured that his first biography for 27 years would have plenty of material for Simon & Schuster to be confident of success.

Here, The Sports Bookshelf takes a close look at Boycott's The Corridor of Certainty and Pietersen's KP: The Autobiography.

The Corridor of Certainty: My Life Beyond Cricket, by Geoffrey Boycott (Simon & Schuster)

An autobiography needs to provide a shock or two to catch a headline-writer's eye and Boycott delivers his in the opening paragraph, which contains an apology.  Recounting how many enemies he has made during his life in cricket, he admits that his forthright manner "sometimes rubbed people up the wrong way."

"For that I am sorry," he writes.  Contrition is not what we have come to expect from Geoffrey, although some have suggested that he rather underestimates how many noses he has put out of joint.  As one reviewer put it, were to he replace 'sometimes' with 'always' in his confessional opening sentence, it might be more accurate.

Boycott's first autobiography, published in 1987, contained few if any apologies, outlining as it did his position in the civil war that tore Yorkshire cricket apart during the 1970s and 1980s and why he was right.

Now he looks back from a different perspective, a mellower and more rounded one perhaps, as a 74-year old cancer survivor.  The Yorkshire controversies -- and his decision to exile himself from Test cricket between 1974 and 1977 -- are revisited, but now with an acknowledgment that he made mistakes and an admission that he has regrets, not least the 18 years in which he was estranged from Fred Trueman, the teammate he had idolised as a boy yet with whom he did not speak between 1983 and 2001.

Yorkshire and England batsman Geoff Boycott

The chapters on his emotional response to his cancer diagnosis and on the gruelling treatment he endured in order to overcome the disease come early in the book.  Boycott describes the experience in such candid, personal terms it is impossible not to be moved.

It is Boycott opening up as never before and we learn about the effect on his life of marrying Rachael, with whom he had an on-off relationship spanning 40 years, and his joy at enjoying in his senior years the experience of fatherhood, with the arrival of their daughter, Emma.

There is a strong chapter too on his admiration for and friendship with Brian Clough, an unlikely coming together of two super-egos that led to an enduring friendship.  Clough loved cricket and admired Boycott for his skill and professionalism, while Boycott followed football closely and saw in Clough a man of maverick characteristics with which he could empathise.

The glaring omission from the book is anything at all on his conviction for assaulting a former lover in France in 1998, for which he was given a suspended jail sentence.

As for Boycott being a changed man, humbled by having confronted the possibility of dying, rest assured he has not yet become a self-effacing model of modesty.  Even in the darkest moments of his illness, when fear dominated his thoughts, he reminds himself how famous he is.

The day before his first visit to a specialist, aware that there was something wrong and able to think of little else, he and Rachael hosted a lunch at their home for members of the touring Indian cricket team, Boycott noting that Suarev Ganguly, VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid "wanted to watch films of me batting".  Rachael, meanwhile, had arranged for a local restaurant to provide the food only to discover it was Pakistani rather than Indian, much to her embarrassment.  Boycott, though, was able to reassure her.  Any fears that the Indian team might be 'nobbled' by their fiercest rivals could be discounted, he said, because "all the waiters were far more interested in being in Geoffrey Boycott's house and having photographs with me."

Boycott fans would find it disturbing to find that the iconic Yorkshireman had changed beyond recognition, however, and this updated memoir, pulled together nicely by Nick Hoult of the Daily Telegraph, has plenty to commend it.

KP: The Autobiography of Kevin Pietersen, by Kevin Pietersen  (Sphere)

Accustomed to failure in the 1990s, English cricket fans could have been forgiven for getting a little giddy when the Test team rose to the top of the world rankings and inflicted three innings defeats on Australia in one series.

But beneath this success there lay an undercurrent of bullying, a "contagiously sour and infectiously dour" head coach in Andy Flower and a clique spearheaded by the "Big Cheese" in wicket-keeper Matt Prior.

These are the words of Kevin Pietersen, the flamboyant batsman whom the media placed on a pedestal previously occupied by Sir Ian Botham and Andrew Flintoff.  Within the dressing room, though -- at least in some parts of it -- he felt he was held in much lower esteem.

Pietersen's hard-hitting autobiography, ghost-written by Sunday Times journalist David Walsh, has rocked the cricket establishment.   Out of contract with both England and Surrey, Pietersen was able to lift the lid on such matters as Textgate, the Twitter parody account 'KP Genius', his reintegration into the England set-up and his 'sacking' by England after last winter's Ashes whitewash, without fear of punishment.

