The Sports Bookshelf

AMONG THIS WEEK'S NEW SPORTS BOOKS... Here's a  Sports Bookshelf  selection of new titles published in the last few days.  Keep coming back for more news of new releases.  Click on the titles or the picture links for more information and to buy. I Am The Secret Footballer: Lifting the Lid on the Beautiful Game Author Anonymous (Guardian Books) Who is The Secret Footballer? The identity of the author of a column under that name carried by the Guardian newspaper for the last 18 months is a secret known to just a handful of people. But whoever he is - and whoever he plays for - he is always honest, always fearless and always opinionated...and, we are told, absolutely genuine.  This story of one player's career is a unique combination of considered analysis, tell-all gossip and the joys and frustrations that only someone who plays the game at the highest levels can really feel.  It tells us that, while football is a game we watch, study and digest in fine print

AMONG THIS WEEK'S NEW SPORTS BOOKS... Here's a Sports Bookshelf selection of new titles published in the last few days.  Keep coming back for more news of new releases.  Click on the titles or the picture links for more information and to buy. El Clasico: Barcelona v Real Madrid -- Football's Greatest Rivalry By Richard Fitzpatrick (Bloomsbury) Boasting stars of the magnitude of Lionel Messi on one side and Cristiano Ronaldo on the other, Barcelona and Real Madrid are two of the most powerful and popular clubs in world football and share of the world's most bitter sporting rivalries, one that reaches into the heart of Spanish life, politics and culture. El Clasico penetrates the heart of that rivalry, investigating the intrigue, the characters and the political battlelines, going back to the bloodshed of Civil War and 40 years of fascism. There are tales of murdered presidents, kidnapped players and violent hooliganism -- plus the odd memorable football

TRENDING...RELIVE LONDON 2012 It may have finished but it will never be forgotten -- and there are plenty of upcoming books that will provide the prompts to help relive the magic of the Olympic dream that was London 2012. Indeed, there is a whole series of official London 2012 Olympic Games commemorative titles due to appear between now and October -- and these are some to look out for.  They can be pre-ordered by clicking on the picture links or the highlighted titles. Quick off the blocks is London 2012: The Greatest Show on Earth , which promises to relive every important moment from every day, from Opening Ceremony to last Sunday's fantastic finale, with everything in between, recording the joy and exultation of the Olympic gold medallists as well as remembering some of the hard-luck stories. The book is structured in such a way to provide a day-by-day record not only of who won what but of the great stories, outstanding achievements and heroic performances that la

TRENDING...Olympic Gold Team GB's Olympic gold rush will have spin-off benefits for the sports book industry with publishers and retailers eager to give high visibility to any gold medal stories they can push between now and the Christmas sales peak. Among the first to hit the shelves will be cyclist Victoria Pendleton's autobiography Between the Lines, on which she has been working with Donald McRae, a writer who has twice won the William Hill Sports Book of the Year award. Due out on September 13 in the United Kingdom, Between the Lines: The Autobiography -- published by HarperSport -- promises to describe in 'searingly honest detail' a career of highs and lows and controversies that has just ended, following Pendleton's decision to retire at the end of London 2012. It was a victorious finale for Pendleton, who failed to retain the track cycling sprint crown she won in the velodrome in Beijing but did claim her second Olympic gold in the keirin.

TRENDING.... Usain Bolt Usain Bolt will be nearly 30 by the time the next Olympics come round yet it would be unwise to discount him as a contender for at least the 200-metre gold.  He may be giving four years to Jamaican rivals Yohan Blake and Warren Weir but the 200m is the event he favours most and he could decide to double up the 200m with the 400m. Amazingly, however, he still thinks he can improve on his 9.58 second world record for 100m, as he explained to Sun journalist Shaun Custis, with whom he has been working on a new autobiography, due out soon. He tells Custis that his 9.58sec run in the 2009 World Championships in Berlin was a flawed performance on three counts, undermined by a drive phase at the start that was too short and a middle phase in which he was too tight. He also reckoned he did not keep his head still enough. Bolt's belief is that he could cut a scarcely credible 0.18 seconds off that time and reset the record at 9.4 seconds, although he does