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Sports novels.


Macklunkey

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I've recently finished Red or Dead by David Peace a fictional account of the great football manager Bill Shankly and his time at Liverpool F.C. and subsequent retirement. 

It's better than it might sound! 

This kind of follows on from his 2006 book The Damned United about Brian Clough and his ill fated 44 days as the manager of Leeds United. 

I'm absolutely in love with these books but are they unique? I've struggled to find anything similar. Perhaps Michael Shaara comes close with For Love of the Game but it does have core differences as Peace is adding a fictional spin to real people, places and events. 

Are there other similar types of book out there? I've searched but haven't found anything. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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It is not a novel but have you read "Friday night lights"? (fascinating documentary on the social role of American football)

Then there is Hornby's "Fever pitch" (soccer fandom, I have not read it)

Silitoe: "Loneliness of the long-distance runner"

Tom McNab "Flanagan's Run" (running across the US in the 1930s, I read this 30 years ago as a teenager in German translation, it was entertaining)

Siegfried Lenz: "Brot und Spiele" ("bread and games" (bread and circuses) about a long distance runner in the 1950s, apparently not translated)

There are probably a whole bunch on climbing and mountaineering

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Phil Jackson's "Eleven Rings" came out last year and I just decided to buy that this morning.

 

Seems very interesting with loads of stuff on his Championship Bulls and Lakers teams.

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Damned United and Fever Pitch were my immediate thoughts at seeing the thread title. I tried reading Red or Dead but found Peace's style off-putting. The repetition was bad enough in Damned United, but he took it to new pretentious lengths there that left it unreadable.

For the most part I prefer non-fictional sports books. Fictional ones tend to be the same well trodden underdog story, and there are so many brilliant true stories to be told - many of which would strain credibility if invented. As you said, Damned United and Fever Pitch adding a fictional element to real people and events is a good compromise but rarely made, as far as I can see.

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2 hours ago, Horse of Kent said:

Damned United and Fever Pitch were my immediate thoughts at seeing the thread title. I tried reading Red or Dead but found Peace's style off-putting. The repetition was bad enough in Damned United, but he took it to new pretentious lengths there that left it unreadable.

For the most part I prefer non-fictional sports books. Fictional ones tend to be the same well trodden underdog story, and there are so many brilliant true stories to be told - many of which would strain credibility if invented. As you said, Damned United and Fever Pitch adding a fictional element to real people and events is a good compromise but rarely made, as far as I can see.

In respect to the repetition I read somewhere that it was meant to highlight Shanklys obsession which then contrasts later in the book with his boredom/emotions in retirement.

How well that works though is open to debate!

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Fever Pitch was amazing. I liked Moneyball well enough. The Blindside was actually very good and not really as sappy as the movie. There is way more explanation of American Football strategy, history and stats. 

Two not mentioned that I have read are Andrea Pirlo's memoir, "I think, therefore I play".

Another good one, more of a history book, Winning at All Costs: A Scandalous History of Italian Soccer" by John Foot. Very comprehensive history of Italian football, but phrased in an entertaining way. 

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1 hour ago, The Number 10 said:

In respect to the repetition I read somewhere that it was meant to highlight Shanklys obsession which then contrasts later in the book with his boredom/emotions in retirement.

How well that works though is open to debate!

I might give it another go now that I know what to expect. It has been well praised by everyone I know who has got through it.

 

2 hours ago, unJon said:

Moneyball

Even as someone who has no real interest in or idea of how baseball works, I found Moneyball a very enlightening read about the rise of stats and the conflict it causes.

 

 

Some recommended non-fiction football books:

All Played Out/One Night in Turin - mainly for an English audience as that is where that World Cup is most fondly remembered.

Futbol a Sol y Sombra - one of the few football books written by a serious literary figure with a genuine feel. Its anecdotal style does make it a little disjointed.

A Life too Short - brilliantly written but sobering. About the life of German goalkeeper Robert Enke who committed suicide in 2009.

The Miracle of Castel di Sangro - one of the most improbable underdog stories imaginable. Unfortunately the author can be a little annoying.

Erbstein: Football's Forgotten Pioneer - Not just the biography of a great manager, but also the tragedy of his legendary team and life under Nazi occupation during WWII.

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I liked Moneyball.  Inverting the Pyramid was too bloated and more about history than actual tactics.  All of the autobiographies I read by famous soccer players were complete trash.  I'd like to tell my brother to stop buying them as Christmas gifts, but if I start telling the truth about little things then I'll be plummeting down the slippery slope within minutes.

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On 3/2/2017 at 2:38 PM, 3CityApache said:

For some reason I read Peter Jackson and "Elven Rings" and my mind boggled. That probably says a lot about myself, given I knew the thread title. :D

Haha, I can see why that mistake was made. I bet Peter Jackson knows jack shit about basketball.

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1 hour ago, Manhole Eunuchsbane said:

Among the Thugs by Bill Buford...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Among_the_Thugs

 

Not a novel exactly, more of an undercover accounting of Man U soccer hooliganism. Good read. Pretty damn brutal.

 

 

pfft, Man Utd fans are almost universally accepted as pussies.

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