He admits he was often naive and sometimes stupid, but insists he should not be cast as the villain, despite having been the common denominator in most of the recent controversies engulfing the England and Wales Cricket Board.

It appears throughout the book that Pietersen's biggest demon is within himself. Although he does discuss his troubles against left-arm spin, he tends to reflect on his performances in terms of whether or not he was "feeling right" at the crease rather than the threat posed by opposing bowlers.

Pietersen thrives when he is allowed to express himself and play naturally and believes he and Flower clashed because the Zimbabwean resented this carefree approach.  He says Flower "took all the fun out of playing for England", although given that he inspired the side to such great success it is hard to imagine his players hated their work that much.

Pietersen is fiercely critical of the ECB for not managing his schedule, despite complicating matters himself by participating in the Indian Premier League, the virtues of which he extols.  He slams the ECB and his former teammates for decrying it, yet acknowledges that he succeeded in winning lavish contracts year after year where his colleagues mostly failed.  It is no wonder that they may have resented him talking about his experiences there.

England outcast Kevin Pietersen

He was convinced teammates were contributing to the 'KP Genius' Twitter account, which he took to be ridiculing him.  The players have denied any involvement, although one can easily imagine they would have revelled in the indignation and outrage the account provoked.

He seems at his most thin-skinned in the accusations he levels at Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann -- aided by 'Big Cheese' Prior -- whom he alleges would bully fielders who dropped catches or made misfields.  Yet for a bowler to explode with rage at a fielder reacting slowly or failing to stop a second run is hardly an unusual occurrence.

Pietersen's claim that this created an 'atmosphere of fear' is again not reflected by results, at least not until they dipped as his England career came towards its end.

While eloquently presented, the focus of the book is less on Pietersen's career than those individuals he perceives to have wronged him.  Yet he maintains he is not bitter.  He reiterates his love of playing for England and still says he would "jump at the chance" of a return.  After this explosive tale, it is hard to see the selectors falling over themselves to make that call.

Buy The Corridor of Certainty from Amazon , Waterstones or WHSmith.

Buy KP: The Autobiography from Amazon, Waterstones or WHSmith.

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Some entertainment for Christmas with a serious side in The A-Z of Football Hates

Review

Here are a couple of fun titles for the festive season, although neither deserves to be passed over as a mere Christmas frippery.

At first glance, The A-Z of Football Hates could easily be dismissed as such, as one of those easy-read gift items that book shops like to group around the pay point in the hope of tempting impulse buys.

In fact, while there is plenty of fun to be had in Richard Foster's eclectic collection of things that irritate him about the national game, the author dissects each by way of reasoned critique rather than unstructured rant or sepia-tinted rambling. The writing has a light touch and a sense of humour but there is research to back up the arguments, too.

The Definitive Guide to Everything that is Rotten in the Beautiful Game, to give the full subtitle, is as broad in its scope as you would hope for from something claiming to be definitive.

Subjects range from the trivial, such as haircuts, coloured boots and Mexican waves, to the rather more serious, such as the damage done by greedy agents and delusional owners and everything that is wrong about Qatar 2022.

The book is enhanced, too, by contributions from others, which means the author's is not the only voice heard.

These include broadcasters Ian Darke and Pat Nevin, journalist Matt Dickinson, St George's Park chairman David Sheepshanks, the sagely William Hill spokesman Graham Sharpe and several supporters.

Nevin talks with personal insight about his hatred for ‘Hatred’, having seen plenty of it while growing up in Glasgow and playing on Merseyside.

If Foster's book is fun with a serious side, Little Bit Silverware (Haynes Publishing) is purely fun.  This is the 2013-14 season as told by the brilliant Twitter parody account @wengerknowsbest, which captures the Frenchman's vocal mannerisms with uncanny accuracy in observations that could almost belong to the man himself, even the most hilarious ones.  Hard to put down.

The A-Z of Football Hates: The Definitive Guide to Everything that is Rotten in the Beautiful Game, by Richard Foster, is published by Amberley Publishing.

Buy it here from Amazon, Waterstones or WHSmith

Buy Little Bit Silverware from Amazon, Waterstones or WHSmith

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Controversial Night Games by Anna Krien is 2014 William Hill Sports Book of the Year

Night Games, a controversial investigation into the ritual abuse of women embedded in Australian sport, has been named the winner of the 26th William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award, the richest and most prestigious literary sports writing prize in the world.

