{"title":"Football Autobiography","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"one-football-no-nets-book-justin-walley-9781910515648","title":"One Football, No Nets","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn September 2017, amateur British football coach Justin Walley became the National Team Manager of Matabeleland, an obscure international team in western Zimbabwe.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBefore him lay the seemingly impossible task of taking his group of unknown amateur footballers from an impoverished region of Africa to the alternative world cup - the CONIFA World Football Cup in London, the following summer. All that stood in his way was the small matter of no money, no resources, no salary, no visas, and no sponsors. There was one football, though... but no goal nets.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOne Football, No Nets tells of one man's leap of faith into the unknown, swapping life with his girlfriend and a third division football team in Eastern Europe for international football management in Africa. It was to be a journey that would take Walley through the toppling of President Robert Mugabe, a collapsing financial system, and travelling to away games in rural Africa with 17 players in one pickup truck. And, oh yes, Liverpool legend Bruce Grobbelaar becomes Walley's goalkeeping coach after a meeting at an M6 motorway service station.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnd just when Walley thought his adventure could not get stranger or more surreal, he fulfilled the lifelong dream of playing international football at the age of 47, was accused of being a Kremlin spy, became a mini-celebrity on Russian TV, and was announced as the new foreign brand ambassador for Tatarstan.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOne Football, No Nets is the extraordinary story of one man chasing his dream of changing the world through football, and of one day becoming an international football manager.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReviews\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Both a compelling personal journey and a lively, touching love letter to the pure spirit of football, packed with incident and never dull. Stuart Maconie, Radio DJ and popular culture critic.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMatabeleland's struggle against fearsome odds to get to the 2018 CONIFA World Cup in London gets the fuller coverage it merits in a compelling diary from team coach Justin Walley. When Saturday Comes\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI recommend this; not your usual anodyne football book Brian Moore, former World Rugby Player of the Year and England international, presenter and pundit.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA cracking story and one that features the power of football and friendship on the journey. Walley tells it well ... he even persuades Liverpool legend Bruce Grobbelaar to become the Matabeleland goalkeeping coach at an M6 service station. Late Tackle magazine\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49618774524177,"sku":"GOR009833921","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51055561670929,"sku":"NIN9781910515648","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52616008335633,"sku":"NLS9781910515648","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53039314895121,"sku":"GOR014710278","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53220377952529,"sku":"GOR014812087","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1910515647.jpg?v=1751454191"},{"product_id":"tangerines-and-pies-book-steve-leach-9781910515556","title":"Tangerines and Pies","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn May 2015, Blackpool and Wigan Athletic hit rock bottom. Premiership clubs until recently, both experienced traumatic seasons complete with pitch invasions, abandoned games, and - all too often - hard-to-swallow defeats. Their Chairmen received F.A. bans for racist remarks and defamatory texts, whilst managers were hired and fired. Descent from the Championship to Division One was inevitable.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eHow does a club come back from such dire fortunes and could the 2015-16 season mark a new chapter? Would one, or both, clubs bounce back into the Championship at the first time of asking, or would they experience a further fall from grace into the murky depths of Division Two?\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eTangerines and Pies \u003c\/em\u003etells the remarkable story of these former northern powerhouses of football: from the bleak beginnings of the season's start, though the roller-coaster ride that followed, to two very different outcomes. Capturing football life from the coal-face, author Steve Leach brings to life each club's journey through Division One.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe book contains match reports from Bloomfield Road and the DW Stadium, as well as away games against rivals including Oldham, Bury, Rochdale, Crewe and Burton. It also details the significant events off the field including the on-going conflict between the Oystons and the Blackpool Supporters Trust, and the emergence at Wigan of David Sharpe as the youngest chairman in Football League history. Unearthing the essence of each club, Steve wanders the streets of Blackpool and Wigan, talks to local journalists and fanzine editors, joins a protest march, and finds himself on a packed terrace at Burton Albion with a mass of Wigan supporters for a crunch late-season game.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eTangerines and Pies\u003c\/em\u003e invites you to accompany Steve on his season-long journey which chronicles the highs and the lows, and the \u003cem\u003eTangerines and Pies \u003c\/em\u003einvites you to accompany Steve on his season-long journey which chronicles the highs and the lows, and the moments of comedy, tragedy, heroism and farce involved in the attempts of these two famous clubs to cope with, and emerge unscathed from, life in Division One.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52455925285137,"sku":"NLS9781910515556","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52984290050321,"sku":"GOR009321583","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781910515556.jpg?v=1759375752"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/football-autobiography-book-series.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}