Described by the judges as a ‘painstaking, intelligent, but above all, open-minded examination of an immensely complicated area’, Night Games follows the trial of an Australian Rules footballer player accused of rape, the outcome of which led author Anna Krien to consider what she describes as the ‘grey area’ of sexual consent.

Alyson Rudd, the Times journalist who is one of the judges of the annual award, commented: “Night Games is not about English football but its relevance to the game is all too clear in the context of the conviction for rape of the Sheffield United player Ched Evans. Anna Krien seeks to understand why some sportsmen treat sex as a warped kind of sport in itself and women with little or no respect. Hopefully, if such men read her book they would be horrified at the repercussions of such behaviour.”

Krien was announced as the winner of the 2014 award by judge and broadcaster John Inverdaleat a lunchtime ceremony at BAFTA in central London. A multiple award-winning journalist, born and living in Australia, Krien is only the second woman in the award’s history to scoop what has become known as the ‘Bookie Prize’.

William Hill spokesman and co-founder of the Award, Graham Sharpe, said: “Despite the challenging nature of its subject matter, Anna Krien’s book is balanced yet fearless, and as compelling and involving as any previous winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year.

"Quite possibly, only a woman could have written it in as personal and perceptive a manner. Anna is the second woman to have won the Award, following Laura Hillenbrand’s Seabiscuit, and she had to beat one of the strongest, most varied line-ups in our 26-year history. It remains disappointing that on average, under 10 per cent of the books submitted each year are written by women, and we hope that Anna's success will encourage many more women to write about sport.”

As well as a £26,000 cheque, Krien was awarded a William Hill bet worth £2,500, a leather hand-bound copy of her book, and an exclusive day at the races. She joins an illustrious list of past winners, including Nick Hornby, Duncan Hamilton, Donald McRae and Paul Kimmage.

In taking the winning prize, Krien triumphed over a strong shortlist that included two other titles looking at the macho culture in sport: Gareth Thomas’s autobiography, Proud, which documents the challenges he faced keeping his sexuality a secret while playing at the top of his profession, and Alone by Bill Jones, the biography of iconic figure skater John Curry, looking at the Olympian’s battle to change the muscular face of men’s skating through his sensual performances. 

Other titles on the shortlist included: Floodlights and Touchlines, a sweeping history of spectator sport by journalist and academic Rob Steen; the autobiography of endurance runner Kilian Jornet, Run or Die; a sporting history of the capital, Played in London, by Simon Inglis; and Bobby Moore: The Man in Full,  a biography of the England footballing legend, by Times chief sports writer Matt Dickinson.

The judging panel for this year’s award consisted of retired footballer and former chairman of the Professional Footballers’ Association, Clarke Carlisle, broadcaster and writer John Inverdale, broadcaster Danny Kelly, award-winning journalist Hugh McIlvanney,  and columnist and author, Alyson Rudd. Co-creator of the award and founder of the Sportspages bookshop, John Gaustad, returned as chairman of the judging panel.

Night Games: Sex, Power and a Journey into the Dark Heart of Sport by Anna Krien is published by Yellow Jersey Press. Buy now from Amazon, Waterstones or WHSmith.

Read more about Anna Krien's book.

The shortlist in full

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Macho world of Australian sport: William Hill prize contender makes disturbing reading

Review

Anna Krien's Night Games is easily the most controversial contender for William Hill Sports Book of the Year 2014, because while sport, albeit in Australia, does provides the backdrop, it is as much a book about the sexual abuse of women.

The starting point is the trial of a Australian rules footballer accused of rape following a party to celebrate the Melbourne club Collingwood's victory over city rivals St Kilda in the 2010 AFL Grand Final.  Except that the player concerned, given the pseudonym 'Justin Dyer' by the author, is not a member of the victorious team. In reality he is little more than a hanger-on, drawn into the spotlight after the complainant, whom Anna Krien calls 'Sarah Wesley', claims to have been raped in a hotel bedroom by two very high profile Collingwood players.  The incident with Dyer took place in an alleyway later.

Dyer was initially called as a witness, only to find himself on trial after the charges against the two stars were dropped.  Eventually, he is acquitted, the court unable to decide on the key element required for a guilty verdict, whether his sex with Wesley was or was not consensual.

It was the kind of case that has become somewhat commonplace in Australia, typically involving Aussie rules or rugby league players. In the space of a decade prior to the publication of Krien's book in Australia, there had been more than 20 such trials involving more than 50 players.  As Krien watches from the back of the court, she considers the relationship between sport, power and sex and in particular the moments at which they collide, as they clearly did during Collingwood's post-victory party in 2010.

The book is on one level a narrative account of Dyer's trial but on another a discourse on the subject of sexual negotiation and consent, looking at the circumstances in which the empowering bonds between sportsmen that are so fundamental to their success on the field turn sinister off it, and at the minefield of ambiguity that can occur when the objectives and motivations of the women who become involved in sexual encounters with testosterone-fuelled males at their moment of triumph are misinterpreted.

The book has its weaknesses.  The question of why the case against the two Collingwood stars is dropped is not pursued; nor does Krien seek to explain why the appetite for sexual conquest at the moment of victory is not shared by all players.

Its strengths, however, are many.  There is a fearlessness, for example, in the way Krien probes into areas of sporting culture to which sports writers would find it difficult to tackle, given the dynamic of their relationship with clubs and players.  What she finds makes disturbing reading.

It is an objective work, too.  Readers expecting a portrayal of all women as victims and all men as evil sexual predators will be disappointed in the way Krien resists following a prejudiced agenda. She confesses even that she found Dyer, the accused, a more appealing character than Wesley, the accuser.

Equally, though, there is no sense that in trying to find an explanation for why some sportsmen behave in an abhorrent way towards women she in any way seeks to justify it.  She will find favour with neither side at the extremes of the debate into which she enters, which is what makes Night Games an outstanding work.

The winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year award for 2014 will be revealed tomorrow (November 27), when the successful author will receive among other things a cash prize of £26,000,

Buy Night Games: Sex, Power and a Journey into the Dark heart of Sport, by Anna Krien (Yellow Jersey) from Amazon, Waterstones or WHSmith.

The full shortlist for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year 2014

Read more about...

Bobby Moore: The Man in Full
Alone: The Triumph and Tragedy of John Curry
Played in London: Charting the Heritage of a City at Play
Floodlights and Touchlines: A History of Spectator Sport


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Red or Dead: David Peace's novel on Bill Shankly and Liverpool divides opinion

REVIEWS AND OPINIONS

David Peace's novel about Bill Shankly, Red or Dead, has divided opinion among reviewers.  At 700 pages, it is a novel of epic proportions, certainly - the kind of length for which a novelist in a prime seeking to set down a tour de force might strive.  Peace's admirers have declared it to be a masterpiece. Others are less sure.

It was a similar story with The Damned United, in which Peace interwove fact with fiction to tell the tale of Brian Clough's ill-starred 44 days as manager of Leeds United. Many readers loved it, placing it among the best books about football ever written, On the other hand, the Clough family and those close to them were horrified, regarding Peace's portrayal of the central character as a travesty.

This time it is not so much the content but the highly stylised writing has met with mixed views.  Peace is renowned for his staccato, rhythmic prose, and his use of repetition as a literary device. It characterised his dark Red Riding quartet of crime novels and much of his other work and identifies Red or Dead (Faber and Faber) as classically Peace.

Peace fans have voiced approval. Writing in The Observer, the novelist Frank Cottrell Boyce hails it as "a masterpiece" that "towers above his previous work" and a book that Shankly himself "would have wanted" being primarily about football and Liverpool Football Club, acknowledging only as an afterthought that "the usual schtick of short, repetitive phrases can make the book a tough read."

The staccato, repetitive style extends even into descriptions of Shankly engaged in domestic chores, filling the hours left in his day after his abrupt decision to retire did not prompt Liverpool to beg for him to change his mind.  Mark Lawson, in The Guardian, sees this as a measure of Peace's brilliance. "The nine detailed pages devoted to the retired Shankly carrying out household chores ("Bill held the cloth over the water in the bucket. Bill wrung out the cloth") achieve a perfect mimesis of the condition of an obsessive seeking a replacement fixation," he writes.

David Peace

Yet Simon Kuper, writing in the Financial Times, cites a passage in which Peace describes the outcome of a sequence of football matches -- “And now Liverpool Football Club were drawing two-all with Burnley Football Club. At home, at Anfield. And then Dobson glanced home a third goal for Burnley Football Club. And Liverpool were losing three-two. At home, at Anfield." -- as "feeling like those endless biblical passages about who begat whom."

Kuper also feels that Peace is "too in awe" of Shankly and argues that "whereas the Clough character in Peace’s The The Damned Utd is marvellously subtle, funny and self-destructive, Peace’s Shankly is one-dimensional – a cardboard anti-consumerist working-class hero with a perfect marriage."

Tony Evans, the Liverpool-born football editor of The Times, takes issue with whether Peace even judges Shankly's character correctly.  "(Brian) Clough suits Peace’s repetitive, intense style," he says. "Paranoia and anger seethed under the smooth exterior of his youth and escaped into public view in old age. Peace’s deranged, irrational creation was recognisable to the reader.

"Shankly shares many traits with Clough. Both were charismatic socialists, demagogues and comedians. Yet Clough — nicknamed Old Big ’Ead ­— could also exude an unsavoury arrogance. The Scot, by contrast, had a sunnier disposition. His more overblown statements were riddled with self-parody. Shankly had a great sense of his own absurdity. His life was more music hall than psychological drama."

Read the reviews in full -- Frank Cottrell Boyce, Mark Lawson, Simon Kuper, Tony Evans.

Buy Red or Dead (Faber and Faber) direct from amazon.co.uk

Also available: The Damned Utd.

More books by David Peace

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Tyson-Holyfield II: What really happened on the night of the most infamous fight in boxing history

Mike Tyson is regarded by some students of boxing as the last of the great heavyweight champions, the winner of 50 fights, a boxer of such power and ferocity that 44 of his victories were by knockout.  The youngest heavyweight world champion of all time when he defeated Trevor Berbick to win the WBC heavyweight crown, he triumphed in 12 world title fights and is the only man to successfully unify the WBC, WBA and IBF titles.

Yet he is remembered as much for what happened on the night of June 28, 1997, in the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, when Tyson and Evander Holyfield clashed in a rematch of the WBA title fight Holyfield had won the previous November.

It would become the most infamous fight in boxing history, bringing the disqualification of the former undisputed world number one for biting each of Holyfield's ears.

Now New York Post sports columnist George Willis has written a book that explores the fight, the background to it and what happened on the night in forensic detail through interviews conducted with all of the major figures in the story.

Willis reports the facts from a neutral standpoint rather than taking a judgmental position and is able to shed light on a number of previously unanswered questions, as well as revealing how that night affected both boxers.

Writing in The Independent, sports book reviewer Simon Redfern says that "by sticking to neutral reportage rather than indulging in fanciful speculation, Willis has produced a famous account of an infamous event."

Read Simon Redfern's full review.

Follow this link for more information or to buy - Twice Bitten: The Untold Story of Holyfield-Tyson II

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Bookie prize contender Tyler Hamilton reveals all you need to know about the Lance Armstrong scandal and cycling's doping secrets

REVIEW: THE SECRET RACE, by Tyler Hamilton and Daniel Coyle

Among all the contenders to be named 2012 William Hill Sports Book of the Year, none is more topical than Tyler Hamilton's disturbing expose of the tainted Lance Armstrong era in professional cycling.


The Secret Race, which Hamilton wrote in conjunction with journalist and best-selling author Daniel Coyle, builds on the confession former US Postal team member Hamilton made in front of a grand jury in 2010 during an investigation into the doping allegations that have now led to Armstrong being stripped of the seven Tour de France titles he won between 1999 and 2005.

Armstrong dismissed Hamilton's book as an example of a "washed-up cyclist talking trash for cash" but Coyle went to considerable lengths to ensure he was not imparting the one-eyed account of an embittered rival, himself effectively banned for life after failing a drugs test for a second time in 2009, and stripped of his gold medal from the 2004 Olympics only this year.

Coyle had harboured his own suspicions about Armstrong since spending almost a year following the American rider to write the essentially sympathetic biography, Lance Armstrong's War, but was not prepared to accept Hamilton's word alone that the stories of drug use, blood doping, complicity and cover-ups were true.

He recorded more the 200 hours of interviews with Hamilton but also talked to numerous independent sources, including other teammates, to verify and corroborate the claims made.

Hamilton spoke of his appearance before the grand jury as a release, an unburdening of his soul as he shared with the wider world the secrets that had tormented him for much of his career.  Coyle said that when Hamilton agreed to put it all into a book it was akin to being given "a ticket behind the wall of silence" that had allowed the doping culture in cycling to survive for so long.

Hamilton extends the confessional aspect of his court appearance by revealing the years of cheating in every complex detail, describing every way in which he felt the testers were so easily outwitted and the lengths to which the co-conspirators went to ensure their astonishing deception went undetected.

As an explanation, for the benefit of the curious but perhaps less well-informed reader, of why the Lance Armstrong story, and all its ramifications, is so huge, Hamilton's book will make a riveting, jaw-dropping read.  For cycling fans, though, it is likely to induce considerable discomfort, perhaps even dismay, at the questions it inevitably raises again about the sport over the last couple of decades, of how much has been clean, how much a lie.

The Secret Race: Inside the Hidden World of the Tour de France: Doping, Cover-ups, and Winning at All Costs is published by Bantam Books

The Secret Race is among 14 books on the longlist for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year for 2012. A shortlist will be announced on October 26 with the winner due to be revealed on November 26. 

The list in full comprises (click on the links for more information at amazon.co.uk):

1. That Near Death Thing: Inside the Most Dangerous Race in the World, by Rick Broadbent (Orion)
2. Running with the Kenyans: Discovering the Secrets of the Fastest People on Earth, by Adharanand Finn (Faber)
3. Iron War: Dave Scott, Mark Allen, and the Greatest Race Ever Run, by Matt Fitzgerald (Quercus)
4. The Footballer Who Could Fly, by Duncan Hamilton (Century)
5. The Secret Race - Inside the Hidden World of the Tour de France: Doping, Cover-ups, and Winning at All Costs, by Tyler Hamilton and Daniel Coyle (Bantam Press)
6. A Weight Off My Mind: My Autobiography, by Richard Hughes, with Lee Mottershead (Racing Post)
7. Be Careful What You Wish For, by Simon Jordan (Yellow Jersey)
8. Fibber in the Heat, by Miles Jupp (Ebury Press)
9. The Dirtiest Race in History: Ben Johnson, Carl Lewis and the 1988 Olympic 100m Final, by Richard Moore (Wisden Sports Writing)
10. Between the Lines: My Autobiography, by Victoria Pendleton with Donald McRae (HarperSport)
11. Swimming Studies, by Leanne Shapton (Particular Books)
12. A Life Without Limits: A World Champion's Journey, by Chrissie Wellington, with Michael Aylwin (Constable & Robinson)
13. Jonny: My Autobiography, by Jonny Wilkinson, with Owen Slot (Headline)
14. Shot and a Ghost: A Year in the Brutal World of Professional Squash, by James Willstrop (Rod Gilmour)

See also: Hamilton and McRae go ahead in battle for 'bookie prize'

Browse among more cycling books at The Sports Bookshelf Shop

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Forthright, insightful and entertaining, Everton's legendary 'keeper Neville Southall tells the story of his life in football

Neville Southall's unvarnished account of his life in football is reviewed with approval by Eric Brown on the Sports Journalists' Association website.

The Binman Chronicles, written with the help of Liverpool-born journalist James Corbett, charts Southall's rise from odd-jobbing non-League goalkeeper to becoming a fixture between the sticks for Everton and Wales, in a career that saw him with two League championships, two FA Cups and a European Cup-Winners' Cup, as well as an MBE.

Brown is impressed with Southall's honest appraisal of the managers, players and officials he encountered as well as his thought-provoking views on Hillsborough and Heysel, and with how he takes no prisoners in assessing Everton's fall from football superpower to also-rans.

"His frank opinions in this book on the many players, managers and officials whose paths he crossed in 30-odd years are entertaining and insightful. Southall’s reflections on the Hillsborough and Heysel Stadium disasters and their consequences make particularly interesting reading.He pulls no punches when discussing management of the Wales team, Liverpool FC, and the reasons behind Everton’s decline from being the best team in England during the 1980s. Mike Walker look away now."

Read Eric Brown's full review.

James Corbett is also the author of two football histories, Everton The School of Science and England Expects, as well as the recently published 652-page Everton Encyclopedia.

Neville Southall: The Binman Chronicles is published by De Coubertin Books, a small London-based publisher specialising in non-fiction, particularly sport.

Visit the De Coubertin website

Browse among more football books at The Sports Bookshelf Shop

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